Getting started with Rastro: set up your affiliate network in 15 minutes

This guide takes you from an empty account to your first tracked conversion. You need about 15 minutes and access to the advertiser's website (or someone who can add a postback there).

1. Create your network

On the home page, fill in Try it free: your company name, the address you want for your network (for example acme becomes acme.rastroaff.com) and your email. Confirm the email we send you (the link is valid for 48 hours) and your network is created straight away.

You then receive a second email to choose your password. On first sign-in you set up two-factor authentication with an authenticator app (Google Authenticator, 1Password, Authy…). It is mandatory for administrators, because the panel controls money.

The 14-day trial includes everything in the Growth plan, and no card is required.

2. Add an advertiser

An advertiser is the company that pays for the conversions. Go to Advertisers → New advertiser. Only the company name is required; the contact email receives statements.

Tick Give panel access if the advertiser should see their own offers and statistics. They get an invitation to choose a password. You can also do it later.

3. Create your first offer

Go to Campaigns → New campaign and fill in:

• Advertiser and name.
• Destination URL: the advertiser's landing page. Add {click_id} where their system should receive the click identifier, for example https://shop.example/landing?clickid={click_id}. This is what links the sale back to the click.
• Payout model: CPA, CPL, CPS (percentage of the sale) or CPC.
• Payout (what you pay the affiliate) and revenue (what the advertiser pays you).
• Optionally, allowed countries, devices, daily and monthly caps.

New campaigns are saved as drafts. When everything looks right, activate it.

4. Invite affiliates

There are three ways:

• Users → Create user, with the type Affiliate.
• Share your network's sign-up page (https://<your-network>.rastroaff.com/register) and approve the requests in Users.
• Import a CSV with all your affiliates at once (see Import from another platform).

Affiliates ask for access to an offer from their offers list. If the offer doesn't require approval, they can start straight away.

5. Connect the advertiser's conversions

The advertiser has to tell Rastro when a sale or lead happens. The most reliable way is a server-to-server postback: a URL their server calls with the click identifier. Follow Set up the advertiser postback.

6. Test the whole flow

1. Sign in as an affiliate (or ask one) and create a tracking link for the offer.
2. Open the link in a browser: you should land on the advertiser's page with a click_id in the address.
3. Trigger a conversion on the advertiser's side, or call the postback URL with that click_id.
4. The conversion appears in Conversions and in the reports, and the affiliate's balance is updated.

If something doesn't show up, check the Postback log on the advertiser's integration page: it records every request received and the reason for any rejection.

Next steps

• Set up fraud rules (bots, datacenters, VPN, repeated clicks) in Fraud → Rules.
• Turn on health alerts and automation rules, so problems are caught before they cost money.
• Add your own domain and brand for the panel and the tracking links (Growth plan and above).