Ready to start tracking your campaigns? Let me show you how to install Prosper202 quickly and easily! I'll be using a temporary installation on the server here that will be deleted immediately after this tutorial is completed.

Please note that it's wise to purchase a separate domain for tracking only. This helps keep your tracking information AWAY from your domains so that 'stalkers' (including some networks and other affiliates) can't find your domains.

I would choose something short and different. trkrobert.com is fine. Using your initials, name, etc. +track or trk.com or .net, .info, etc. is absolutely fine.

I would purchase it at namecheap.com and use the free WhoIS protection and hide your name and address to ensure that you're protecting your ass..ets as much as possible!

In the future, you can also setup an SSL certificate to help protect data and even use it to blank the referrer. What's the referrer? Well, if you leave affiliit.com and go to google.com - google sees the referrer (referring site) as affiliit.com.

Why is this important? Because some networks are very shady (and some are just protecting their own ass...ets) and will follow referrers to see your site. If you've got a killer campaign, guess what? Some of these people will actually copy it and steal it from you. Not fun!

Now let's get moving on setting up your new Tracking System! 

Step 1: Download Prosper202 here. It's free!

Step 2: Unzip the installation on your desktop or any other folder of your choice.

You can use 7 Zip (free), jZip (free) or WinZip (trial, but Paid product), or any product of your choice!

Step 3: Open up your cPanel (log in). 



Now let's scroll down and look for the Databases section.



Choose the highlighted choice (MySQL Database Wizard). 



Enter in the name of your Database, preferably something with a name and numbers, not "superimportantdatabase" in case your server gets hacked!

Click NEXT STEP

Now we're at the following section:



I use the Generate Password button to generate my passwords. You can write it down, and you'll also see it again in a few moments. I use a simple acronym for my username. P2cl. 

Click Create User and now we're at this screen:



First off: make sure you copy all of the data at the top and paste it into a text file. You're going to need it shortly! TRUST ME! I just made the mistake of not doing so while writing this tutorial, as you might notice 

Notice the arrow. We want to select ALL PRIVILEGES. Make sure the information was copied and pasted into a text file! Now click NEXT STEP.

And we're done with the Database stuff!

Step 4: 

Now we need to upload the files to our server. You need to have some kind of FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program installed on your computer, or you can use a Firefox Plugin called FireFTP

A few others:
** I use CuteFTP. It's the easiest and best, in my opinion.
http://filezilla-project.org/
http://www.coreftp.com/

For this tutorial I will be using CuteFTP on my Macbook Pro, so it will probably look a bit different to some people. No worries, you'll get the hang of it! 

(to create a new site connection, click on File -> Site Manager -> New Site -> enter in your FTP details that should have been sent to you from your Web Host)

Before we start uploading let's go into our Prosper202 folder that we unzipped earlier. Look for the Config file:

202-config-sample.php

We will need to do the following:

1. rename to: 202-config.php
2. Edit the 202-config.php file



You can see in the image above where you make the changes. Look at the next file to see those changes that I've made.



The highlighted area is where the changes should be made. Most hosts use localhost for the host, but if you get an error for that please contact your hosting company.

Click SAVE.

Now let's go ahead and upload our files via FTP. Login to your FTP account via your FTP program that you've installed.

Now you want to make sure you click on the public_html folder twice to open that directory. This is your Public Directory. Everything in there is accessible to the public, so be careful what you put in there. Everything "behind" that directory (before you click the public_html folder) is hidden away on the server.

Now that we're in the public_html folder we want to either upload the entire Prosper202 folder (everything within it, anyways) in the public folder or within a custom folder (create new folder on CuteFTP creates a new directory within your server if needed).

NOTE: (from the Prosper202 site)

If you've purchased a new domain for tracking alone, then simply upload all files into the public_html folder. If you've created a subdomain, then find the directory for that subdomain and then upload the files there. For this tutorial we'll be using prosper.affiliit.com.

What you can do is select all files (drag cursor from top to bottom of the files screen or CTRL+a) and then either DRAG (as seen in the image below) to the server window, or right click -> upload.



It's that easy! Now you should see all of the files being uploaded to your server. 

It will take a few minutes to upload, so wait until it lets you know when it's done. Don't click on anything 

Once it's installed, go to the domain or subdomain and you should see a Welcome page, like so:



I'm going to continue with the installation, regardless of the warning.



Now I click INSTALL...



Sweet! Now you just need to login with your details and you'll find this page:



What's next? Tracking202 is where you find all of the tracking details. Stats202 is a paid service, Offers202 is a service (free) for finding offers, and Alerts202 is an alert service which I have never used before.

I hope this tutorial has helped you get started with Prosper202! Soon we'll have a lot of tutorials on how to setup everything with Prosper202 and get moving with tracking your campaigns!