We would like to thank Member slamken for putting together this tutorial. Thank you also to Advertise-Online (Kana) for assisting her to do so.

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GeoIP Database

This article is meant as information for PTR site owners who offer Paid-to-Promote, but also for members of PTR sites who noticed that their country does not get recognized correctly.

Most Sites with Paid-to-Promote feature use the GeoIP Country Detection from Maxmind. This tool can determine which country a visitor is coming from by identifying the location of his IP. It is also used to detect incorrect member information or to determine whether a member is from a search-country or not. The information about IP-ranges is stored in databases, and the accuracy of Geolocation depends on the database that is used.

Changes in IP ranges happen quite often, and only a database that is regularly updated can provide correct data and ensure that both promoters and advertisers receive the site views they have paid for. An outdated database will cause invalid clicks and incorrect statistics. When the current dataset for an IP address is not contained in the GeoIP database, the GeoIP plugin can?t provide definite information about it, or it locates the origin of the visitor incorrectly because the data for this IP is no longer valid. Unfortunately PTR site owners are not informed about this when they buy the PTP-Plugin; some do not even know about GeoIP, and some think it gets updated automatically. This is not the case; it has to be done manually by the site owner him/herself.

As a member of a PTR site, when your IP is not recognized correctly your clicks on PTP-links will get lower or no credits, you may not be able to join sites with certain country restrictions, or you may not be able to access restricted areas of a site, such as Search PTCs or Inhouse Surfer. If you experience any of these problems, you can check if GeoIP determines your country correctly by visiting this link: http://www.maxmind.com/app/locate_my_ip

When you get a correct result, you may contact the owner of the site you have problems with and ask him or her to update the GeoIP database.

PTR site owners can download the database at the Maxmind Homepage; a new update is usually available at the beginning of each month. To update your database please complete the following steps:

1. Download the file GeoIP.dat.gz onto your computer and unpack it. The file you need is called GeoIP.dat

2.1. Login to your server using a FTP program to upload the file or

2.2. Login into your Cpanel of your host and go to "File Manager "

3. Upload the file into the directory geoip/ which you can find in your PTP plugin directory

You are now using the latest GeoIP Database.

If you need help with this, please contact your script support.