General Tips & Trouble Shooting
There is no need to wait for a reply. Please read this before submitting a ticket at our help desk. Chances are that the answer to your question is already here.
The internet is constantly evolving. Browsers and operating systems are constantly updating. WordPress pushes out frequent changes and so does the Facebook API. Even the autoresponders that VTB integrates with will update their code from time to time.
Our team always works to stay ahead of those changes so that your VTB plugin can continue working seamlessly as the internet evolves around us. Please make sure that you are always using the latest version of the Viral Traffic Boost plugin.
There is always a small chance that you may encounter a glitch with your particular configuration. You may have even discovered a bug with our plugin. It’s possible. Things can break, and when it happens we are here to help you through it. Our team is available to you through our support desk but please note that they are only able to help you with the VTB plugin itself.
Our support staff members are not internet marketing coaches and they are not experts on every possible tool and platform that you may be using. This is why it is so it’s important that you read through this troubleshooting doc before reaching out to them.
Sometimes when you encounter an unexpected outcome you may initially think that something in VTB is broken when it really isn’t. As a matter of fact, more than 95% of our support requests have little to do with the VTB plugin itself. Its usually some type of user error, or quite often it’s a particular configuration of plugins and webpages that can create a conflict.
Prior to launch, we developed this plugin for over 2 years and our team has tested hundreds of configurations. We also had 250 beta testers that put VTB through the wringer and helped us iron out the bugs. Since the launch, we’ve added over a thousand more active users and we’ve already received dozens of testimonials and success stories.
We have all types of users from beginners to advanced so I’ve broken down some troubleshooting tips by category so you can easily look for the specific issue that you may be having. Please remember that we have a number of instruction shortcuts on the welcome page and that should be your first stop for instructions. Please follow the steps in those docs first.
Click On the Category That You Need Help With Below
The Main Set Up
License Key – You can find your keys right on the welcome page of the VTB membership site. You get one if you’re a BASIC member, three if you’re a pro, and 100 if you bought the commercial license.
Every time you deploy a key on a site, there will be a new one generated for you in the member’s area. We don’t just hand keys out in bulk for obvious security reasons.
One key is required per SITE that you install Viral Traffic Boost on, NOT per campaign or landing page you create.
License keys are not transferable you must be the one that remains in control of your license keys as they are all generated from YOUR member’s area.
Autoresponder – You can find short concise integration docs for each autoresponder on the welcome page of your VTB members area. We have various autoresponder integrations for you to choose from and more are on the way. You can integrate as many as you want but you can only add leads to one autoresponder per campaign. You will need to have a list created in your autoresponder for VTB to add your leads to.
Double Optin Confirmation – VTB will work whether your autoresponder’s double confirmation is on or off. Most autoresponders allow you to turn off the double opt-in confirmation and we recommend that but it is not required for VTB to work. Your autoresponder may have requirements of your account to turn off double opt-in and we recommend you contact them to find out. Just remember that you will end up with less “mailable” leads if this is turned on.
When the user clicks your share button the Fb permission box asks them to agree that they want to pass you their email address and post your page on their wall. You are putting an ALREADY VERIFIED email address onto your list. Plus, they are being asked to CONFIRM they want to be added right after they click. This is all done using Facebook’s approved public API.
Remember that you are using YOUR Facebook account to create your app, not ours. We can’t be responsible for the way you use the plugin. You should always be transparent with your visitors and tell them that you are adding them to your email list. Always give your subscribers the opportunity to OPT-OUT of your lists and comply with the CAN-SPAM Act and the GDPR. This is YOUR responsibility.
Facebook – This is the one that stumps people from time to time because you have to create your own Facebook “app”. The process is pretty straightforward but it has about 10 steps and you have to do them carefully or your VTB button won’t work. Please follow the step by step instructions in the Facebook integration doc.
Some key things to remember are that your pages and the URL’s you enter into the app MUST be secure (HTTPS). Also, be sure to select a category for your app and insert the location of your websites legal pages (ie. privacy policy & terms of use)
The WordPress Plugin
Yes VTB is a WordPress plugin, this means it was designed to be installed on WORDPRESS sites.
So no, it won’t work on Kajabi, Clickfunnels, Kartra, Groovepages, Leadpages, Convertri, or any other non-WordPress site. This does NOT mean that you can’t redirect your prospects to one of those sites it only means that you cant install and operate the plugin on any other platform than WordPress. There is no workaround for this. This is not a bug or a problem, we simply didn’t create VTB to work on those platforms.
Installing Wordpress is fast, it’s easy and it’s FREE. If you prefer to use another platform for your main websites you can still harness the power of Viral Traffic Boost by installing a quick WordPress site to host your landing page and VTB button.
If you are new to WordPress and you want to learn how to install the platform on your hosting account we recommend that you contact your host. Most hosting providers offer built-in WordPress installers like Fantastico or Softaculous. These are apps that come with your hosting account and can be accessed via your Cpanel. These apps install WordPress for you with just a couple of clicks. There is also an abundance of WordPress tutorials for beginners on YouTube.
The Landing Page
Viral Traffic Boost does not make landing pages. VTB makes buttons, not pages. You can create your landing on your WordPress site using any theme or page builder plugin that you chose.
This is not a common problem as most sites are already secure BUT it is worth mentioning that pages need to be secure (HTTPS). This is a security requirement for anything being shared on Facebook through its API. HTTPS is becoming the standard across the internet and pretty much all hosting companies now provide free security certificates. Your website must be secure to use VTB. IF you’ve ever had rouble sharing your links on social media or getting blocked this could be one of the reasons.
Please note that you can’t just add an “S” to the URL prefix in order to secure your site. Nice try. I wish it was that easy! The HTTPS protocol actually requires that an SSL certificate be installed on your site. Your web host will do this for you. Also, your site cant contain any unsecured outbound links or else that can break your security status as well. Once you have an SSL cert installed you can find security plugins that will scan your site for un-secure links and fix them.
The Facebook Share Image
There are a lot of little nuances about the Facebook share MODAL (that’s the little Facebook pop-up window) and the image is one modal element that sometimes stumps people. Please make sure that you understand the Fb Share Modal Anatomy Doc FIRST.
If the share modal is, in fact, popping up when you click the VTB button on your landing page BUT the wrong image or no image at all is displaying then it may be a matter of a hard refresh on the page (Ctrl + Shift and click R on Mac or Ctrl and F5 on a PC).
Sometimes the initial click of the VTB button needs to “fetch” the image so that it can be set correctly in the page’s meta tags. A hard refresh of the page and clicking the button again should do the trick, this won’t happen every time it’s just the first time the button is ever clicked.
If the problem is corrected but then happens again you may have another plugin installed that is competing with VTB for control of your pages’ meta tag. (This is further explained below under “the button”.)
If the other elements of the modal like title and description are displaying but just the image isn’t then there might be a separate issue. Most commonly we find that people are trying to use the wrong size image or they are linking to an image that is stored in an insecure (HTTP) location. Please refer to the Fb Share Modal Anatomy Doc for accurate share image sizes and always make sure that your image URL has a secure HTTPS protocol.
Facebook provides a “sharing debugger” tool that will crawl your page to identify the current meta tags for you. This can be very useful in diagnosing whether or not VTB was able to set the image and other metadata for Facebook to pick up. Try the debugger here.
There is always a possibility that you are using another plugin which is preventing VTB from doing its job. We’ve seen this happen with SEO plugins that try to take control of your website’s metadata. If the above solutions haven’t worked we recommend disabling other plugins one at a time and retesting your VTB button after each one to rule out a conflict.
The Shortcode
The VTB shortcode is a little snippet of HTML that you copy from the VTB campaigns page and paste onto your landing page for the button to display. This is typically done in an “HTML Block”. All themes and page builders support “shortcodes” because they are a standard in WordPress development.
An HTML block is a text area provided by your WordPress theme or page builder plugin where you can insert your own HTML code. The steps for accessing and/or creating an HTML block vary from theme to theme so you’ll have to learn exactly where to find it on your particular theme.
Once you enable an HTML block on your page you can paste in your VTB shortcode and save the page. The button itself will only be visible on the LIVE page not on the Wordpress admin or page builder side.
Only 1 VTB button can be displayed per page AND VTB buttons can not be inserted inside of a pop-up box. Remember that your VTB button itself actually pops a modal and browsers don’t typically let you pop a popup window within a popup window cause it opens a wormhole to another dimension.
The Button
IF you’re not seeing a properly configured VTB button on a published page please make sure that your page is actually published! The buttons may not be visible in your themes “preview” mode.
If the button is not displaying at all and you’ve done everything right then there may be a plugin conflict preventing VTB from doing its job.
First of all, know that you can only have one Facebook share button on a page. That’s a Facebook thing, not a VTB thing. You can surely TRY to put multiple buttons on a page but even if they appear to work initially, you will eventually run into problems.
The way Facebook share buttons work is by “pulling” the page metadata into the share modal for posting on Facebook. Every webpage can have “tags” applied to its <head> code. This is done in the HTML behind the scenes. Every webpage has some basic meta tags that tell browsers and other websites what the page is about. These meta tags include Page Title, Page Description, and Page Image (among others). These tags are typically used for SEO (search engine optimization so your sites can be easily found.
Social sharing and SEO tools work by taking control of a page’s meta tags. That’s how Viral Traffic Boost sets your share image, and share text. When you have multiple plugins trying to do the same thing they are all competing to control your page’s meta tags and this will make performance unpredictable. It basically becomes a matter of which plugin got there first.
Some THEMES also have meta tag settings for each page as well as global meta tag settings that set these parameters for EVERY page on the site. If your button doesn’t display or if you are having trouble seeing the correct share image or any image at all in the modal, or heck… even if the Facebook modal is failing to pop up at all… you may be experiencing this type of conflict.
To fix this, make sure that VTB is the ONLY tool controlling your landing page’s meta tags. Deactivate other plugins one by one and test the button each time to rule out who the conflict culprit is. Most themes and plugins will allow you to deactivate these meta tags and SEO settings for particular pages. That’s what you may need to do on your landing page for the VTB button to work.
Plugins like YOAST, All in One SEO Pack, SEO framework, and others may be ones that you need to adjust so that VTB can perform correctly on your site.
Your VTB plugin creates customizable Fb share buttons and you must use them responsibly so that your Fb app doesn’t get restricted. Remember that you are using YOUR Facebook account to create your app, not ours. We can’t be responsible for the way you use the plugin. You should always be transparent with your visitors and tell them that you are adding them to your email list. Always give your subscribers the opportunity to OPT-OUT of your lists and comply with the CAN-SPAM Act and the GDPR. This is YOUR responsibility.
The Redirect Page
If the page you are redirecting to is not displaying but your download banner is there are a few simple fixes you can try.
First, make sure that your WordPress page is actually PUBLISHED and not still in preview mode.
Confirm that the URL you are sending the to is a SECURE (HTTPS) URL. If the target site is not secure, meaning that they have a valid SSL certificate, Facebook may prevent you from navigating its users there. Tell the site owner to secure their site or chose a different page to redirect to.
Some websites BLOCK iframes. VTB uses a process called an iframe to place the download banner on top of the target website. Some websites have special code to prevent iFrames from displaying over their pages. You can test this by simply deactivating your download banner and trying again. To deactivate your download banner simply leave the download item field blank in your banner settings section.
If the redirect page is displaying a 404 error then please check your link structure and make sure that the page is actually published.
Link cloaking can be problematic with Facebook redirecting. Sometimes people like to use link shorteners like the PrettyLinks plugin or services like Bitly as a way of changing the appearance of their URLs. Sometimes they use it as a way to track click metrics. These types of tools work by creating a PHP redirect that masks the original link and adds tracking code. These multiple redirects (from VTB and then from your tracking and/or cloaking tool) can look suspicious to Facebook and cause them to block or simply not load the target page.
If you are using a link cloaking plugin or service and you are failing to see the target page or getting an error we recommend that you try the campaign without the cloak to see if it works that way.
The Download Banner & Button
Displaying a download banner on top of your redirect page is an optional feature of VTB. To NOT use this feature simply leave the download item field blank in your banner settings section.
If you do use the download banner we recommend that you enter a ZIP file location into the download item field. You can use the download button however you wish, however, know that the download field was never meant to contain a link to another page.
Doing that would entice the visitor to click away from your redirect page before consuming any of its content. The same goes for direct linking to a PDF that would open another window and again pull the prospect AWAY from the redirect page.
Naturally, you are free to use this feature however you want but we just want you to be mindful of the strategy you are implementing for delivering your freebie, lead magnet, (ethical bribe) so that it doesn’t hinder the number of sales you can make on the offer page you are redirecting to.
VTB allows you to do advanced customization of the banner settings using the HTML WYSIWYG editor. Users often enter HTML tags to alter things like font attributes and line-height to their liking. Remember that the height of your banner will be affected by the amount and size of the text you put in it.
Mobile Devices
The Facebook API does not allow for apps to pop their native share modal on mobile devices the same way that it does on the desktop browsers.
Our development team is currently experimenting with alternatives that could work similarly on mobile but as of now, Facebook doesn’t support any of these alternatives and that’s why Viral Traffic Boost was not built to work on mobile devices.
When you think about it, people use Facebook completely differently on mobile devices than they do on a computer. The majority of us use the Facebook APP to navigate the Facebook site on our phones and tablets instead of a browser.
People don’t typically unlock their phones, then open a browser (like safari or chrome) then open a tab, then type in the Facebook login URL, and then dig up their password, then log in, then go through 2-factor authentication to start using Facebook. It’s exhausting just thinking about it. That’s why most people just install the Fb app on their phone and tap the icon whenever they want to browse Facebook.
It’s just easier.
Understanding this difference in visitor behavior is critical when you consider the reason for using VTB in the first place. Viral traffic boost creates “share buttons” that allow you to pull the visitor’s name and email onto your autoresponder list WITHOUT them having to type it into a form. If the user is already logged into Facebook (or cookied in) on their browser, the process is seamless and there is no login required. They click your button, VTB adds them to your list and they are navigated to whatever site you want.
The problem with mobile devices is that people are not using Facebook on their browser, they use the app. So VTB would literally have to take control of their phone to open the Facebook app and pull the information then redirect them to a website of your choice by closing the app and opening the browser back up. This is a tall order even for our ninja programmers to code and Facebook’s API doesn’t even support this.
If Viral Traffic Boost tried opening Facebook in the visitor’s mobile browser, the visitor would be forced to log into Facebook by entering their username and password. This defeats the purpose because the idea of VTB was to eliminate the need for your visitor to type anything in. Might as well just have a regular opt-in form there.
We are currently testing some alternative behaviors for VTB on mobile devices. Your button will soon be able to recognize that your visitor is on a mobile device and give you/them an option of how to share and opt-in. We have been making a lot of progress in creating the technology to do this but it’s simply not ready for public release.
Rest assured that when we are ready to release this new mobile feature we will make a public announcement and it will be added to your account at no additional cost.
We hope you found this document useful. If you require further assistance please contact our support team at www.HLShelpDesk.com or call our office during business hours Monday through Friday from 9 Am to 5 Pm Eastern We appreciate your business.
Melinda Martin, CEO
Higher Level Strategies, Inc.