Why did you discontinue inClick Download?
inClick Download has been discontinued in favor of our hosted service, inClick Cloud. The decision to stop the download version was made for many reasons. One key reason was to remove the support overhead needed to maintain a near-infinite number of web server configurations. What we have observed is many potential users would attempt to install the inClick Ad Server with cheap hosting providers. In some cases, the installation would work, in other cases, we would have to provide extended assistance to configure the environment as needed (something the hosting provider support staff should have been able to do, but didn't know how to do it). Worse, users would get things going to later have things unexpectedly stop working due to an unknown change to the environment - ether made by the hosting provider or by the user. By providing inClick Cloud as the only option, we are able to ensure the environment complies with our requirements since we control the environment directly.
Another key reason for stopping the download product is due to the dependencies we have added, and will be adding, to support advanced methods and technologies (think big data processing models). These dependencies are simply not available on shared hosting environments and difficult for many self-managed dedicated server users to maintain and keep updated.
The bottom line is this: we ended inClick Download to focus on improving the product instead of debugging client environments and testing on dozens of different web server configurations. When we reviewed our support logs, we found that over 90% of the support requests we received are due to environmental issues and not product defects.
With inClick Cloud, upgrades are automatic. We manage, maintain, and optimize the infrastructure for the ad server, and ONLY the ad server. The servers are not used for anything other than the ad server. This approach allows our users to focus on building their businesses rather than dealing with server management and maintenance and allows us to focus on improving the product.
But I want to use my own domain name. Is that possible?
Yes, you can use your own domain name. Cloud Standard and Cloud Enterprise allow you to use custom URLs (host mappingh) for the ad server platform. This approach allows you to host your primary website on your own independent of the ad server - a segmented approach.
For example, consider the functions you need for your web site:
- Your Website - (www.yourdomain.com) The pages that describe the service you offer.
- Email - (youraddress@yourdomain.com) How people would contact you.
- Support Desk - (support.yourdomain.com) If you have the volume, using a third party help-desk system may be needed.
- Ad Server - (adsby.yourdomain.com) Our platform, one of the services you are offering.
The web site itself can be hosted on your own server using any content management system you want. Or, if you don't know how to install or manage scripts like Wordpress or Joomla, use a third party service like Weebly or Wix.
If you are using a third party service for the web site, you may want to do the same thing for email. From Gmail for Business, to Rackspace Email, these reliable options are available for you.
Expect to have a lot of questions from your users? Consider using a third party help-desk system such as zendesk.
Finally, you have the ad server that runs in our controlled and managed environment.