Overview

The Ad Campaign feature allows a network to manage when and how ads are seen across their site. It can be accessed from the Control Panel at Options > Ad Campaigns.

There are two main sections to the Campaigns area:

  • Custom Ads
  • Standard Ads

Can I create ads directly from the Custom HTML page?

Code added through the Custom HTML feature and saved as the category ads will be available in the Ad Manager under both the Custom Ad area and the Standard Ads area.

Vice versa, ads created through a new ad campaign will be available in the Custom HTML editor and available to edit in both locations.

Custom Ads

The Custom Ads area of Ad Campaigns allows a network to manage existing ads and ad campaigns, or create new ads and assign them to campaigns. Features include:

  • Create new ad campaign (and ad)
  • Activate / deactivate ad campaign
  • Edit ad campaign
  • Delete ad campaign

The Target is the focus of a campaign. If a campaign is focused on one content type, it will be displayed here. However, if multiple types are selected, this field will simply read ‘multiple.’

Ad campaigns will be always be displayed with the active campaigns at the top of the list.

Create new ad campaign

When you hit the Create New button, a form will appear allowing you to select the ad you wish to use and where and how you want it displayed. You can select an existing ad, or create a new ad inline.

The name of your campaign is only for identification purposes in the Control Panel. It is never displayed on the front end to users.

The target of your campaign is where you want the ad to display. Select multiple locations using Ctrl+click on a PC or Cmd+click on a Mac. Choices include:

  • Forum posts
  • Network Search – Articles
  • Network Search – Blogs
  • Network Search – Forums
  • Network Search – Groups
  • Network Search – Users
  • Newsfeed
  • Poll

Please note: for all network search options, this does not affect the ‘All’ view summary. It only affects the individual views of the above content types.

The Frequency is how often you wish your ad to display. For example, if you select Newsfeed and set the frequency to 2, after every 2 newsfeed line items, the ad you have specified will be displayed.

It is important to consider the placement of an ad versus the size of the ad in question. We will continue with our newfeed example. Most communities use the newsfeed on a multi-columned page which means the available width for the ad in a newsfeed campaign would be much smaller than the average width of a forum page for example. It would also look very awkward to use a tower ad within the newsfeed.

Standard Ads

When a network is initially set up, a default set of page templates are in place. While these templates can be overwritten, they are populated with the page contents and modules ONEsite believes will be of the most use on a new site.

The Display Ad module is included in many of the default page templates and is prepopulated with standard sized Google ads in three sizes.

  • Tower ad – This is a 160 x 600 vertical ad spot.
  • Square ad – This is 300 x 250 ad spot.
  • Banner ad – This is a 728 x 90 horizontal ad spot. While this ad spot is available, it is not utilized in any template by default.

All ‘ad’ categorized Custom HTML blocks created on your network will be available through the drodowns shown to the right for you to select as the new default. Please note: the system is not aware of the contents of a Custom HTML block, so it is possible to assign a ‘banner ad’ into a ‘tower ad’ designated location.