Ad Tracking Module (Banner Management)

Ad Tracking Module

Executive Summary

The ad banner manager is a four-module suite that allows administrators to set up, track and manage advertisements and their advertisers in CentralPoint.

The suite is located under the "Advertising" tab within CentralPoint's administrative console in the "Ad Tracking" folder. The four modules that comprise the suite are:

Advertisers > Advertisers Ad Tracking > Banners Ad Tracking > Zones Ad Tracking > Announcers

The Ad Tracking > Announcers module is a subset of the Admin > Users module, which will allow administrators to filter user-specific content to the advertising group, if they so choose. Administrators can create an advertiser record in either Advertising > Announcers and Admin > Users. An Announcer record can be related to multiple banner ads.

Ad Tracking > Banners is the spot where administrators will upload their banner files -- .SWF, .PNG., .JPG, .GIF -- or create dynamic HTML that will display the advertisement. Administrators also associate their ad banners to zones, which they can manage and create in the "Zone Management" module.

Managing and creating zones in the Ad Tracking > Zones module allows administrators to define the script that they will place in a qualified Rich Text Formatting (RTF) field, which will ultimately display their banner advertisements.

The Advertisers module essentially places the zones in your sites via the "zone management" scripts. This module allows administrators to define where and under what conditions the ads display.

Chapters

Creating Zones Creating Banners Placing Zone Scripts

Creating Zones

The first step in the banner-management process is to produce one or more zones in the Ad Tracking > Zones module. The zones are essentially scripts that represent silos that allow administrators to display and rotate ads in specific parts of their sites.

To create a zone, click to Ad Tracking > Zones, and click the "New" button in the upper left-hand corner of the module grid view.

The system will display a blank form containing the following fields: Name, View Associated Banners, Description, CpScript, JavaScript, Display Status, Notes and Audit Trail. Additionally, there are buttons that allow you to perform certain operations on the record -- such as "save", "copy" or "cancel".

The "Name" field is what you wish to call your zone. Best practices dictate that zones be named after the position and section of the site. For example, if you're creating a leaderboard ad that will display run-of-site, the name of your zone might be: "Run-of-site Leaderboard ad zone".

At this point in the process -- the zone-creation steps -- you will not have any banners associated to your zone, so you can skip to the "Description" field.

The "Description" field is strictly for internal use -- the content of this field does not display on the front end of the site. Administrators can use this field to provide some brief narrative about the zone's location and contents.

The next two fields -- CpScript and JavaScript -- are fields that CentralPoint will populate after you have saved your zone. The contents of these fields drive the banner display, so it's important to get familiar with both where to place these and their respective attributes.

The CpScript field, after saving, will contain a script that contains the following attributes:

[...key='AdBannerManager' zoneid='[some 36-character ID]' rotation='[n]' effect='' plainContentHTML='']

The key='' attribute tells CentralPoint from which module the script should display content.

Zone-id is the unique identifier of the zone you create when you click the "save" button for the first time in the Zone Management record. The unique identifier is system-generated, and you do not have control over its value.

The rotation='' attribute takes a number between 0 and 999, and defines in seconds how long ads associated to the zone will display before being rotated and/or refreshed. This attribute's value triggers CentralPoint to refresh the only the zone script, and therefore the ads associated to that zone. The page on which the zone displays will not be refreshed.

The rotation attribute will not rotate ads that contain JavaScript or are Flash-based.

plainContentHTML="true" - attribute will disable any type of effects or rotation and return plain content Html from content.

The final attribute in the script -- effect='' -- controls whether or not your rotating ads exhibit visual effects that are in addition to effects that may appear in the ads themselves.

The effect='' attribute can take one of fifteen values: blind, bounce, clip, drop, explode, fade, fold, highlight, puff, pulsate, scale, shake, size, slide, transfer. The syntax for each of these effects is as follows:

effect='blind' effect='bounce' effect='clip' effect='drop' effect='explode' effect='fade' effect='fold' effect='highlight' effect='puff' effect='pulsate' effect='scale' effect='shake' effect='size' effect='slide' effect='transfer'

One zone can exhibit only one effect, and the effects will not display on Flash-based ads or ads that contain JavaScript. Additionally, the effects syntax must match precisely what is displayed above; it is case-sensitive.

To display zones and their associated banners, administrators will copy the CpScript and place it in any RTF field that supports cpscripting in order to display banner ads. Most RTF fields in CentralPoint support cpscripting.

For RTF fields -- or other text fields -- that do not support cpscripting, administrators can use the contents of the JavaScript field to display banners. Like the CpScript field, administrators will copy the contents of the JavaScript field and paste it into a field that corresponds to the location of the ad banners.

Creating Banners

After you've created your zones, you can then create and manage your ads using the Ad Tracking > Banners module. To insert a new banner ad, click to the Ad Tracking > Banners module.

Before clicking the "New" button in the upper left-hand corner, notice that the module grid view displays the number of ad impressions, click-thrus and the associated click-through rate (CTR). This is a useful snapshot of your advertising activity.

Now, clicking the "New" button, you will see that the Ad Tracking module contains the following fields: Title, Publish Start Date, Publish End Date, URL, Target, Content, Weight, Zones, Advertiser, Clicks, Audiences and Display Status.

The "Title" field is the name of the banner. It is a required field, and is used for administrative purposes only. That is, the title will not display on the front end of the site.

You can set the range in which the banner is available for display on the front end by altering the "Publish Start Date" and "Publish End Date" fields. Take note, too, that you can begin and end the ad's display at a precise moment in time by using the hour, minute, second fields.

To set the URL to which the ad should redirect, enter a fully qualified URL -- including http:// -- into the URL field. The "Target" field determines whether or not the fully qualified URL opens in a new browser window ("Blank") or the current browser window ("Self"). Most open in new windows.

The "Content" field is a fully editable RTF field that serves your banner media. Currently supported media types are: text/HTML, JavaScript, images, Flash. Future enhancements will include support for cpscripting.

To upload your media item -- be it an image or Flash item -- click the "Media" button on the RTF editor's control panel (paper with a paper clip icon). The system allows you to choose from an existing list of media items in your media store, or upload a new item.

If you are serving an HTML or JavaScript ad, paste the code into the RTF editor using the "code view" <>).

Next, insert the "Weight" you wish to give the ad -- a number from 1 to 9. A banner with a weight of 6 is six times more likely to appear than a banner with a weight of 1. Likewise, a banner with a weight of 8 is two and two-thirds times more likely to appear than a banner with a weight of 3.

The "Zones" field is a multi-select that allows you to assign a banner to multiple zones. It is fully searchable (in the Title and Display Status fields") to allow for easier location of zones in lengthy lists. Administrators can click and unclick zones as needed. Those with check marks are the zone in which the ad will appear.

Associating an advertiser to a particular banner is not required, but for reporting purposes you may want to choose the appropriate administrator from the "Advertiser" drop-down list.

The "Clicks" field is a display-only field, meaning that administrators are unable to edit its contents. It displays the number of times users have clicked the banner.

The "Audiences" multi-select allows you to filter where within your site structure your banner will appear. Maintaining the "all audiences" selection will ensure that, regardless of your zone's placement, the ad will appear. Choosing specific audiences will limit the banner's display to those audiences only.

The "Display Status" field determines whether or not a banner actively displays on the front end of the site. If the ad is on "Hold", it will not display. If it is "Released", it will display accordingly.

Placing Zone Scripts

To place your ads on the front end of the site, click to the Ad Tracking > Zones module and choose the zone whose ads you wish to actively display.

From the CpScript field, either highlight the entire script and hit Ctrl+C (Cmd+C on a Mac) or click the "copy" icon that is located to the right of the script's field. That will copy the script to allow for quick placement via pasting.

Next, click to Advertisers -- the module that gives administrators the most control over where and when ads display.

This module contains the following fields: System Title, Publish Start Date, Publish End Date, Content Type, Position, Text Alignment, Page Type, Navigation specific OR Keywords, Order, Audiences Roles, Display Status Notes and Audit Trail.

The "System Title" field is the name of the advertiser area. It is for administrative use only.

You can set the date range in which the advertiser is available for display on the front end by altering the "Publish Start Date" and "Publish End Date" fields. Take note, too, that you can begin and end the advertiser's display at a precise moment in time by using the hour, minute, second fields.

The "Content Type" field determines what CentralPoint serves on the front end: HTML or plain text. If HTML, the RTF field remains. You can drop the zone cpscript here in either the RTF view or the HTML view.

If you choose "Plain Text", the system will serve the plain text content. Typically, administrators use this field for JavaScript and HTML ads.

The "Position" field determines where on the front end design your ad zone will appear. The choices and corresponding location are:

Perimeter Top - above the site's Design > Styles > Top content Perimeter Right - to the right of the site's Design > Styles > Right content Perimeter Bottom - below of the site's Design > Styles > Bottom content, and below any "Bottom (Below Footer)" ads Perimeter Left - to the left of the site's Design > Styles > Left content Bottom (Above Footer) - above the site's Design > Styles > Bottom content Bottom (Below Footer) - below the site's Design > Styles > Bottom content Left (Above Navigation) - above the site's left-hand navigation Left (Below Navigation) - below the site's left-hand navigation Right (Above Content) - above the site's Design > Styles > Right content Right (Below Content) - below the site's Design > Styles > Right content Top (Above Header) - above the site's Design > Styles > Top content Top (Below Header) - below the site's Design > Styles > Top content

"Text Alignment" defines whether your ad content or plain text will display aligned to the center, right or left.

You can define where exactly you want your ad banners to display by setting the "Page Type" property.

Clicking the "All Pages" option will display the content or plain text on all pages in the spot you defined in the "Position" field. Notice that when you click "All Pages", there is no multi-select or text box available to you.

The "Navigation Specific" choice allows you to limit or target where your ads display, based on your site's navigation. Note that the "Navigation Items" multi-select is available when you choose "Navigation Specific". The navigation items whose checkboxes are checked are where your ad will display.

Finally, the "Search Results" option allows you to target ads to specific keyword searches that users perform using the site search. Place a comma-separated list of the keywords you wish to target within the "Keywords" box (available after you choose the "Search Results" page type), and when a user's search matches any of those words, the ad will display.

The "Order" field allows administrators to display, top to bottom or left to right, more than one ad or ad banner zone in a position. Fill in a number between 1 and 999 to determine where your ad will display relative to other ads associated to the same "Position". For instance, an ad tied to "Right (Above Content)" position with the order value of 1 will appear above an ad associated to the "Right (Above Content)" position with the order value of 2.

Choosing Audiences allows administrators to further filter where the ad will appear within the site's structure. The Audience field is a multi-select that allows you to associate ads to one or more audiences. You can also associate the ad to all audiences, which will display the ad in its position and page type regardless of its audience.

The concept of "Roles" allows you to further limit who among your users will see your ads. A role essentially relates to a group of users -- be they "Everyone", "Private"-access users (or members who are logged in), or just the "Public" users (users who are not logged in).

Associating an ad to "Everyone" will display the ad, regardless of whether users are logged in. Tagging the ad "Private" will display it to users who are logged in only. Likewise, tying the ad to the "Public" role will display it to users who are not logged in only.