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ADVERTISING BANNERS with LINKS SQL

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ADVERTISING BANNERS with LINKS SQL
I would like to know the easiest way to use Links SQL and a banner rotation script of some sort. Any particular good suggestions, welcome.
I am using Links SQL, and a database of various subjects that can be queried like a directory, search engine.

Danka.
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Re: ADVERTISING BANNERS with LINKS SQL In reply to
Do you have a program in mind?

The way you intend to use the banners makes a big difference too.

Several people have been working on modificatiosn to allow this, in different ways. I have one waiting for me to code something up, but i haven't solved some problems in rotations/groups/zones, etc that I need to before I can start. It's a logic problem, and sometimes I make things too complex Smile



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POSTCARDS.COM -- Everything Postcards on the Internet www.postcards.com
LinkSQL FAQ: www.postcards.com/FAQ/LinkSQL/








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Re: ADVERTISING BANNERS with LINKS SQL In reply to
We are working on an integrated banner program for Links SQL, it's still in the design phase right now though. Any input on what you would like to see would be useful.

Cheers,

Alex
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Re: ADVERTISING BANNERS with LINKS SQL In reply to
Hi Alex,

I am looking forward to this feature.

Is it possible to display banners according to the country the user comes from ( find out where the IP adress is located like on your homepage and display specific banners)
or if its a registerd user check his data on regional information country, state or even city and show regional banners?

Regards, Alexander
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Re: ADVERTISING BANNERS with LINKS SQL In reply to
The ability to manage ads within links and/or by integration with dbman would be FANTASTIC!

As I'm sure you're aware, there would be several "groups" of details which would need to be addressed including type of ad, placement/position of ad on pages, ad owner logistics, admin statistics & functionality.

Type of ad:
- Banner maxFilesize, FixedWidth, FixedHeight, linkURL, AltText(displayed below ad), locURL (where the banner is physically stored - upload to defined directory, or called from another server?)
- Button maxFilesize, FixedWidth, FixedHeight, linkURL, locURL
- Text min/maxChar, linkURL, locURL (txt file & path), displayFormat (font-face,font-size,font-color,align)
- Email min/maxChar, line length< br > locURL (txt file & path)
Others?

Placement/Position:
- ROS, Cat, SubCat, Page, Keyword
- Weight (0=off 10=exclusive)
- Pos1, Pos2, Pos3
helpful with a column of buttons or top/lower banners, etc.

Ad owner (ad placement):
- Contact name, email, phone
- Billing name, phone, address, city, state, zip, methodCC, CCType, CCNumb, CCExp, methodCheck, methodPO, methodOther(specify)
These two items are often diff with ads
- AdType Banner, Button, Text, Email
- Duration NumWeeks, NumMonths, Year, Impressions, Click-thrus
- StartDate
- Login password (email being keyID)
Ad owner (stats viewing):
- authenticate (or retrieveLostPass)
- ViewAll (default) optionalViewIndividual (if multiple ads - after default view)
- Views, Clicks, clickRate
- renewIndividual, cancelIndividual, renewAll, CancelAll, addNew
- contactAdSupport (links to a form, hidden fields captures accountInfo)
- changePass, changeContact (if changing billing newAd)
- AddNew, Modify (existing ads only)

SiteOwner
- onLOGIN - display TotalAdViews, TotalClickThrus, ViewAll, ViewIndividual, EmailAll, Validate, Modify, AdType
- validateNewAd, validateAdType options, assignWeight input, assignPlacement input, assignPosition options, assignStartDate acceptDefault(provided by adOwner or uncheck to delay), validateDuration check, confirmEmail (customizeable text to ack ad details)
- reviewChange, validateChange (on AdOwner modifys)
- modifyID - modifyAdType options (displayCurrent), modifyWeight input (displayCurrent), modifyPlacement input (displayCurrent), modifyPosition options (displayCurrent), modifyStartDate (displayCurrent), modifyDuration check (displayCurrent), modifyEmail
- deleteID (same/similar functionality as modifyID)
- suspendID (same/similar functionality as modifyID)
- adType - createNew, ModifyTypeID (display list of current types with checkbox for modifying)
- adType/createNew - selectBanner/Button/Text/Email, selectMaxFilesize or inputMaxFilesize, selectFixedWidth or inputFixedWidth, selectFixedHeight or inputFixedHeight, selectlocURL or inputlocURL (where images or txt files are to be stored for this adType)

<grin> I know there's a lot I've overlooked but running out of time quickly! I'm sure many others would be able to provide some valuable input on this topic - I've seen some fantastic brainstorming going on in these forums!

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~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Karen
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Re: ADVERTISING BANNERS with LINKS SQL In reply to
I'm not sure how difficult it would be to implement, but a nice feature would be for the banner program to function throughout the site, not just within Links SQL. As long as you're going to have all the different zones and tracking options ( Wink ), it would make sense to have one such script be responsible for everything.

Dan
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Re: ADVERTISING BANNERS with LINKS SQL In reply to
Alex,

I noticed that in Jerrys new Review.cgi 2 file, that it creates some sort of good image (png or something...).

These would be good to compare clickthroughs to impressions and to compare differnet adverts. When you have about 15 or so different advertisers, graphs do really help.

I started making a flat file one for Links 2.0 ( I am not a dope at Perl, just MySQL :P ).

Anyway - My Links SQL is screwing up on me all of a sudden, need to fix it!



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Michael Bray
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Review your webhost, or find a new one at http://www.webhostarea.com


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Re: ADVERTISING BANNERS with LINKS SQL In reply to
Alex,

Any progress on the banner rotation segment?

Cheers,

Wil Hatfield
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Re: ADVERTISING BANNERS with LINKS SQL In reply to
I forgot about this. I wonder if that will be a part of the new release.

If Jerry is _really_ going to release the reveiw2.cgi, once I get my postcards scripts upgraded, my next job is the advertising scripts. The reason is I'm working on a catalog/shopping cart script that integrates into Links (actually, _IS_ links, using a different set of tables from inside the database.)

Once I get that working, the advertising rotations will fit in nicely, since some of the code for targeting the catalog will be the same as for targeting the advertising.

I hate reinventing the wheel, so knowing Jerry is working (?) on the review2.cgi and Alex had started the spider and advertising programs, and some other cool things, I've moved my efforts to other areas. The catalog is my big one at the moment, I have a bare-bones version working that is linked directly to the images on our site (a Digital Postcards(R) image that is of something we have available to sell is linked to the catalog database, which keeps track of whether it's a one-of-a-kind or inventory item. It's rough... but it works. It needs an e-commerce gateway to do 0n-line creditcards or checks, but that is in development from other groups and the scripts can pass any data they would need to them on "checkout". A missing part of this is the user-registration system, but hopefully that will be augmneted in the next release of Links.

All of a sudden (the past 2 months) everyone sees the value and flexibility of Links SQL and a bunch of people are making good mods for it. The problem is it is new software, and there isn't a lot of already-done stuff. More will come out over time. Patience is hard in the real-world, but in cyberspace it's akin to chinese torture! Smile



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Re: ADVERTISING BANNERS with LINKS SQL In reply to
It will be available as a plug in in our next release (eta two to three weeks away).

Cheers,

Alex