Ad System

Is there an ad system for JR? I couldn't find anything in the modules listing.
updated by @jimmy: 04/23/15 03:15:09AM

The skins settings have textareas to add your own ad code or you can use google ads, but there isn't an Ad module, yet!


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Douglas Hackney
Jamroom Team - Designer/Developer/Support
FAQ-Docs-Help Videos

Ok. Thanks for the info. I would love to see an ad code module. There are a lot of sites which have automated ad code purchasing. I'd love to see a system where someone could purchase an ad spot and it gave the purchaser details on clicks, impressions, different options for ad length, etc.

Anyway, thanks for letting me know.

For now the best solution is to use a 3rd party ad script, they all allow you too embed ads by JS, Php etc into any site.

If JR doesn't release a module for ads (hopefully they will because ads are very important to raising revenue for a site owner) I'll end up just creating my own ad module.

Most of the other scripts I work with have ad modules. I'm kind of surprised JR doesn't have one created. All my other sites (non-JR) I sell ads direct to advertisers. I stopped using Google ads a long time ago - I wasn't making any money. Selling ads directly to advertisers with a streamlined system allowing advertisers to choose a spot, amount of time, clicks, impressions, and paying has been quite profitable and pretty hands off for me (besides approving the ads).

I can sell a butt load of ads, getting people to subscribe or sell merch on my site is a lot harder. I hope what @douglas hinted to: "yet!" is sooner than later. Ads are very important... at least to me. I create sites not as a fun hobby, but to provide a good service and make a profit.
updated by @jimmy: 03/10/15 01:13:35PM

We had one in JR4, but very few people actually want to do this on their own - 99% of our users go with an existing ad system that handles all this for them, so there's not been much demand.


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Brian Johnson
Founder and Lead Developer - Jamroom
https://www.jamroom.net

I can say for myself that I would love to have one. I know on a couple of my sites that aren't ranked very high, I could use an alt system like Google. But since I'd only make a few cents a day I don't even bother. My sites which have a large amount of traffic, advertisers would rather place their own ads and pay me directly - this is nice because I don't have to give a chunk to a third party.

Once people start using the profile domains and get users to establish a "homebase" on a JR site the users might want some type of revenue generator for their page. Having an ad system might provide them with an ability to sell ads or insert code from a third party provider.

Obviously, you need to set priorities for what you build for JR as far as modules are concerned. I guess for most people setting up Google Ads is fine when a majority of their income isn't coming from ads on the site. For me and my sites, ads have been pure profit.

I use a forum software for 2 of my other sites, I won't mention the software maker but it begins with an "I". The current version doesn't have an ad system, it's a separate add-on from a third party developer. Ads were requested so much that they integrated it into the core of the system. I can't make any guesses to who uses JR (size of site and global rankings), but I know there are a lot of top ranked sites using the forum software mentioned above and an ad system was a top request.

updated by @jimmy: 03/10/15 02:21:49PM

The more non-coders like myself and various other ex-ningers coming to JR, the more they will appreciate not having to research 3rd party scripts and services. I'd rather buy a simple rotating ad slideshow module from JR directly and know I can activate it with a few clicks.
If you build it they will come.


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...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

I would be against the idea of the team doing an ad module at the moment there are much more important things to do first.

If your using the Ningja skin I don't believe it has even been designed with any ad blocks though it, where as MediaPro etc where.

At the basic level you skin must have placeholders as to where you want the ads to display.

I wouldn't expect the JR team to pre-determine where ads should be displayed. Sure, they would probably put some examples in there for reference, but with as many pages as a JR site can have it would be better for the site owner to decide where the ads should be placed. The code for the ad would be simple, just put this piece of code in your template where you want the ad to appear.

Not saying that there aren't other things which are more important, I honestly don't know. What do you think is more important?

Ads are important on any site which wants to make money IMO. Google doesn't make 95% of their profit from ads because ads aren't important. I often say this: the last time I paid for a site membership or purchased something on a non top 1000 site... I can't remember. Last time I saw an ad... today. Each time I see an ad, someone is making money.

Could you draw us some pictures as to how you think it should work? I find design to be the hardest part of building a module.

Building this module:
* make decisions about how the module should work
* design the interface
* build the code
* release the module
* be told it doesn't work properly
* go back to step 1 and start again.


First thoughts are:
* Network like google's adsense/adwords so that users can turn on the module and tap into an already existing network of adverts.
* OR single site advert system where members of the system can purchase adverts freely and upload their own so admin doesn't have to do anything
* OR a way for admin to put some rotating banners on their site and track the clicks.

--edit--
as for what's more important than a way to monetize getting rid of the visitors to your site, I would say finding ways to keep the customers ON your site is more important.
updated by @michael: 03/17/15 02:17:43AM

Sure, give me a little bit.

Keeping customers on the site, that's simple, content and design. I view content and design (template and flow) as the owners responsibility not JR's responsibility. I think JR pretty much has all the tools necessary.

How to you acquire content?

1. Hoping people love you so much that they're going to post content on your site and not use the 2 million other sites out there which have millions of members, celeb endorsements, and funding.

2. Paying people to add content in the form of writing articles and adding content - staff positions.

3. Allowing people to become "partners" in the project. Allowing them to control ads in their profile and monetize the content they add. One of the reasons YT video ads are so important to YT content creators.

This is how the ad module is designed on another site I use and it works quite well. Just some stuff off the top of my head now.

Firstly, establishment of the advert types:

Advert Types
Advert types allow the admin to add different advert types and set the max characters for that type. Advert types will be used in the "Ads" area (bottom of this post). Advert types restrict what can be placed in that advert type.

Link
Graphic Image
Flash
Javascript
Plain Text
PHP

There are three primary areas.

Sections
A section is where the ad is placed. Each section has a code which is used in the template. It includes items like:

Section Enabled or Disabled (on/off)
Rotating (yes/no): If enabled adverts will be displaying in random order and appearance.
Max Items (NUM): how many ads are going to show in the section. Meaning - one banner, banners side by side, etc. Not how many ads are in the section but rather how many ads are showing at once.
Permissions: Who's going to see this advert?

Templates
Templates are used by the sections and include any design code that will be used, but not the ad code. Having templates to choose from depending on where in the site the ad will be placed.

Template Name
Description
Sections (dropdown) Set sections to this template.
Template content - Includes html code for the template with %content% representing the ad code.

Ads
These will be the actual ads that run on the site.

>Main Settings
Advert is Enabled? (yes/no)
Advert Name
Advert Public Title - Enter public advert name or if you select link advert type, this will anchor for this advert.
Advert Link (optional) - to be used if using the Graphic or Link advert type.

>Type & Section Settings
Advert Type (dropdown)
Advert Section (dropdown)

>Views Settings
Max. Views (num) - Set max number of views for this ad.
Views (num) - Option to set the number of views starting.

>Clicks Settings
Max. Clicks (num) - Set max number of clicks for this ad.
Current Clicks (num) - Option to set the number of clicks starting.

>Date Settings
Enable Date Start? (yes/no)
Date Start - y.m.d.h.m.s
Enable Date End? (yes/no)
Date End - y.m.d.h.m.s


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For the example below lets say I want to place a ad below a video on the site. I wanted it to be a mix of Google ads and an ad I sold to Coke.

First I would create a section which I would call "Ad below Video on X page". I would set the max number of items to 1 - I only want 1 ad showing up at a time. I would select "Yes" to rotate because I would want the ads to rotate.

Then I would create one or two "Templates". Lets first look at creating one template for both adverts, lets say I only need a center tag for both ads. If that's the case then one template would work fine. But lets say I wanted to add wording under the Coke ad that says "sugar is bad" but I didn't want to use that under the google ad. In this case, I would use two templates - one for each ad. The section for both ads would be "Ad below Video on X page".

Then I would create the ads for each. One would be Javascript type - Google Ads. One would be graphic Type where I would upload a banner and add a link under the "Main Settings" in the advert.
updated by @jimmy: 03/17/15 01:30:04PM

In my layman's terms, what I'd like to see:

A footer section/contentblock that I can add to the bottom of my main Index page, my Youtube videos page, my member profiles Index page (site.com/profile), my site.com/forum page, and maybe a couple other pages. It'd be right above the @2015 info.

I'd want that block to span the whole width of the page, and be divided into either 2 or 3 separate horizontal spaces (it'd be nice to have the choice). I'd want to control the height of the overall block. I'd like to be able to insert rotating image banners OR other content like a non-slideshow static image, into each section separately as I want to change them up. It'd be nice to have a wysiwyg box in each section where I can add code and embedded media, gifs, hotlinks, styled text, etc.
The look of the block/section would have to be customizable by me with my site colors, fonts of my choice, etc.

I would be fine with controlling the money/subscription side of it all myself. A member could pay me privately through Paypal for a 3 month slot in the rotation or something simple like that. I could keep track of that stuff on my own.
That's just my own rather barebones wishlist...nothing too techno or fancy needed for me.


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...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

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¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Education, learning resources, TEL, AR/VR/MR, CC licensed content, panoramas, interactive narrative, sectional modules (like jrDocs), lunch at Uni of Bristol. Get in touch if you share my current interests or can suggest better :)

Oh well.

I guess then just a simple moduleblock to contain a rotating image slideshow?
I suppose we'd need to be able to set the image dimensions and the location on the page (at footer, below banner, in a side column...)




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...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015
updated by @strumelia: 03/18/15 02:44:58PM

I am using this http://www.phpwebscripts.com/ad-manager-pro/features.html and have added placeholders throughout my templates. I wont be placing ads on premium profiles but will be on free ones.

Let me know if the JR team is considering creating a JR Ad system or not. If the JR team isn't planning on developing a module (that's up to you guys), I'm going to develop one for my sites that I can use. I don't want to start working on something if you guys are thinking about release one.

We are not working on one at the present, and it will be some time before we do. Our focus right now is on Site Builder and improving existing modules.

If it is something you really need now then you'll want to go ahead and build it.


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Brian Johnson
Founder and Lead Developer - Jamroom
https://www.jamroom.net

Ok, thanks for letting me know. I'll start working on what I need for my site.