Administrator s Manual

Transcription

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 4 ABSOLUTE BANNER MANAGER FEATURES 6 INSTALLING ABSOLUTE BANNER MANAGER 8 SETTING UP THE DATABASE (MS SQL SERVER 2000) 8 INSTALLING ABSOLUTE BANNER MANAGER ON YOUR WEB SITE 9 SETTING THE INCLUDE LIBRARIES TO MAKE ABSOLUTE BANNER MANAGER WORK WITH YOUR SERVER S COMPONENT 13 Components Supported 13 QUICK START GUIDE 16 ABSOLUTE BANNER MANAGER ADMINISTRATION OPTIONS 19 LOGIN SCREEN 19 SEARCH SCREEN 20 ZONES 21 Code Types 23 Creating New Zones 25 ADVERTISERS 26 Registering New Advertisers 27 EDIT BANNER 29 Banner Properties 29 View Banner 32 REPORTS OPTIONS 35 LOG OUT 38 BANNER REGISTRATION GUIDELINES 39 GRAPHIC BANNERS 39 TEXT AND HTML BANNERS 39 FLASH BANNERS 41 Preparing the Flash File 41 Registering the Flash Banner 43 3RD PARTY AD SERVER 44 SAMPLE: REGISTERING A BANNER FOR AN ADVERTISER 45 IAB ADVERTISING BANNER SIZES 46 BANNER DEFINITIONS 49 2

3 TROUBLESHOOTING 50 FOUND A BUG?, LET US KNOW! 53 OTHER APPLICATIONS BY XIGLA SOFTWARE _54 3

4 INTRODUCTION Thank you for selecting the Absolute Banner Manager by XIGLA SOFTWARE as your Banner administration tool. You ve made an excellent choice. The Absolute Banner Manager is a powerful Banner administration system specially designed to suit all your Banner administration needs. Aimed at small and medium sites, the Absolute Banner Manager has everything you need to serve and manage advertising on your web site while allowing your advertisers to check their statistics and get on-line reports for their banners on your site. Working with the Absolute Banner Manager is extremely easy for both you and your site s advertisers. The system administrator just needs to log in, define the zones where the banners are going to be displayed, register some advertisers with their banners and the application will do the rest. The advertisers can just log in and check their Banner statistics with detailed chart graphs and reports and contact the system administrator through the application 24 hours a day / 7 days a week. Also, the Absolute Banner Manager supports all type of rich media ads. You can register any type of banner to use with the application: applets, Flash, graphics, Javascript, HTML, and even combinations of these formats. Assign them to several parts of your site, even with prices and payment types (per click, flat rate, per hit). Define a weight for the rotation frequency or even the number of impressions per day. Almost every aspect of the most costly Banner administration systems has been implemented into this incredible system. By using several types of zone codes, the Absolute Banner Manager will be able to efficiently display your banners on any page of your site (regardless of the extension:.htm,.asp,.cfm,.php or anything else), pop-up window or e- mail message, the Absolute Banner Manager will serve your Banners according to the display rules that you previously set. The Absolute Banner Manager is 100% Active Server Pages (ASP) script and there are no DLL s to install on the server. It s also very easy to set up and administer. The simple and ergonomic web-based administration interface allows you to administer your Banners from any location with web access. The Absolute Banner Manager comes ready to run with both MS Access 2000 (you don t need to own a Microsoft Access License in order to use the software) and SQL Server 2000 databases (the full SQL Server script is included in case you want to use MS SQL Server as the backend for the application to give the Absolute Banner Manager full scalable strength). The application comes ready to run with a wide range of third party components for sending notifications to your advertisers when their Banners expire. 4

5 We know that you ll enjoy using this versatile application as much as we ve enjoyed developing it. We ve made our best efforts to provide you with a complete application to satisfy all of your Banner administration requirements. Now let s set up this powerful software and start serving Banner ads on your site! Juan David Arbeláez R. XIGLA SOFTWARE 5

6 ABSOLUTE BANNER MANAGER FEATURES The Absolute Banner Manager comes packed with lots of features that will allow you to easily manage your site s Banner ads: Built using 100% Active Server Pages (ASP) script, There are no DLL s required to install on the server. Works with both Microsoft Access and SQL Server databases (full script included). By using SQL Server you ll provide scalable strength to the application. Upload your Banner files through the application. Full upload script included and ready to run. Supports an unlimited number of Advertisers, Banners, and Zones. Register as many as your server can handle! Advanced real-time reporting options for you and your advertisers. Statistics are real-time and available 24x7. Each advertiser account is password-protected and reports can be viewed as HTML or exported to MS EXCEL. Ads can be weighted, so some ads are displayed more often (or less) than others. You can even configure the number of banner impressions per day as well as whether or not a Banner can be displayed multiple times on the same page. The administration tasks can be performed using a web browser on a 100% user-friendly and ergonomic interface. Even newcomers and nontechnical users should have no problem using the application. Your Banners are displayed in Zones which you define by inserting a simple piece of HTML code on your web pages. Assign any number of Banners to any number of Zones! Banners can be scheduled to start rotating by defining a Start and an Ending Date. Also you can have "Default" Banners to display when there are no available Banners to show in order to track your higher traffic Zones (and fill the Banners space!). Support for any type of Banners: Use GIF's, JPEG's, Text ads, HTML Banners, Flash Banners, Java applets, Rich Media Banners, and thirdparty ad agency code. 6

7 Automatic Notifications: Option to automatically notify you and your advertisers about their expired Banners! Contact Form Included: Your advertisers can contact you from within the application using an easy-to-use contact form. Control lots of Banner properties: Link, Target Window, Text to display beneath the Banners, Start and Ending Rotation Date, Payments (Per Click, Per Impression, Flat Rate), Status (Active, Paused, Expired, Default), Quantity Purchased (Impressions, Clicks), Weight, Cost, Max. Number of impressions per day and more! Use a wide range of codes to display your banners on your site : In-line frames, Javascript Includes, Auto-rotation, , Pop-up and more!. New Auto-rotation code, will rotate banners without having the user to reload the page. Maintains a comprehensive log of hits and click-thru information in the backend database for full reporting. Plus more! We at XIGLA SOFTWARE value customer feedback. If you have specific features you d like to see implemented in the Absolute Banner Manager, please us at info@xigla.com and tell us about it. There s no better way to enhance an application than by hearing what the final users need. Also, if you found a bug or problem, please us immediately so that we can solve your problem and prepare an upgrade for our users. 7

8 INSTALLING ABSOLUTE BANNER MANAGER Installing the Absolute Banner Manager is very straight-forward: just follow the instructions and your new Banner administration software will be running in no time. The first thing you need to do is to decide which database are you going to use. By default, the Absolute Banner Manager comes ready to run with a Microsoft Access database; however, we ve included the full Microsoft SQL Server script in case that you want to use that powerful database server. If you want to use the Absolute Banner Manager with SQL Server, then read the following sections in order to set up the database. Otherwise, you may skip to the Installing the Absolute Banner Manager on Your Web Site section. Setting Up the Database (MS SQL Server 2000) 1. The Absolute Banner Manager database is ed as a script file called absolutebmxe.sql. Save this file somewhere on your local computer. 2. From within SQL Server Enterprise Manager, create a new database. Right-click on Database and select New database. 3. Enter the database name absolutebmxe or any other name you may want for this new database. 4. Click OK when finished. An empty database named absolutebmxe will be created. 5. Now, execute the absolutebmxe.sql script in order to create the tables and queries in the new database. From the Tools menu of the Enterprise Manager, select SQL Server Query Analyzer. 6. From within the Query Analyzer, open the absolutebmxe.sql script file. Make sure to select the absolutebmxe database from the database drop-down menu. 7. Execute the script by clicking the Execute Query button or pressing F5. If executed successfully, you ll see a Query Batch Completed message at the bottom of the screen. 8. In order to optimize the database, right click on the absolutebmxe database from within the Enterprise Manager. Select Properties and under the Options tab, check the Auto shrink property. 8

9 9. Due to the nature of Absolute Banner Manager, this system will be constantly accessing your database to retrieve and track the banner ads. It is advised to set the recovery model of the database to SIMPLE or to set a mainteinance plan that backups the database log on a daily basis. Otherwise, your log file will grow really fast and eat your disk space. Now let s add a user for the database. Adding a New User for the absolutebmxe Database (MS SQL Server 2000) 1. Within the SQL Server Enterprise Manager, expand the tree down to Security. 2. Right click on Logins and select New Login. 3. Enter the name as absolutebmxe and select SQL Server authentication. 4. Enter an unique password (please take note of your password, you ll need it later). 5. Under database select the absolutebmxe database and click on the Database Access tab. 6. Click the Permit check box for the absolutebm database then check the db_owner box under Permit In Database Role. 7. Click OK and enter your password confirmation. Installing Absolute Banner Manager on Your Web Site The Absolute Banner Manager and the MS Access database are ed to you in a zipped file (.zip). Follow these instructions to set-up the Absolute Banner Manager on your site: 1. Create a sub-directory in your site s root directory. This directory will house the Absolute Banner Manager Software so, it s a good idea to give it a name such as absolutebmxe. For example, if your domain is then you might create a directory called 9

10 2. Extract the Absolute Banner Manager zip file into this directory. The Absolute Banner Manager includes several sub-directories. You must maintain this directory structure and include those subdirectories. Note: Some hosting companies require you to place your databases in a specially assigned directory. If this is the case, you ll need to alter the Absolute Banner Manager structure. Please refer to the troubleshooting section to see how to work around this. WARNING!: DO NOT PLACE A COPY OF OUR ZIP FILE ANYWHERE ON YOUR SITE. By doing so, you ll be allowing your users to download the application without owning a license and you know that doing that, is wrong. You ll be violating our License Agreement and intellectual property rights. 3. Now, set the permissions for the newly created absolutebmxe directory to allow read and write permissions, allow files to be browsed and allow scripts to be run. Turn off browser permissions on the database folder (db folder) so that users cannot download the MS Access database. 4. If you want to use the Access database then skip to step 5, otherwise, If you re using a SQL Server Database use a text editor (Notepad will work fine), and open the databasedata.asp script file to configure it properly. You ll see the following code (we have colored and numbered the lines for explanation purposes): <% 1 '/// Connection Using an Access Database /// 2 database="db/absolutebm.mdb" 3 connection="provider=microsoft.jet.oledb.4.0;data Source="& server.mappath(database) 4 5 '/// Connection Using a SQL Server database //// 6 'connection="provider=sqloledb;data SOURCE=YOUR_SERVER;DATABASE=absolutebmxe;USER ID=USERNAME;PASSWORD=PASSWORD;" %> You ll note that there s an apostrophe (comment) before the red line (line 6). You need to remove that apostrophe to un-comment that line and 10

11 place an aposthrophe (comment) before each of the green lines (just before the database and connection variables (Lines 2 and 3)). Then in the red line (line 6), you ll need to replace YOUR_SERVER, with the name or IP Address of the SQL Server where the database resides. Also you ll have to replace the USERNAME and PASSWORD with the corresponding username and password you previously set in order to access the server, now the code may look like this (without the numbers): <% 1 '/// Connection Using an Access Database /// 2 'database="db/absolutebm.mdb" 3 'connection="provider=microsoft.jet.oledb.4.0;data Source="& server.mappath(database) 4 5 '/// Connection Using a SQL Server database //// 6 connection=" PROVIDER=SQLOLEDB;DATA SOURCE=YOUR_SERVER;DATABASE=absolutebmxe;USER ID=user_name_here;PASSWORD=Password_here;" %> Note: The Absolute Banner Manager uses a DSN-Less connection to both the Access and SQL Server database. In case you want to set up and use a DSN, create it in your control panel and replace the connection string in the DATABASEDATA.ASP file with the name of the DSN. I.e: connection= YOUR DSN NAME. Please note thet DSN-Less connections using the OLEDB provider are faster and more efficient that DSN connections using ODBC 5. Run the application in your browser by accessing the directory where you installed the Absolute Banner Manager and login using admin as both the username and password and click the Login button: 6. Click on the Options button from the top menu, and click OK on the confirmation message. You ll be accessing the system configuration options. 7. In the Licensed To field, enter your name or the name of the company that purchased and will be using the Absolute Banner Manager. In the order ID number, type the number of your order reference number (this number can be found on the confirmation that you received after placing your order). 8. In the Site URL field, enter the URL to your site: 11

12 9. In the Application URL, enter the full URL to the Absolute Banner Manager on your site (this is the same URL you defined in step 1 and used in step 5 to access the application). I.E : Enter a New administrator Username / Password combination. Using admin as your Username / Password is not a vey good idea. Take note of your new Username and Password. From now on, you ll need this information to log onto the application. 11. For the Banner s Options field, select the font and size for the texts that will be displayed beneath your Banners. 12. Type a default title for using on pop-up windows displaying banners using the pop-up window code without any text or slogan. 13. Set the rate for the auto-rotation feature. This value will be used for banners being displayed using the auto-rotate code. 14. If you don t want a banner to be displayed again on the same page, check the corresponding option and set the minimum time to display the same banner on the same page. 15. Set the max. number of days to store the banner stats on the database. This information is required for generating detailed reports. 16. If you want to enable the notifications, reports and password reminder features, check the correponsing options 17. For the notifications, enter your address in the field and a valid SMTP Server, a default subject and signature that you d like to include with all the outgoing messages. 18. Click on the Save Settings button in order to save the changes (remember that the Absolute Banner Manager directory needs to have write permission in order to let you modify the settings). Note: For security reasons, many hosting providers do not allow write permissions to their directories. If this is the case, the Absolute Banner Manager will show you a code to update your settings. *Copy and paste this code into a blank.txt file (use notepad). *Rename this file to configdata.asp. *Upload this file to your Absolute Banner Manager Directory and your new settings will take place. 12

13 Note: If you don t want to set write permission to the Absolute Banner Manager directory, you need to know that the Banners folder DOES require write permission. Otherwise, some errors may arise when uploading Banners to the application. Now let s configure the correct include libraries to make the Absolute Banner Manager work with your server s component. Setting the include libraries to make Absolute Banner Manager work with your server s component The Absolute Banner Manager supports a wide range of third party components. These components are used for sending notifications to your advertisers when their banners expire and for letting them contact you (the system administrator) by using the contact form built into the system. In order for the Absolute Banner Manager to work with the component installed on your server, you must set and configure its corresponding include library. An include library is a file that tells the Absolute Banner Manager which component it needs to use in order to accomplish the ing tasks. These include libraries can be found in the Include-Libraries.zip file provided with the application. The include libraries have a name convention in the form of inc .component where COMPONENT is the name of the commercial component for which the library was developed. To configure your library all you need to do is know which components your hosting provider currently has installed on his servers and then rename its corresponding include library file to.asp and move this file to the Absolute Banner Manager root directory ( as is explained later. Below is a list of components supported by the Absolute Banner Manager and its corresponding include libraries. Components Supported ASP from Persits ( Library: inc .asp 13

14 ASPMail: from ServerObjects ( Library: inc .aspmail AspSmartMail: from ASPSmart ( Library: inc .aspsmartmail JMail: from Dimac ( Library: inc .jmail SASMTPMail: from SoftArtisans ( Library: inc .sasmtpmail CDONTS: In the case that no component is installed on your server, CDONTS is supported by most servers and should work for e- mailing notifications. Library: inc .cdonts Setting Up the Correct Library: Once you know which component is installed on your server, all you need to do is rename its corresponding include library to inc .asp and move it to the Absolute Banner Manager Root directory ( If no component is installed, the inc .cdonts should work as CDONTS is widely supported by most hosting companies. Just rename it to inc .asp and move it to the Absolute Banner Manager root directory as explained. Configuration Sample: Suppose that your hosting provider currently has installed the JMail component. All you have to do is take the inc .jmail library, rename it to inc .asp and move it to the Absolute Banner Manager root directory, and you are all set! Note: Many Hosting Providers support more than one component. If that is your case, just select the one that you think is the best and set its corresponding include library as explained. Just use ONE include library. Also if your server supports components that have no include libraries developed, you ll have to create your own library. Just pick one of the provided libraries and customize it to suit your components. They are very easy to customize. 14

15 Now your Absolute Banner Manager has been fully configured and is ready to run. All you have to do now is log onto the application, register some Zones to display your Banners and get some Advertisers! 15

16 QUICK START GUIDE 1. Configuration The first thing that you must do when using the Absolute Banner Manager for the first time is to set your configuration settings as explained in the preceding chapters: Set the Absolute Banner Manager to work with your selected database (MS Access or SQL Server): Edit the databasedata.asp file to select the proper connection string. Log onto the Absolute Banner Manager at using the default Administrator Username and Password (admin). Click on the OPTIONS button from the Top menu and configure the Absolute Banner Manager by providing the necessary information (Make sure to enter a new Username and Password). Set the appropiate include library to allow the Absolute Banner Manager to send notifications by (create an inc .asp file from the Libraries folder and move it to the application root directory). Log into the application using your new Username and Password, and set your Zones, Advertisers and upload some Banners. 2. Define Your Banner Zones Banner Zones are the places on your pages where you want your Banners to be displayed and rotated. For example: if you want to display Banners at the top of your pages, you should define a Zone named TOP BANNERS. By defining Zones, the Absolute Banner Manager will be able to control which Banners are displayed and rotated in which Zones and pages. This allows you to place your Zone s codes on your web pages just once and then the Absolute Banner Manager will know which Banners to display on which pages. Your Banners can be scheduled so that they become available and are displayed on the defined Zones during the selected 16

17 time period. To create a Zone, click the Zones button in the Top menu and then click on the CREATE NEW ZONE button. Enter a New Zone Name, its size in pixels (optional) and a short Zone description (optional) in the corresponding fields. Click the Save Zone button. The Zone will be created and its name will be added to the Zones list. You can add and register as many Zones as you need. Later you ll be able to assign Banners to any number of Zones. Next to each Zone is displayed a code (Code for Banner Zone). You need to copy and paste this code into each of your pages containing the Zone that you ve just defined. I.e. You ll place the TOP BANNERS Zone code on the top of each page of your site where you want to display Banners at the top. Absolute Banner Manager includes several types of codes for efficiently displaying your banners. 3. Register Your Advertisers With Absolute Banner Manager you ll be able to keep a complete database of your site s Advertisers. Advertisers, can access the application by entering their assigned Username and Password (Which you previously define) in order to get real-time statistics and detailed reports. To register a new Advertiser, click the Advert. button on the Top menu and then click the Add Advertiser button and provide the new Advertiser s info. It is also a good idea to register yourself and your site as an Advertiser in order to set some default Banners to be displayed when no Banners are available. 4. Register Your Banners Once you ve created some Zones and registered some Advertisers, you can register some Banners to be rotated on your Zones. To create a new Banner, click on the Banners button on the Top menu. Enter a Banner name to identify the Banner, and select 17

18 the Advertiser that the Banner belongs to. You can upload a new file to the Banners folder or browse the Banners currently stored there. Then select one for the Banners File field if your Banner is an image file (.gif,.jpg) and requires no special code, otherwise, enter the appropiate code in the Banner Code field. (Make sure to check the proper option: Banner file or code). If you want the Banner to be linked to a page, enter the link on the link field. If you want it to open on a new window, check the open on a new window option. This option only works for file based banners. If you want to display some text beneath the Banner, type it in the Banner Text field. This text will be formated with the font and size that you provided in the Options menu. Select a Start and Ending Date to schedule the rotation of the Banner, also select a Banner Status, Payment Type, Quantity Purchased (according to the payment type), Cost Per Unit Purchased and Rotation Weight (frequency) and select the Zones on your site where you want the Banner to be displayed. Click the Save Banner button to save and preview your new Banner. Your new Banner is now set! 5. Track Your Banners and Watch Your Revenue Grow! If you pasted the Zone codes on your site and there are Banners available (default and active Banners), your Banners will be displayed and rotated on your Zones according to their schedules, weight and status. The Absolute Banner Manager will be logging all the information required to let you and your Advertisers create detailed reports and check complete statistics about the ads being displayed. Your Advertisers can log into the application using their assigned Usernames and Passwords and generate their own reports and check their stats at any time! Now, create some billing reports and watch your revenue grow! 18

19 ABSOLUTE BANNER MANAGER ADMINISTRATION OPTIONS The Absolute Banner Manager is very easy to use. In order to operate the system, you just need the menu at the top of the screen. There, you ll find all the system options, which we ll explain now. The following options are only available to the System Administrator. The Advertiser s options are different, but the Administrator can easily access those options too. Login Screen To access the Absolute Banner Manager, point your browser to Once there, use your Username and Password to access the application. By default, the Absolute Banner Manager comes configured with both admin for the Administrator s Username and Password. If you set a different Username and Password (which we strongly recommend for security reasons) you ll have to enter it in order to access the application. Your site s Advertisers can also log into the application to get their on-line stats and Banner information. The Advertiser s interface is different from the administration interface and will be covered later. 19

20 Search Screen Use this option to browse and view your Banners. To search your Banners you may enter any search criteria combination in the search box: Banner Name: Enter part or the full name of the Banner for which you re looking. Properties: Contains several properties than can be used to limit the search results and view the Banners that you want. o Zone: Zones where the Banners found should be displayed. o Status: Current status that the Banners found should have. o Advertiser: The Banners found must belong to the Advertisers selected. Displayed Between: Check this option and select two dates to list Banners that have been (or will be) displayed, according to the properties and name criteria, during the selected period. Expired Between : Check this option and select two dates to list banners that have expired, according to the properties or name criteria, during the selected period. Click the Search Banners button to list all the Banners that match your search criteria. The Absolute Banner Manager will list the matching Banners and display the following information: Banners Found: Number of Banners that match your search criteria. Banner: Name of the Banner / Company. Click on the Banner name to view the banner and its detailed information. Click on the Advertiser to see the Advertiser s information and stats. Schedule : Banner rotation schedule. Status: Current Banner status (Active, Paused, Expired, Default). Hits: Hits / Quantity purchased. Number of times that the Banner has been displayed over the number of hits purchased (if any). Clicks: Clicks / Quantity purchased. Number of times that the Banner has been clicked over the number of clicks purchased (if any). Ratio: Hits - Clicks relation (Clickthru). How many users click on the Banner after seeing it. 20

21 View: Click the View button to access the Banner properties. Edit: Click the Edit button in order to modify and edit the Banner. Delete: Click the Delete button to delete a Banner from the database. Also there are additional buttons on this screen: Banners. New Banner Ad: Use this Option to Create and Register New Delete Expired: Use this Option to Delete all the expired Banners from the database. Zones This option lets you create and define the Banner Zones for your site. Zones are the places on your site where you want the Absolute Banner Manager to display and rotate your Banners. 21

22 By using Zones, the Absolute Banner Manager will be able to track statistics for different sized Banners across all of your web pages, and to show multiple ads on the same web page. For example, if you want to display Banners with a 468 x 60 size at the top of your pages, you may create a Zone and name it Page Top with a defined width of 468 and 60 pixel height and add Banners to this Zone. Then just select one of the codes generated for this zone (code types) and copy and paste it where you want the Banners assigned to this Page Top Zone to be displayed. When placing multiple ads on the same web page, you must use a unique Zone for each area that will be showing an ad. If you don't, you might see the same ad appearing twice. Below is a sample web page showing one of many possible layouts. Note that each Zone is distinct, beginning with Zone # 1 at the top and ending with Zone # 5. Actual Zone numbers will vary depending on how many you have added to your web site. The registered Zones are listed with the following information: Code Type : Select a code type to get the code that you d like to use on your pages. 22

23 Zone Name, ID and Description: Name of the Zone, Zone ID and an optional description. Code for Banner Zone: Copy and paste this code in each page where you want to display the Banners assigned to each Zone. This code is generated accoring to the code type that you have selected. When a page with the Code for Banner Zone is displayed, the Absolute Banner Manager will display and rotate the corresponding Banner assigned to that Zone. Banners : Number of banners assigned to each zone. Size : The size of the zone. Use the zone size to determine which banners can be assigned to the zone. Edit: Click the Edit Button to modify the Zone name, size and description. Delete: Click the Delete button to delete a Zone. Also, you ll need to delete the code from the pages that contained that Zone. All the Banners assigned only to that Zone will be automatically deleted. Code Types The Absolute News Manager comes packed with a wide variety of codes to insert and display your banners on your site, the following codes are supported: Standard : This is the normal code to display your banners. It uses Javascript to inject the banners on your pages. This code is not size dependant (it will display any size of banner) and it s great to display 23

24 banners on other sites, however it might slower the rendering of the page or be cached by the user browser. Cache Defeating : Same as Standard but with a cache defeating mechanism. Pop-Up Window (Default Size) : Use this code to launch a pop-up window displaying the banner. This window will have the size of the zone selected (size dependant). Note that many users do find Pop-up windows very annoying, however they are really effective. Pop-Up Window (Auto Size) : Same as Pop-Up Window (Default Size) but this one resizes to the height and width of the banner being displayed. Note that the automatic resizing may not properly work on all browsers. Inline Frame (Default Size) : The most efficient code. Pages using this code won t be affected (slowered) during the banner rendering process. This code uses In-Line frames <IFRAMES> browsers that don t support this tag will not display any banner. This is the recommended code to use on your pages (This code is size dependant). Inline Frame (Auto-rotate) : Same as Inline Frame (Default Size) but with the added feature of automatically rotate the banners displayed after a selected time period. By using this code, many banners can be displayed to the same user without requiring him to reload the page. (Graphic Only) : This code will display only graphic banners using a very simple code. This is the code recommended for displaying banners on HTML newsletters. However, this code is not very efficient as it uses session variables on the server side for tracking the ads. ASP Call (Advanced) : This code will allow you to call the banners directly from an ASP page. Even though this code is not required to display the banners on ASP pages as you can use any other code, some user may find useful to use an include file and function call to retrieve and display the banner. Some ASP programming experience is required to use this code. To use it, simply paste the include file call () once at the very top of your ASP page. And then use the funcion call xlagc(url) as shown on the zones code to call the banner and display it on your ASP page. For example : 24

25  <% Response.write xlagc( ) Response.write xlagc( ) %> Will display the banners from the zones with ID s 1 and 4 Note that you only need to include the file xlagc.asp once. Also, make sure to provide the right path to this file (xlagc.asp). The function xlagc() relies on the MSXML component in order to correctly work. If your server doesn t have this component installed, it will not work From all these codes, the most recommended are the Inline Frameand and the standard codes. However the Inline codes are faster that the standard. Note: Size dependant codes will have a fixed size (the zone size). Banners with a different size than the zone, might not properly displayed on zones using these types of code. When getting the zone code, if the zone size has not been defined, the code will contain a [WIDTH] and / or [HEIGHT] parameter. You should change these to the corresponding size values of the zone or the banners will not be properly displayed. Creating New Zones Only the system administrators will be able to create and edit new Zones. To create a new Zone, all you have to do is click on the Create New Zone button, provide a name for the Zone and provide the optinal size and description. Once the Zone is created, it will be listed with a code generated for it. Copy and paste this code on all the pages where you want the Banners assigned to this Zone to be displayed. 25

26 Advertisers This option lets you browse and register new Advertisers and keep a complete Advertisers database. The Absolute Banner Manager lets you register an unlimited number of Advertisers and have as many Banners in as many Zones as your server can handle. To search and browse your Advertisers, provide a search criteria on the search screen: Company: Part or full name of the Advertiser company that you want to view. Advertising in Zone : Select the Zone where the Advertisers found must be advertising. Banners Status : Select a Banner status for listing companies that have Banners with that status. Displayed Between: Select a time period for listing Advertisers with Banners being displayed during the selected time. Click on the Search Advertisers button to list the Advertisers that match your search criteria. The following information is returned: Advertisers Found: Number of Advertisers found that match the search criteria. 26

27 Company: Name of the company (Advertiser) and contact name. Banners Registered: Number of Banners registered for this Advertiser. View: Click this button to access the Advertiser s stats and information. Edit: Lets you modify the Advertiser s information. Delete: Click the Delete button to delete the Advertiser and his Banners from the database. Registering New Advertisers The Absolute Banner Manager provides you with a powerful tool to keep a complete database of Advertisers that you can access anytime. Note: It is a good idea to also have your own company registered as an Advertiser so that you can have some default Banners to display when no Banner is available and access the application in the same way that an Advertiser does. It is also strongly recommended that you assign another Username and Password to this Advertiser (you) this is different from the Administrator s Password. In order to register new Advertisers click the New Advertiser button at the Search Advertisers screen and provide the following information: 27

28 Company: Enter the name of the Advertiser. Username and Password: Type a Username and Password for the new Advertiser. Address, Phone, Website: Provide some general information about the Advertiser. Contact Name, Occupation, Enter the information about the Advertiser s contact person. Additional Info: Enter any additional info for the Advertiser (Zip code, additional s, phone numbers, notes, etc.). The new Advertiser will be created and you ll be taken to the Advertiser s Info screen where you can see all the Advertiser s information and a brief summary of his banners and statictics. 28

29 On this screen you can see several additional options: this Advertiser. information. New Banner: Click this button to register a new Banner for Edit Advertiser: Click this button to modify the Advertiser s Delete Advertiser: Click this button to delete the Advertiser. All of the Advertiser s assigned Banners will also be deleted from the database. Edit Banner Use this option to create and register new Banners on your site. Registering Banners is very easy with Absolute Banner Manager. All you have to do is provide some Banner information, upload the necessary files and select the Zones where you want the Banner to be displayed! Banner Properties Banner Name: Enter a name to easily identify the Banner. 29

30 Advertiser: Select the Advertiser that the Banner belongs to. Banner File: Lets you upload / select / or enter the full URL to the file that should be used for displaying the Banner. For Example: o o Files Located Outside Absolute Banner Manager or on Another site: enter the full URL to the file Files Located on the Banners folder: The URL to the file should be banners/file.jpg (When the banners are stored in the Banners folder, you don t have to type the full URL to the file.) Through this field you can also upload new files to the Banners folder by clicking the button and following the instructions. You can also select a Banner file by browsing the Banners folder by clicking the button, and clicking on a Banner file. The Banner File field should be filled only when the Banner is an image in either.gif or.jpg format. For other formats the Banner Code should be used instead. Banner Code: If the Banner requires any special code or is a more advanced Banner (e.g. an applet, Flash, or HTML banner) you should select this option and type the Banner s code into this field. The code s references to files, should be absolute (i.e. it must include the full URL to the files that the Banner needs). Take a look at the Banner Registration Guidelines section for more information on using the Banner file and Banner code fields. Link: If your Banner consists of an image and you want to add a link to an image (so that when a user clicks, the Advertiser s site opens), type the full URL here. Also, you may like to check the Open in New Window option if you want the link to be opened in another window. Banner text: If you want, you can provide a text to be displayed under the Banner. If you provided a link in the previous field, then this text will become an active link to the URL provided as well. Start and Ending Dates: Enter the dates used to schedule the Banner rotation start and ending dates. Status: Select the status for your new Banner: o Default: Banners with this status will be shown when no active Banner is available for displaying. This type of Banners is shown regardless of the start and ending dates. Use this type of banner 30

31 to fill the banner slots when no other banner is displayed (You might want to create a Place your ad here banner and set it as default). o o o Active: Banners currently active or waiting for their start date to begin rotating in your Zones. All of your advertiser s banners should be set as Active. Paused: Banners that are out of the rotation. Set a Banner to Paused when you want it to stop rotating. Expired: Banners that have completed their rotation period or that have reached the max number of hits / clicks purchased. Payment Type: Select a payment type for the Banner according to your ad selling rates: o o o o None: Banners without a payment type (free). Use this for default Banners and free Banners. Per Impression: Banners that need to reach a number of impressions (Hits, Displays) between the selected schedule. Per Click: Banners that need to reach a number of clicks between the selected schedule. Flat Rate: Banners whose price has been determined as a Flat Rate. Quantity Purchased: Number of hits or clicks purchased according to the payment type that the Advertiser selected. Type 0 for undefined / ulimited (once this quantity is reached, the banner status will be set to expired) Cost: Cost Per Hit or Click according to the payment type that the Advertiser selected. If a Flat Rate was selected, enter the full price for their Banner rotation. Weight: Rotation Frequency. The higher the number, the higher the rotation. E.g. a weight of 5 means that a Banner will be displayed 5 times more than Banners with weight 1. Max. Number of Impressions per day : You can set the max. number of impressions that each banner can have per day. This option is useful if you want to evenly distribute a banner during a selected period. Zones: Select the Zones where you want the Banner to be displayed. 31

32 Save Banner: Saves the Banner and takes you to the View Banner screen where you can preview its display and get some additional Banner information. View Banner To view a Banner, you must click on the View Banner button from the Banners search screen or register a new Banner. This option will display all the Banner properties and will let you preview it exactly as it will be show on your site: Banner Name: Name assigned to the Banner for easy identification. Advertiser: Advertiser to which the Banner belongs. Click on the Advertiser s name to access the Advertiser s information. Rotation Period: Dates scheduled for displaying the Banner in the Zones. Max Impressions per Day : Max. number of impressions that the banner can have per day. 32

33 Status: Current Banner Status. Hits, Clicks and Ratio: Number of hits, clicks and click-thrus for the current Banner. Payment Type (Price): Displays the selected payment type and the price per unit purchased (Per impressions, Clicks or Flat Rate) for the current Banner. Quantity Purchased: Number of units (Hits or Clicks) purchased according to the Payment Type. Total Cost: Total cost that the advertiser should pay for displaying the Banner on your site. Total Cost = Quantity Purchased X Price Per Unit when the payment type is Per Hit or Click or Total Cost = Flat Rate Price when Flat Rate was selected. Weight: Rotation frequency. Zones: Zones on your site where the Banner will be displayed. Banner Size : the exact banner size. Make note of this size so that this banners is correctly displayed on zones of the same size. Reports Lets you and your Advertiser s generate reports about their Banner ads. To generate a report, provide the following information: 33

34 Report Type : Check the report that you want to generate: o Executive Summary: Presents a brief summary of the Advertiser s Banners. o o o o o Banners Per Advertiser: Shows the Banners that belong to a particular Advertiser. Banner Expiration Dates: Displays the selected Advertiser s Banner s expiring dates. Banner Activity Per Zone: Displays the Advertiser s Banner s activity for each Zone during the selected period. Banner Activity Per Day: Displays the Advertiser s Banner s activity during the selected period. Billing Report: Lists the Banners expired during the selected period and their total costs. Advertiser: Select the Advertiser that the report is targeted at. Between: Select the time period that will be considered for creating the report. Format: Select an output format: HTML or MS Excel 97 or higher. Note: Reports reply on the stats available. The stats log is set in the options menu under the option Do Not Store Logs for more than _ days 34

35 Send Messages to your Advertisers The Absolute Banner Manager lets you easily send to your Advertisers by using the option from the Top menu. A form will be shown with all of the registered Advertisers so you can select the recipients for your message. You ll have to provide a subject, a message and at least one Advertiser. If you want, you can also receive a carbon copy by selecting the corresponding option. Note: Even though the function can work as a mass mailing feature, it s not recommended to select more than 50 Advertisers per message. Options Set and configure your Absolute Banner Manager. The Options screen defines several properties that Absolute Banner Manager needs for its proper working: Licensed To: Enter the name of the person/company to whom the Absolute Banner Manager was licensed as well as the order ID number (this number is the reference to your order, it can be found on the e- mail order confirmation and works as your serial number). Site URL: Enter the full URL to your site. 35

36 Application URL: Full URL to the Absolute Banner Manager. E.g. Admin s Username, Password: Enter an Username and Password for the System Administrator. Banners Options: Select the font and size for the text displayed beneath the Banners. Pop-Up windows title : Type a default title to use on for the pop-up windows (when usig the pop-up windows code). Automatic Rotation Setting : Set the refreshing rate for automatically rotating banners when using the auto-rotate code from your zones. Banners Display: If you don t want Banners to be shown several times on the same page, check this option and set a display tolerance period in seconds. Banner Stats : Set the number of days to store the stats info and time period used for displaying the banner stats. Database options : Compact Database, If you have set the Access database using a DSN-less connection, click this button often to compact its information. Advertiser s Options : If you want to alow your advertisers to generate their own reports or enable the password reminder, check the proper options. Notificiations : In order to set the banner notification features, check these options. Default System Administrator address. Must be a valid address on the SMTP Server. This address will be used for sending automatic notifications to the Advertisers when a Banner expires. SMTP Server: Mail server used for sending the notifications. Subject: Type a subject for the notifications. Signature: Type a signature to be sent with all outgoing notifications. 36

37 Press the Save button to save the new settings. Write permission is required on the Absolute Banner Manager directory in order to save the settings. Otherwise, the application will present you with a code. This code must be copied and pasted into a blank.txt file. Rename this file to configdata.asp and upload it to your Absolute Banner Manager directory and your new settings will take place. 37

38 Log Out Once finished, click the Log Out button to finish your Absolute Banner Manager Session and you ll be taken back to the login screen. 38

39 BANNER REGISTRATION GUIDELINES In this section we provide several guidelines on how to register several types of Banners into Absolute Banner Manager. Graphic Banners There are several approaches to registering graphic Banners depending on where the Banner file is located. Graphic Banners are Banners made of Jpg s or Gifs. To register a graphic Banner, follow these instructions: 1. From the New Banner screen, type a name for the Banner and select an Advertiser. 2. Check the Banner File option and do one of the following: If you know the URL to the Banner file (on your site or another), type the full URL to the Banner file. If the Banner file is located on your local PC, you can click the to upload the file to the Absolute Banner Manager Banners folder. The URL will be automatically entered into the Banner file field. If the file is located in the Banners folder inside Absolute Banner Manager, you can click the button to browse and select a file from the folder. You can also type banners/file.gif and the Absolute Banner Manager will know that the file is located in its Banners folder. 3. Enter the rest of the information according to the Banner Advertiser and your new graphic Banner will be ready for rotation. Text and HTML Banners The Absolute Banner Manager has full support for Text and HTML Banners. To register a new HTML or Text Banner, follow these guidelines: 1. From the New Banner screen, type a name for the Banner and select an Advertiser. 2. Check the Banner Code option, and type the HTML code inside the text box field. 39