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insert "ad" space
 
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tigersi



Joined: 20 Apr 2005
Posts: 174

PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2005 3:14 pm    Post subject: insert "ad" space Reply with quote

Hi John,

My advertising efforts are pretty mediocre to date and I think part of it is that my ads are too diverse when you start to look at them across multiple days. As an experiment, I want to see what happens when I narrow down my advertising. I need your advice on how to alter my template code to help this along.

First, the background. I want to narrow down to a few advertisers per day shown with a banner ad and one or two skyscrapers. For these, I can use components just dandy and change them out at will, usually every couple of days.

The other thing I want to do is insert 2 ads spaces into the full-length article (either text or image). The idea would be to have either text or image ads that are from the same advetisers as the components. As I change the component ads, I'd change the ads in individual articles. By setting it up this way, then I can maintain an advertising theme throughout the entire blog on a daily basis.

So what I want to do is create ad insert spaces (rows?) in the template code for:

* One ad immediately below the article's full content and above the trackback section
* A second ad space immediately below the trackback (but not aaaaallll the way down at the footer because it's too far down for most articles. And I'll keep the footer component flexibility as is).

Can you tell me where I would create rows for these ads in the template code? My thought is....create the rows, and then I can insert the code to switch out ads.

Thanks!
Roaring Tiger
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tigersi



Joined: 20 Apr 2005
Posts: 174

PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2005 5:16 pm    Post subject: Picture of desired layout Reply with quote

Hi John,

A picture is worth a thousand words so I created a mock up to show you the effect I'm striving for. Go to

http://bigcatchronicles.blogharbor.com/layout_for_ad_inserts.htm

RT
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john
Site Admin


Joined: 16 Mar 2004
Posts: 3434

PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2005 5:58 pm    Post subject: Re: Picture of desired layout Reply with quote

Here's a concept: We're going to create 2 files which would contain the HTML which you will use on your blog for your ads. Each file will be automatically included in your articles when they are displayed. When you want to swap in new ads on any given day, just update these two files, and all of your articles will automatically inherit the content of those files.

Here's how to do it. Create two files locally, one called bottomAd.html and one called topAd.html . Put the content of the ads into those files. These files should be HTML snippets, make sure you are not including the <HTML>, <HEAD>, or <BODY> tags in these files.

Now go to your File Manager and create a new directory named includes. Upload your two new files into this directory. We're using the name includes but you could use any name you want, just make sure to change the instructions below to point to the name of the directory you choose.

Now we just need to make a couple of modifications to your article template so that the content of these two files will automatically be inserted into your articles when they are displayed.

You may already have modified your article template before, we provided instructions on adding any arbitrary content to your article and category templates on this thread.

If you want to add the top ad before your trackback and comments, look for this code in your article template:

Code:
<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" class="categoryPostListTable"><tr>
<td valign="top" nowrap><span style="font-weight:bold;">Posted to:</span>&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top">
{{loop article.categories}}
<div style="margin-bottom:3px;"><a href="{{url}}">{{label}}</a></div>
{{/loop}}
</td>
</tr></table>
</div> <!-- categoryPostList -->

</div> <!-- article -->

<a name="comments"></a>
{{if comments}}
<div class="commentsHead">Comments</div>
{{elsif can_post}}
<div class="commentsHead">Comments</div>
{{elsif article.show_comment_signup}}
<div class="commentsHead">Comments</div>
{{/if}}


The top part of that code is the list of categories followed by the start of the Comments and Trackbacks area. In the middle, we are going to enter this code:

Code:
{{include name="includes/topAd.html"}}


so that it will look like this:

Code:
<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" class="categoryPostListTable"><tr>
<td valign="top" nowrap><span style="font-weight:bold;">Posted to:</span>&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top">
{{loop article.categories}}
<div style="margin-bottom:3px;"><a href="{{url}}">{{label}}</a></div>
{{/loop}}
</td>
</tr></table>
</div> <!-- categoryPostList -->

</div> <!-- article -->

{{include name="includes/topAd.html"}}

<a name="comments"></a>
{{if comments}}
<div class="commentsHead">Comments</div>
{{elsif can_post}}
<div class="commentsHead">Comments</div>
{{elsif article.show_comment_signup}}
<div class="commentsHead">Comments</div>
{{/if}}


Now you'll see the contents of your topAd.html file automatically included on every article page between the article body and the comments/trackbacks area.

To add the content of the bottomAd.html file to the end of the article, just go all the way to the end of the article template and stick this at the end of it:

Code:
{{include name="includes/bottomAd.html"}}


That's it, all of your articles will include the contents of these two files. The real beauty of this solution is your ability to globally update the ads used on your site: just upload new versions of your bottomAd.html and topAd.html files and all of your articles will immediately reflect your ad changes.

Oh, you can use the include technique in your sidebars as well. Maybe create an HTML file called sidebarAd.html and upload it to your File Manager. Create a custom component with the content of {{include name="includes/sidebarAd.html"}}, now you can update your ads all in one place... It would be a little more convenient than changing the actual content of the sidebar component on a daily basis: just upload a couple of files to the File Manager or via FTP and you're done...
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tigersi



Joined: 20 Apr 2005
Posts: 174

PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2005 8:12 am    Post subject: Thanks! Reply with quote

Oh John,

This is fabulous! I'm going to put your process into place this weekend.

Also, you anticipated one of my unvoiced concerns. By doing your process, I don't have to mess with the templates, which was a concern I had (on the thought that the more I mess with them, the greater the chance of breaking them in some way).

Thanks for your idea and quick service! I'm confident this will work well and will give you a follow up report.

RT

P.S. One question on the sidebar ads to make sure I understand:

* I will create a component called SidebarAd1 and SidebarAd2 using your suggested code.
* I'll add the components to the columns I want.
* Then I'll follow your INCLUDE directory procedure you outlined in your discussion.
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tigersi



Joined: 20 Apr 2005
Posts: 174

PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2005 8:14 am    Post subject: More on your idea Reply with quote

Also, I don't know if you remember, but I queried you about moving around the side columns together so that I could create an ad space in the template above and insert and larger rectangular ad.

It looks like, based on your INCLUDE idea, that I could do just that and manage that ad the same way.

Would you agree in concept?

RT
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tigersi



Joined: 20 Apr 2005
Posts: 174

PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2005 12:56 pm    Post subject: Working great... Reply with quote

John,

Your INCLUDEs idea is working great. Can I trouble you for one refinement? My topAd.htm is showing up below the Keywords. Is there a way to put it above the keywords.

Look here for an example of how it looks now...
http://bigcatchronicles.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2005/5/19/873035.html

RT
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john
Site Admin


Joined: 16 Mar 2004
Posts: 3434

PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2005 2:17 pm    Post subject: Re: Thanks! Reply with quote

tigersi wrote:
One question on the sidebar ads to make sure I understand:

* I will create a component called SidebarAd1 and SidebarAd2 using your suggested code.
* I'll add the components to the columns I want.
* Then I'll follow your INCLUDE directory procedure you outlined in your discussion.


Yes, that should do it.
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john
Site Admin


Joined: 16 Mar 2004
Posts: 3434

PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2005 2:18 pm    Post subject: Re: More on your idea Reply with quote

tigersi wrote:
It looks like, based on your INCLUDE idea, that I could do just that and manage that ad the same way.

Would you agree in concept?


Yes, I think I would agree in concept.
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tigersi



Joined: 20 Apr 2005
Posts: 174

PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2005 3:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

John,

All this ad insight is most excellent news. Given that I've asked a couple of related questions in this single thread, I'm not sure if this additional one caught your notice....


John,

Your INCLUDEs idea is working great. Can I trouble you for one refinement? My topAd.htm is showing up below the Keywords. Is there a way to put it above the keywords.

Look here for an example of how it looks now...
http://bigcatchronicles.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2005/5/19/873035.html

RT
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tigersi



Joined: 20 Apr 2005
Posts: 174

PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2005 4:08 pm    Post subject: figured out my last question Reply with quote

Hi John,

I figured out the answer to my last question so I'm all set.

Thanks for your help on the INCLUDES tips. This is fabulosa!

RT
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