Adding a new banner

In the Add new banner page you should first choose the type of banner you are linking to your campaign, and how it will be served. OpenX supports the following file types:

media	file formats
image	.jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .png
Flash movie	.swf
QuickTime movie	.mov
RealMedia movie	.rm

and allows them to be served in the following ways:

• web: via a web server stored on the same machine
• url: via a pre-existing website
• html: code can be entered for creatives such as plain text ads, forms, or banners with multiple images. You can also use HTML code from external ad networks such as Google AdSense.
• text: text ads are similar in style to Google's 'Sponsored Links'.

Note: If you upload a Flash banner, a second field will appear which allows you to upload a backup image ad for browsers that don't display rich media ads. Using this feature is optional, but we recommended that you take advantage of it to comply with IAB guidelines for ad impression measurements.

Having selected the banner type, the following information must be supplied:

• Basic information: the banner's name.
• Upload a local banner to the webserver/database/etc.: this is where your banner code or banner creative should be inserted. The way in which you do this depends on the banner type:
  • Webserver banners: click the Browse button and navigate to the banner file you want to upload to the server.
  • URL (external) banners: enter a full (i.e. 'http://') URL in the Image URL field.
  • HTML banners: either enter HTML directly into the text box, or use HTML from an external ad server by selecting it from the list in the HTML banner drop-down menu:
    
    
    

When you enter HTML code use the 'return' or 'enter' key to start a new line of code. Do not enter HTML or BODY tags because these are provided by the target HTML page. Tick the Alter HTML to enable tracking of Clicks checkbox to add click-tracking code to the banner.

Note: OpenX inserts the HTML into the page that hosts the ad tag. If you omit a character, e.g. a closing bracket, it can adversely effect the display of the web page.

• Text banners: enter text in the banner text box. Hit 'return' to start a new line of text if required
• Banner link:
  • Destination URL: here you should enter the URL that a visitor will be taken to by clicking the banner. Don't forget to include the http:// prefix.
  • Target: For all banner types you can set the frame for the destination URL in the Target field. The default target, is -blank, opens the URL in a new window.
• Banner display:
  • Alt text: this option applies only to image banners. The text entered here will display as a 'tooltip' when a user's cursor passes over the banner. The tip provides the location of the image if the image file has not yet downloaded. If this field is left blank then no text is displayed. ad image has not downloaded.
  • Status text: this option applies only to text and image banners. Text entered here will appear in the browser status bar when the mouse passes over a banner. In JavaScript-enabled browsers the default status is the destination URL, but this can be changed to whatever you enter in the status text field.
  • Text below image: for image banners only. Text entered here appears below the banner and links to the destination URL. This text can be formatted by using basic HTML tags. If you leave the field blank no text will appear beneath the banner.
  • Width & Height: for external and HTML banners only. Width and Height size attributes must be entered, as OpenX has no other way of determining these banners dimensions.
• Additional data:
  • Keywords: here you can enter keywords for a banner, using a space to separate multiple keywords. OpenX uses the keywords to determine which banner to display when using direct selection.
  • Weight: enter a value in this field to influence the likelihood of a banner being displayed. A banner with a weight of 3 is likely to be displayed three times as often as a banner with a weight of 1 (the default value).
  • Comments: this field is provided for you to enter any notes relevant to the banner and its display.

Once these details have been entered, your banner will display in the Banners page:

Banner properties

The Banner Properties tab contains the same fields as the Add new banner screen. This information can be edited at any time. Don't forget to click Save Changes when you're done.

Banner delivery options

On the Banners page, click on either the banner Name or the Delivery option:

This takes you to the Delivery Options page (seen here with a dummy AdSense tag displayed):

The first option you are presented with is the adding of a delivery limitation. These limitations allow you to target ads according to either client, site, or time.

Targeting by Client, Site, and Time

When a visitor requests an ad, information about their client, the page, and the time is passed along with the request. You can use this information to target by:

• Client - IP address: allows the ad to be targeted to users coming from specific IPs (or blocks of IP addresses).
• Client - Domain: target an ad to users coming from a specific domain. (NB: this domain is obtained by a reverse DNS lookup of the user's IP address).
• Client - Useragent: this will enable you to target ads to matching strings, which includes information about the user's browser/operating system.

• Site - Channel: you must first set up at least one channel to target by channel (or section) of a website.
• Site - Page URL: this will result in the ad displaying on selected page(s) in your site only
• Site - Referring Page: select this option to show an ad to on pages linked to from the selected page(s).
• Site - Variable: targeting in this manner will result in an ad being delivered to any ad request containing a specific variable. These variables can be any value passed in the HTTP request, e.g. to limit by gender=male or by a numeric variable, such as age 18 and over.
• Site - Source: The Site:Source targeting is similar to the Site - Variable, except it targets ads against the passed in "source=" value only

• Time - Date: target an ad to appear on a specific date of the month or year.
• Time - Day of Week: your ad will appear only on a particular day or days of the week.
• Time - Hour of Day: target times when visitors are more likely to respond to the ads being delivered, e.g. a breakfast snack ad in the morning.

See here for an example of some advanced targeting rules

Delivery capping by visitor

You can cap or limit the number of times a visitor sees a banner, campaign or zone. This is an effective way of increasing click-through rates, as visitors are most likely to click on an ad the first few times they see it.

There are two ways to cap banners:

• Limit banner views to x in total: this caps the total number of times one user will see this banner.
• Limit banner views to x per person: this caps the number of times a visitor sees a banner in a single session.

OpenX uses cookies to record a visitor's number of views. You can reset the views total after a specified period by entering a value in the Reset views counter after field. If a visitor has diabled cookies a capped banner will not be delivered to that viewer. If a visitor deletes existing cookies, capping information is reset to zero and the visitor will continue to see the banner until the limits are reached.

Once you are happy with your banner delivery options, clicking save changes will take you to the Linked Zones page.

Linking banners to zones

In the Linked Zones tab you can see all the zones that are compatible in size and type with the selected banner. Select the zone or zones you want to link to your banner by ticking the relevant checkbox. Then click Save Changes:

Once you have performed your chosen actions and clicked Save Changes you will be taken to the Advanced tab.

Banners - advanced options

This tab allows you to append code to banners being displayed by the selected zone, for example if you want text to appear below the zone, or to deploy popups alongside the banner etc.

Managing banners

Banners can be copied and moved from one campaign to another. Copying a banner is a quick way of creating new banners with common properties.

Copying a banner

When you have any of the banner tabs open, the option to Duplicate is present in the Actions box in the top right-hand corner of the screen:

Clicking Duplicate takes you to the Banner Properties tab for your duplicated banner (named 'Copy of [banner name]'). The name and any or all of the banner properties can be changed according to preference. Once you are happy with your copied banner, click Save Changes.

Moving a banner

To move a banner between campaigns, select Move to in the Actions box. This opens a dropdown:

The dropdown lists all your campaigns. Select which one you want to send the banner to, click the arrow icon next to the dropdown and the banner will automatically be reassigned.