Archive for February, 2010

Footer.php Action Hook

One piece of code that should be included with your theme, but is not required, is the action hook, wp_footer().

Most theme developers, however, do include this hook in the footer.php file. Personally, this hook should be required for all themes. Since it is optional, you need to add it to your footer.php file if it does not already exist. The cd-ad-sponsor plug-in uses this hook to reset the database table of sponsor ads that have been displayed.

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Embedding Ads Between Excerpts

One other modification you may want to make to your theme files is the ability to embed ads between excerpts. For example, let's say our index page displays ten excerpts per page, and we want to present an ad between every fourth excerpt. According to our layout sketch, this zone is identified as 3.

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Modifying Your Theme

Now that you have defined your sponsor ad data, we'll modify the theme to use this information. In order to enable the placement of your ads, you need to insert a simple function call at the appropriate position within specific theme files where you want the ads presented. Refer to our layout sketch to track the changes we make to the theme files.

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Uninstall Plugin

Uninstall

The uninstall feature will completely remove the cd-ad-sponsor tables from your WordPress installation.

CAUTION It is strongly recommend that you backup your database files before you attempt to uninstall the cd-ad-sponsor plug-in.

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Excluded IPs

Excluded IPs

Excluded IPs are compared to the user IP address to determine whether a click-through is registered for a Sponsor Ad. This exclusion is necessary to prevent false clicks, such as when the site administrator tests a displayed ad link. This feature is provided to accurately track CPC and CPM statistics in the cd-ad-sponsor plugin only.

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Default Options

Default Options

cd-ad-sponsor manage default options.The default options allow you to define the global settings relating to your sponsor ads. It is recommended that you define the purchase URL and the alt/title tag text for use with the default ads you specified for each zone.

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Manage Reports

Banner Report

The Banner Report page provides an overview of the current performance of each ad as well as a listing of all user-defined reports. Default reports provide a performance overview of each ad, while user-defined reports provide a more segmented view. User-defined reports are available to submit to your sponsors for billing purposes.

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Manage Schedules

Manage Schedules

Ad Schedules allow you to specify the Sponsor Ads displayed at a particular location (or zone) within a specified time frame. The Sponsor Ads displayed are the result of your prior definitions for the program and revenue type. The Click-through and Impressions column indicate the total counts during the scheduled time period.

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Manage Banners

Manage Banners

Banner Ads represent the image- or script-based advertisement for a specific site or product. Script-based Ads are usually obtained through Google, Amazon, etc. Image-based Ads have preference over any Script-based Ad definition. If both Image- and Script-based Ads are defined, the Image-based Ad is used.

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Manage Zones

Manage Zones

Zones define the location or position within your theme where qualified Ads are placed. You are not limited to the number of zones you can define, however, I recommend that you only define the minimum number of zones necessary to present your ads as desired within the current theme. You can easily create a visually undesirable page by polluting your content with too many ads.

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