phpAdsNew Administration Overview - Administration

Now that the installation of phpAdsNew is complete, it is time to configure the software. Point your browser to the following URL - http://www.mysite.com/phpads/ - to view the following "Authentication" screen:

Use the credentials for the "administrator" user, provided earlier, in order to log on and view the default "Administration" screen.

Let me quickly review the different tabs that you see above:

• Inventory: the most critical of all sections, here you can manage your publishers - the folks that display banners (including yourself) on their websites, and advertisers - the people who fork out the "moolah" to display their advertisements on every publisher’s website (including yours).
  
  
• Statistics: this section gives you a complete breakdown of "AdViews" - the number of times a banner is displayed and "AdClicks" - the number of times visitors click on the banners displayed on the website.
  
  
• Reports: here, the administrator can generate useful reports based on a wide range of parameters.
  
  
• Settings: as the name suggests, this section allows you to modify the different settings that control the functioning of the software.

You should have noticed that I introduced a number of new terms, such as "publishers," "advertisers," "AdViews," "AdClicks" and so forth. It is essential that you become familiar with these terms before you proceed any further.

For starters, phpAdsNew allows an administrator to define a "publisher" - an entity (or a Web master, practically speaking) that uses this tool to display ad banners on his/her website. Each "publisher," in turn, can divide his/her website into different "zones." Each "zone" represents a unique banner display component of the website. For example, the  popular top "banner" (of size 468 by 60 pixels) and "side" banner (of size 120 by 600 pixels) locations could represent two different "zones." The much-maligned "pop-up window" is another "zone" supported by this tool.

After you've defined "publishers" and "zones," it's time to move on to more important things - yes, I'm talking about the "advertisers." After all, you've gone through this entire rigamarole to transfer money from their pockets to your own, isn't it?

Creating an advertiser, as you'll soon find out, is a breeze. Each "advertiser," in turn, can be associated with one or more "campaigns." Characterized by a bunch of parameters such as start-date, end-date, priority, and so forth, each "campaign" is a grouping of the "banners" that the "advertiser" wishes to display across a publisher’s website. Finally, each "banner" can be one of the following: static JPEG image, animated GIF file, Flash SWF movie or plain ol’ HTML code.

Two more terms that you'll come across regularly when you interact with potential advertisers:

• AdViews: when associated with a "campaign," this parameter represents the maximum number of times the "banners" should be displayed on a publisher’s Web site.
  
  
• AdClicks: when associated with a "campaign," this parameter this represents the maximum number of clicks that are permitted before the "campaign" expires.

Here's a valuable nugget of information before you flip the page: the ratio of "AdClicks" to "AdViews" is often referred to by industry pundits as the "Click-Through Ratio (CTR)" and is used as a benchmark to judge the effectiveness of a campaign. The higher the CTR, the more successful the campaign.