Mini Mods - Google Adsense (or other) in a Block like an Individual Profile comment

This simple hack enables you to add an advertising block to every member's profile page , this block looks just like other comments posted to the user's profile and is an encouraging way to force visitors clicking on it !

It's a pretty simple template edit. I promise if there will be a need , i'll prepare it as a plugin , with no template edit !

Installation:
1-upload the "upload" folder (1 image file)
2-only one template edit :

vbulletin>Styles & Templates>Style Manager>edit templates>Member Info Templates>memberinfo_block_visitormessaging :

Find :

{vb:raw block_data.messagebits}

ADD before it (in case you want your add to be displayed on top of comments) or after it (in case you want your add to be displayed below all comments) , code below:

<li class="postbit postbit-lite postcontainer<vb:if condition="!$message['avatarurl']"> noavatar</vb:if>" id="vmessage_{vb:raw message.vmid}">
			<a href="#" class="avatarlink">
				<img src="/images/avatars/asdhkwjhqdkh.gif" alt="Sponsored Ads" />
			</a>
	<div class="postbithead">
		<label for="vmessage_{vb:raw message.vmid}">
			<a href="#" class="username">Sponsored</a>
		 - <span class="postdate">03-08-2010 </span>- <a href="#" >permalink</a>
		</label>
	</div>
	<div id="vmessage_message_{vb:raw message.vmid}">
		<blockquote class="posttext restore" style="padding-left:90px">
	//PUT YOUR GOOGLE ADSENSE OR ANY OTHER ADS YOU'RE USING
		</blockquote>
	</div>
	<div class="postbitfoot floatcontainer">
		<span class="postcontrols">
				<a href="#" title="Sponserd links">{vb:rawphrase view_conversation}</a>
		</span>
	</div>
</li>

3-Do not forget to change the "//PUT YOUR GOOGLE ADSENSE OR ANY OTHER ADS YOU'RE USING" to match your desired adsense code ( or any other ).

DONE

thnx goes to Leo Brazil for this thread , giving me this idea to have that option in profile pages also !

[archet1337]

Great mod. Thanks for sharing

Is there any way to have the sponsored links show even when a member does not have any visitor messages on the members page?

[kall]

I'm not sure if the TOS has changed since I received an email warning against this but.. disguising your Adsense ads to appear to be anything other than ads (ie: a Post from a member of the site) is something they frown upon, and can result in your account and all its earnings being killed off.

*edit* The way around it, from memory, was to totally strip back the postbit that you are using for the Google post, so it looks nothing like all the rest. To hide it like you are suggesting is totally against the TOU.

[kall]

Just checked https://www.google.com/support/adsen...n&answer=48182 :

Encouraging Clicks

Publishers may not ask others to click their ads or use deceptive implementation methods to obtain clicks. This includes, but is not limited to, offering compensation to users for viewing ads or performing searches, promising to raise money for third parties for such behavior or placing images next to individual ads.

In order to ensure a good experience for users and advertisers, publishers participating in the AdSense program may not:

* Compensate users for viewing ads or performing searches, or promise compensation to a third party for such behavior.
* Encourage users to click the Google ads using phrases such as "click the ads", "support us", "visit these links" or other similar language.
* Direct user attention to the ads using arrows or other graphical gimmicks.
* Place misleading images alongside individual ads.
* Place ads in a floating box script.
* Format ads so that they become indistinguishable from other content on that page.
* Format site content so that it is difficult to distinguish it from ads.
* Place misleading labels above Google ad units. For instance, ads may be labelled "Sponsored Links" or "Advertisements", but not "Favourite Sites" or "Today's Top Offers".

[YankForum]

Originally Posted by kall

Just checked https://www.google.com/support/adsen...n&answer=48182 :

thnx kall for reminding such an important rule ,but if we are supposed to stick to TOS this much , we are not allowed to change the color of ads to the same color of other links in the page in a way that it's not recognizable .

as you can see we are not trying to mislead visitors , we have mentioned following phrase : SPONSORED ADS that tells visitors it's not a normal link
also the avatar we are using should confirm that google is the owner of links next to it , not the website owner & we are not trying to change the format of ads , we are not changing adsense codes .

[YankForum]

Originally Posted by archet1337

Great mod. Thanks for sharing

Is there any way to have the sponsored links show even when a member does not have any visitor messages on the members page?

i'm glad u liked it
yes , in same template find line below :

<vb:if condition="$block_data['messagebits']">

and erase it
and find line below :

</vb:if>
<vb:if condition="$show['quickcomment']">

change it to :

<vb:if condition="$show['quickcomment']">

[tafreeh]

The idea and mod, both of them are pretty sick. But I wish it wouldn break any adsense TOS or TAC(Terms and Conditions).

[archet1337]

I have added a google avatar, and I can't possibly see how this should break any adsense TOS / TAC



I've attached the avatar if anyone else wants to use it

[tafreeh]

Why dont you confirm with Adsense, and then let us know. so everyone can use it.

[ps2wiz]

Thanks for this.

By the way, I believe by mistake you left a link to your customized avatar in the code.