Targeted ads for phpAdsNew

Giving back some more ...

We have 30+ forums, all dedicated to different topics. I wanted to be able to sell targeted banner ads for each of those categories. phpAdsNew is great for serving ads, but I needed to make some quick changes to VB in order to facilitate targeting.

Its easy to just plop in a generic call to phpAdsNew in the "header" template - works easy enough - however, you have no control and no ability to dynamically target those ads to a given forum. Now you can. (If there is another way, someone please tell me).

This is a simple hack, which involves a quick change to "global.php".

In global.php, find:

// figure out the chosen style settings

Below that, add:

// figure out the chosen style settings

// BSB - HACK - Need to populate foruminfo for targeted ads
if(isset($forumid)) {
    $getforuminfo=$DB_site->query_first("SELECT title FROM forum WHERE forumid='$forumid'");
    $forum_ad_keywords=$getforuminfo[title];

    // Replace generic words
    $forum_ad_keywords = str_replace(" and ", " ", $forum_ad_keywords);
    $forum_ad_keywords = str_replace(" the ", " ", $forum_ad_keywords);
    $forum_ad_keywords = str_replace(" with ", " ", $forum_ad_keywords);
    $forum_ad_keywordss = str_replace(" or ", " ", $forum_ad_keywords);
    $forum_ad_keywords = str_replace("/", " ", $forum_ad_keywords);

    // Replace spaces with commas (for phpAdsNew OR keywords)
    $forum_ad_keywords = str_replace(" ", ",", $forum_ad_keywords);
}
// END HACK

Let me give you an example. Let's say you have 2 forums:

• Outdoor Hiking
• Wild and Crazy Sex

Strange combination, I know - but bear with me. This hack will create a special variable called "$forum_ad_keywords", which will look like this (using the 2 examples above):

• Outdoor,Hiking
• Wild,Crazy,Sex

To use these in a template (i.e. header) to grab a target ad, you might try something like:

<a href="/ads/admin/adclick.php?n=$VBRandomX"><img src="/ads/admin/adview.php?n=$VBRandomX&what=$forum_ad_keywords" border="0"></a>

Note: the VBRandomX numbers are another hack. Just put this line in global.php to get some random #'s for the ad call:

$VBRandomX = time();

Easy enough. Not a real great randomizer, but it works for my needs. You want it to do more, have at it.

At any rate, the ad code above would expand to something like:

<a href="/ads/admin/adclick.php?n=993088616"><img src="/ads/admin/adview.php?n=993088616&what=Outdoor,Hiking" border="0"></a>

Now all you need to do is use those keywords when creating accounts within phpAdsNew.

Voila - instant targeted ads.

A robust, scalable targeted ad/sponsorship system should really be a part of the next release - IMHO.

Cheers.

I already have ads targeting forums (by their names).

But the problem is just there: those names can get pretty long, and all keywords together for one single banner can make a pretty long line.

So my next step is to add an extra field, with something like forum_short_name
I've tried the forumnumber, but it doesn't work (because the number is a number and not text or something?! I don't know PHP/MySQL well enough)

But a hack like this one is very good

[eva2000]

wow this looks fantastic, i'm using phpadsnew as well on my vB http://animeboards.com

but it does lack targetted ads... gonna try this out

[JonnyQuest]

Is there anyway you can make this so it pulls the actual title tag of the page? I'm using it to make a keyword search in my store.
Thanks!

[Byron]

this is a useful hack. thanks

[Byron]

this is a useful hack. thanks

[Lionel]

thanks

[mvigod]

what is the "n=" mean and why bother with the VbRandomX thing you have in this? Is the random thing just for cache busting or does it serve any other purpose?

[mvigod]

I changed just a little...

// figure out the chosen style settings
// BSB - HACK - Need to populate foruminfo for targeted ads
//if(isset($forumid)) {
// $getforuminfo=$DB_site->query_first("SELECT title FROM forum WHERE forumid='$forumid'");
// $forum_ad_keywords=strtolower($getforuminfo[title]);

// Replace generic words
// $forum_ad_keywords = str_replace(" and ", " ", $forum_ad_keywords);
// $forum_ad_keywords = str_replace(" the ", " ", $forum_ad_keywords);
// $forum_ad_keywords = str_replace(" with ", " ", $forum_ad_keywords);
// $forum_ad_keywords = str_replace(" or ", " ", $forum_ad_keywords);
// $forum_ad_keywords = str_replace("/", " ", $forum_ad_keywords);
// $forum_ad_keywords = str_replace(" & ", " ", $forum_ad_keywords);
// $forum_ad_keywords = str_replace(" for ", " ", $forum_ad_keywords);

// Replace spaces with commas (for phpAdsNew OR keywords)
// $forum_ad_keywords = str_replace(" ", ",", $forum_ad_keywords);
//} else {
// $forum_ad_keywords = 'home';
// }

// END HACK

[X-Fan]

Just wondering how difficult would it be to incorporate phpAdsNew on a board that runs the vbPortal front end (as it has its own banner rotation system)?