Vbulletin & Advertisements

[Gio~Logist]

Advertisements are clearly one of the most common sources of income for community forums and websites in general for that matter. Tons of dollars are being invested into online marketing/advertising daily. But with the ongoing awareness of the internet and it's advertisements, comes the delicacy of producing your advertisements effectively. Online advertising may be one of the most common methods for webmasters, but it certainly is not the easiest. However, with the right tools and content, you'd be surprised what you can achieve with advertising!

Vbulletin offers a variety of options for advertisements, as well as an extensive amount of flexibility in order to add advertisement modifications, etc. Feel free to utilize it's existing features, or even add a few of your own to make sure that your advertising campaign is marketed just right.

Things To Consider
There are a variety of characteristics and traits of your members (and the average web browser) that should be taken into consideration when adding advertisements to your website.



What pages are viewed mostly on my website?

Knowing where most of your traffic is targeted will help you plan your advertising campaign accordingly.

What do people visit these pages for?

Be sure to offer advertisements in which will benefit the viewer's experience or needs. No web browser necessarily enjoys advertisements. However, every web browser has an interest, so hold it. And more importantly, feed it.



How should i lay out my advertisements?
After taking into account what pages/sections your users enjoy and how to use advertisements to compliment those sections, now you must lay your advertisements out effectively.



Be subtle. Once again, no web browser enjoys advertisements.
Offer advertisements of interest
Tie your advertisement in with your content effectively to allow the flow of the user's browsing experience to run smoothly.

Existing Vbulletin Features

Vbulletin Advertisement Templates



ad_forumdisplay_afterthreads - Displayed on forum display pages (forumdisplay.php), below threads
ad_forumhome_afterforums - Displayed on forumhome index, after forum listings
ad_navbar_below - Below the navbar, which is Displayed on all pages.
ad_showthread_firstpost_start - Shows within the first post message, before the message is displayed.
ad_showthread_firstpost - Shows after the first post table, when viewing a topic.
ad_showthread_firstpost_sig - Shows in the signature of the first post, when viewing a topic.
ad_header_logo - Displayed on the right of your forum's logo by default. May change depending on your Website's design.
ad_header_end - Below the header, which is Displayed on all pages.


In order to place these advertisements in effect, simply edit the templates accordingly (Admincp Styles & Templates -> Style Manager -> Edit Templates) and include your advertisement code within the desired template. Remember that Vbulletin offers a conditional feature to further limit what code is pulled from templates on certain pages.Example: When editing ad_forumdisplay_afterthreads, you can use <if condition="$forum[forumid] == 'x'">[ADVERTISEMENT CODE HERE]</if> (where x is the forum id of the forum in which you'd like to include the advertisement in). This will allow you to control what ads are shown in different forums.

[CallieJo]

Nice explanation. I would also add that you don't have to limit your ads to just something like Google Adsense. I have found that I can make alot more all at once by offering advertising to anyone who wants to advertise on my website. You can add an option in your contact us form through admincp to offer advertising and the price/place. The person contacts you with interest, you send them a PayPal bill, they pay it, you put their ads up. The only downfall is you must add the ads by hand...which is not hard but not automated either. Plus, when the time limit of the ad is up, you must take them down yourself.

[Gio~Logist]

Very good point. I know tons of people benefiting more from affiliate marketing and such rather than any publisher. All depends on your niche and what you think would work best for you.

There's a few ad management systems for vb though, aren't there? I've made some custom ones myself (for those needing certain nicks and knacks), but i could've sworn i've seen some ad management products, no?

[CallieJo]

Very good point. I know tons of people benefiting more from affiliate marketing and such rather than any publisher. All depends on your niche and what you think would work best for you.

There's a few ad management systems for vb though, aren't there? I've made some custom ones myself (for those needing certain nicks and knacks), but i could've sworn i've seen some ad management products, no?

There are ad management systems available. However, none of them offer an automated system to purchase advertising.

But, there are third party services (not vb mods) out there that you can:

Sign up with.
Share a small percentage of ad revenue with.
Put code on your site.
Someone buys an ad slot. Pays through the third provider.
You approve the ad.
The ad automatically shows up for the duration they paid for.


I had previously purchased a script that did this on my end. However, it was slow and took up too many resources. I don't use it anymore. Another paid for script that I can't use:(

Now I do it all by hand. I show advertising options through the contact form in vb. They contact me with an interest. I send them a PayPal bill. They pay and send me their complete ad. I put it up. Take it down when the duration ends. In the past, I've made more upfront with doing this than through the google adsense ads.

Even phpads (or whatever their new name is) doesn't automate the process thoroughly.

Using affiliate programs like cj.com, linkshare, doubleclick, etc. is a great way to target your content with ads you pick. You can even show random advertisers chosen in one affiliate network.

Have a splendid day*

[CallieJo]

I am now using a stand alone of Oiopublisher (http://www.oiopublisher.com/).

If anyone wants to use a system that handles the process automatically, give this a try.

It was originally built for Wordpress but now offers a stand alone version which I use on my forums.

[icore360]

That was nice. Thanks!