Intro To Ad Revenue Sharing

Welcome to the Ad Revenue Sharing [help] section. I hope I have explained it clear enough so that even the uninitiated can understand.

1. Basics
1. Topics
2. Non-Topics
2. Participate
3. Ad Networks
1. Google Adsense
2. Yahoo Publisher Network (YPN)
3. TextLinkAds Referrals
4. Banned
5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
6. Tips

Basics

Users are the heart and soul of a great forum. They/you put in time and effort and so deserve to be rewarded. This Ad Revenue Sharing mod hopefully works towards that goal.

Usually you need to own your own website to get an income from advertising, but no more. With this mod, an extra section is added to users profile area entitled Ad Revenue Sharing where they can enter their Publisher ID for 3 ad networks. There are two slightly different ways a users ads may be shown, either for topics or non-topics.

Topics

When anyone views a topic, if the author of the topic is participating in ad revenue sharing, there is a chance the that the author advertising ID's used to show the ads. When anyone clicks the said ads, they will of course reep the rewards.

The 'chance' that the authors ad ID's will be used can be altered by the administrators on a per membergroup basis. Where a user is a member of multiple membergroups, the highest adshare is always the one used. For example new members may only get 10%, whilst veteran members may get 80%. So it pays to be a regular poster.

For the rest of the 'chance', boards ads are shown

If a logged in user views his own topic, ads will be shown as if it was a non-topic page.

Non-Topics

Whenever a non-topic page is viewed, either boards ads will be shown, or the ad ID's of a randomly selected participant will be shown.

The admin can alter whether particular membergroups can benefit from being randomly selected. If a user is a member of multiple membergroups, if any of those groups are have it set to allowed, then they can be selected.

Participate

If you want to participate, goto the ad revenue sharing panel of your profile area. However the administrators can control who can participate on a per membergroup basis. If you are not allowed to participate you will be shown a message.

For example new members may not be able to join in until they reach a membergroup which allows them to participate.

The Ad Revenue Sharing mod is designed in such a way to reward long term posters. For Topic pages, the chance of the topic authors ad ID's being used can be altered from 0% to 100% for every membergroup.

Ad Networks

There are 3 advertising programs by default supported by this SMF modification at the moment. Google Adsense, Yahoo Publisher Network (a.k.a YPN) and TextLinkAds referral ads.

The administrators of the board may have disabled a particular network.

As a security precaution a logged in user will NEVER be shown ads with their ID's.

The same Adsense/YPN/TextlinkAds ID's CANNOT be used by multiple users.

Google Adsense

Google Adsense (by default) is supported by this Ad Revenue Sharing Modification and their ads are on a pay-per-click basis. If Adsense revenue sharing is enabled, on the ad revenue sharing panel of your profile area, there will be an input box for your Adsense ID which starts 'pub-' followed by 17 digits. There is also an optional Adsense Channel which you can use to track the number of ad impressions/clicks you are receiving in your Google Adsense area.

If you don't have an Adsense account already, you can register for free Register

Yahoo Publisher Network (YPN)

This is Yahoo's equivalent to Google Adsense which you may be more familar with and are also on a pay-per-click basis. YPN has been stuck in BETA (work in progress) for many months and is currently only open to persons with a US Tax ID (essentially, it is USA only program).

In addition they only pay for clicks by USA visitors. Furthermore, they have removed people from the beta program for having high numbers of international visitors. This modification contains a filtering technique based on your browsers language which will filter out 99% of international visitors.

YPN ads will ONLY be shown to USA visitors to the forum. For international visitors or for USA visitors who haven't set a language in their browser, they will be shown alternative ads, either adsense or textlinkads, depending on settings.

It is hoped YPN will become international in the months to come.

If you don't have a YPN account already, you can register for free Register

TextLinkAds Referrals

TextLinkAds referral ads are not pay-per-click unlike Google Adsense and YPN. They pay a flat $25.00 for any referred visitor that results in a sale or gets accepted into their publisher program. (subject to terms and conditions)

TextLinkAds pay by Paypal.

If you don't have a TextLinkAds.com account already, you can register for free Register

Banned

If when you go into the ad revenue sharing panel of your profile area it gives you a message that you are banned, it means that your ID has been added by an admin to their list of users banned from being included in the program.

It could be because you have been abusing the generosity of the modification.

If you feel this is error, please contact one of the admins.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)

Will I Be Shown Ads With My Own ID's?
A user who is logged in, will NEVER be shown an advertisement using their own ID. This is a security precaution as clicking your own ads would likely result in you being banned from Google Adsense/Yahoo Publisher Network and/or Textlinkads.

I Can't See Ads?
The administrator can alter which membergroups see ads. Where a user is a member of multiple membergroups, if one of those groups has ads set to be off, they will not be shown ads.

I'm An Admin, I Shouldn't Be Shown Board Ads
Logged in administrators are never shown, board ads. They are always shown a users ads or none at all.

How Do I Find My TextLinkAds ID?
To find out your TextLinkAds Affiliate/Referrer ID Either; > Login to your textlinkads account > click 'Affiliate Program' > Click 'Get banners & text links' > Click the button 'Text Links' In the textarea is a link which looks like Text Link Ads The 5 digit number after the ref= part is your ID which you can enter into your profile area. or > Login and then copy to your browser window http://www.text-link-ads.com/my_account.php?view=affiliate_text_links In the textarea is a link which looks like Text Link Ads The 5 digit number after the ref= part is your ID which you can enter into your profile area.

Tips

Tip #1
This is a tip for admins, setting different adsharing levels for different membergroups is a good idea. For example new members to a 5% and increase it for every post level. It will dissuad new users from trying to create lots of topics whilst rewarding the longer serving members.

Tip #2
If Adsense can't find an ad to show, it will show Public Service Ads (PSA's) for which they don't pay for clicks. Therefore registering for TextLinkAds can maximise potential earnings as they are shown instead of PSA's.

Tip #3
Another tips for admins, this mod will work well with the paid subscriptions mod by grudge. Why not create a 100% sharing membergroup and then sell it as part of your charter/premium/upgraded membership.