Forum Moderators: skibum
My first post here. Hope to be a regular.
I'm looking for a good ad server (I know that covers a lot) to serve as the backbone of an upstart ad network.
I'm not here to promote the ad servers I have come across, so I won't drop names, but most of the other ad servers I come across fall into about three camps.
1. They only show what I'll call "traditional banners" - images, HTML, interstitials, etc. Their accounting systems if they offer integrated accounting and payment processing at all are usually based on CPC, CPM, or cost per period (ex. price per month)
2. These usually display again the traditional banners, but have jumped on the PPC bandwagon and market themselves almost exclusively as PPC engines. They have integrated payment solutions where advertisers make a deposit and each click of their ad deducts from the balance. They may integrate a bid for placement system.
3. Finally, there are the google clones. These offer almost exclusively text ads. And are PPC models. Advertisers create ads inside the system by providing title, description, display URL, and target URL. There usually have some form of keyword system, contextual filtering, and and bid system.
These three then usually fall into two broader categories:
1. Those that offer an affiliate system. This is basically the system where outside publishers agree to place a network's ad code on their site(s) in exchange for a commission. The robust ad servers do all the trafficking, providing stats to affiliates, allowing affiliates to generate (and maybe customize) ad snippets, and paying affiliates through some system such as Paypal Mass Pay.
2. Those that don't support affiliates.
Surely I am not the first person to want to say ...
to an advertiser: "Hey I've got a network of a dozen sites of varying demographics and can offer you traditional graphic banners displayed for a monthly fee to google-style contextual keyword PPC; what do you want to do? And when you've decided, bop over to my ad server, create an account and campaign(s), and pay for it.
to an affiliate publisher: "Hey place my ads on your site(s) and get a piece of the action."
Where is the ad server that encompasses all of the above?
PS. Would also be great to be able to private label this wonderful server.
If you're planning to private label and create a real business around this, then it would seem that some internal development would need to be done on your end.
Actually, I do think some of the bigger players do offer private labeling, but I'm not sure which ones (FastClick?, Casale Media?).
Welcome to WebmasterWorld!
Thank you for the reply and the "Welcome!"
Yes, I'm very familiar with PHPAdsNew. It's one of the adserver's I chose not to mention as I wasn't trying to promote any one program.
But PAN is a great solution for what it is. ESPECIALLY considering it's open source. The design, layout, code are professional quality. I've used it and recommend it often.
Having said that, you're right it lacks a bit for what I need. And MaxMind isn't ready.
I'll keep looking.
