Is there any effective way for a publsher to count CPM's?

I'd like to get more of a handle on my ad revenues...

[Josefu]

If you've read around a bit you may see that I'm just beginning to seriously learn about web advertising.

Could I control how many "shows" a banner gets and turn it "off" if a certain number is exceeded? I have the idea of selling precise CPM's that would correspond exactly to the volume of visitors I have. (thus a total transparency for the client without any need to make "promises" about the volume of traffic I will have). In fact, I would like to create a "credit counter" that would not only run to zero but be "refillable" client-side... think a jukebox or... a dryer in a laundromat : )

Dumb idea? Myself I think not, but I see little written anywhere about CPM "countablility" - does the technology we have today allow this?

Thanks for any input,

Josefu.

[jorj]

Why won't you use a hidden counter next to the image and get the values from the counter's report. They will both be displayed the same number of times so this is what you need.

I didn't though of this kind of use when I built my own counter but it may find its use in such a mode as well.

Goodluck

[Josefu]

Thanks for your reply - but could you elaborate a little? How could I attach a counter to an image - a CGI script? And what if the banners are rotating - meaning not the same one showing every time?

[brickwall]

You will need a script (PHP, ASP, etc) inside this page of yours to do the counting. And then you will need a place to store the currect count information everytime the counter is incremented. A database or a textfile will do the job nicely.

Post this question in the PHP or Microsoft Related section of this forum and Iam sure the guys there will be happy to show you a simple code snippet you can use. You'll get that snippet fast there because the coding for what you want to achieve is simple.

[jorj]

I doubt that you can count rotating banners if they are not provided by your own site. If they do or if you have ne banner only then is like displaying two images one after the other. The second will be of course the counter.

[Josefu]

Okay, I will post it there - thanks for your help : ) I'm already "Php'ing" so a line or two of code should not be too difficult to implement...

I was hoping that there was some sort of easy solution but it looks like I'll be coding an application from the bottom up... lol!

Thanks, cheers.

[jorj]

Look for a counter. It is not two lines of code believe me. And there are a lot of "free hit counters" outhere.

[itisgene]

Search for "banner rotation scripts". there are plenty of decent/free banner rotation programs out there that does more than what you asked for for free. I have been using one of the free SW for over three years without any problems.

[tke71709]

Maybe I'm confused about what you are asking for.

Is this it?

You sell 1 000 banner impressions for let's say $2.

The banner ceases to be shown once it has hit 1 000 impressions. The banner owner can then top up their account to buy more impressions.

If that is what you are looking then just about every ad server/banner rotator script has that built in as standard.

[Josefu]

LOL, I told you I was new to this - and it looks like I was searching using all the wrong keywords.

Yes, you got it exactly right - and I'm glad it exists already : )

Thank you for your help, all.