Controlling frequency of a banner display

control frequency of a banner display

[Tourex]

I want to display a banner at the top of our comprehensive information site, inviting readers who haven't made a donation to do so.

I am new to PHP, but learning fast, and would appreciate comments/help from more expert readers. My aims are:

1) To totally hide the banner from readers who have made a donation.

2) To show the banner on increasing frequency depending upon usage of the site (starting at, say, every 5th page and increasing to every page for heavy usage).

I accepting the constraints of cookies, but envisage that the frequency with which the banner is shown will be controlled by both the number of page impressions in the current session and with previous sessions (assuming cookies enabled on the readers site).

Thanks in anticipation of any help.

In a sense, I envisage it being a sort of Shareware site.

[jatar_k]

Well, you need to track a fair bit per user then.

individual page views as well as whether they have made a donation or not.

Are these users logged in? If so then this gets a lot simpler.

[Tourex]

Hi jatar-k

No, the users won't be logged on. However, I would be happy to provide a log-on facilitiy for readers who HAVE made a donation and who therefore should not be shown the reminder banner. That would just mean that non-members get the banner. The tricky bit, I guess, would be controlling the the usage. I guess a cookie would be the answer and that could count the number of page impressions during the current session. OK, so those with cookies disabled will just get the default, but if I can get it right for 90% of users, I'll be happy.

[jatar_k]

there you go, sounds like the idea is formed in your head

cookie for most
no cookies then you get ads all the time
logged in (ie made donation) no ads

sounds perfect

[supermanjnk]

you could always try giving them a donation ID

a randomly generated number that they can enter on the donation page if they have already donated, this would then give you the ability to see, how much one person has donated (if they donate multiple times) how often they donate (if you have a different record for each date)
You can also have it so they can enter their donation ID should their cookie disapears.

[Tourex]

Thanks for all the input.

The one tricky bit is for those who haven't made donations. I want to increase the frequency with which the banner is shown depending upon their usage of the site. So, a new visitor only gets the banner every five pages. However, somebody who's been there a lot and who hasn't donated should receive the banner more and more frequently, up to a maximum of every page.