Ad Server vs Copy and Paste

[CMidd]

Who here using an in between Ad Server and who just copies and paste the adsense code into their site?

What Ad Servers do you use?

What benefits have you gained from them?

[topr8]

i use a custom adserver...

the benefits are huge -

just for adsense alone i have so much more control, depending on variables i can serve adsense code with different channels, for instance if i'm testing different color schemes - additionally i can serve text or image ads at my own choice by this method.

furthermore i can serve all kinds of other ads using the same system.

[CMidd]

You built the server yourself? did you mod an existing server?

[incrediBILL]

You still have to copy and paste to initially get the adserver installed.

Opens up lots of options, tons you can do with more control.

With my current setup, I can now blend AdSense ads with affiliate ads targeted down to the page content level without touching the page HTML.

All smoke & mirrors :)

[netmeg]

I'm evaluating options. DFP was a hot mess when I tried a couple years ago; supposedly it's gone through a big upgrade, but I took a look again recently, and it doesn't look all that different.

I've heard mixed reviews of OpenX (and have some questions about its security)

Can't program my own, but maybe I can get my developer to cobble something up; we just have too much other stuff to do first.

[CMidd]

DFP sucks big time. I'm shocked people really use. I use openx it's good. I'm aware of the security issue, but i hardened it.

I'm shocked i used adsense, affiliate for so long with out it.

[zerillos]

Do you guys write your own adservers or do you use a commercially available one. Could you post some examples(besides google's)?
I never thought of using an adserver. I don't have time to write one and i don't really trust other people's code. Still, i would like to know a few options.
Thanks!

[AdSenseAdvisor]

Hey CMidd,

We've been making changes to the DFP product and integrating more of Google's scale and UI with DFP's core technologies. If you haven't used the platform recently, take a look and see if the updates address any of your previous concerns. We've also updated the site so there's more info you can find on all the features & benefits of working with the free hosted solution (DFP Small Business)

For anyone who has recently used DFP Small Business, I'd be interested to hear feedback on what you like or don't like specifically so I can funnel that back to the teams.

ASA.

[CMidd]

ASA

cool, I'm going to check it out. i played around with it at the beginning of the year, but from i can see, things have changed

Could you post some examples(besides google's)?

OpenX is by far the second largest.
Adpeeps is pretty good.

there are a ton of hosted solutions like Adform, ADTECH and many more.

check out: [imediaconnection.com...]

I like OpenX cause 1 it's free, 2 you can run the software and modify the source, giving you full control. Google DFP is the most power, but it's also the most complicated.

There are also some simple scripts that can server ads and track them on various php script sites. They won't give you a complete ad server, but they can handle rotating and click tracking.

[zdgn]

For someone who likes to spend more time on dev/design than accounting, an adserver is attractive only if it handles automated client billing, which DFP doesn't. I believe OpenX has a third-party plugin for that though, haven't tried.

Ideal World Scenario:

1. Client sees "Advertise Here." slot.
   
2. Client selects slot/time/CPM/etc in DFP.
   
3. Client uploads creatives for approval.
   
4. Upon approval, client pays through DFP/Google checkout, DFP takes fees.
   
5. Webmaster receives payment, activates cleint ads.
   
6. Client ads run.
   
7. Cleint receives DFP reports.
   
8. Client happy: orders more. Webmaster happy: makes site better. Google happy, makes more money. ;-)
   

[netmeg]

Biggest thing that DFP could do right now to increase their share of the ad server market? Release a Google sanctioned WordPress plugin that makes it easy to place and configure ads. Seriously. You'd have 100,000 downloads in half an hour.

[CMidd]

[qoute]an adserver is attractive only if it handles automated client billing[/qoute]

an adserver isn't just for selling ad space on you site. You can use Adsense with placement targeting and tell advertiser to go there.

An adserver is used for full control, flexibility, auditing, filtering.

Control over switching out networks, affiliate offer. Audit of ad impressions and click. Google Adsense impression count might be wrong, but Openx shows me my complete impression, click and real ctr.

Filting: you can configure it to only show google ad to US visitors and affiliate offers to other visitor. or you can configure it to show a different ad for visitors coming from different sources "facebook, vs search, bing"

Filting based on time and day: you can configure it to show a different mix or ad based on day. example: paydays "typically Friday around 1st 15th in the US" show more affiliate offers over adsense, while the day before payday "when people are window shopping" show more adsense.

ease of use. You create 1 single adzone, copy and paste the code and you can target adsense, chitika, adbrite, or affiliate banners to the zone, or you can rotate then all "show adsense 25% of the time, show chitika 25% of the time" etc them to see which one performs the best. and you can determine how an ad network is shown based on a ton of configuration.

example: don't show adsense on traffic that i purchased on adwords, but show other networks -- but show adsense on other traffic.

the possibilities are ends less.

one cool feature i found is with scalper. they using remove adsense code, but leave adserver code, allowing me to target ads to their scraped content LOL.

[topr8]

>>You built the server yourself? did you mod an existing server?

built from scratch to my specific requirements - possibly not dissimilar to what incrediBill has.

... although i have a few stray sites which have got ads hard coded into the pages too.

[mrwanshee]

i love dfp it really got all that i want and i need