SMF Ad Revenue Sharing Mod (Official Beta Testing Thread)

[karlbenson]

QueenTire,

With this mod you can set different membergroups to get a larger or smaller share of the ads from 0% to 100% for their own topics. (and in the newer version, from replying to topics.  However they must be a member of adsense to do this.  All money/revenue is dealt with at Adsenses end.  This mod plays no part in payment/revenue/money, and it is impossible for it to.

Your second request is a request for a separate mod altogether.  Which may be more closely related to Grudges Paid Subscriptions mod.

[QueenTiye]

Thank you.  How does this work/integrate with TinyPortal?

QT

[QueenTiye]

Sorry to bump again - but does this mod work with Tiny Portal?

[karlbenson]

sorry my internet has been down. Its back at the moment. I just hope it stays.

I'm told the current version may not work with tiny portal.

[GPGrieco]

I keep getting this error in the error log

Guest   Today at 01:38:41 AM 
66.249.66.16     71780a7e93af2f4f028f8d7d3131468f 
http://www.awsomeforum.com/forum/smf/index.php?topic=85.msg380;topicseen 
8: Undefined index: ars_showads
File: /home/content/G/P/G/GPGrieco/html/forum/smf/Sources/ArsAds.php
Line: 38

how do I fix it

[karlbenson]

looks like you've spotted a bug when trying to access a topic which you have no access to.

All it means is that a variable isnt set.  It nothing major, except the user wont see ads.

I'll make sure this problem is resolved in the next version.

Thankyou for reporting it.

[GPGrieco]

no problem. So your saying that no one is seeing the ads?

[karlbenson]

just when they click a link to a topic which they have no rights to access.  very uncommon, otherwise you'd be getting hundreds of them.

[Niteblade]

Karl,
Just wanted to let you know that I joined your forum, and have contributed $10 toward your forum. Actually, I just wanted to donate as a way of showing appreciation that you're developing the ad-revenue sharing mod for SMF.

[nitins60]

How about a feature showing adrevenue percentage of impressions (10% 20% etc...) and total no of impressions below users post count in topics page, i mean below user avatar. It reminder users to increase thier posts to increase thier percentage of displaying ads

[preddy25]

love this mod and its potential! pls keeep up the good work! waitin impatiently for the next release!

btw , can we manual edit the size of the ad banners to fit our site themes ?which file do i have to edit?

thanks!

[QueenTiye]

OK - I'm doing as much research as my limited understanding will allow.  It looks like this mod works with AdSense API, yes?  When inquiring about API, I got the following response:

The answer to (1) I'm afraid is that you'll need some level of programming
knowledge. I am not familiar with Simple Machine Forum or TinyPortal, but my
guess is that you would need to write a plug-in in PHP to handle AdSense API
sign-up and implementation of ad display.

The answer to (2) is that normally the AdSense API is used on pages that
contain a single contributor's content, say a blog on a blogging site or
profile page on a social networking site. The AdSense code that appears on
these pages is specific to a given user and this is how he sharing works. We
do not have a method whereby basically you can portion out revenue from a
single AdSense account equally to a group of people.

From a quick look at your site, it appears that it is basically a forum, is
this correct? If so, monetization is a bit tricky because no single user
"owns" a given forum thread. Right now we don't have a good recommendation
on how to safely and easily monetize forums, but its something we are
working on as we realize many people want to use the AdSense API with
forum-based sites.

SO, my questions are as follows:

1. How does Ad Revenue Sharing Mod portion out the revenue?  What does it base it on, and why does everyone need their own AdSense account (or do they? Am I mixing up my sources of information?)

2. What are the reported problems working with TinyPortal?

3. Does sharing work based on thread starter or something else?

Thanks!

QT

[preddy25]

if u actually did some research and read up some of the previous posts , you already got your answers

[karlbenson]

SO, my questions are as follows:

1. How does Ad Revenue Sharing Mod portion out the revenue?  What does it base it on, and why does everyone need their own AdSense account (or do they? Am I mixing up my sources of information?)

Every user must have their own adsense account. Unfortunately that means they also need their own adsense website (or have had one when they register with adsense).  The new version fo this mod will also support a couple of networks which dont require a website.

This mod does not deal with revenue.  That is ALL handled by Adsense. All this mod does is decide on who's ads to show.

2. What are the reported problems working with TinyPortal?

It might not install.  I never tested my install whether it would work with tinyportal. Those who have tried have said it wont.
I'll try to make the version I'll working on compatible with tiny portal.

3. Does sharing work based on thread starter or something else?

Thanks!

QT

In the current version, the topic creator only.  For non-topic pages, random users can be selected.

In the newer version I'm adding the sharing to anyone who replies in a topic.

[QueenTiye]

OK - priorities for me are: Works with TinyPortal (I think lots of people will appreciate that), and networks that don't require one to have their own site, since some may not want ads on their site.  The "Topic Starter" idea is ideal, in my opinion, but I think that for portal use the random user option is good, unless there's some way to tell who's content is shown on the front page.   

In the case of sharing with everyone who posts, I hope that's optional. 

QT

[karlbenson]

- Working with TP.
I'll try my best. I haven't looked at the architecture of tp and the changes it makes to smf.
It may be a couple of changes only which could either be a separate mod for tp installed being clever with the edits.

- Other Ad Networks
I'm planning on supporting several others which don't require a website, but they are less profitable.  A few will only be supported for their referral banners. The reason I include those is they can be additional source of revenue for you and your users.

- Sharing - deciding who?
There are tonnes of settings in the current version to control on a per membergroup basis who benefits.
There are new settings in the new version that I'm working on to control whether posters benefit, how they benefit and some bonus settings.

[QueenTiye]

Thanks so much!

QT

[Niteblade]

Personally, I like the idea that all of those who participate on a thread will have a chance to receive credit. That's an excellent idea.

[QueenTiye]

I like the idea too, but it doesn't fit the framework of what I'm trying to do.  That's why I'd like it to be optional.

QT

[karlbenson]

Karl,
Just wanted to let you know that I joined your forum, and have contributed $10 toward your forum. Actually, I just wanted to donate as a way of showing appreciation that you're developing the ad-revenue sharing mod for SMF.

Thx, I saw. Thx Again, sorry hadnt said thankyou sooner. Been busy with this mod and other things

How about a feature showing adrevenue percentage of impressions (10% 20% etc...) and total no of impressions below users post count in topics page, i mean below user avatar. It reminder users to increase thier posts to increase thier percentage of displaying ads

Nice idea, I've already got plans to show an icon (which I've yet to design) to show participants
I'm keen to avoid users spamming to get higher ratios. So I'm working on the carrot and the stick method.

I'll certainly look into it (whether it would create to much additional overhead with queries) vs the benefit.

I like the idea too, but it doesn't fit the framework of what I'm trying to do.  That's why I'd like it to be optional.

QT

I confirm that Posters who participate in a topic benefit by default for every post, but it can be changed to one post per topic or no benefit via a dropdown setting.

Seriously in this thing, theres so many new settings.