This is the 1st post in our 3-part series on How to Make Ad Targeting Work, in which we'll discuss various ways in which you can make your advertisers happy by helping them get the right ad in front of the right person at the right time – the Holy Grail of Advertising.

We'll start off with social and demographic targeting, which is all rage at the moment .

Next week, we'll discuss ways to make best use of geographic and language based targeting.

Finally, we'll round off with an in depth look at how to improve contextual and interest based targeting on your site.

Okay, let's get started.

So what exactly is demographic targeting?

Simply put, it is a technique that allows you to direct ads to the people who might be most receptive to it based on their profile or social information such as their age range, gender, income range, relationship status, religion, academic qualifications etc. The list is virtually endless.

The main advantage is that it helps advertisers create ads that don't suck.

For example, you don't want to show a hot dating ad to a couple who are happily married, nor does it make sense to show an Extreme Sports ad with Brody Wilson doing a motorcycle somersault 100ft in the air to my grandma.

Well, I take that back. My grandma might actually like that sort of thing.

Anyway, you get the point. So the next question is how do you get it to work?

Getting started – the advertiser's perspective

For advertisers, applying demographic targeting is a fairly simple process. If they've ever used Facebook Ads then they've probably familiar with it already.

The screenshot below shows what it looks like on Facebook.

Now here's a screenshot of what it looks like in the Trafficspaces Ad Manager.

Very similar indeed. Both systems let advertisers customize their ad targeting on a per-ad basis which is really cool because it allows them to do multivariate testing.

Multivariate testing is simply a way to test many ad targeting assumptions at the same time with a view to determine what works best.

Once the advertiser determines which combination of demographic targeting preferences works best with your users, they can really optimize their ad spend and get the best ROI (Return on Investment).

It's a win for you, a win for your advertiser, and most importantly, a win for your users.

Sounds fantastic. So, how do you set it up in Trafficspaces?

Getting started – the publisher's perspective

First of all, you have to switch on ad targeting in your system setup.

1. Go to the Setup->System->Preferences section
2. Switch on the ad targeting options that you wish to offer. Don't be tempted to switch on all the options because doing so may overwhelm your advertisers.
3. Click on Save Changes and you are good to go.

The second step is to integrate it with your site.

At the beginning of this article, you may have been thinking "How in the world is Trafficspaces going to know if the user is male or female?". Simple, with a bit of  Houdini-esque magic. Just kidding. The answer is "through integration".

When a user visits your site, their browser makes a call to fetch ads from the ad servers. This call contains information about the user, and the interesting thing is that you can customize the information on a per-user basis.

Like most sites on the web, your site is probably driven by a dynamic server-side programs written in PHP, ASP, Java etc. What this means is that if the user has signed in, then your server-side program will normally have access to extra information about the user that it will typically use in creating a customized page. That's pretty much how most social networks, dating or community sites work. If you also have snippets of profile info about your users, then you are in good shape to make use of demographic targeting.

The third and final step may be slightly technical so feel free to send it to your techies.

You'll need to install the advanced ad tag on your site. To grab it, go to the Setup->Ad Zones->Ad Tag->Advanced page. You should see something like the screenshot below.

As you can see, there is an attribute called TS_AdService.flags which contains arrays for each type of ad tageting you've switched on. To pass information about a female user, you can just set TS_AdService.flags.genders = ["F"]; It's pretty much that simple.

To download the full list of codes, go to the Setup->System->Preferences->Advanced section. You can also customize it with your own codes.

Conclusion

That's it. You don't have to spend a million dollars to provide demographic targeting that works beautifully. Create your own ad store and it comes out of the box.

It is the simple things that make the most difference. Allowing advertisers to improve their Return of Investment makes them happy and that's a good thing.
 

No related posts.

As many of you might have noticed, over the last few months, we've been rolling out new enhancements silently which include support for multiple ad networks, integration with MailChimp, Freshbooks, Capsule CRM, and several UI/workflow improvements.

Now we are about to rollout support for multiple languages as promised earlier this year.

Think about it – if your audience or advertisers are primarily Spanish or French speaking, then it makes sense to offer an ad store in those languages.

Heck, even if your audience is primarily English-speaking, it makes sense to offer multiple languages and allow non English-speaking advertisers to switch to their preferred language. It'll make users happier and improve conversion rates.

We can include support for Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian, Chinese, Russian and many more.

That's why we are making a clarion call to everyone -

"Please anyone who is interested in helping us with translations should contact us here"

Many thanks to you all.

Related posts:

1. Get a Self-Service Ad Manager In Your Local Language

We've got some good news. We've spruced up the system with some great new features that will put a smile on all our patient users' faces.

Due to popular demand, we've enhanced your favorite ad manager to allow you

1. Manage multiple ad networks

The new "Ad Feed" feature allows you to setup multiple ad network tags.

Whenever there are no self-service or directly sold ads, the system will automatically show an ad from one of your ad networks. You can even set weights (priorities) for each ad network.

It is a great way to monetize your site from multiple sources. It's simple and it works.

2. Set your own time zone

You can now configure the system so that all campaigns start at 12 midnight in your time zone. It was previously fixed to GMT but now, you are to free to set it to any time zone.

3. Track user activity in the ad store

You can now add your own site analytics code (e.g. Google Analytics) to track user interaction with the ad store.

This will give you a better insight to where advertisers are coming from, what they do in the store, and help you improve their experience.

We are loving the new features. Special thanks to Hugh (Compare.ie), Andre (The Sound Alliance), and Aaron (Design*Sponge) for keeping us on our toes.

Keep the feedback coming guys.

Related posts:

1. Language Translators Needed
2. New Feature: Conversion and ROI Tracking for Advertisers
3. Announcing Support for Email Newsletter and RSS Feed Advertising

Related posts:

1. Get a Self-Service Ad Manager In Your Local Language
2. How to Sell Ads Online > Provide a Self-Service Ad Management System (3/7)
3. Techcrunch Switches to Self-Service Ad Platform and Validates Trafficspaces’ Business Model.

We are pleased to announce that Trafficspaces now supports multiple currencies.

When we launched Trafficspaces, we only supported the US Dollar ($). However, after receiving an increasing number of requests to support support currencies like the Euro, British Pound and Aussie Dollar, we've finally done it.

How it works

Simple. When you setup your Trafficspaces ad platform for the first time, you'll be prompted to choose between over 20 currencies. The currency you choose will be your default currency. You won't be able to change it once you've created the platform.

Here is the full list of supported currencies.

1. U.S. Dollars — $
2. Euros — €
3. British Pounds — £
4. Japanese Yen — ¥
5. Canadian Dollars — $
6. Australian Dollars — $
7. New Zealand Dollars — $
8. Swiss Francs — CHF
9. Hong Kong Dollars — $
10. Singapore Dollars — $
11. Swedish Kroner — kr
12. Danish Kroner — kr
13. Polish Zloty — zł
14. Norwegian Kroner — kr
15. Hungarian Forints — Ft
16. Czech Koruny — Kč
17. Israeli Shekels — ₪
18. Indian Rupee — ₨
19. Nigerian Naira — ₦
20. Mexican Pesos — $
21. Brazilian Real — R$
22. Malaysian Ringgits — RM
23. Philippine Pesos — Php
24. Taiwan New Dollars — NT$
25. Thai Baht — ฿

We'll be adding more currencies shortly.

You just have to make sure your payment gateway supports your chosen currency.

If you will like us to support a specific payment gateway, just contact us directly.

Related posts:

1. New Feature: Conversion and ROI Tracking for Advertisers
2. Get a Self-Service Ad Manager In Your Local Language
3. Receive payments directly from advertisers with PayPal, Authorize.Net and USAePay