Sponsored Links How-To Example

Sphider With Sponsored Links

After some digging around, I decided that Sphider would be a good foundation for a personal project, a pet and animal related search engine ( [www.petadvantage.com] ). To monetize the traffic I use the inClick Ad Server ( [www.inclick.net] ), a pay-per-click ad server product.

The goals were:
A. Serve the top three ads as Featured
B. Serve the remaining results as Sponsored
C. Keep it fast.

********************************
Phase 1: Install the Ad Server.
In order to offer sponsored links, you will first need to deploy the inClick Ad Server. I'm sure others can work, but this mod is based on the inClick product. Besides, once you have the ad server up and running, you can not only start selling ad space on your search results, but allow others to show ads for you in and "Ads By" network.

********************************
Phase 2: Update Sphider Code
Now that you have a running ad server, you need to modify the Sphider source code. The following is based on the standard template and could be easily modified to fit your needs.

1. Add the following to the end of searchfuncs.php just above the closing PHP tag:

class inResults {
var $inClickClientId;
var $inClickAdChannel;
var $inClickAdKeyword;
var $inClickAdCount;
var $inClickXMLLocation;
var $inClickUserIP;
var $inClickAdOffset = 0;
var $inClickReferringURL;
var $inClickLimited = 0;
var $inClickOffset = 0;
var $inClickContextMatch = 0;
var $inClickSEMURL;

function getResults() {
$limited = $this->inClickLimited;
$inclick_client_id = $this->inClickClientId;
$inclick_ad_channel = $this->inClickAdChannel;
$inclick_ad_keyword = $this->inClickAdKeyword;
$inclick_ad_count = $this->inClickAdCount;
$inclick_xml_location = $this->inClickXMLLocation;
$uip = $this->inClickUserIP;
$ad_offset = $this->inClickOffset;
$referring_page = $this->inClickReferringURL;
$contextual = $this->inClickContextMatch;
$sem_url = $this->inClickSEMURL;
$referring_page = urlencode($referring_page);
$sem_url = urlencode($sem_url);
$inclick_ad_keyword = urlencode($inclick_ad_keyword);

/* BUILD THE REQUEST */
$post_data = "contextual=$contextual&p_id=$inclick_client_id&ad_count=$inclick_ad_count&doc_offset=$ad_offset&channel=$inclick_ad_channel&keyword=$inclick_ad_keyword&limited=$limited&uip=$uip&sem_url=$sem_url&referring_page=$referring_page";
$url_location = "$inclick_xml_location/xml_feed.php?";

/* GET THE REQUEST FROM THE AD SERVER */
$get_html = new fetchXML();
$get_html->user_agent = "inClick/3.0 (Ad Server Ad Requestor 1.0)";
$get_html->url = $url_location . $post_data;
$response_1 = $get_html->getWebsite();
list($junk,$response_1) = split("<\?xml", $response_1);
$response_1 = "<?xml". $response_1;


/* PARSE THE REQUEST SECTION*/
$xml_text = $response_1;
$xml2a = new convertXMLToArray();
$root_node = $xml2a->parse($xml_text);
$element_array = array_shift($root_node["_ELEMENTS"]);
$idx = 0;
$ad_count = 0;
while ($idx < "$inclick_ad_count"{
if(strlen($element_array[_ELEMENTS][$idx][_ELEMENTS][0][_NAME]) > 5){
$inresults['ad_heading'][$idx] = $element_array[_ELEMENTS][$idx][_ELEMENTS][0][_DATA];
$inresults['ad_uri'][$idx] = $element_array[_ELEMENTS][$idx][_ELEMENTS][1][_DATA];
$inresults['ad_cpc'][$idx] = sprintf("%01.2f",$element_array[_ELEMENTS][$idx][_ELEMENTS][2][_DATA]);
$inresults['ad_desc'][$idx] = $element_array[_ELEMENTS][$idx][_ELEMENTS][3][_DATA];
$inresults['ad_url'][$idx] = $element_array[_ELEMENTS][$idx][_ELEMENTS][4][_DATA];
++$ad_count;
}
++$idx;
}
$inresults['adcount'] = $ad_count;
return $inresults;
}

function generateSponsoredLinks(){
$ads = $this->getResults();
$sponsored_results = $ads['adcount'];
$idx = 0;
$sponsored_ad_premium = "";
$sponsored_ad_standard = "";
$sponsored_links['premium'] = "";
$sponsored_links['standard'] = "";
if($sponsored_results > 0) {
//CREATE HTML WIDGET FOR FEATURED SPONSORS
while($idx < 3 AND $idx < $sponsored_results){
$sponsored_ad_premium .= ("
<!-- results listing -->
<a href=\"".$ads['ad_uri'][$idx] ."\" class=\"title\"><b>".$ads['ad_heading'][$idx] ."</b></a><br />
<div class=\"description\">
<span class=\"url\"> ". ereg_replace("[","",$ads]['ad_url'][$idx]) ."</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;".$ads['ad_desc'][$idx] ."</div>
<br>";
++$idx;
}
$sponsored_ad_premium = substr($sponsored_ad_premium,0,-7);
$sponsored_results_premium = ("
<div id=\"sponsored_results_premium\">
<div style=\"padding-right: 3px; float: right;\" align=\"right\"><font size=\"-1\"><b>Featured Sponsors</b> (<a href=advertise.php>more info</a></font></div>
".$sponsored_ad_premium."
</div>
";

//CREATE HTML WIDGET FOR THE STANDARD SPONSORED LINKS
if($sponsored_results > 3 ){
while($idx < $sponsored_results){
$sponsored_ad_standard .= ("
<!-- results listing -->
<a href=\"".$ads['ad_uri'][$idx] ."\" class=\"title\">".$ads['ad_heading'][$idx] ."</a><br />
<div class=\"description\">
".$ads['ad_desc'][$idx] ."</div>
<div class=\"sponsored_url\">
". ereg_replace("[","",$ads]['ad_url'][$idx]) ."</div>
<br />";

++$idx;
}
$sponsored_ad_standard = substr($sponsored_ad_standard,0,-7);

$sponsored_results_standard = ("
<div id=\"rightcolumn\">
<div class=\"innertube\">
<div id=\"sponsored_results_standard\">
<b>Sponsored Links</b> (<a href=advertise.php>more info</a> <hr size=\"1\">
$sponsored_ad_standard
<br><center><a href=advertise.php>Advertise here</center></a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
";
}
$sponsored_links['premium'] = $sponsored_results_premium;
$sponsored_links['standard'] = $sponsored_results_standard;
}
return $sponsored_links;
}
}
//THE FOLLOWING CLASS, INRESULTS, IS COPYRIGHT 2001-2007 INMOTION GROUP
// AND IS DISTRIBUTED AS PART OF THE INCLICK AD SERVER.
class fetchXML{
var $url;
var $user_agent = "GetAds/1.0";
var $proxy;
var $proxy_port;

function getWebsite()
{
$siteUrl = $this->url;
$pageString;
$fileDescriptor;
$currLine;

$pageString = "";

$urlParts = parse_url($siteUrl);
if (! array_key_exists("port", $urlParts))
{
$urlParts["port"] = 80;
}
ini_set('user_agent',"$this->user_agent";
$sockDescriptor = @fsockopen($urlParts['host'], $urlParts['port'], $errorNumber, $errorValue, 5);
if ($sockDescriptor)
{
$host = $urlParts["host"];
$port = $urlParts["port"];
$path = "/";
if (array_key_exists("path", $urlParts))
{
$path = $urlParts["path"];
}
if (array_key_exists("query", $urlParts))
{
$path = $path . "?" . $urlParts["query"];
}

$out = "GET $path HTTP/1.1\r\n";
$out .= "User-Agent: $this->user_agent\r\n";
$out .= "Host: $host\r\n";
$out .= "Connection: Close\r\n\r\n";

fwrite($sockDescriptor, $out);
$response = "";
$response_code = 0;
$loop_count = 0;

while (!feof($sockDescriptor) && $response_code == 0 && $loop_count < 50)
{
$response_line = fread($sockDescriptor, 1000);
$pageString .= $response_line;
$loop_count++;
}

//Skip all header information if possible
$tempString = strtolower($pageString);
$position = strpos($tempString, "<html";
if ($position !== false)
{
$pageString = substr($pageString, $position);
}
fclose($sockDescriptor);
}
else
{
return "127.0.0.1";
}
return $pageString;
}
}


// THE FOLLOWING CLASS IS A MODIFICATION OF THE CODE CREATED BY DANTE LORENSO
// INFORMATION REGARDING THE FOLLOWING CLASS CAN BE FOUND AT
// [www.phpbuilder.com]

class convertXMLToArray {
var $parser;
var $node_stack = array();

function XMLToArray($xmlstring="" {
if ($xmlstring) return($this->parse($xmlstring));
return(true);
}
function parse($xmlstring="" {
$this->parser = xml_parser_create();
xml_set_object($this->parser, $this);
xml_parser_set_option($this->parser, XML_OPTION_CASE_FOLDING, false);
xml_set_element_handler($this->parser, "startElement", "endElement";
xml_set_character_data_handler($this->parser, "characterData";
$this->node_stack = array();
$this->startElement(null, "root", array());
xml_parse($this->parser, $xmlstring);
xml_parser_free($this->parser);
$rnode = array_pop($this->node_stack);
return($rnode);
}
function startElement($parser, $name, $attrs) {
// create a new node...
$node = array();
$node["_NAME"] = $name;
foreach ($attrs as $key => $value) {
$node[$key] = $value;
}
$node["_DATA"] = "";
$node["_ELEMENTS"] = array();

// add the new node to the end of the node stack
array_push($this->node_stack, $node);
}
function endElement($parser, $name) {
// pop this element off the node stack
$node = array_pop($this->node_stack);
$node["_DATA"] = trim($node["_DATA"]);

// and add it an an element of the last node in the stack...
$lastnode = count($this->node_stack);
array_push($this->node_stack[$lastnode-1]["_ELEMENTS"], $node);
}
function characterData($parser, $data) {
// add this data to the last node in the stack...
$lastnode = count($this->node_stack);
$this->node_stack[$lastnode-1]["_DATA"] .= $data;
}
}

------------------------

2. Add the following into your search results page after "extract($search_results);"

/* ADDED FOR SPONSORED RESULTS */

//GET SPONSORED RESULTS
if($search_results['num_of_results'] > 0){

//DETERMINE HOW MANY ADS TO GET
if($search_results['num_of_results'] < 6){
$ad_count = $search_results['num_of_results'] + 2;
} else {
$ad_count = 10;
}

//DETERMINE THE OFFSET
if(array_key_exists('start',$_REQUEST)){
$ad_offset = ($_REQUEST['start'] * 10)-10;
} else {
$ad_offset = 0;
}

//BUILD THE REQUEST FOR ADS FROM THE AD SERVER CLASS
$ads = array();
$getAds = new inResults();
$referring_page = "[".$_SERVER]["SERVER_NAME"] . $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"];
$ad_query = ereg_replace("\"","",$query);
$getAds->inClickAdChannel = 1; // THE CHANNEL TO DRAW ADS FROM
$getAds->inClickClientId = <<PUBLISHER ID>>; //THE PUBLISHER ID
$getAds->inClickAdKeyword = $ad_query; //THE KEYWORD
$getAds->inClickAdCount = $ad_count; //THE NUMBER OF ADS TO RETRIEVE
$getAds->inClickXMLLocation = "<<ADSERVER LOCATION>>"; //THE LOCATION OF THE XML FEED
$getAds->inClickUserIP = $_ENV['REMOTE_ADDR']; //THE IP ADDRESS OF THE SEARCHER
$getAds->inClickAdOffset = $ad_offset; //THE OFFSET COUNT
$getAds->inClickReferringURL = $referring_page; //THE URL OF THE PAGE WE ARE ON
$getAds->inClickLimited = 1; //SET TO LIMITED TO ONLY SHOW MATCHES RESULTS (1)

//GET ADS FROM AD SERVER, POPULATED AS A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL ARRAY
//$ads = $getAds->getResults(); //GET THE ADS FROM THE AD SERVER

$sponsored_links = $getAds->generateSponsoredLinks(); //GETS ADS FROM AD SERVER AND GENERATES HTML CODE FRAGMENTS

}
//END OF SPONSORED RESULTS

------------------------
3. Add the following into the results page to display paid ads:
Look for the following line:
<div id="results">
Immediately after the above line, add the following two lines:
<?php echo $sponsored_links['premium'];?>
<?php echo $sponsored_links['standard'];?>

------------------------

4. Add the following to your CSS file:
#sponsored_results_premium{
width: 100%;
/*height: 500px;*/
font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, san-serif;
font-size: 12px;
color: #000000;
background-color: #FFF4DF;
float: left;
text-align:left;
padding:6px;
}
#sponsored_results_standard{
width: 190px;
/*height: 500px;*/
font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Helvetica, san-serif;
font-size: 12px;
color: #000000;
/*background-color: #FFFFFF;*/
float: right;
text-align:left;
padding:2px;
}
.sponsored_url {
color: #115599;
overflow:hidden;
width:190px;
}

------------------------
When all is said and done, ads will appear when matches exist. Of course, the behavior also depends on how you setup the ad server, but the above will be a good start. This message text didn't format quite the way I expected, so if you want the text document, just PM me.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Code in Use: www.petadvantage.com
Ad Server used: www.inclick.net

-Bing
-------
Turn your Sphider into an Ads for Search and Ads for Content Advertising Network Free!
[www.inclick.net]



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2009 09:42PM by inmotion.

You can use another set of ads. It's not that my server is installed on the Zend Optimizer. And to install www.inclick.net
This is necessary. There is another system for ads or as may install Zend Optimizer on my Linux server

josemadridista Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You can use another set of ads. It's not that my
> server is installed on the Zend Optimizer. And to
> install www.inclick.net
> This is necessary. There is another system for ads
> or as may install Zend Optimizer on my Linux
> server


To use inClick, you need to have Zend Optimizer installed.

Hi, uhm I tryed to o this but it didn't realy work. I was wandering if you could make a different version where instead of using inclick it shows all the links that match a search in a specific database table? example:

Search ->->->->Get's results ->->->-> Get's special results ->->->---
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------
|
Displays regualr result as usual ->->-> Displays speical results in a different section on the site like google.

Anyway if you can do this it would be great. It's a pretty simple request. just use the part of the code above that displays them on the site and revise the search funcs so that instead of getting them from inClick it gets them from a database in a certain table, but only displays the ones that match, and also have it display the description and such too just like the regular results

Thanks,
Tyler

Skeletron Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi, uhm I tryed to o this but it didn't realy
> work.

Tyler,

What issues did you run into?

As for the modification you suggested to Sphider, what would be the billable action? Would the listing become featured based on CPM, specific days, etc? Featured listings could be done via the inClick API as well (considerably more coding required).

-Bing

I supposed that I could make a script that searches a specific database which is implemented into spider search posting but the only problem is getting them to show up properly on the side and top. what I was hoping you could do for me is tell me how to get the results form my script to show up in the riht place, on the top and side. or if you could create a full script for me that shows the results and uses the searches people make to search spider and use the sponsored search script.

Travis,

It sounds like you are looking to take the native Sphider results and turn them into sponsored (and render them into the page). In the PetAdvantage deployment, I first looked what approaches would allow for the most expansion. I had three objectives:

1. Create the ability to provide Sponsored Links
2. Create the ability to syndicate the Sponsored Links
3. Create the ability to create an advertising network based on content.

In #1, what is currently missing from Sphider, is the ability to monetize links. At first glance, I was going to place "markers" on listings (via the D that were paid so that they would come to the top of results. This, however, limited #2 and would also make #3 impossible. It also meant more development time and QA testing.

The code I provided above could be easily manipulated to use other data sources. For example, you could use your own method of creating / managing / tracking sponsored links. You will then need to create an XML "feed" that is structured the same as the data provided from the inClick ad server. Change a couple parameters, and the class will create the associated results.

As for rendering the ads, the code creates a couple variables that can be simply echoed. This may not work for everyone as the rendering is based on a near-factory deployment. Instead of letting the code create the HTML fragments, you can change the following:

Original:
//GET ADS FROM AD SERVER, POPULATED AS A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL ARRAY
//$ads = $getAds->getResults(); //GET THE ADS FROM THE AD SERVER

$sponsored_links = $getAds->generateSponsoredLinks(); //GETS ADS FROM AD SERVER AND GENERATES HTML CODE FRAGMENTS

Modified:
//GET ADS FROM AD SERVER, POPULATED AS A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL ARRAY
$ads = $getAds->getResults(); //GET THE ADS FROM THE AD SERVER

//$sponsored_links = $getAds->generateSponsoredLinks(); //GETS ADS FROM AD SERVER AND GENERATES HTML CODE FRAGMENTS

The sponsored results are placed into an associative array, $ads. You can then render them as you see fit.

Let me know if that made any sense

-Bing

I understand what you mean, I just don't get where or how the xml feed comes in... also, the two codes are the same eccept for one has a kine commented out. can you please explain this better please? thanks

Tyler

Tyler,

The XML is used to obtain data from the ad server. For example, a search on PetAdvantage for dog bowls:

From the site:
[www.petadvantage.com]

The XML behind the scenes:
[www.petadvantage.com]

The XML is the raw data from the ad server that the above class / code parses into an HTML code fragment.

The difference between the two is exactly right, just one line has commented out vs the other. The first method creates the HTML code fragments while the other creates an associative array of the XML results. Both methods are included with one being commented based on your usage.

Hope that helps.

-Bing

ok, I understand what you mean about how it uses the XML file but I'm just not understanding how this comes in with your code. Can you please just tell me what I have to change in your code or add to my code to make this work. I can do most things but I'm stuck on this one, can you please just like tell me "change this to this" and "add this to this" and "create this file" and that kind of stuf for me, so that I know what to do.

Thanks, in advance, Tyler

Tyler,

To start where are ads coming from? Will you be using inClick to manage ads? If so, what is the URL of the ad server?

From that, I should be able to give you the how-to.

-Bing

ok heres what I have working on my site so far, I'm also going to give you a rundown on what in my mind was planning on doing. I have previously tryed this code and inClick but it didn't work so I just gave of on sponsored results. then later I started thinking about making money, and I'm sure we all think about how we can make money sooner or later, so thats where I was at. so I started to get to work. I studied hosting scripts found on the net and create a base purchasing script, which is an order form that allows them to register / order in one page, once they click finish it sends them to paypal to pay, once they pay the script automatically activates their account where they can log into a control panel and manage their url, title, description, contact info, so on. and it stores all this info in a database. I now I'm just trying to figure out how to implement a script into the normal search that also fetches the results from the certain database and displays them in the sponsored links sections like on petadvantage. if you can help me, I was wandering if you could make something that crates an XML off of the links, titles, and descritions and then the script you made can work properly. Plase tell me you can help. I don't know where else to turn to.

Tyler,

It sounds like the work needed to integrate the method you are currently using is going to take more time than what I have available. I would estimate the total time to review your existing method, create an XML output, test, and deploy would take about 5-6 hours. Perhaps another engineer could do the work for you?

What issues did you run into with the inClick deployment? Is it still available? Would you use it over the method you have created? If you still have the inClick Ad Server running, it shouldn't take much to get that running using the code I provided.

-Bing



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2007 02:09AM by inmotion.

ok, what about this. If I use a different ad server besides inClick, will you be able to help me or edit your above code so that it works with the ad server I use?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2007 07:55AM by Skeletron.

Tyler,

The issue is the time needed to convert the above code to read another data source. While trivial in what it does, the time required to do so is more than what I can provide at no cost. I estimated the number of hours to give you an idea of what would be involved, be it we perform the task (Our company bills at $95/hour) or you contract an engineer.

So, the answer is if you are not using the inClick Ad Server for the sponsored links, I cannot be of much assistance beyond pointing you in the direction to make the above code work:

In order to use the above code, you need to provide the URL to a properly formatted XML dataset of the sponsored listings (Find <<ADSERVER LOCATION>> is section 2 to set this location).

If you were using the inClick Ad Server, the issue would be integration as opposed to re-engineering to comply the above code.

-Bing



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2007 07:03PM by inmotion.

I was just wandering... can I have a copy of your xml file just to see how it needs to be formatted? It doesn't need to have actauly peoples info in it just like example links like name: example link, desc, etc etc. just so that I know how to create one.

Thanks, Tyler

Tyler,

You can use this XML:
[demo.inclick.net]

This is from the demo ad server.

I did notice that you were attempting an install, but ran into PHP configuration issues. Did you get them resolved?

-Bing

Hi, I just decided that I would go with inClick. Do you own inclick and that pet site? just curious. I only have one question with the search results code above. for the <<PULISHER ID>> what do I put?

Thanks,
Tyler

also... I'm stuck on what to do next. I've installed inclick, setup the whole thing, but the ads won't show up. what am I supposed to edit in the code above to make the inclick ad server work? what do I change the <<PUBLISHER ID>> and <<AD SERVER LOCATION>> to? what are yours set to?

Skeletron Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> also... I'm stuck on what to do next. I've
> installed inclick, setup the whole thing, but the
> ads won't show up. what am I supposed to edit in
> the code above to make the inclick ad server work?
> what do I change the <> and <> to? what are yours
> set to?

Tyler,

What is the URL of your ad server? Did you want me to setup the ad server side of things? If so, use this form:
[www.inclick.net]

As for the Publisher ID, you can use the house publisher account, 1002, or create an account specifically for your search engine.

-Bing

Hi, I don't mean to sound rude but thats kinda not what I asked you. I asked you what do I change the <<PUBLISHER ID>> and <<AD SERVER LOCATION>> to? what are yours set to? I have everything going good on the inClick side of things. I just don't know what to change those above things to.....

I don't need help with inclick, I need help with your script above.

Skeletron Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi, I don't mean to sound rude but thats kinda not
> what I asked you. I asked you what do I change the
> <> and <> to? what are yours set to? I have
> everything going good on the inClick side of
> things. I just don't know what to change those
> above things to.....
>
> I don't need help with inclick, I need help with
> your script above.

For the PUBLISHER ID, I created a new publisher account and used the account number of that account for this setting. This was done so that I can track performance and revenue easily. For this account, I set its revenue rate to 100%.

For the AD SERVER LOCATION, I used [www.petadvantage.com]

I apologize for not understanding your request. The reason I was asking for the URL to your ad server to provide you the exact entry to place in the AD SERVER LOCATION field.

I'm starting to get realy f*in frustrated with this! I have a few questions about how to do things with inclick!

1. How do I delete advertisers/ads
2. what EXACTLY do I put for <<ADSERVER LOCATION>
3. I CAN"T GET THE ADS TO SHOW UP WHEN I SEARCH!!!!

Tyler,

I am trying really hard to help you on this. In order to be of assistance, I asked for some information which was not yet provided. I'll try to be as clear as possible:

Skeletron Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 1. How do I delete advertisers/ads
You cannot delete advertisers or ads as they are needed to for reporting and historical data purposes.

> 2. what EXACTLY do I put for <<ADSERVER LOCATION>>
I asked this a few times in the thread. I need to know the URL of your ad server installation to provide you the EXACT entry for this field. Using the PetAdvantage example, the ad server is installed here:
http:-//www.petadvantage.com/petadnet (Remove the dash)

The location I used for <<ADSERVER LOCATION>> is this:
http:-//www.petadvantage.com/petadnet/ads (Remove the dash)

If you are unable to determine the entry you are to use with the provided examples, I can give you the EXACT entry when you tell me what the URL is to your ad server.

> 3. I CAN"T GET THE ADS TO SHOW UP WHEN I
> SEARCH!!!!

Until it is configured correctly, ads will not show.

In an effort to get you running as quickly as possible, please use the following link to chat with me directly:
[www.inmotiongroup.com]

Hi, it's still not working, and your chat is never working either, i've been checking every hour and nothing is happening. I signed up just to test it out and created an ad for my site with keywords and everything but when I search it doesn't show up I have my adserver location right and the house publishers number for the publisher account but nothing is happening. what would be the likely cause of this? I really need help.

The chat is available between 9A and 5P EST. (By the way, if anyone has questions about how to implement the Sponsored Links, you can use this chat as well)

If no ads are coming out of the ad server, then this sounds like an ad server configuration issue. Did you install it correctly? Did you set the cron job for your ad server? Can you see ads using the XML feed? Be sure to review the inClick installation document to make sure you covered each step. 99% of ad server failures is due to not setting the single cron job.

Again, I would suggest having your inClick Ad Server reviewed by opening a support ticket here:
[www.inclick.net]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2007 06:03PM by inmotion.

hi, I don't think I set the cron job right, I didn't get the intructions for it but I tried my best. I also just noticed today by experimenting that when I log in as the publisher and create an ad, and place it into an html page it won't show up. Why is this? Also when I go to the "xml_feed.php" on my site, I get a blank screen with a "1x1 pixels" or something like that. what does this mean? would the xml not work because of the cron which in the long run makes the whole thing not work? because it kinda sounds like an xml issue. the ad code won't work, the search sponsored results won't show up...hmm maybe you can give me some advice as to what you think.

Thanks,
Tyler



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2007 07:43PM by Skeletron.

Tyler,

It definitely sounds like you didn't follow the instructions during the installation process. Without the cron job set, the ad server will not work. Open a support ticket on the inClick site for assistance.

My advise, open the support ticket as your ad server is not configured correctly.

-Bing



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2007 09:02PM by inmotion.

Hi, I made a support ticket on inClick. Please please please get it working for me. I've lost hope.... =)

Thanks,
Tyler

For those that are having difficulty with the above code, there was an issue in it. I have since updated the above code. For ease of integration, you can also download the instructions and formatted PHP code here:

[www.inclick.net]