Hi I have searched the advertising forum for "split test", "ad rotation" etc and can't find any references. As an advertiser, would I be able to create a bunch of ads and have them displayed in rotation in the same spot (on DigitalPoint)? If so, will the stats show the performances by ad given that they are all for the same spot? Thanks Samo
Hi shawn - I did an ad yesterday. The set up allowed me to upload all my alternative banners into the same ad. Today I found only my first banner is in that account. So it appears all my other banners were discarded and never displayed. The ad stats certainly don't seem to show any indication of multiple banners. Bear in mind I wanted to test banner variations in the same slot. What's going on? And if only one banner is acceptable for the ad, why does the set up have a link for adding more banners? Thanks S
The ability to add additional banners serves two purposes... It allows you to upload additional sizes and also lets you replace an existing banner if you upload a new one of that size. I believe the notes on the upload area says that the banner will be overridden if you upload a new one of the same size. For A/B testing (different banner images/text), you would need to have an additional ad since each ad is just that (a single ad)... which only allows 1 banner image per size.
Shawn - many thanks for your super prompt reply. Yes, it mentions replacement below the button associated with the banner. But when you click "Add additional banner slot", it gives you a completely new upload (Browse) button to uplad another banner and yes this new element has its own warnings about replacing the old banner with the new one, if they are of the same size. Each time you click "Add additional banner slot" you get a completely new section with its own elements. I understand your point about having different ads and will try that but adding additional banners seems a little strange: First - why not use the same browse button! Second - if they are of the same size as the old, the old one gets replaced. If they are of a different size then they won't be going to the same top slot coz different sizes go to different positions and are effectively different ads. Third - why allow mroe than 3 to be uploaded (I uploaded 15 or more) if DP accepts only 3 banners sizes! (any more of the same sizes would replace the old one right?!!) Thanks S
I completely agree it's a little weird since it uses an old-school HTML form file upload element. Because of that, we really don't know what's going on with the file until AFTER the form is submitted (the client-side doesn't upload the file or even tell us the file name until afte the form is submitted). That being said, we are going to update how the banner image uploading works so it uploads in realtime via AJAX when the file is selected. That way we know all about the file before the form is submitted (file size, type, image size, etc.) and can give feedback to the user in realtime based on the info we know. Sort of correct on the second item... different sizes will of course get placed in different areas (based on size), but they are effectively still the same ad, just different placement. The reason you can upload more than 3 banner images is because digitalpoint.com is simply just a publisher within the system... there are other sites that use the system that have far more than 3 available sizes. But again, that will be resolved inherently once the AJAX image uploader is in place. If you want to see roughly how the AJAX uploader works, I already implemented it here: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/marketplace.php?do=addebook (you don't need to fill anything out, just pick a PDF file to upload). Same general idea, and we will be able to visually replace the old banner image in realtime with the new one.
Neat - I just uploaded a 1.7 MB pdf - went very smoothly. Good luck with the new functionality. Looking forwward to using it for the ads. Thanks for all the answers S