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When you are interested in using this OpenX plugin, we invite you to submit the form below. We will then contact you to discuss features, pricing, and licensing terms.

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New feature ‘click retargeting’ based on customer suggestion

We received several requests over the past year, from existing licensees and potential buyers, to add this feature. Based on the number of suggestions this sounded like the most popular new feature and therefore we decided to add it to this new version. We’re sure that there are great ideas still waiting to be implemented, so please let us know if there is something that you think is vital for a future release.

Use cases and scenarios

Just like with the existing features, this new feature adds virtually limitless use cases and scenarios to the software. But we wanted to give a few examples to tickle your imagination.

The click on a banner could be interpreted as a very clear signal by the web site visitor about their interest in the product or service being advertised. It might mean they are interested in the particular offer or the category it is associated with. Let’s take the example of a banner announcing a conference on online marketing. If you set a cookie when the user clicks this banner, this would enable you to target the user with other banners for related offers, or you could show them a banner for the same conference but this time with a special offer.

Being able to set a cookie when a banner is clicked also means you do not have to put a pixel on the landing page. This is useful because it is not always easy to have such a pixel incorporated, either because it’s not your own site or because the third party website can’t implement it quickly enough.

Immediate availability

The new version 1.3.0 of TargetiX, the Retargeting plugin for OpenX Source, is available for all existing licensees. Buyers that have purchased their license less than one year ago will receive the new version automatically by e-mail, and so will buyers that have an upgrade plan after the first year. If you have a license but no upgrade plan, this might be the perfect reason to consider getting an upgrade subscription. For just 15% of the original license fee per year, you would receive this and all future updates automatically.

We are excited about this new feature and hope our licensees and future buyers will like it as well. Please feel free to contact us if you would like to know more about the software or if you are interested to purchase a license.

In a number of specific cases, upgrading from version 1.0.2 to version 1.0.3 does not fix the security vulnerability that was fixed in version 1.0.3. Users running version 1.0.3 who had earlier versions on their server should upgrade to version 1.0.4 to remove the vulnerable file.

As always with security fix releases, it is crucial to upgrade to the newest version as soon as possible.

Download: Statistics as Graphs plugin for OpenX 2.8+ Version: 1.0.4 Updated: September 2, 2011 Size: 312.46 KB

Users with version 1.0.3 or older installed will also see a notice about this upgrade underneath each graph that’s drawn on their screen.

Quova powers the geotargeting feature in the new OpenX Enterprise 3.0 (available as a hosted solution only), but now their geotargeting feature is available to OpenX Source v2.8 users as well. They offer two flavors, an On Demand Hosted Service and an On Premise GeoDirectory service. This plugin is free of charge, but there may be charges for using Quova’s IP to Location lookup services.

Download the Quova Geotargeting plugin for OpenX, developed by AdserverPlugins.com, and read the installation and configuration instructions on their developer pages to get the maximum benefit from this plugin.

Let’s assume you’re interested to try out retargeting, then one question may still remain unanswered: How do I do it? Where can I find the technology and tools to start using this powerful technique? If you or your company uses an OpenX ad server, you might want to have a look at our Retargeting plugin for OpenX. Installing this plugin in your self-hosted OpenX ad server installation will give you the ability to run retargeting, behavioral targeting and audience targeting campaigns without having to rely on third-party data. Just have a look at the product page to find out more about this OpenX plugin for retargeting.

More information and download

We have prepared a product page containing all information, documentation and a link to download this free Geolocation Magic Macros plugin for OpenX.

Examples of Text Link Plus banners, created using a custom OpenX plugin (click to enlarge)

We recently developed a custom OpenX plugin that enables ad operations staff to easily create banners in OpenX that contain both small images and text links. This could of course be done using a procedure that involves uploading the image to a known web location and then creating an OpenX HTML banner. The downside of that process, however, is that it is easy to make mistakes, it’s time consuming and it requires technical skills and experience that ad operations staff often don’t have.

Entering data for a Text Link Plus banner (click to enlarge)

The plugin we developed displays data entry fields for the various elements of this “Text Link Plus” ad and it even resizes the images that’s uploaded to the correct dimensions for the ad’s available space.

When the user clicks the “Save Changes” button, the plugin will upload the selected image from the local disk to the server and resize it. Next it creates a custom banner that displays in the required format and dimensions automatically. The user can also edit an existing banner, which will even show a preview of the banner as with any of the standard banner types in OpenX.

We feel this is an excellent example of the power of the OpenX plugin framework. If you have a need for something similar, or if you would like to discuss having your own custom plugin developed, you can contact us using the form below.

Targeting an advertiser’s potential customers

Advertisers are always looking for the most effective and efficient ways to spend their marketing budgets. One way of doing this is by displaying ads only to visitors that have previously visited their site. The assumption is that a visitor who has been on the advertiser’s site before is much more interested in the advertiser’s product or service than before. The intention to buy is often clear. The best option to turn the viewer into a buyer is by leading the visitor back to the advertiser’s site, with the aim of closing the deal.

Publishers can help advertisers to reach their potential buyers by facilitating a retargeting advertising campaign. Below we will explain how this is done.

Step 1: install a ‘tracking pixel’ on the advertiser’s website

A publisher using OpenX, enhanced with the Regargeting plugin for OpenX, can create an invisible ‘tracking pixel’ that can be installed on the advertiser’s website. Essentially, this tracking pixel captures and stores the fact that a visitor has been on the site. The visitor will not notice this, since it is a transparent 1×1 pixel image. Their privacy is not in danger, because the data that is being captured is anonymous. All it says is that ‘someone’ has been on the site. Installing the tracking pixel is simple, most webmasters can do it in less than 5 minutes.

Let’s assume the advertiser is called ‘Acme Inc.’. A tracking pixel would then capture the fact that the visitor has been on the advertiser’s site by recording a data flag like ‘acme=yes’.

Step 2: create a retargeting campaign

The publisher now creates a campaign in OpenX, and adds banners to it in the very same way as it’s always done. The only difference is that each banner will get a special delivery limitation. It basically says: this banner can only be displayed to a visitor when it is a known fact that the visitor has previously visited the advertiser’s site. Adding a retargeting condition to a banner is easy, it takes less than 30 seconds.

For the fictional advertiser Acme Inc., each banner for their retargeting campaign will be given a special rule saying: this banner can only be displayed when the visitor comes with a data flag like ‘acme=yes’.

Step 3: serve ads, including the retargeted ads

When a visitor comes to the site or sites owned by the publisher, the OpenX ad server operated by the publisher will determine which ad or ads need to be displayed for each page that the visitor requests. When OpenX is considering to display a banner for retargeting campaign, the delivery limitations will be evaluated and only when the banner meets all criteria, it will be displayed on the page. Evaluation of the retargeting rules is fast, it takes just a few milliseconds to execute.

When a visitor comes to the site, OpenX might consider to deliver a banner for Acme Inc.’s campaign. However, the banners in this campaign come with a rule, they can only be displayed when the visitor has a ‘acme=yes’ flag. When OpenX evaluates the condition and determines that it can not be met, it will proceed to find another banner that can be displayed.

Step 4: visitors click the retargeted ad and makes a purchase

When a visitor sees an ad for a site that he or she has visited in the past, it will jog their memory and result in more clicks than when they see just a random ad. And when they do click, it is often with the intention to carefully consider the product of service again. As a result, visitors reaching an advertiser’s site through a retargeted campaign are often 5 to 10 times more likely to purchase on their second visit.

Effects of employing retargeting: increased efficiency and effectiveness

When a publisher runs a retargeted campaign for an advertiser, there are two effects:

• Since the banners in the campaign will only be displayed when the visitor has previously been on the advertiser’s site, a relatively small portion of the overall visitor population. This helps the advertiser to spend their marketing budget more efficiently. In many cases, for publishers this might mean the difference between being able to sell a campaign or not.
• Because of the retargeting rules, a visitor seeing the banners will perceive them as much more relevant than when banners will be selected at random. It’s very likely that they will recall visiting the advertiser, and it is much more likely that they will click the banner and visitor the advertiser’s site again. Thus, the effectiveness of the ad campaign has increased.

Increased efficiency and increased effectiveness work in combination and supplement each other, by showing fewer banners and at the same time achieving a higher click-through ratio.

By helping an advertiser increase both the efficiency and the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns, a publisher is able to add great value. Offering retargeting will distinguish the publisher from his competitors. In a crowded market, with many publishers that are after the same advertising budget, it’s an essential tool to come out as the winner.

Please have a look at some of the other examples and use cases of the Retargeting plugin for OpenX

When you have but a fleeting moment to capture a user’s attention on a website, you want to be sure you are serving ads that have the best shot at engagement, thus driving more revenue online. One technique that has consistently proven to be a “must have” in the online advertising game is geotargeting.

This non-privacy invasive technique, based on a visitor’s IP address, allows online advertisers and marketers to create a more meaningful and engaging relationship in an already crowded online marketplace. By delivering advertisements that are relevant to an online site visitor where they live, not only do chances increase that the ad is more likely to catch a user’s attention — it has been proven time and again that geotargeted ads increase click through rates by as much as 30 to 40% over run-of-network ads. And while click through isn’t the be all to end all in the world of online advertising, it is certainly a number that advertisers can relate to in terms of user engagement and revenue.

One caveat though when it comes to leveraging geotargeting is accuracy. Sure, anyone can understand the value of content that is relevant to online users where they live. Much like the offline world, people aren’t interested in the best deals in a neighboring area. They want to know what the best deals are where they live. As such, it’s easy to imagine how misdirected ads could – and are – not only ignored by online users, but may actually attract attention in a negative way.

Digital Element offers geotargeting technology and plugin, with discounts for OpenX users

In order to offer online advertisers access to the industry’s most accurate and reliable data, we are offering OpenX clients a new plugin that utilizes Digital Element’s industry-leading geotargeting solution (the most accurate in the industry – with country-level targeting that is more than 99.9 percent accurate and city-level targeting that’s more than 91 percent accurate worldwide). While it is usually the largest ad servers and ad networks (Doubleclick, Atlas DMT, ADTECH, Advertising.com, Specific Media, Adconion, etc.) that use Digital Element’s geotargeting product, we are currently offering a discount to OpenX clients who would like to improve the geotargeting on their sites. The plugin is easy to use and will provide your users with the most relevant ads possible.

More information about Digital Element’s OpenX plugin for geotargeting

This is a security fix release that takes care of one issue:

• A vulnerability has been discovered in the third-party open source graphing component Open Flash Charts that is used by this plugin to draw the graphs.

As always with security fix releases, it is crucial to upgrade to the newest version as soon as possible.

Download: Statistics as Graphs plugin for OpenX 2.8+ Version: 1.0.4 Updated: September 2, 2011 Size: 312.46 KB

Users with version 1.0.2 installed will also see a notice about this upgrade underneath each graph that’s drawn on their screen.

Targeting members of a closed forum

A publisher operating a closed forum was already successfully displaying ads on the pages that members can access when they are logged in. There were two public pages on the site that were not being used to their full potential, the login page and the page that users see after they log out. The ad revenue (eCPM) of those pages was low, and members complained that the ads they saw there were much less relevant than what they were used to on other pages.

Direct targeting when logged in

The publisher uses information provided by the members to select ads on closed forum pages, so that members see ads relevant to their interests and demographic information. Think of things like gender, age, marital status, education level and so on. It’s not hard to understand that ads for products that are designed for a female audience perform better when they are displayed only for female members, for example. When a member is logged in, it’s very easy to show the right ad to the right person. We tend to call this ‘direct targeting’, and it can be implemented with an out of the box installation of OpenX.

The problem was that the publisher could no longer do this form of direct targeting after the member logs of, or when the visitor is on the sign in page on their next visit. He simply didn’t know who the member was, let alone what profile to use for direct targeting.

Retargeting when logged out

The solution to this problem was to implement the Retargeting plugin for OpenX and to capture some of the profile data when the member is logged in. This data is then stored, anonymously, using the Retargeting plugin for OpenX. As a result, that data is still available even when the member logs out or when they land on the sign in page during their next visit.

Strong increase in eCPM and ad revenue

By implementing this relatively simple scenario, the publisher has seen his ad revenue on the public sign in and post-log off pages almost double overnight. It is estimated that this will pay for the purchase of the OpenX Retargeting plugin in about 4 to 5 months. And now that retargeting functionality is available in his OpenX Ad Server, he is planning to implement more scenarios. Helping his advertisers reach the best possible audience for their campaigns is going to be much easier, and that will help to continue increasing his ad revenue in the future.

Please have a look at some of the other examples and use cases of the Retargeting plugin for OpenX