How to Setup Google DFP on your Site

Say you use an advertising network like Google AdSense for serving ads but also accept direct advertisers on your website? Or have you signed up with multiple ad-networks but, due to limited ad space on your site, you will only like to run ads from the network that pays you the most money (read maximum CPM)?

google dfpIn either of these cases, Google DFP, or DoubleClick for Publishers, could be an ideal solution for you. It is a free ad server from Google, like OpenX, that lets you sell ad space on your website more effectively

You may choose to run banner ads, text ads or even rich-media (like video and flash ads) through DFP. The tool, which was formerly known as Google Ad Manager, requires no downloads or installation and any website publisher can sign-up for the DFP program as long as they have an active Google AdSense account.
Sell Your Advertising Space with Google DFP

Say you have a news website (or a blog) where you cover topics such as technology, sports, entertainment and so on. An advertiser wants to serve banner ad campaigns on all your tech related pages. He will pay $20 CPM for all US based impressions (see order) and you can fill your remnant inventory through Google AdSense ads.

Let’s see how we can easily setup such an ad campaign through Google DFP.

Step 1: Create Ad Units

We need to tell DFP about the advertising space on our web pages. For instance, in our above example, we’ll have to create three ad slots for the 300x250 rectangle, the 160x600 skyscraper and the 468x60 banner. These are standard IAB units though you are free to define custom ad sizes as well.

Go to DFP –> Inventory –> Ad Units –> New Ad Unit. Give your ad unit a descriptive name so that you can easily determine where exactly that ad unit will be displayed and it’s size. Also check the option “Maximize revenue of unsold and remnant inventory with AdSense.”

Step 2: Define Placements

You have multiple ad units on the same page and there’s a possibility that an advertiser may want to place ads on more than one unit. Therefore, we need to create a placement which is like a group of one or more ad units where an advertiser's ad can be displayed.

Go to Inventory tab –> Placements –> New Placement and define the placement. To keep things simple, we will associate only one ad unit (the 300x250 one) with our ad placement. Check the option that says “Offer this placement to advertisers” through AdWords and DoubleClick Ad planner to attract more advertisers.

Step 3. Create an Order

Now that we have defined our ad inventory, it’s time to feed in the client’s order. The advertiser will specify where he wants to place the ad, what kind of demographics he wants to target, what’s the price he is willing to pay and how long will the campaign run on our site.

Go to DFP –> Orders –> New Order. Create a company for the advertiser and then fill in the order details under “new line item.” Set the Type to “Price Priority” if you want the highest paying ads to be served on your site. Set Value CPM equal to the price that the client will pay and then add the targeting criteria.

Step 4. Upload the Ad Creative

It’s time for your to upload the “actual ad” that will display on your web pages. You can either upload images, Flash videos or even snippets of HTML and JavaScript in case you’re going with text ads.

Go to DFP –> Line Items and select the “Line Item” that you’ve created in the previous step. Click Add Creatives –> New Creative and upload the image / SWF Flash file. You can even upload multiple creative ads per line item and they’ll display evenly across that site – this helps you determine an appropriate ad copy that performs best with your visitors.

Step 5. Get the Ad Tags for your Site

We are almost done. All we need to do is get the JavaScript code from Google Ad Manager DFP and copy-paste it into our blog’s template.

Click the Inventory tab in your DFP dashboard and choose “Generate Ad Tags” – select the appropriate ad unit (the one that we created in Step #1) and choose “Generate Tags.”  Add this code to your website and within 10-15 minutes, the DFP tool should start serving ads on your pages.

Here's a narration-less screencast that captures all the above steps in a quick video.


Source: Labnol

5 Services To Convert Websites For Mobile Devices

The rise of the mobile is undeniable. Many even say that the future of the web lies on mobile devices. Gone were the days when people can only access the internet at home or in their office, but now some of them even throw away the heavy PC and adopted the mobile devices for web surfing experience.

Sensing the importance stated above, it will be really wise for you to consider a mobile version of your website. Well, going mobile entails another hefty development process, but the good news is there are cheap but quality solutions, and what’s better: right here is a list of services that you can use to either convert your website into mobile version, or create it from scratch.

Details after the jump!

5 Recommended Services:

MobiSiteGalore

mobiSiteGalore claims itself to be the easiest mobile web builder, for as average as 54 minutes their customers can already build a fully functional mobile version of their website. Another good thing is, as you may have noticed, many of the services listed below focuses on smartphones. Well, mobiSiteGalore do support low end phones that aren’t so smart. (Free – $225/year)

Mofuse

With mofuse, there are two ways to convert your site to mobile: building it yourself through mofuse or hiring them to build it for you. By building it yourself using their application, you have more control over the design and development process, only you’ll have to pay a monthly subscription to keep the service going, else you can hire their design experts to build it for you. (Self Service: $7.95/month – $199/month)

BMobilized

Turns your website into mobile version really fast with bMobilized. It offers the fast conversion with comprehensive customization as an option available for you to tune the design well.

bMobilized claims they support more than 13000 mobile devices, including all major brands. Also the more website you host using their service the higher the discount you get. So if you have a network of websites that needs conversion, bMobilized is the perfect service for you! ($19.99/month)

ConvertWebsite

ConvertWebsite requires their customer to send them the PSD file of the website they wish to convert. Why? To determine what approach is best in the redesigning process from desktop to mobile. Its method is quite similar to Code My Concept, which means handcrafting your provided PSD into mobile website.

Unlike other services, this service actually takes days for the conversion. For a general conversion the delivery date is 9 days, with option to expedite the process. The price is fairly high compared to other service, but consider that your site is handcrafted by industry professional. ($307 – $362)

Mobify

If you are engaged in e-commerce, Mobify is probably the best service out there for you. Mobify offers HTML5 features for its clients, and their experienced teams will design your mobile site to your specific requirements, with the fact that most stores going from concept to launch within 3 weeks. You can also go for self-serve solution by referring to their Publisher page. (Publisher Pricing: $0 – $1000)

More:

Onbile

In a hurry to create a mobile version of your website? Well, with only 3 very simple steps and 5 minutes at hand you can! Onbile supports smartphones like iPhone, Android, and Blackberry. The only disadvantage here will be its limited templates, but their templates are generally awesome! (Free)

Mobile App America

Mobile App America promises better SEO for your website, and most of all it helps to gain a competitive advantage among your competitors who doesn’t have an elaborated mobile version of their websites yet. As of writing this, it supports devices including iPhone, Blackberry, and Android. (Free)

MobStac

MobStac delivers the future-ready, HTML5-enabled experience for your mobile website. It also got easy customization, and supports several themes (if you want a change of design) and CMS integration.

Among other services, MobStac is probably one of the few that has an in-depth monetization plan for mobile websites. The only disadvantage is the service is currently in Beta, but you can sign up for an invite. (Free – $19/month)

Conclusion

Think if you will really need a mobile version of your website. Mobile conversion has its ups and downs. The pros are indeed easier navigation, optimized user experience, and focused site content.

Its disadvantage, however, is there will be limited advertisement space. Really. Also, if your website exists with heavy and tantalizing graphics and you want it the same in mobile version, you might need to think to redesign the current site or abandon the conversion as the mobile website should be designed with minimalism in mind.

So consider carefully between the pros and cons, and make the wise decision that will benefit your users and you.

Source: Hongkiat

Create an Infographic with your Twitter Activity

If you have an account on Twitter, you should try Tweetsheet.

The app reads you Twitter activity and turns it into a visual infographic (see sample) revealing your top followers, your most-retweeted posts, and some other interesting details. The stats mentioned in the infographic are calculated using the last 3200 tweets that you have posted on Twitter.

One good thing about Tweetsheet is that only requires “read access” to your Twitter account during authentication so it won’t tweet your results without asking.

There’s however no option to save the infographic as an image. Thanks @Shankar.

Source: labnol