Don’t forget the “dub-dub-dub” when entering URLs to target

Ad Targeters, take note: When entering URLs into the Ad Targeting tool, it’s important to always include the domain prefix—“www”, “www2”, etc.—on all entries, even sub-domains, individual pages, RSS feeds and RSS posts. Note the examples provided on the Ad Targeting page:

Ad Targeting is designed to function this way, so be sure to dub-dub-dub your domains.

Ad whating? 

Not familiar with Ad Targeting? It’s a feature of our network that allows you to choose ad categories that best appeal to your users, in addition to contextual matching. There are many ad categories and subcategories to choose from. For more on Ad Targeting, see our April 20, 2006 blog post and our Ad Targeting FAQs.

—The Team
 

That you can transfer funds from your Yahoo! Publisher Network account into your Yahoo! Search Marketing account?

If you have a Yahoo! Search Marketing account as well as a Yahoo! Publisher Network account, you can use the same user name and password for both accounts and transfer funds from the available balance of your Yahoo! Publisher Network account into your Yahoo! Search Marketing account. This allows you to finance or partially finance your Search Marketing budget with proceeds from your Yahoo! Publisher Network account.

To transfer funds, go to the Payment Options page under the Account Information tab.

Use the pull-down menus and dialogue boxes to transfer any amount available.

Please note, however, that while you may transfer funds from your Yahoo! Publisher Network account to your Yahoo! Search Marketing account, you may not transfer funds in the opposite direction, from your Search Marketing account to your Network account.

Not familiar with Yahoo! Search Marketing?

It’s a Yahoo! service that can help you connect with users searching for what your site has to offer. For more information, check out the Yahoo! Search Marketing homepage.

For more information, please review our FAQs.

— The Team

That you only need one Yahoo! Publisher Network account to serve ads to multiple Web sites? 

One account is all you need to manage ads on multiple Web sites. Just cut and paste the ad code we provide to the sites you want to display ads on —there’s no need to update your account information. You can also add each of your domains on the Reporting URLs page under the Reports Tab, so that you can track your performance by Web site.

What’s more, you can use Ad Targeting for multiple web sites. Just go the Ad Targeting page under the Ad Setup Tab, add a new URL in the Targeted URL box, and select your categories. Each time you save a URL, it will appear in the Manage Ad Categories table below. From here you’ll be able to manage your categories for each of your Targeted URLs.

For more information, review our FAQs.

— The Team

Ads in RSS can help you reach more users through your RSS feeds 

In case you missed it or you’re new to the network, we launched the beta of our Yahoo! Ads in RSS product back in November, 2005.Yahoo! Ads in RSS allows you to place Content Match ads directly into your outgoing RSS feeds, so that your end users will see them in their RSS readers and have the opportunity to click on them, earning revenue for you.

Typical Yahoo! Ads in RSS look like this:

I use a Bloglines.com reader, but the ads will appear in most readers as long as they’re not blocked by the end user (a few readers have that capability).

If you’re new to RSS, or are not sure how to use it and want to learn more, check out our open-access Publisher’s Guide to RSS.

The nickel tour goes like this: “RSS” is an abbreviation that stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and it’s an XML-based technology that allows webmasters to syndicate (distribute) their content to users to it subscribe using an RSS reader, such as the Web-based Bloglines.com reader pictured here. Other popular RSS readers include:

NewsGator
FireFox Live Bookmarks
SafariRSS
SharpReader
While most readers are Web-based, a few, like SharpReader, are downloadable client apps, most are free. Also, FeedBurner offers services that can help you track and understand your RSS traffic.

Your My Yahoo! page has a built-in RSS reader, and the new Yahoo! Mail beta also acts as an RSS reader.  You can add an RSS feed from any website displaying the Add to My Yahoo! button, which looks like this:

While your ads will not show up in your users’ My Yahoo! pages, they will see them in the Yahoo! Mail beta RSS reader. The reason for this is that at present My Yahoo! is considered more of a traffic driver; people who subscribe to your feeds will be able to see your ads once they have clicked over to your site from their My Yahoo! pages. 

You can also put an Add to My Yahoo! button on your site to syndicate your content out to My Yahoo! users. It’s free and only takes a few minutes to set up.

If you frequently add content to your site, you should definitely look into creating an RSS feed, and using Yahoo! Ads in RSS to earn extra revenue. If you’re in our network, you have access to Ads in RSS tools, when logged into your account, under the Ad Setup tab. 

Getting started with RSS is pretty straightforward, although it is a wee bit trickier than setting up our Web-based Content Match product. As with the Content Match ads on your website, Yahoo! Ads in RSS are compatible with both Moveable Type and WordPress publishing platforms. Also, like Content Match ads, you install Ads in RSS by cutting and pasting code we provide into your website.

For instructions, consult our handy RSS Setup Guide. (Sorry, but only current publishers registered with Yahoo! Publisher Network can view the RSS Setup Guide.)

— Michael Mattis, Blog Editor
 

That you can display multiple Yahoo! Publisher Network ads on a single web page?

You can. In fact, you can put as many as you like, wherever you like. Just paste the ad code multiple times, wherever you want the ads on your site. Keep in mind — the same set of ads may appear in each of the areas where you have chosen to display ads. We also recommend that you use discretion in using multiple ad formats on the same page, as this could detract from the user experience on your site. 

For more information, review our FAQs.

And stay tuned to the Yahoo! Publisher Network blog for tips and best practices on ad placement.

—The Team