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Ad Designer

What is the banner designer?
How do I use the banner designer?
How do I change the settings of my ad?
Previewing ads and changing keywords
Default ad settings
How do I enter keywords?
What is the Client Name field?
What is the Post Title field?
How do I insert an ad?
What if I get 'no ads found'? 
Why can’t I create an advertisement that is 468x150? 
Troubleshooting copying the ad in Firefox
Can you click your own ads?

What is the banner designer?

The banner designer is the interface used to choose, customize, and insert your keyword-based ads into your post. 

The banner designer comes with a default style, but you can choose to customize each area of your ad to suit your preferences.

You can only access the banner designer by using Qumana, a free offline blog editor that comes with Q-Ads built in.

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How do I use the banner designer?

To use the banner designer, simply enter keywords into the keyword field, add your Client Name to that field (if it is not already there), and an ad will be previewed for you. You can choose to click the advanced options button to fully customize the ad. When you are done, you may insert the ad.

You can only access the banner designer by using Qumana, a free offline blog editor that comes with Q-Ads built in.

How do I change the settings of my ad?

You can use the "show customization options" button of the banner designer to define the color, style, and size of your ad.

After you set the ad color (web safe), style, and size you can now insert your post. You can change these preferences for each ad you insert, or simply use your last saved settings.

The settings you can change are:

Dimensions - the size of your ad, in width x height.
Background Color - the colour of the background of your ad. Default: white.
Border Color - the colour to surround your ad. Defualt: none.
Footer Color - the colour block at the bottom of the ad. Default: green.
Gradient Color - the colour gradient for the footer. Can be turned off. Default: white to green.
Title Font Color - the colour of the underlined title at the top of the ad. Default: blue.
Text Color - the colour of the text in the ad. Default: black.
URL Color - the colour of the URL at the bottom of the ad. Default: blue. Note: not all ads will have URLs in them.
Footer Font Color - the colour of the Q-Ads.com name in the footer. Default: blue. 

Read here for tips to optimize your ads.

Previewing ads and changing keywords

When you use the "custom" options in Step 2 of the Ad insertion, you can preview your ad in the banner designer. This will show you how it will look, and which ad will show for the keyword or phrase you have selected.

Although your ad may rotate to different suppliers over time, you can use this preview tool to maximize the relevancy of your ad.

You can change your ad by changing and refining these keywords as many times as you like before you insert the ad.

Default Ad Settings

When you insert an advertisement, it uses the default settings. These default settings are the result of our beta testing – so, we think they are the best performing. This default size is 300x75, with a white background, and standard link and title colors.

You can customize the ads even more so that the background matches your site, the URL or title are different colors, and even whether or not you want a border.

How do I enter keywords?

Enter one keyword or a keyphrase into the keyword field. This keyword will tell our server what type of advertisement you want. Do not enter multiple keywords that are not a phrase. 

You have the freedom to choose your ads. Simply choose keywords that describe your topic, or keywords you think your readers will like. Click here to learn more about optimizing your keywords.

What is the Client Name field?

The Client Name is your user name with Q-Ads. If you have forgotten your client name, please go here to retrieve it. We use your Client Name to track all of your ads, no matter where you put them, so that all clicks can be traced back to you. This Client Name will be included in the HTML that is created, so for privacy reasons, we suggest you choose a Client Name when registering that is a nickname or a series of letters & numbers. 

What is the Post Title field?

The Post Title field is a way to track your ad by post. Q-Ads makes it easy to see how effective you are at choosing keywords and ad formats by appending this piece of information. 

We suggest including information that will be useful for you to understand your statistics later. Our recommendation is to use this format "Blog - Post Title" or "Blog - Keyword" so that you will be able to more effectively understand, and improve, your CTR and earnings.

If you leave this field blank, a series of information such as the date will be displayed instead. 

How do I insert an ad?

You can only access the Q-Ads ad insertion by using Qumana, a free offline blog editor that comes with Q-Ads built in.

Go to your Qumana Editor window and click on the Advertising button. Then, follow either set of instructions, for simple or customized ad insertion:

To insert an ad quickly:
1.  Put a single keyword or a combination keyphrase into the keyword field that you want to match with your post.
2. Click Okay (or hit enter). The ad will be inserted where you placed your cursor, but can be moved like any image.
3. The ad is a PNG image so you can adjust how text flows around it, etc with the Image properties dialog.

To insert and customize an ad (advanced, using the BannerDesigner):
1. Put a single keyword or a combination keyphrase into the keyword field that you want to match with your post.
2. Change your selection in "Step 2" of the dialogue to "Custom ad banner designer"
3. Click Okay (or hit enter)
4. A banner designer window will pop up for you to preview and customize your ad
5. Your ad will be previewed based on the keyword or phrase you entered. You can change this and click "Refresh" to optimize your ad.
6. Add a "Post Title" if you want to track your success by ad
7. Click on "Advanced Features" to change colors and sizes for an optimized look and feel
8. Select the code (Press 'Select Code' or manually copy) in the text box.
9. Return to your Qumana Editor window and click the Insert HTML button.
10. Paste the copied code into the box and click okay.
11. Proceed as above to adjust the ad to fit your post.

Note: your preference for "quick" or "custom" insertion will be remembered for your next ad placement.

Note: If you save design preferences in the Banner Designer, they will apply ONLY to future ads created in the "custom" placement style.

What if I get 'no ads found'?

When you are creating your ads, you insert various keywords. We return matches to those keywords based on our inventory and matching process. If we do not have an ad in our inventory to match your keyword, the ad being viewed will display 'no ads found' as a warning. 

If you get this, try choosing variations of that keyword or a different keyword to describe your content. 

If you insert an ad that has 'no ads found' in the preview window, we will choose an ad for you from our inventory that is high performing, but may not be at all related to your topic.

Why can’t I create an advertisement that is 468x150?

In order to limit potential for abuse, the maximum banner size has been capped. All “Standard” banner sizes are supported.

When I click the Select Code button in Firefox, nothing is copied to the clipboard.

We are working to fix this button. Please copy the code manually until this is fixed.

Why does the Banner Designer not allow me to click the Ads?

We are not tracking views or clicks in the banner designer. This allows you to play with Keyword and Display Options without overloading our system with a bunch of “Test” banners.