Basic OpenX Ad serving steps diagram

The following diagram shows the necessary steps for the completion of the serving an advertisement on a website using OpenX Ad Server:

Sample Amazon.com banner serving flowchart

In this scenario, we will start adding an Advertiser (Amazon). Then, we will create a Campaign (Amazon Toys & Games). We will add a Banner (Amazon Puzzle Games for Kids) to this campaign. Then, we will define our sample website at OpenX. We will create a zone (Toys & Games Zone) for this website. The next step is to link a banner to this zone. Finally, we will complete serving advertisements by embedding the zone code to a page on the website and visiting this page through a browser.

Time for action – adding Amazon.com as an advertiser

In this section, we will learn how to add Amazon.com as an advertiser. As you may have probably heard, Amazon runs a very popular affiliate program that is called as Amazon Associates. You can earn commissions from each sale that results from the links and banners you placed on your website by using this program.

Read more about Amazon Associates program and register for free at http://affiliate-program.amazon.com.

As the example will be a fictional one here, you don’t essentially need to register at Amazon affiliate program before starting. The example will help you understand how to add any advertiser in a similar way.

1. Let’s log in to OpenX Authentication panel. Use the Username and Password that we have created earlier.The login page looks like this:

2. Click on Inventory tab at the top menu and then click on Add new advertiser link
   .

   We are now in Add new advertiser page. Fill Name, Contact, and Email fields. You can type your own information for Contact and Email fields.

3. Leave other fields as they are, untouched with default settings.

4. Click Save Changes button to complete adding an advertiser.

What just happened

We have learned how to add a new advertiser to OpenX. We have logged into OpenX management screen using the administrator user and provided the basic necessary fields: Name, Contact, and Email.

Time for action – adding a campaign for Amazon.com

Now, let’s add a simple campaign for Amazon.com.

1. Click on Add new campaign link near Amazon advertiser on Advertisers page.

2. Fill the Name field in as Amazon – Toys & Games and select Contract (Exclusive) option under it

3. Leave Date, Pricing, and Priority in relation to other campaign sections to their default settings.

4. Leave Delivery capping per visitor and Miscellaneous sections untouched as well.

5. Click on Save Changes button to complete adding Amazon – Toys & Games campaign.

What just happened

We have learned how to add a campaign for an advertiser using minimum requirements. We used Name and Campaign type fields and ignored other fields as we will cover them later.