How do I serve ads into email newsletters and RSS feeds?

Trafficspaces has a great feature that allows you to serve multiple ads dynamically into emails and RSS feeds.

As most email readers do not allow Javascript or IFRAME tags to run, the system works by using a clickable IMG tag. This can be inserted into an HTML file (i.e. your email or RSS feed) and it will display an image ad just like any other image in your newsletter or feed.

Getting started

To serve ads into emails and RSS feeds, you need to create an ad zone that supports image ads.

1. Go to the Setup->Ad Zones->Inventory section to get started.
   
2. Set your pricing in the Setup->Ad Zones->Pricing section.
   
3. Finally, in the Setup->Ad Zones->Ad Tag->Advanced section, select the Email Ad Tag option and copy/paste the tag into your newsletter template.

Great, you are almost done. However, before you send your email, you'll need to replace the two references to XXXXXXXX with a dynamic id or token. Your newsletter or RSS feed software should allow you to do this easily.

For example, if you use MailChimp, you can generate a unique token by concatenating the *|CAMPAIGN_UID|* and *|EMAIL_UID|* merge tags.

Important notes

1. Make sure that the token is unique per email recipient, and per campaign. For example, if you are generating the tokens manually, you can hash the email address and the current timestamp,
   
2. If there are multiple ad tags in an email, make sure that they each use different tokens. You can do this by appending a numeric counter to your token.
   
3. Finally, make sure that the two references to XXXXXXXX in any single ad tag are equal.

Benefits

1. Save more time by only inserting the ad tag once into your email templates.
   
2. Run flexible ad campaigns because you no longer need to insert ads manually or statically into your emails or feeds.
   
3. Earn more money by running more campaigns at the same time.
   
4. Run better targeted ad campaigns by geo-targeting your ads to readers in specific countries, states or cities.
   
5. Increase your revenue base by offering email ads, which are typically charged at higher rates (assuming you have a well-targeted and desirable list).