A step for step tutorial on how to install and use the bretteleben.de Google Ad Manager Plugin.

Installation

1.) Log into your administration interface

2.) Go to "Extensions" > "Install/Uninstall"

3.) Select the Package File with the Google Ad Manager Plugin

4.) Click "Upload file & Install"

5.) If everything worked fine, you get the message "Install Plugin Success"

6.) Select "Extensions" > "Plugin Manager"

7.) Find the "bretteleben.de Google Ad Manager Plugin" and click it

8.) The plugin expects only one parameter, your Google Ad Manager Publisher Id. In my case its ca-pub-"16digits".

If you are uncertain: If you tell the Google Ad Manager to produce Sample-HTML code, this code includes your Publisher ID.

Addition: If you don´t use Google Ad Manager yourself (i.e. sell your ad space to somebody using Google Ad Manager), this will be the Publisher-ID of one of your (probably the most important) customers. The Publisher-ID set here is available on every page, the assignment of a special AdSlot to a publisher is done with the Publisher-ID you set in the call in your article (described later) or in the respective instance of the module.

9.) Insert your Publisher Id

10.) Activate the plugin

11.) Click "Save" - done

Usage

The plugin has to be installed and activated for the Google Ad Manager Module to display Ad Slots on module positions. Besides it allows to display Google Ad Manager Ad Slots within content items. The procedure is as follows:

1.) Go to "Article Manager" and open the article you want to display the Ad Slot.

2.) At the place you want the Ad to be shown insert the code to call it.

The code consists of the call {*begam}{/begam*} (without the asterisks) plus up to four sections with variables. The sections are separated by forward slashes "/".

Section 1 (required): Your Google Ad Manager Publisher Id. In my case ca-pub-"16digits".

Addition: If you integrate an AdSlot of another Publisher (i.e. sell your ad space to somebody using Google Ad Manager), this will is the Publisher-ID you get with the SlotName.

Section 2 (required): The Google Ad Manager AdSlotName: e.g. MySite_Left_200x200

The complete call may look such as:

{*begam}ca-pub-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/MySite_Left_200x200{/begam*} - without the asterisks

3.) The third section is optional and may contain custom Ad Manager target-attributes that influence ad selection. For further information on these parameters please refer to the Google Ad Manager Help.

A custom target-attribute always consists of two parts, the attribute and the value.
They are declared following the scheme: Attribute "comma" Value. E.g.:

Gender,Male

To use more than one attribute, separate them with a semicolon ";":

Gender,Male;AgeRange,18To24

The complete call using custom target-attributes may look such as:

{*begam}ca-pub-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/MySite_Left_200x200/Gender,Male;AgeRange,18To24{/begam*} - without the asterisks

4.) The fourth section is optional and may contain custom Ad Manager page-level attributes and/or custom Ad Manager slot-level attributes.
For further information on these parameters please refer to the Google Ad Manager Help.

A custom page-level attribute always consists of two parts, the parameter and the value.
They are declared following the scheme: Parameter "comma" Value. E.g.:

google_color_bg,FF0000

To use more than one attribute, separate them with a semicolon ";":

google_color_bg,FF0000;google_color_link,00FF00

The complete call using custom target-attributes and page-level attributes may look such as:

{*begam}ca-pub-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/MySite_Left_200x200/
Gender,Male;AgeRange,18To24/google_color_bg,FF0000;google_color_link,00FF00{/begam*} - without the asterisks

5.) A custom slot-level attribute always consists of three parts, the AdSlotName, the parameter and the value.

They are declared following the scheme: AdSlotName "comma" Parameter "comma" Value. E.g.:

MySite_Left_200x200,google_color_bg,FF0000

To use more than one attribute, separate them with a semicolon ";":

MySite_Left_200x200,google_color_bg,FF0000;MySite_Left_200x200,google_color_link,00FF00

The complete call using custom target-attributes, page-level and slot-level attributes may look such as:

{*begam}ca-pub-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/MySite_Left_200x200/Gender,Male;AgeRange,18To24/
google_color_bg,FF0000;MySite_Left_200x200,google_color_link,00FF00{/begam*} - without the asterisks

Page-level attributes and slot-level attributes are declared in the fourth section. The order has no relevance. They are detected from the plugin by the number of passed elements (two for page-level, three for slot-level).

6.) IMPORTANT!!!

To use page-lkevel or slot-level attributes without using target-attributes you have to declare an empty third section, otherwise the plugin will not be able to execute the call correctly.

In this case, the second section (AdSlotName) is followed by 2 forwadr slashes!

The complete call using page-level and slot-level attributes but no custom target-attributes may look such as:

{*begam}ca-pub-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/MySite_Left_200x200//google_color_bg,FF0000;
MySite_Left_200x200,google_color_link,00FF00{/begam*} - without the asterisks

7.) Save - done!

That´s it, have fun with the plugin!

Support

If you have questions or suggestions, please use the comment-function. Records about the behavior of this extension (positive or negative) are most welcome.

If you use this extensions, you have the possibility to post a rating and a review at joomlaos.de or extensions.joomla.org. Furthermore I appreciate everyone, supporting me with a link back to www.bretteleben.de on his/her website. The extension itself does not produce any hidden links, eastereggs or whatever.