iJoomla Ad Agency is always a work in progress and even though we try hard to make it user-friendly, we have received reports that some advertisers have found the front-end confusing. So we decided to do usability testing. As always, it was a very eye-opening experience — even a mortifying one. When you’re doing Web and software development you simply have to do usability testing.There is no other way to predict how users actually use your product until you see them doing it.

This is just one of many usability tests we plan to do for Ad Agency; we are committed to making it the most user-friendly Joomla extension in the world!

Giles Fabris of DieHardCustomers agreed to act as the advertiser. He went through the sign-up and ad placement process.

Usability testing video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Issues found:

The main issues were that notices were in the wrong places at the wrong times and that there was a lack of emphasis on the desired action button.

1. The “Your account pending approval” notice isn’t clear enough.
2. The “Select the ad type” notice isn’t clear enough.
3. User didn’t see the home button.
4. The notice on the adding banner page is confusing.
5. The notice on the adding campaign page is confusing.
6. The user seems stuck on an endless loop, confused by the placement of the notices.
7. The user tends to click on the Cancel button instead of the Continue button

As always, the best action to take after doing usability testing is simply to get to work and fix all the issues as quickly as possible. And so we did. It took us a a couple of days to make the changes and add a few enhancements on both Joomla 1.5 and Joomla 1.6+ versions. Now a new and improved version is available for download.

Here’s a list of changes:

1. Changed “Your application is pending approval. Meanwhile you can add your banner/ads.” to: “Your advertising account application is pending approval. As soon as we approve your application, we will send you an email. In the meantime, you can still add banners and campaigns.”
2. Removed the notice “You have no campaigns available for this banner type/size. Please add a new campaign here.”
3. Removed the notice on campaign creation: “There are no banners available for this campaign. Banner/Ad requirements:..”
4. Placed “Add Banners” link on campaigns that have no banners.
5. Instead of using the .button class for all the buttons, we added our own classes. The Cancel button is now in light gray and the Action button in orange so that the user can easily see what to do next.
6. Changed “Select the ad type” to “Below you will find a list of the available ad types. Click on the one you’d like to add to continue”
7. Made the “Home” button smaller and added a link to “Advertiser Dashboard.”

Placed "Add Banners" link on campaigns that have no banners.

Instead of using the .button class for all the buttons, we added our own classes. The Cancel button is now in light gray and the Action button in orange so that the user can easily see what to do next.

You can download the latest version here. Enjoy the improved Ad Agency and stay tuned for more usability improvements soon.

The CMS Expo, held last week, was a great conference with fascinating presentations and a perfect ending: Ad Agency was named “The Best Joomla Commerce App”!

Merav Knafo showing her CMS Expo Award for iJoomla Ad Agency

We’re thrilled to win, and we’re celebrating. We’re slashing $50 from the price of the extension.

This is going to be a three-day celebration (yes, we know how to party!) so make sure you grab your copy for just $99.9, before we come back down to Earth and realize what we’ve done. It really is a HUGE discount. (But then an award from the CMS Expo really is a big deal!)

And Ad Agency just keeps getting better and better. If you’ve been humming and hawing about whether to buy it, here’s your chance to get it at a rock-bottom price — and still with a money back guarantee.

What’s New with Ad Agency?

The latest version of Ad Agency, 2.0.9, comes with a few bug fixes and enhancements. You can upgrade it here and find the full change log here.

What About a Version for Joomla 1.6?

We’ve had a lot of question about when Ad Agency will be ready for Joomla 1.6. We did want to start and finish the conversion a few months ago but most users are still using Joomla 1.5. We have to consider them before we stop the development on 1.5 completely.

So we’ve decided to add a few much-needed features and fix a few bugs on 1.5 while Joomla users continue to make the switch. One of these features is an optimized database with compacted expired campaigns; another is a limit to the number of ads that an advertiser can add to a campaign.

We hope to finish these two features and fix a few more minor bugs within the next couple of weeks. We’ll then release the Joomla 1.5 version and move on to conversion to Joomla 1.6.

Best Regards,

iJoomla Ad Agency version 2.0.3 is here

Yes, we heard you. Some of you just hated version 2.0 of iJoomla Ad Agency because we took away some of your favorite features like the ability to allow multi zone selection on packages. The reasons why we made this change and many others were good and solid and had the future of Ad Agency development in mind, but we didn’t realize how important some of these features were for you, so now we’ve put them back, while keeping the new and  better architecture, so we hope that everybody is happy now.

In addition of reviving older features, this new version has a few bug fixes and small enhancements that I hope you will like. You can find the full change log here.

Here’s a video that summarize the main changes:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Stopping development for Joomla 1.5 to focus on 1.6

Now that Joomla 1.6 is officially here, we will no longer be adding new features for the 1.5 version. We will however keep fixing bugs if we find them or if you report them.

Starting from tomorrow, we will be focusing on converting the 1.5 version to 1.6. We estimate it will take a few weeks to complete, so stay tuned.

Ad Agency – Price Goes Up

We’ve been adding new features and powerful improvements to Ad Agency ever since its release, 4 years ago. Those additions have made Ad Agency a very easy and cost-effective way to manage all of your site’s advertising.

But while the cost of producing Ad Agency has risen with each new feature, we’ve kept our price the same. That couldn’t last forever. The price of Ad Agency will rise to $149.99.

But not yet. To give current customers a chance to buy Ad Agency at the old price, we’re delaying that rise for seven days.

Make your purchase now, and you can save $50!

Buy iJoomla Ad Agency here >>

The latest version of Ad Agency , the ultimate advertising extension for Joomla! is already out, and we’ve made some massive improvements to both the back-end and the front-end.

Improved back-end:

• Choose just one zone for packages . Display more benefits and features in your packages list.
• Greater ad flexibility . Choose which ad types are supported by each zone.
• Define your banners. Specify the banner size shown in the zone.
• Automatic zoning . No need to manually assign a zone to a banner or ad. Banners now show automatically for each zone based on format and size.

Here’s a video that explains the changes to the back-end:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Enhanced front-end:

• More details on packages. Now you can see for each package: which ads are supported, whether the ads rotate or not, size supported, how many ad slots are available.
• Improved controls. New icons and more actions make for a more user-friendly advertiser control panel.
• New buttons for easier navigation. New “cancel” or “back” buttons on all pages allow advertisers to track back without surfing away.
• New “home” icon. Take your advertisers straight to cpanel.
• Modified ads are marked as “pending”. Now when the advertiser makes any change to the ad, it will change the status of the ad to “pending”, unless of course, ads are approved automatically for this advertiser or globally.

Here’s a video that explains the front-end changes:

Click here to view the embedded video.

We’ve also made it much easier for advertisers to create their text ads. Now you can align the image to the left or right and not just at the top. You can choose to wrap the text around the image. You can set your own the image size. And you can enjoy an accurate ad preview.

It’s never been easier to manage the ads on your site.

How to upgrade:

Since the architecture of Ad Agency 2.0 differs significantly from the older versions, we’ve create a wizard to help you upgrade. During this wizard you will be asked to:

• Select the ad type and size for each zone;
• Select the zone for each package;
• Select the ads for each campaign.

Here’s a video that explains the upgrade process.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I do hope you like these new changes. If you can think of anything we left out, we welcome feedback and suggestions for new features on our forum.

Download the latest version here >>

Buy it here >>

iJoomla Ad Agency is a hugely powerful tool. For any Joomla developer hoping to sell advertising space on their website, it’s an invaluable way to set up campaigns, run ads and generate revenue.

We’re very proud of it, and our customers have told us that they’re very happy with it. That makes us even prouder.

But there are one or two things about the Ad Agency that we think could be improved. The ability to select more than one zone for a package, for example, adds flexibility but it’s not an option that many people use and we’ve learned that it can create problems. So we’re changing it. The next release will allow only one zone per package. We think that’s going to make things a lot easier for everyone.

You will be able to select only one zone for a package

We’re also making some changes to the zone edit page. We’re adding tabs to make it easier to navigate and improving some of the functions. In the new Ad Agency, you’ll be able to:

• Set the type of ad the zone supports;
• Specify the ad size for banners and text ads.

You will be able to select which ad types are supported by this zone

On the front end, the packages list will take information from the zone settings to display more information about each package. You’ll be able to show:

• The ad types available for this package;
• The number of ad rows and columns to be displayed in the zone;
• The ad size allowed for the zone;
• Whether the ad will rotate with other ads.

This will allow us to show more information for each package

And another important change is that each slot will now show a unique advertiser. Your advertisers won’t be receiving more than they paid for.

Once you upgrade, you will be asked to select which zone to assign to each package.

You might have to do a little modification to your packages once you’ve downloaded the new Ad Agency, but it’s definitely worth the effort.

We hope to release this new version within a month. So look out for it!

iJoomla Ad Agency version 1.6.7 comes packed with new features and usability enhancements. We’ve covered many of them in iJoomla Ad Agency – Upcoming Features – Part I

So here are the rest of the features that are available for this release:

Wizard

• Allow advertisers to join, add banners and add campaigns all in one session
• Unapproved advertisers can now add banners/campaigns (optional)

About the registration wizard

Pending status

• Pending status added to advertisers/ads/campaigns
• Items that are not set to approve automatically are placed in pending status first
• On front-end, advertisers can see the status of their ads/campaigns

Adding ads

• Removed file path from front end
• Remove image selector
• Text ad preview
• Ads manager sort by last added
• All files uploaded are now CHMOD to 644

Advertisers

• Advertisers can now select their time/date format
• Reports looks improved, calendar added
• Now packages are combined with campaigns

Installation

• Added default advertiser, campaign, ads, zones to new installation for fast start
• PayPal plugin installed automatically
• New email templates

Admin

• Before declining/approving an advertiser/ad/campaign, the admin is being asked whether they want to send an email notification about that
• On general tab now you can set the time format for reports/campaigns, etc.
• Limit impression count for a banner per ip to x impressions per day
• After buying/adding a campaign, choose where to send the advertiser
• Creating menu items to different Ad Agency pages is now easy and working

Modules

• Menu module – select between a static item ID and a dynamic item ID

Third party integration

• Works now with community builder without a problem
• Added 2 zones for iJoomla Magazine
• Full support to sh404, plugin is included in package

When is it out?

We hope to release it by the end of this week so stay tuned to our newsletter!

BUY IT NOW >>

As promised, we’ve started working on another round of changes for iJoomla Ad Agency, based mostly on your suggestions on our forum. This video summarizes the features we’ve added so far. The harder features to add like Geo Targeting and subscriptions are next on our list, so stay tuned to part II.

Zones:

• Add a duplicate button to copy a zone easily
• Added an apply button on the zone edit page
• Now allowing you to show ads based on keywords
• Now you can set a default ad for a zone, in case there are no ads available
• Rotating banners now work on more than one zone at a time

Email Templates:

• Drop down of all email templates instead of a long list of templates
• Variables of each template are on top
• Accept/Decline links, that allow you to accept decline advertisers/ads/campaigns by clicking on the email
• More variables for each email, such as advertiser name, phone number, etc.
• Preview link for banner email

Auto Approvals:

• New tabs for auto approvals,
• Choose to auto-approve advertisers/ads/campaigns

Campaigns:

• Preview of ads that you can include in this campaign

Registration:

• A new screen before registration to allow existing users to login first
• Better control of which fields to show on the front-end, and which should be mandatory
• Captcha refresh button
• Registration wizard to allow advertisers to add ads/campaigns right after the registration (not done yet)

Ads Manager:

• Re-Order ads
• Search by ID

Packages:

• Allow to hide a free package after it has been used by the advertiser

Adding ads on front-end

• Replaced adding ads links with one buttons
• A nice visual with icons and descriptions of the different ad types
• Ad Code is now called “Affiliate”

I hope you like these new changes! We will post more information in part II.

I just love it when I can combine two powerful extensions. I always end up doubling the functionality while halving the effort – and reducing the cost. That’s a win-win-win!

And that’s why as our products evolve, I’m constantly looking for ways to integrate them. Two obvious combinations are the iJoomla News Portal and iJoomla Ad Agency, and iJoomla Ad Agency and iJoomla SideBars.

News portals, which can earn you income by selling advertising next to the content rather than by pushing products, really should be using iJoomla Ad Agency. It makes earning money from advertising very simple and it’s extremely powerful. You can place those ads in any module position and, for a more complete integration, you can put them right in your news portal layout.

Combine the Ad Agency with SideBars, and you can even put those ads right inside your articles!

Recently, we made the Ad Agency even better by allowing publishers to add an image to a text ad. We call it “Facebook-style” because the ads are similar to Facebook’s neatly optimized units. Because they look like a part of your site and not like ads, they get more clicks. Now you can earn even more cash by adding these Facebook-style ads to your news portal too.

Here’s a video that explains how to place an Ad Agency zone containing our Facebook-style ads right inside your News Portal layout:

And here’s a video that explains how to create an Ad Agency sidebar:

If you don’t have these combo extensions, then check out our packages. You’ll be able to pick up a $10 discount for each product.

Do you have any creative ideas to make our extensions work together — or even with third party extensions? Post them here.

iJoomla Ad Agency has always been a very strong extension, but we want to make it the perfect advertising solution for any Joomla site. So we’ve added a bunch of new features that we’ve been thinking about for a while, many of them prompted by your emails and feedback on the forum.

We’ve also put a lot of work into the interface.

Because iJoomla Ad Agency is so feature-rich, some users have said that they struggle to find their way around. We’ve tried to make that simpler by adding “grayboxes” to different pages. These allow you to add advertisers and advertisements without having to surf to a different part of the back end. You’ll now be able to do all of the most important tasks from one place.

We also improved usability on the front end. Your advertisers can now see an “overview” page that includes the advertising opportunity details and a short explanation on each page. The packages page too is much clearer and includes a preview of the different zones available on your site.

Here’s a video that summarizes the new features.

Summary of new features:

Zones:

• Preview zones – See a preview of the positions available on your site before you choose a position for your zone.Advertise here – Show an “Advertise Here” link at the bottom or top of your zone and specify where the link should lead.
• Vertical and horizontal rows and columns – Display ads and banners horizontally or vertically by selecting the number of rows and columns to show.
• Rotating banners – Rotate the banners automatically without refreshing the page.
• Randomize – Randomize your banners so that they don’t appear based on their upload order.

Packages

• Zone selection – Specify the zones on which the banners will be displayed for this package.
• Free packages – Create free packages.
• Description – Describe the package to be displayed on the front end.

Text Links

• Title – Enter a title for your text link.
• Action Text – Specify the action text to link to the target URL.
• Font – Choose a font, color, and weight for each element

Settings

• Terms & Condition – Show a link to your terms and conditions.
• Overview – Create an overview page. A basic overview page is available by default.
• We are hoping to release this new version within the next two weeks.

Today I’ve been working on specs for new features of iJoomla Ad Agency. iJoomla Ad Agency is very powerful and our customers are very happy with it. There is one feature though that people keep asking for and it’s the ability to control which zone(s) applies to which package. For example, a package with a  zone that’s “above the fold”, has more visibility and there for should cost more. I’m attaching the mockup so that you can see how it will look like on the backend and front end.

The other feature people are requesting a lot is banners rotation. So now we’ve added it to our “to do” list and it should be done soon.

I’m hoping to finish these 2 features in 2 weeks and release a new version within a month. As usual – all our upgrades are free. If you don’t currently own iJoomla Ad Agency, you can purchase it by clicking on the button below.

{digistore id=81}

Mockups: