Text Link Ads Needs Improvement
I’ve been trying to get Text Link Ads working on my site on-and-off for the past few days now and I’m ashamed to admit that it hasn’t gone well. Why ashamed? Well it seems so easy when I watch blogging pros like Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net and Aaron Brazzell from B5 Media describe their TLA experience in a video on the TLA Publishers front page. And the TLA site itself looks so simple that a toddler should be able to use it… yet I keep failing. Damn You Public Education!
Here’s some background…
- I have previously implemented Google AdSense on this blog with a fair amount of success (hopefully this lends some credibility to the theory that I’m smarter than the aforementioned toddler).
- In the past I had read that TLA could provide relevant ads and extra income without being too intrusive. That seemed like a good idea to me so I decided to dip my toe into the TLA water by placing one ad on a PageFlip page.
- After signing up, I discovered that TLA’s ad-serving technology requires the page displaying the ad to be parsed by PHP or some other server side script. This was a stumbling block because the page I wanted to publish ads on was static HTML.
- TLA’s FAQ suggests overcoming this hurdle by modifying the “.htaccess” file so the server would parse all HTML files as PHP which in turn would execute their ad code. That might have worked but it just didn’t seem safe (maybe I’m paranoid) so I put TLA on the back burner thinking I might try it again in the future.
- A few days later I was ready to try an alternative approach, rather than testing Text Link Ads on a static HTML page, I thought I’d take the plunge and install TLA ads on my blog. And this is where the trouble begins…
I followed TLA’s extremely sparse directions and installed their code on my site. Unfortunately their ads only showed up on my front page and my site’s other content was not getting indexed (meaning advertisers couldn’t sell ads on individual blog posts). I searched the TLA site for possible solutions only to find the FAQ which recommends contacting their Tech Support department. So I sent an e-mail to TLA Tech Support…
I have a WordPress blog and want to sell ads on individual pages or posts. Could you please show me step by step instructions?
My main site address “www.pixelwit.com” automatically redirects to “www.pixelwit.com/blog”. Which address do I need to use?
I think I need to delete the “https://www.pixelwit.com/flip/PageFlip.html” domain, how do I do so?
Right now the “pageFlip” domain has a series of blog posts listed but the main “pixelwit.com” domain has no listings. How do I change this?
I have downloaded and installed the WordPress plugin but once activated there is no sign of it, it shows up in the plugins list of the WordPress Admin panel as “activated” but there are no options for it or extra buttons in the panel where one writes posts. What does the plugin do? Is it a Widget for my side-bar?
Can a sidebar widget be used to display individual ads on a per-post basis.
After submitting a domain I see that it gets associated with a uniquely named XML file. Am I supposed to do something with this XML file?
That’s all for now. 😉
-Sean
And TLA’s response was…
Sean, since you have a WordPress blog we automatically scan all of your posts and put them into our inventory.
Brock
Chief Operating Officer
Hey, did you happen to notice Brock didn’t even bother to answer one single question I asked? Well I did, so I replied…
Could you please answer my questions.
-Sean
This must have pissed off Chief Operating Officer Brock because I was then passed up the chain of command to Product Manager Jonathan. Here’s what he had to say…
Everything looks right, but you still need to go in and install our ad code to your site so the Post Level Ads process properly.
Jonathan
Product Manager
So what Jonathan is essentially saying here is that if I want to install TLA ads on my site so that Post Level Ads process properly, I “need to go in and install our ad code to your site so the Post Level Ads process properly”. Wow, that’s helpful. At least now a person with more authority is giving me vague answers and choosing to ignore my questions. So I try again…
And how do I “install our ad code to your site so the Post Level Ads process properly”?
I have already uploaded the “tla_123456.php” file to my “wp-content/plugins/” folder.
I have gone to the Plugins section my WordPress administration panel and activated the “Text Link Ads” plugin.
I have added the line “<?php tla_ads(); ?>” to my “sidebar.php” file.
At “Install Ad Code: Step #2” I am asked “Do you plan on using our sidebar widget?” I said “yes” but I don’t see a Text Link Ads widget in the Widgets section of my WordPress Admin panel after installing the plugin. Is it called something else? Do I need to download it from somewhere else?
If you do not have time to personally respond to all of my questions, can you please send a link to the relevant information ?
-Sean
And of course Jonathan addressed all my questions and solved my problem… NAH, just kidding, here’s what he had to say…
It’s likely the case that you downloaded the plugin before you activated Post Level Ads. So what you need to do is re-install the plugin to your site so it’s using the proper ad code.
As far as the widget goes, if your theme and/or WordPress install is widget-ready, it should appear just as it describes.
Jonathan
Product Manager
Notice Jonathan has continued to ignore my questions. Most importantly he fails to tell me that the TLA Widget is displayed in the WordPress Widget Admin section as “Related Links” rather than “Text Link Ads” so the widget continues to blend in amongst my many other widgets like “Related Posts” and “Links” without being noticed. He also states that the widget “should appear just as it describes” which isn’t saying anything since there is NO description of the widget’s appearance or function on the TLA site. All they say is that they have a widget and it’s easy to use. Anyway, I follow Jonathan’s directions without any success so I write to him again…
I have tried everything.
I have:
Deactivated the plugin
Deleted the plugin
Re-downloaded the plugin
Reinstalled the plugin
Reactivated the pluginA plugin called “Related Links” appears in the Widgets panel. I assume this is the “TEXT LINK ADS” widget? If so, it has been active for about a day and I still don’t see any of my blog posts or pages listed in my “Edit Your Listings” >> “Manage Posts” section.
Can someone PLEASE give me simple step-by-step directions to implement TLA on individual pages of my WordPress blog.
-Sean
To which Jonathan gave his most brilliant response to date…
It’s odd, but for some sites it just doesn’t want to work. Other sites it works without any issues at all.
I’ve already provided you the instructions, but I’m not sure why it’s not caching your posts, sorry.
Jonathan
Product Manager
Sometimes it doesn’t want to work? Are you serious? Yes indeed, the seemingly sentient TLA system has decided it doesn’t like me or my site and no longer “wants” to work properly. The matter is now out of Jonathan’s hands because he has done everything in his power to help. He’s ignored all my questions and failed to provide any detailed instructions, what else could he possibly do? Although Jonathan may have given up, I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet so I sent another e-mail to Tech Support hoping somebody else might be able to help me…
Is there ANY way to get my account set up so advertisers can place ads on individual pages?
E-mail address:
xxxxxxxxxx@pixelwit.comSite URL:
https://www.pixelwit.com/blogI am currently displaying ads with your service.
Going to the TLA “Submit Site” page and attempting to re-submit “https://www.pixelwit.com/blog” returns an error stating, “This domain has been previously submitted to our publisher program and has not been approved yet.”
Could this be why my blog posts are not getting indexed?
-Sean
Although I sent the above e-mail to the general TLA Tech Support address, my correspondence was routed directly to Jonathan. Once again he skimmed over everything I said, continued to ignore me and once again admitted defeat…
I’ve checked it and everything looks right. Sorry, there’s nothing else I can think of to try. This just happens from time to time to a site.
Jonathan
Product Manager
Okay. I’m done. I’ve already spent WAY more time on this than expected and the whole process is serving only to raise my frustration level…
Then can you please delete my account as this is not the service I signed up for.
-Sean
To which Jonathan replied…
You have ads sold already, are you sure you would like me to close your account?
Jonathan
Product Manager
Maybe Jonathan thought everything was going along rather smoothly, after all, I’d already sold one ad. So I had to set the record straight…
1) I know my site CAN be indexed because it was indexed when I tried to setup ads on just one page “https://www.pixelwit.com/flip/PageFlip.html”.
2) Nothing on my blog has changed since that time so I know the problem is on your end.
3)As currently setup I only have 1/50 the revenue potential I would have if I could place ads on individual pages. Again, this is not the service I signed up for.
4) Nobody seems interested in trying to work with me to fix the problem. It’s been said that the TLA system “just doesn’t WANT to work” with my site, but I get the feeling it’s Tech Support who doesn’t want to work with me to fix the problem.
5) I’m well aware that I currently have ads placed on my site. Perhaps a loss in revenue (albeit a small one) will convince your company that this is something which needs to be fixed.
6) I’m hoping I’ll be able to come back at a later date when the system works as advertised. Perhaps clearing all of my information from the TLA site will remove whatever obstacle is not allowing my site to be indexed.
-Sean
And here is what Jonathan had to say…
Sean, there is one thing I could try.
I didn’t realize that your posts had already been indexed in an older listing.
What I can do is this…
remove the advertiser
remove the current listing
re-enable the old listing and you can install the plugin for that listinghow does that sound to you? I want to get this working as much as you do
Jonathan
Product Manager
He didn’t realize my posts had already been indexed? Apparently Jonathan never read the first e-mail I sent to TLA Tech Support where I say, “Right now the ‘pageFlip’ domain has a series of blog posts listed but the main ‘pixelwit.com’ domain has no listings.” Oh well, at least there’s a chance this thing may work after all, so I give it a try…
That sounds fine but PLEASE do me one favor.
Tell me which options I need to choose when setting up my site as I find the descriptions (or tips) to be rather ambiguous at times.
-Sean
Once again I BEG for some clear details. And as usual Jonathan fails to come through…
Sean,
Ok great. Go ahead and remove ALL ad code from your site, including the tables in your database.
Then go ahead and download the new ad code and install it to your site please.
After the package is generated for your site, you can go and edit the details and what not.
Thanks Sean!
Jonathan
Product Manager
I used PHPAdmin to find and delete (drop) the two WP_TLA tables in my WordPress database, downloaded and installed the code, and then went about “editing the details and whatnot” so TLA would work the way I wanted… guessing every step of the way. And do you know what happened? That’s right, NOTHING.
I followed your limited instructions as best as I can.
The “Test Link Ad” is only appearing on the front page of my blog even though I have chosen to run ads “sitewide”. Is this what is supposed to happen?
Is there a particular reason there are no detailed instructions for this procedure? Do you really enjoy my e-mail correspondence that much?
-Sean
To which Jonathan replied…
Hmm I looked at the listing and it’s set to sitewide. Are you using the widget or anything special to place the code on your site?
Jonathan
Product Manager
Gee, I guess the fact that I asked about the TLA widget no fewer than 6 times during our correspondence has caused Jonathan to suspect I just may be trying to use the damn thing. So I resignedly state…
I am using the widget.
-Sean
And that’s where we currently stand. It’s been over a day and I haven’t heard a word from Jonathan. An advertiser wants to place a link on my site but since I can’t get this thing set up in a satisfactory manor I’m probably going to drop the Text Link Ads service entirely.
Here are some questions for you…
- Have you had success setting up TLA on your WordPress blog?
- Have you had similar problems?
- Do you know an alternative solution?
- How can this form of “Tech Support” possibly be better than a simple list of instructions?
Comments(14)
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[…] banned by Digg.com and cause your Google’s pagerank to drop dramatically, last night, I read an article about someone’s experience with the TLA’s staff and how negligent they are in improving […]
my issue with TLA is that, i was able to download the wp plugin, uploaded in my blog directory. it shows in the wp dashboard but of course i needed to activate it. everytime i click the activate link, i get an error 500 message. I sent an email to tech support, asking why the plugin could not be activated via wp dashboard – in a few minutes, Mr. Brock Boser replied by asking, “Can you try deleting that plugin and reinstalling it again?”. So I emailed back, “I actually tried installing and uninstalling many times, from my PC in the office and at home. The same problem I am getting.”. After that I never heard from him until now.
Weird!
@David, Sorry to hear that. Maybe they don’t plan on being around too long, they could be feeling the heat from Google. When I first wrote this article TLA’s owner seemed genuinely concerned, but it doesn’t sound like anything has really changed.
Similar probs here, installed the widget, added the widget to my sidebar which shows on all pages of the site (should only show for home) but so far no ad links showing.
there was meant to be a test link shown when forst added, I never saw it.
When I installed it all like you I guessed which settings to use as there are no instructions. I have tried all the code they supply with no joy.
I did kind of get the blog inlinks program working. I added three test sites to their inventory, (I own over 50 sites) one had about 30% of posts indexed (largish site), but the other two had after almost 2 months just a few pages indexed! The site that was indexed was the least important as well, typical! Sent multiple emails trying to get them to fully index my sites, but no joy!
This meant like you I wasn’t going to get many advertisors and when you do the inlinks options you can’t have links from your most valuable real esate, the home page. As a side note the price per link was a lot lower than I expected as well (not that they give that info before you agree to an ad which is a really bad way of doing this sort of thing).
So removed those sites from the program with a plan to add pages one at a time (which with over 100,000 pages indexed i Google will be fun) to their public ad section (I added the 3 sites to their private inlinks blog posts thing which I only got one ad from for $6).
Submitted a home page of a site, installed the code (tried every possible way to install it) but all I have is the name of the widget (like Related Links) on the sidebar with no links though. This sidebar section is sitewide despite the ads being home page only, so even if I got the widget working I can’t use it. And how the heck would I add another page from this site!
Tried to use the php code, (uploaded the *.xml file made it writable) but it’s a WordPress blog and PHP isn’t directly compatible with WordPress coding, so that wouldn’t work without me wrigin new WordPRess fuctions. I’m OK with Php coding, but not brilliant.
Sold my first ad for $150 today and had to add it manually to the page.
They need to make some serious improovements and you’d think knowing I have so many pages (I’ve told them, can add tens of thousands of pages to their inventory) would motivate them, nope, get a similar apathetic approach you got.
When they first approaved this site they listed the page for $45 a link which for a PR6 home page is a joke. Got them to change it to $150, but had already took a ad order before they changed it. Never approved this $45 ad, but was shown as I’d accepted it in the payment history!! Got them to cancel it, yet earlier today got an email saying that link is missing so suspending my listing until it’s showing, so won’t take new ad orders now because they screwed up.
Really irritating how poorly organised this is.
Geez no wonder I can’t get TLA to work on my sites. I guess it’s not just me. Thanks for putting this together. I guess I’ll just disable my TLA widget since it’s just blank.
Funny thing is that I got a response saying they are receiving the code, but nothing appears in the widget.
After the last Google export, TLA looks quite dangerous to use :/ So TNX …
[…] you read this post, it might help if you peruse (skim) this post by Pixelwit (one of the most incredible flash developers I have ever seen by the […]
On hindsight, I have been guilty of the same thing, though with less consistency (responding without taking the time to read thoroughly).
But I am not in a position that requires me to give tech support…
Well check out BlueHost to see if they have the features you need. If you like what you see, sign up through one of the links on this page so I can get a bonus. They’ve been good to me and their Tech Support is definitely WAY better than TLA’s. 😉
Hah – i was actually looking for a web host!
Awesome timing. 😀
John, no problem. I edited out the nasty bits to keep my web host happy. Which reminds me… BlueHost offers professional web hosting services at affordable prices. Make BlueHost your web host today. 😉
Also – sorry for being so erm blunt in my post.
John, I checked the HTML at the ClockObj site and I think he’s using MediaPlex. Thanks for the tip. I’ll look into it.
I love it. What an absolute (excuse my french) fucktarded windowlicking c***rag.
I’m sorry to hear of your difficulty installing TLA, i’d suggest just uninstalling everything and reasearching an alternative. I’m not sure whether this is the same thing, but a freind of mine who has used googleads / adsense previously has found another add software has been more successfull in getting adds and visitors and more money$.
I’m not quite sure on the name, I /think/ is was vcmedia but it could something completely differen.
a link to his blog: http://clockobj.co.uk/
his names Jon Baker a very aproachable, respected developer. He was headhunted by google for flips sake!