Banners
Years ago, GoldToken ran banner and tower ads to help generate revenue to pay for system services for Guests. Many of you likely remember these ads as a nuisance to players more than anything even though members above a silver were allowed to turn them off.

I personally hated the whole system and turned ads off altogether after GoldToken was subject to many ads that were not family friendly. But this has hurt GoldToken in the long run by cutting off the much needed revenue that allowed guests to play free here, which meant I was covering the extra cost for their memberships.

Advertising revenue pays for Guest accounts. That is what banners are all about. I have personally been covering the cost of Guest accounts since we removed the ads a few years ago. That is why we have been working at changing it, to have better control over what ads are used so players are not subject to naughty ads or worse, ads that "took over" web pages with flash, Java etc. Whoever pays for banners will be paying for advertising. It could be anyone as long as the banners are family friendly and do not have additional script attached to them. It is this revenue that will hopefully cover Guest account costs. The only other option we have is to go back to the old way banners had been originally set up (...which was very similar to the way banners are currently used on all other game sites I know of).

It is not about the number of moves or clicks a guest gets to use....any Guest account, regardless of clicks, moves etc. takes up a certain amount of database activity and has a share in programming costs, and that is what costs the site. Most sites not only limit Guest accounts, but also still run ads to cover the cost. GoldToken has never limited guests by game moves, which is pretty harsh in my opinion, and apt to run off even the nicest of players.

Working with Mecir, we have been able to devise a way to set GoldToken's banner system back up, on a much more limited and governed system so we can once again generate funds to pay for the services guests use by hosting the banners ourselves.

What does this mean for you? Clubs can run their own banners to search for team players and advertise for club matches etc. As a membership bonus, Platinum and Gold players will each be given banner credits at the time they renew their membership. Now clubs are seeing the wonderful benefit by advertising using this system. Are you interested? If so, read further below.

Banner games? Yes, why not! Already several members are competing for the best banner creations and we are working on potential games with them. Stay tuned to the site news for upcoming contests and games using GoldToken's banner system.

Hate the banners? No worry! Silver and above members have the option to turn banner ads off in any of the 3 ad positions. So you have the choice to see the banners in the middle and can block the ones on top, for example. Platinum members are also able to turn off all outside banners and still view those pointing at pages within GoldToken. It is our hope that by keeping the banners from being obnoxious and aimed more at GoldToken players directly, you will leave the boxes unchecked.

Warmly yours,

Badger


How To Set Up Your Own Banners


  1. To set up your own banner, start by clicking on the Manage my Banners link in your game sheet Options box in the Others section in the first column.
    • This will take you to your own personal banner management page titled Manage Your Banners.
  2. At the top of the Manage Your Banners page, you will see a selection of three choices. Add a new top banner or Add a new right banner or Add a new central banner
    • Select one of the three choices and the database will set up a new admin tool to manage this upcoming banner.
  3. Once the database has set up a new admin tool for your banner, click the Points to (change link target) and add the link the banner will redirect to.
    • You can find this link at the top of your browser on the actual page your banner needs to link to. Copy the http:// from the address bar at the top of your browser. That is the link you need to post for the banners. Paste this link in the text box provided.
      • To copy and paste the URL of a club: After going to the front page of the club you wish to link to, click the URL address box at the top of your browser once (only once) and it will highlight...then, right click it and click the "copy" link. Then you can go to the banner admin tool, and paste it in the link box by clicking in the box you want the link pasted in, and right click again, clicking the paste link
  4. Next, click the Banner image (change image): link. This will open a Upload a Banner page. Click on the browse button and find your image on your computer using the pop up box. Click the Open button in the box, and click the Upload button on the page.
  5. Once done, it may take the database up to 15 minutes for your image to display. Return to your Manage Your Banners page, after this amount of time and confirm the image loaded. If it did not load correctly or fully, attempt to upload the image again.


How to Add Time to Your Banners

  1. Click on the Manage my Banners in the Options box on your gamesheet
  2. Click the link extend the duration of this banner above the banner you wish to extend
  3. Select the amount of time you wish to extend the banner
  4. Or if needed, purchase the number of Goldero's required to extend the banner time

Please note:

  • For faster page load speed, we prefer GIF graphics, but banners can also be PNG or JPG.
  • The maximum pixel size allowed for banners are:
    • 800x90 for top-banners. All top banners must be exactly 90 pixels high so the page does not bump up and down as each page loads.
    • 200x200 for right-panel banners
    • 500x60 for the central game sheet banners (under messages)
      • If your banner does not fit within these size limits, it will not be activated.
  • Banner set ups not competed within a few hours of creation will be deleted. This includes:
    • Image uploaded
    • Link provided
  • Banner help can be found by asking on the GoldToken Help discussion board.
  • A site that allows you to upload your own picture in the banner creation process: http://www.bannerfans.com/banner_maker.php/


Banner Display and Rotation


How do the banners work and how many players will it display to?
The banners rotate with each page view. So each banner is displayed the same number of times as all the other banners. If you are not seeing it, it is being shown to someone else as its turn to display rolls around.

Here are the basic numbers: A large number of players play every day, several times a day and some several times a week, but at least 50% or our players only login once or twice a week. There are over 1000 new games created every day, and an average of 50 game moves per game, while each player is also browsing the site for other reasons like messaging, tournament sign ups, forums, clubs, ladders, choosing new games etc. With these numbers, we estimate your banner is displayed several times to approx 3500/4500 individual players each day depending on the day.


Banner Fees


( Each Golderos or Banneros = 50 cents US each)

2 Central banner for 1 month = 5 Golderos or Banneros
2 Central banner for 3 months = 8 Golderos or Banneros
2 Central banner for 6 months = 15 Golderos or Banneros
2 Central banner for 12 months = 20 Golderos or Banneros

2 Right banner for 1 month = 8 Golderos or Banneros
2 Right banner for 3 months = 12 Golderos or Banneros
2 Right banner for 6 months = 18 Golderos or Banneros
2 Right banner for 12 months = 25 Golderos or Banneros

2 Top banner for 1 month = 10 Golderos or Banneros
2 Top banner for 3 months = 16 Golderos or Banneros
2 Top banner for 6 months = 21 Golderos or Banneros
2 Top banner for 12 months = 30 Golderos or Banneros

Membership bonus! As of 2011, players that go one year Plat when they renew, are gifted 12 Banneros to spend on their banners.
  • Please note: You can't buy, share or trade Banneros to other players. If you wish to pay for your clubs banner, simply upload it as your own, and use your Banneros accordingly.


Easy Banner Creation Tools


Having trouble creating your own banners or lack a photo editing program? Try one of the free services on the net that offers free banner creation. Free banners created using these systems can be incredible and very professional. Here are a couple links to sites that provide this service, however, you you might wish to find others more suited to your taste and abilities by Googling "Free Banners". Thumbs up Then it is just a matter of uploading your banner to your accounts Banner system.

2 http://www.bannerfans.com/banner_maker.php <----my personal favorite
2 http://www.bannersketch.com/
2 http://www.123-banner.com/
2 http://www.unsignedbandweb.com/freebanners/index.php
2 http://www.addesigner.com/
2 http://www.animationonline.com/
2 http://www.puresilvabannermaker.com/