>If I'm providing banner ads and charging by the "click-through" rather than
>by the "impression", how do I detect when someone actually clicks on the
>banner?
>
>I checked the logs and the act of clicking on the banner isn't recorded.
my favorite way of doing it is to use browser redirection.. no extra CGIs
are needed, and the click-throughs show up in your regular server logs, and
you can measure them with whatever stats package you're currently using.
the trick has two parts:
first, instead of using the actual URL of the client's website in the link
around the banner, you use a URL on your own server:
<a href="/redirects/client_N.html"><img
src = "/banners/client_N.gif"
width = "240"
height = "60"
></a>
for instance, rather than:
<a href="http://www.client_N.com/some_page.html"><img
src = "/banners/client_N.gif"
width = "240"
height = "60"
></a>
i generally set up a special directory, specifically for things i want to
redirect, and have all the local URLs point into that. it makes the
click-throughs easier to find in the server logs.
the second part is to create an .htaccess file that tells apache to
redirect requests for the local URL to the client's actual website:
/redirects/.htaccess :
Redirect /redirects/client_N.html http://www.client_N.com/some_page.html
-- EOF --
and you don't need any actual webpages in the directory at all. the httpd
checks for redirections before looking for local files, so adding another
URL is simply a matter of putting another Redirect line into the .htaccess
file.
when a user clicks the banner, they request a URL on your server, which
means the click is guaranteed to appear in your access_log. instead of
returning a page, the httpd tells the user's web browser to check with the
client's server for the actual information.
it's the simplest, most flexible, and generally most bulletproof way to
handle click-throughs i've ever found.
mike stone <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 'net geek..
been there, done that, have network, will travel.
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