Setting up Text Link Ads in HTML
If you are attempting to set up Text Link Ads on a static HTML website, let me save you some trouble and give you the quick fix…
When you sign up as a Publisher with TLA, the sign-up and approval process is super simple. However, when you get to the part where you install the Ad Code on your website… it can get a little tricky. Especially if you are attempting to install it on a static HTML website.
Here’s the simple solution:
Choose PHP from the list of programming languages when they ask you what code your site uses. On the next page, there are two steps. The first is to create a blank file and upload it. Open Notepad, then go to File > Save As and save it as the file name that they give you on that page. Upload that file to your hosting server (in the root – www or public_html folder). Log in to your control panel and find that file, then change the permissions to 666.
The next step is a block of PHP code. Pasting that straight into an HTML file is not going to work. Instead, you want to use SSI (Server Side Includes). Create a new page and paste the PHP code into it, then save it as “ads.php”. Then go to the web page where you want to enter the code for the ads, and pull that ads.php file into it using SSI.
If you arent already familiar with and/or using SSI, a quick search on Google will give you the “how to” on that: Google Search for Server Side Includes.
If you are already using SSI on your website, you wont have to edit your .htaccess file or anything. And if you are placing the Ad Code in an SSI file already, you can nest the includes by pulling the PHP file into the current file using SSI – even if its an SSI file itself.
I hope that made sense 
Technorati Tags: text link ads, tla, ssi, server side includes
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Lynn, I’ve been trying to make this work on my baby site’s home page (http://www.babys-first-year.com/) for a long time, but I can’t get it to work.
I did what you suggested: created an ads.php page, uploaded it to my host (ThirdSphere), and then included it in my navigation, but it doesn’t show up.
Any idea why it wouldn’t work?
P.S. I use FrontPage to maintain my site, and my nav bar is a .html page.
Follow me @https://twitter.com/#!/adrianacopacean on Twitter.
Hi Adriana,
Did you contact their support team? I’m just curious how helpful they were (or werent) with something like this… I havent had to contact them myself yet.
At any rate, are you using SSI on the site already – so that your .htaccess file is already updated to handle this? If so, you should be able to add this line of code where you want the ads to show up:
Let me know if that doesnt help. If its easier, feel free to post this on the SSWT Discussion Forum and we can work on it from there.
~ Lynn
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.