How does Vendor Tools work with OpenAds? All our banners are in OpenAds at the moment and I don't really want to change from that given all the historical data that's in there - besides the fact that the OpenAds server serves more than just 1 site anyway.

I'm an OpenX user as well and have been for about 6 years (when it was called phpAdsNew).

The short answer to your question is that you won't have to switch from OpenX and I plan to see a tight integration with it in the not-so-distant future.

The longer answer...

Currently Vendor Tools, while it can deliver a vendor supplied banner in the vendor directory, is more focused on providing a concise and useful directory of advertiser information to site members and providing tools to vendors to help them be successful in interacting proactively with members of the site in a self-service manner (so it doesn't consume the site owner/admin's time).

The above said I would like to have Vendor Tools evolves into a complete vendor self-service tool that allows the vendor to not only select the advertising package, be trained on how to make the most of the features available to them with vendor tools, manage their banners and advertising placements, and give them additional tools to build rapport with site members therefore helping them to build their business. OpenX would be a part of this solution but I would like to have a single vendor control panel communicate directly with OpenX when new banners are swapped out, statistics on impressions, click through rates, etc. OpenX is a great product and there is no reason I see to try to offer a different solution. I see this as being an integration point and feature that will be included in Vendor Tools at some point.

Mark

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Mark Ferguson
President - Drive Thru Online, Inc.
Drive Thru Online – Helping Turn Your Passion into Profit

Sounds good!

(however see my reply on the pricing thread first!)

I have to say, this is one of the best solutions of its type and I would jump at it now if it wasn't for the pricing....

I'll reply to your post on pricing shortly but it will take some time to put together my response.

I will say that I know its expensive but I can say that it will deliver in growing revenue significantly for your site. We priced it on a monthly basis to keep the upfront costs as low as possible while still enabling us to commit a development team and resources to its continued development and support. The pricing is also not just for software. We provide prompt support, product development/releases, test our software, provide documentation, share our best practice experience with the site owner (to develop rate cards, multi-tiered rate structures, advertising placement recommendations, vendor guidelines), and more.

Effectively, with our site building experience, we work with you to help you grow your membership and advertising base. Vendor Tools are just some of the tools we use to achieve this.

I'll also say that depending on what products you are interested in we can offer flexibility in how they are billed for, how fast you will be deploying them, etc. I know that every site is different in its needs and cash flow. Our desire is to develop a strong and mutually beneficial long-term relationship with our customers so we are willing to work with our customers.

I'll reply more fully to your original post regarding pricing later tonight or sometime tomorrow as I need to spend some time with family this afternoon.

Thanks and I look forward to continuing this dialog.

Best regards,

Mark

__________________
Mark Ferguson
President - Drive Thru Online, Inc.
Drive Thru Online – Helping Turn Your Passion into Profit