On Thursday November 13, 2008, a group of OpenX publishers gathered in the beautiful Laranjezaal at the Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam for the first ever OpenX community event in The Netherlands. In addition to Dutch users, there were also delegates from France, Austria and Monaco. I had the privilege of hosting the event, organized in close cooperation with OpenX.org London.

We started the day with a quick overview of OpenX, for the benefit of people evaluating the software. Then we focused on some of the new features in the recently release version 2.6. Single page call got a lot of praise, as did page URL targeting. Then Joan Blaas, managing director at MobzMedia, presented an intriguing case study about how they used OpenX as the ad server for the mobile edition of the world wide soccer site Goal.com. I want to thank Joan for presenting this case and giving us some insight about the technical challenges of showing ads on mobile devices.

After lunch, we started with some advanced features in OpenX, like geotargeting, page URL targeting and various techniques and features to target ads based on content classification and member data. We also briefly touched on the feature in OpenX that allows for dynamic replacement of placeholders with site data, conversion tracking and delivery of ads in e-mail newsletters.

The second half of the afternoon had a focus on the future. The new OpenX hosted and OpenX Market were greeted with enthusiasm. Since OpenX Hosted runs on the 2.7-beta release of the software, I could give the audience a sneak preview of the improvements in the user interface, and I could demonstrate how easy it is for a publisher to participate in the OpenX Market.

We also discussed the API that was introduced with version 2.6, allowing external systems to manage inventory and pull statistics. After a short discussion about options for scaling was followed by a questions and answers session.

One of the objectives of these community events is to bring OpenX users and publishers together. This seems to have worked well. I saw many business cards, phone numbers and e-mail addresses being exchanged. And I noticed people were comparing their best practices and industry insights.

Looking back, I can say I really enjoyed hosting and presenting this event, and I felt very fortunate to meet so many OpenX users. I want to thank all community members for participating, and for making this event a success. I even had some requests to make this into a yearly event, and I’ll certainly consider doing just that.

If you were unable to make it to the event, but still would like to talk to me about what OpenX can do for you, why don’t you visit my OpenX pages here on the site or contact me. It would be my pleasure to talk to you!

Judging by the registrations so far, on the day you will meet a really interesting mix of new and experienced OpenX users, along with people evaluating the software.

A quick reminder of the event details:

• When: 9am to 5pm (13th November)
• Where: Hortus Botanicus, Plantage Middenlaan 2a, Amsterdam (click for map)
• Cost: Free!

We’ve put together a draft agenda for the event to give you some idea of what to expect. This is based on the topics that you have suggested in your submissions and may well change a little as more and more of you register.

09:00 - 09:30 | Registration

09:30 - 10:30 | What is OpenX?
Session for evaluators and new users

10:30 - 11:00 | What’s new in OpenX 2.6?
Overview of the new features and benefits

11:00 - 11:30 | Publisher presentation
Displaying ads on mobiles

11:30 - 12:00 | Integrating OpenX into your site
Showing ads in Joomla!, WordPress, or your CMS

12:00 - 13:00 | Lunch break

13:00 - 14:00 | Advanced use of OpenX
For example: targeting, multiple sites, multiple networks

14:00 - 14:30 | The future of OpenX
OpenX Hosted, OpenX Market, plugins and API

14:30 - 15:30 | Scaling OpenX
How to deliver large volumes of ads

15:30 - 16:30 | Question and answer session
Unconference style – informal and interactive

16:30 - 17:00 | Wrap up

We look forward to meeting you on November 13 in Amsterdam!

OpenX Hosted is a mostly free, hosted version of the well known ad server, available over the web, saving publishers from installing, configuring, maintaining, upgrading and worrying. OpenX Market is a new way for publishers to monetize their web site through an open market place of advertisers and publishers.

Both of these new services have been in the making for some time, and I’ve had the privileges of sneak previews, demos and actual beta testing. It was as far back as September 2007 when Scott Switzer, the founder of OpenX first told me about both ideas when I met him in Amsterdam.

Scott, congratulations on the launch today! This brings OpenX into a new phase, and I’m really excited for you and the OpenX team.

You can read more about OpenX Hosted and OpenX Market on the OpenX website. And of course, you can still download your own copy and install it on your own server, just as usual.

One of those products is called Mozy. It’s a piece of software that you install on your computer (did I mention it’s free!), and then you can literally forget about making backups. Mozy will remember for you, and automatically make those precious backups once or twice a day, or just as often as you want. The backups are stored on Mozy’s servers, on the internet. So if your computer or laptop is stolen or breaks, your data is still safe and sound, ready to be restored as soon as you have a working computer again.

I’ve been using Mozy for some months now, and I like it very much. Twice a day the software automatically backups all data in the folders that I’ve said are important, including any new file or sub folder I created since the previous backup. In addition to the software itself being free, you also get 2 Gigabyte of storage space on the Mozy servers free of charge.

But wait, it gets better: if you use this link to sign up, install the software and make your first backup, you even get an additional 512 Megabytes of storage space, completely free (that offer lasts until November 30, 2008. After that date you still get 256 MB of additional storage space on top of the 2 Gigabyte). Just click the link, and then click on the big “Get 2 GB for Free” button.

I can really recommend using Mozy for your computer backups. It’s as easy as ’set it and forget it’. Just give it a try, it’s free!

Not only is this the first ever OpenX community event in The Netherlands, it’s also the first time that OpenX and an independent consultant organize an event together. We hope to meet many OpenX users, but also people looking to learn about OpenX and what it could do for their website and business.

Registration is now open! Based on what you tell us you want to learn, we will put together an interesting program with presentations, demos, and Q&A sessions. But there will be plenty of opportunity for informal talks with fellow OpenX users, community consultants and OpenX team members.

I’m looking forward to this event next month! See you in Amsterdam…

The first session was with a group of developers at Thomas Telford. They had been using OpenX for a while, but wanted to know more about the advanced features in the latest versions. We discussed various subjects, including all the different types of invocation code and their advantages and disadvantages. Then we spent time on techniques for targeting ads using page URL targeting, source parameter, and geotargeting. At the end of the session, we turned our attention to the future of OpenX, tackling subjects like the API.

The second session had a different focus. This time a group of traffickers from inside Thomas Telford and from one of their clients wanted to learn all about creating the ad inventory in OpenX. We talked about setting up advertisers and campaigns, and all the settings one can use to tweak campaign delivery. We also went over the various types of ads that can be defined in OpenX, and how to run creatives from external sources like ad networks. At the end of this session, we briefly touched on targeting again, this time from a campaign management perspective.

I would like to thank Matt Pull at Thomas Telford for asking me to come over. I had a great time in London. Judging from the responses from course delegates, it was time spent very well.

If you’re interested in a similar training session for your company or team, why don’t you contact me to discuss your requirements. I’d be happy to put together a training program just for you.

Is your own name a good domain name?

It’s smart to select a domain name that is easy to remember and spell. Many people will want to use their own name. That’s fine, no problem here. I’m using my own name for my website, found on the internet as www.erikgeurts.com.

A different approach is to select a domain name that describes your service, your product or something unique about your business. A dry cleaner in Manhattan, operated by the Jones Company, could use jonescompany.com. However, a domain name like drycleaningmanhattan.com is probably much better. This name is easy to remember and easy to tell others. And this name is likely to do very well in Google. It is a known fact people will often search for a combination of the service they need and a location, so having both dry cleaning and Manhattan in the domain name is a good strategy.

Variations and spelling

If your brand is world wide (or you have plans to go international), it’s a good idea to register some international variations from the start. So in addition to the .com version of the domain name, consider the .co.uk or .cn versions (for the UK and China respectively). These are just examples. You don’t have to start using them right away, but it does mean you will not see others running away with your domain name. For my business I’ve got erikgeurts.nl too, being used for the website in Dutch for my home market, in addition to the international site in English on erikgeurts.com.

If it could be unclear how to spell your brand, business or domain name, it may be a good idea to register a few alternative spellings. For instance, the dry cleaner mentioned above should also register drycleaning-manhattan.com, drycleanermanhattan.com, and drycleanersmanhattan. By doing this, they can avoid these alternative spellings from being used by domain name squatters for all sorts of evil.

A brand name as domain name

You can register a domain name that has someone else’s brand name in it. But the rightful owner of that brand might object to your using it. He could start a legal procedure. Some examples of uses that would cause trouble are to use brand name A to link the website of competing brand B, or to use a domain name for brand C to start a web shop with products by C. You might say: C should have registered this domain name. But intellectual property laws will most likely prevail and C will probably win.

Domain name registration

Registering a domain name is easy and doesn’t take a lot of time. There are numerous internet providers and companies that specialize in this aspect of internet business. In most cases your domain name will have to be paid for in advance, for a period of 1 year. Often the costs for the domain name are part of your web hosting subscription.

I’d like to help you decide on a good domain name

If you’re thinking about a domain name for your site or business, you could consider hiring a consultant to help you. I’ve been involved in this in many projects and I’d like to offer my assistance. Just contact me if you’re interested in using my services.

Please review the OpenX upgrade service description document (PDF, 19 KB, new window) for detailed information.

If you’re interested, you can contact me directly via the OpenX consulting request form on this website.

Mr. Kelly talked about the fact that the world wide web we know today is only 5,000 days old. He describes how it was impossible to imagine the current day web back then, and also that we are unable to image what it will evolve into over the next 5,000 days.

Instead of me trying to describe what’s in this talk, why don’t you view it yourself? In less than 20 minutes you’ll get a birds eye view of the development of the web, looking back 5,000 days and 5,000 days into the future.

I’m listed too, no surprises there (just look me up). The new directory has a short form for every single consultant, to quickly request support in any of the areas mentioned. The directory also shows, for each consultant listed, their contributions to the OpenX community by participating in the OpenX support forums.

I’m very much in favor of this new open market place for OpenX consultancy, and I think it provides a tremendous opportunity for consultants looking to offer their services to the ever growing community of OpenX users world wide. I’d like to encourage anyone who feels they qualify as a consultant to register to be listed on the new directory.

In the future, OpenX will also be adding a client feedback feature, so you’ll be able to see what other people think about the services provided by the various consultants.