Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Download Ad Specs

Our recent upgrade includes a new feature in beta testing. This feature provides a way for advertisers to download your Ad Sizes as InDesign documents.

We currently do not create the InDesign file for the ad sizes automatically. If you wish to make this feature available for your users, you must edit each ad spec individually. You can edit any field in the ad spec to trigger the .INX file generation. An easy way to do this is to edit the ad size code field, hit tab or click another field to save the change, then return to the code field to restore the original code value.

You'll then see the button to download the .INX file in the ad size viewer:

downloadSpec.png

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Customizable message for upload form

Responding to numerous feature requests, we've added a new feature that allows you to create a customizable message for each of your publications. Whenever a user uploads an ad, they will see this message, depending on the publication they select.

You control the message in the publication setup.

The best part is that you can post HTML links so you now have a way to present your own media kit or schedule PDF files right where the advertiser will see them.

View tutorial here.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Revamped advanced search

We have completely revamped the advanced search window to simplify the options and to provide quicker search results.

Look for an upcoming how-to video in the site.

It's still accessed by clicking the magnifying glass in the Quick Search widget.

search.png

Saving text templates

Saving text and email templates is now working correctly. One slightly new feature with this is that there is now a confirmation message returned to you after you save a template, or a warning if the template could not be saved for some reason.

Hiding publications from advertisers

You may wish to temporarily hide a publication so that advertisers cannot upload ads to it.

We've introduced a new feature that will allow you to do this easily. Simply go to the Manage Publications > Publication Settings and look for this new option:

Allow advertisers to upload to this title

Simply uncheck this "Allow advertisers to upload to this title" option to hide it from advertisers.

Publisher users will still be able to access the title normally.

This new setting is turned on by default so you don't have to do anything unless you wish to use this new feature.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Simple advertiser sign-up for multiple portal sites

As part of tonight's upgrade, we are simplifying the user experience for when an advertiser visits multiple SendMyAd sites from different publishers.

As long as the URL is a valid publisher URL, the user's account will automatically be granted access for any new publisher site visited. They will no longer have to select the "Click here if you already have a SendMyAd account" link.

If the user types in the wrong URL, like "www.portalname.sendmyad.com", they will be redirected to "portalname.sendmyad.com" and the login should work fine.

Only if the URL doesn't match a known publisher URL, will they be shown the portal redirector that allows them to choose one of the sites they have visited in the past.

We hope this will remove a source of confusion for advertisers visiting your portal for the first time.

Dashboard improvements

After tonight's upgrade, we hope you'll take a look at the new Dashboard for publishers. We've expanded the range of charts and statistics and improved the presentation of this important information.

Both advertisers and publishers will now also be able to keep up to date more easily with SendMyAd news - the latest articles from this blog now appear right in the Dashboard.

We hope you'll find these features useful.

New Flash uploader

Our latest version of SendMyAd (scheduled for upgrade tonight at 7PM Central) will include a feature that we hope you might not otherwise even notice.

We are switching our file upload code to use a Flash applet to handle the file name checking and upload processing.

We expect this new Flash uploader to be more reliable and a bit faster.

From an end user perspective, there really isn't anything different except now a very small Flash applet loads when you click "Step 3" in the send ad form.

Users have always needed Flash installed to use the trim applet. Over time we will be expanding the functionality of the site, some of which may also require Flash.

If you're unsure of your installed Flash version, you can check it easily. We require version 9 or higher.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Unlocking advertiser accounts

Publisher administrators may now unlock their customer's accounts.

Accounts get locked for 30 minutes if the user has tried unsuccessfully to log in 5 times in a row.

To unlock an advertiser's account, simply click their user name under the Manage > Customers list. When viewing the user's information, if their account is locked out, a button will be available to unlock it.

See video for a demonstration.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Hachette Increases Production Efficiency by 30 Percent with SendMyAd

New article at Folio describes how Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. increased their efficiency by 30 percent by using SendMyAd for their ad production.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Expanded bleed preflighting

Another upcoming feature being tested now: better preflighting of adherence to your bleed specifications.

Previously, SendMyAd was always warning if an ad did not contain bleed according to the ad specification used.

We now allow you to set this check just like other preflight checks - ignore, warn or error.

See the video for further details.

Note that this feature is retroactive for any ads that were preflighted with the profile you adjust to use this feature.

The default setting is to warn, so if you do nothing the behavior you see will be the same.

Custom publication information field in upload form

We're testing a new feature that will allow you to create a custom message for each publication. This message will appear on the upload form once an advertiser selects a publication.

See the video for a demonstration.

Note that if you do not add anything in the custom message field for a publication, this section will not appear.