YBN Newsletter - March

YBNers,

As we say goodbye to February and the Vancouver Olympics, I am extremely excited for March Madness, Spring Training, the NBA Playoff run, and the NFL Draft buildup. In order to keep up with everything, make sure you're checking out Yardbarker.com, FOXSports.com, and keep creating that great content!

Sales have been very strong the past few months, and we expect that trend to continue. Currently we have deals running with PokerStars, Champion, Gillette, and Dockers. As per our net 60 day payment terms, you should have received your December 2009 payment last week. We have some good meetings setup this month and are looking to close more deals, so as always, pay attention to your email and the YBN Blog for the most up to date information.

As you all know, the deadline for the ad tag transition has passed. Thanks for your attention to detail in the removal of your Adify tags and replacing them with the new DoubleClick tags. Remember, you are allowed to have up to three ads per page but cannot add two of the same ad size on any given page (i.e. two 300x250's on one page is not allowed). Also, if you still have not added the YB - FOX branding, YBN widget, or YBN pixel to your site, please do so immediately.

Enough of the requirement stuff! As stated last month, being a member of the YBN offers you unique opportunities such as possible FOXSports.com promotion, free high quality pictures from PicApp, a video player from VERSUS, promotion via the Morning Bark, and the ability to start a new blog or change platforms with Barklogs.

As part of our efforts to bring you the best opportunities the web has to offer, YBN sites will have the ability to embed a CBS March Madness On Demand (MMOD) player on their site for full March Madness coverage. The embed code will be available March 10th, and you can find more details here. Having this on your site will ensure that you and your audience don't miss any of the tournament's action!

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FINAL REMINDER: Adify tags going blank 2/28/10

YBNers,

Keep in mind that the ad tag transition from Adify to DoubleClick will be final on 2/28/10. After this point, you will see blank/unpaid house ads if you still have the Adify tags running on your site. Please contact ryan@yardbarker.com if you have any issues on March 1st.

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YBN Newsletter - February

YBNers,

The once-lowly New Orleans Saints are Super Bowl champs after 40+ years of suffering, I didn't see that one coming when the 09-10 season started. Man, Peyton Manning really looked like he was on his way to a second title and then everything fell apart. Now that the NFL is over, we'll shift our focus to NCAA Conference play as the run to March Madness nears, and the NBA season is reaching the half-way point as All-Star weekend is right around the corner.

The YBN sales team has been red-hot recently as we've closed deals with FLO TV, Best Buy, Dockers, & Champion. These four new deals accompany the existing Gillette deal, and we're pitching a handful of other large brands including McDonald's and YellowPages.com. The sales partnership with FOXSports.com has gotten off to a nice start as they helped us get the introduction with FLO TV and a few other prospective clients. With March Madness and the NBA playoffs coming in the next few months, we're actively looking for advertisers who want to get in front of sports fans.

Last week you should have all received an email about the ad tag transition as our partnership with Adify will end on Wednesday February 17th; please make sure you log in to DNB at dnb.doubleclick.net and get your new ad tags. To get detailed instructions about how to get your new ad codes, please reference the email I sent you with the subject of "URGENT Ad Tag Transition: Remove Adify, Use new DoubleClick tags" or look at the YBN Blog Post - Tagging Transition which has screen-shots. If you are having issues with your ad tags, please email me at ryan@yardbarker.com. Remember, the tag transition must be done by 2/17/10. DNB is your home for reporting; keep in mind however that until revenue is approved it is subject to change, and once the revenue is approved it will be a close approximation to your actual payment.

As we informed you in late November, all YBN sites must display one piece of Yardbarker - FOXSports.com branding in order to be compliant with YBN requirements and benefit from the FOXSports.com deal. If you are one of those sites that have still not put up the new branding, please do so ASAP and let me know when you are done. There are two options, the NavBar and the badge (both of which can be seen on this blog); if you choose the badge it must be at the top of your page. To read the details about this requirement, please read the YBN Blog Post - Branding. Keep in mind that you must have one piece of branding, the YBN Widget, the YBN Pixel, and up to 3 ads per page to adhere to all YBN policies. If you would like, you can also place the VS. Video Player on your site (as can be seen on this blog); details can be found here.

Finally, I will remind you about our partnership with PicApp that we announced last month on the YBN Blog - PicApp. In our partnership with PicApp we can supply our bloggers, free of charge, with high quality photos. We decided to work with PicApp because we want to provide you with as many tools as possible to continue to produce the highest-quality sports content on the web. To access the media search tool, you can click on the link at the bottom of Yardbarker.com called Photo Search and from there can search for your desired photo!

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Tag Transition: Remove old Adify Tags & Replace With DoubleClick Tags

YBNers,

As we informed you last month, the time has come to remove your Adify tags and replace them with the DoubleClick tags. It is important to do this ASAP. If you do not make the change, you risk seeing blank or house ads. Instructions for getting your new tags and making the change can be found below.

Your old Adify tags look something like this (this is just an example, not the exact code as you’ll see on your site):

Your new ad tags will be located in DART Network Builder (DNB). You can find screenshots with instructions on how to get your new tags below. Here are the detailed steps to get your new DoubleClick tags:

1) Log in to DNB by visiting https://dnb.doubleclick.net/

*If you need your DNB log in, email me at ryan@yardbarker.com, subject "DNB Log In".*

2) Once logged in, click "Sites" in the upper left hand corner. Screenshot.

3) In the Sites section, click on "Get Tags". Screenshot.

4) Click “Generate Tags”. Screenshot.

5) Your tags will be generated below. Screenshot.

6) Copy and paste your new tags onto your site, replacing your old Adify tags.

You are allowed a maximum of 3 ads per page, and only 1 ad per size. If you try to add more than one ad per size you will see unpaid house ads, so please adhere to the 3 ad per page policy. If your contract limits you to 2 ads per page, please choose just 2 ad tags to use on your site.

If you run into issues with the new tags not being XML compliant, make this edit in red:

While generating your new tags, please take note of the category name on the tab. Sites can be categorized as either “gensports” or have 2 sport categories such as NFL/Fantasy or MMA/Wrestling. If your site primarily covers more than 2 sports of the sports advertisers consider “major sports” (NFL, NBA, MLB, Hockey and College) then your site should be categorized as “gensports”. Please review the category we currently have your site under and let us know if it needs to be amended. If you cover MMA, Boxing and Wrestling, please tell us which of the 2 you cover primarily. If you cover 2 sports AND Fantasy, you should be categorized as “gensports” AND Fantasy. This is the only category that can be combined with “gensports”.

If you believe you should be in a category other than what you see in the tab on the “Get Tags” screen, please choose a maximum of two of the following categories per the instructions above and email me at ryan@yardbarker.com with “Site Name, Category 1, Category 2” in the subject line of the email.

Your new ad tags must be posted ASAP otherwise you risk serving unpaid house ads. Do not wait to make this transition, thanks!

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Looking for great photos? Yardbarker's partnership with PicApp should help!

Many of you may have already heard about the partnership we recently established with PicApp, so here is some info about what this application is and how you can take full advantage of it. We decided to work with PicApp because we want to provide you with as many tools as possible to continue to produce the highest-quality sports content on the web. To access the media search tool, you can click on the link at the bottom of Yardbarker.com called Photo Search and from there can search for your desired photo!

Through PicApp.com, you can easily locate premium up to the minute images to post on your blog, free of charge and without infringing on any copyrights. This will cut down on the time you spend searching for the right image, allow you to find photos that might inspire new posts (via their RSS feeds), and eliminate the risks that come with using copyrighted images. The system has over 20 million images, and they come from great sources like Getty, Jupiter, and Newscom. One of the great features available is the PicApp RSS feeder, which enables you to register your search term ("basketball", "NY Giants", "Steve Young", etc.) and receive notifications to your RSS reader whenever PicApp gets new images that match the search term. This will not only help you find the photos related to your blog, but it could also be a great way to find inspiration for new posts. There is also a PicApp plug-in, which has been developed for WordPress. This plug-in allows publishers to search and add images straight from their editor into their post, which essentially means PicApp is fully integrated into your editing flow. This means you don't need to open a new browser and look for images. It's the fastest and easiest way to add images to posts!

Download the plug-in to search and add images straight from your editor here.

View a Demo of how easy it's to embed these premium legal and free images using WP plug-in here.

In our continued effort to provide the best support to our YBN members, we hope that you enjoy this new media tool and it enhances the already awesome stories that you create each day. Check out PicApp.com for more details, and to begin using the media tool go here.

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