TicTap Contextual Ads

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WordPress Plugin

This plugin lets you easily add TicTap Contextual Ads to your WordPress blogs. It works with WordPress version 1.5 and up. Non-WordPress users should go to the TCA main page.

This WordPress plugin has the following benefits:

No need to know Javascript.
Javascript and CSS code are automatically inserted into your WordPress templates.
Configure TCA from a simple options panel in WordPress.
Set separate Associate IDs and keywords in blog articles using WordPress's custom fields.

Current Release

Released on 29 June 2006

The zip package is tca_2_2.zip.
The Configurations page now shows a preview of your ads.

Released on 18 June 2006

The zip package is tca_2_1.zip.
This release contains code to detect if wp_head() and wp_footer() are declared in your theme's header and footer templates respectively. We had blogged about this problem with missing WordPress plugin hooks.

Download the Plugin

Download the zip file.
Unzip the file and copy tca-wp.php into your plugins directory.

Modifying your WordPress Template

Add this to your template where you want the ads to appear:

Select code

Configuring the Plugin

After you activate this plugin, go to the TCA Configurations page under Site Admin → Options → TicTap Contextual Ads. All configurations are done here.

The instructions on this page are quite self-explanatory (we think!). We've even included default CSS templates that you can use straight away.

But here are a few pointers:

If the plugin doesn't seem to work, check that your theme's header and footer templates contain the wp_head() and wp_footer() PHP functions as they are widely used by WordPress plugins. Some theme creators forget to include them.
This plugin can co-exist with Google Adsense as the ads depend entirely on the keywords you use.
The default configurations work quite well, so try them out first before you change it.
Don't use too many keywords as it may result in irrelevant products, or even none shown.
50 to 60 pixels is about the most you should set for the image width. Any larger, and you might not get what you expect.
Some products will not show images because they are not available from Amazon.
The class and id names for styling the ads and enhanced links with CSS are hardcoded. Do not change them.

Using WordPress's Custom Fields

Imagine these 2 scenarios:

Scenario A

You have multiple writers for your blog. Each person might want to earn revenue off his own articles with TicTap Contextual Ads too. So they would like to insert their own Amazon Associate IDs and keywords relevant to their articles.

Scenario B

You're the only writer for your blog, and would like to show relevant ads depending on the article being viewed.

This cannot be done from the plugin configurations page, but with WordPress's custom fields, it can.

The TCA Plugin understands 2 keys that you set as custom fields. They are tca_user_amazon_id and tca_user_keywords, for the Associate ID and product keywords respectively when you compose or edit a blog article.

If the plugin finds that either or both keys are not set for an article, it will assume you want to use the default value(s) set in the plugin configurations page. So for most people who fall under Scenario B, they only need to set tca_user_keywords and the relevant keywords.

Questions? Feedback? Bugs? Please contact us (Damon and Alex).

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