Ad Submission Guidelines
Art and Text
If you are interested in creating your own ads to run on myMotherLode.com, please follow the guidelines below. Otherwise, our professional team of account executives and designers can help you craft a compelling ad that engages your target audience.
- Standard Ad Specs
- Flash Ad Specs
- Rich Media Specs
Standard Ad Unit Specs:
Images:
Whenever possible, we prefer to receive images in electronic form. We can process most formats, including Photoshop (PSD), JPG, PNG, GIF, EPS, and Illustrator (AI). Otherwise, good quality printed material is fine. We cannot accept transparencies or negatives for any graphic materials.
Logos:
The best way to send logos and other line art is in EPS, Adobe Illustrator or Postscript format. If the file contains any specific fonts, please include them. Otherwise, a medium to high resolution image file is acceptable. Business cards are the hardest to work with due to poor image quality.
Text:
We strongly prefer any copy greater than 50 words be sent as a text document via email, or in either Microsoft Word or plain text format. We can also accept text and layout created in Adobe Illustrator.
The IAB (http://www.iab.net) has put forth a standard set of ad sizes in an effort to ease the process of buying advertising across sites. Below is an outline of the IAB we serve. At this time we are not able to accept all the sizes the IAB has put forward.
| Ad Unit | Dimensions | File Size | Rich Media Enabled | IAB Standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leader Board | 728×90 | 40k | Yes | Yes |
| Blockbuster Ad | 300×250 | 40k | Yes | Yes |
| Skyscraper Ad 1 | 160×600 | 40k | Yes | Yes |
| Skyscraper Ad 2 | 120×600 | 40k | Yes | Yes |
| Gateway | 300×40 | 20k | No | No |
File size limits will be strictly enforced.
Sending Materials
Electronic Transfer:
Materials may be emailed to myMotherLode.com, as long as the files are no larger than one megabyte. Contact your Account Executive if you wish to email files.
Regular Mail:
You can send files on DVD, CD-ROM or ZIP disks to:
myMotherLode.com
c/o Production Department
301 South Shepherd St.
Sonora, CA 95370
* Important Note: Campaign development will not begin until myMotherLode.com has received ALL content necessary to create your ads. Allow two weeks for creation and production. Please see your Account Executive with any questions.
Flash File Specs
The following are general Flash specifications and apply to all Flash ads. All Flash and other Rich Media ads are subject to final approval by myMotherLode.com.
Flash Version:
Our standard Flash version is Flash 9. Flash 10 is accepted but, Ad Production must be notified of this with the ad request. Flash 9 is accepted by a greater number of users than Flash 10. Flash 10 should only be used if the creative uses functionality only available in Flash 10. If a user does not accept the version of Flash required, they will not see the Flash component of the ad (though an impression will be counted). We do not provide reporting on how many users saw the Flash component and how many do not. It is assumed that an overwhelming majority of our users can see the Flash component.
Required Files:
For each Flash creative, the .swf, .fla and backup gif file must be included with the ad request. The .fla file is only used for troubleshooting – Ad Operations will not be responsible for the modification of Flash files and the creation of .swf files. Additional troubleshooting issues addressed below. If no back up image is expected to be served to users who don’t accept Flash, no back up image is required.
Delivery Code:
All Flash ads will be served using standard code developed by KNXS.com or through third party ad tags. File Size: Initial load cannot exceed file size limits of the ad position being targeted. After initial load, on user’s command 100K is allowed to stream for no longer than 10 seconds per command.
Click URL:
If the creative contains a Click URL, it must be coded using the ClickTag methodology. Creatives that do not have the ClickTag method correctly implemented will be rejected.
Supported Pages:
Flash ads are acceptable on the majority of our pages, though we do not allow floating ads.
Supported Positions:
All standard positions can use Flash creatives with the exception of Gateway ads in the section sponsor ad zones, and yellow page enhanced listings.
External File Calls:
No loading variables from an external file or other movies from an external server without prior approval.
Forgetting a Background layer:
A common mistake is to assume that the ‘stage’ that the creative is built on is included when the file is published. When building a ‘solid’ (versus ‘free form’) Flash creative, include a layer that serves as the background that fills the dimensions of the ad.
Play on Load:
Advance delivery of Flash based creatives loads the flash elements in a stopped state and then tells them to play when the page has loaded. This can cause synchronization issues with some methods of flash development. To prevent these issues the first frame of the creative should be a blank key frame.
Links below a Floating Flash Ad:
To be certain that links on the page will be clickable after the flash creative has played over the content and then closed again, the last frame of the floating creative should be a blank key frame.
Flash Ads that load other Flash Ads:
We do not support this feature at this time.
Troubleshooting Process:
Flash provides designers a lot of flexibility and powerful features to work with in designing creatives. That flexibility creates the possibility of developing a Flash creative that we cannot accept.
Flash can be very difficult to troubleshoot, and therefore it is important to understand the procedures involved in making a Flash creative compatible with our sites.
Rich Media – Audio Ads
*All advertiser provided ads and content must be approved by the publisher.
Audio files can be connected to a display ad running on myMotherLode.com. When a user clicks on a display ad, rather than moving a user to a different place on the web, the ad server will launch an audio file. The audio will be hosted at myMotherlode.com and played in the end user’s media player.
Audio Procedure:
Because a display creative will be built for the ad campaign, the complete and properly formatted audio file must be delivered at least 3 business days prior to the campaign going live on the portal. The audio file shall be in MP3 codec, 128 kbit/s and 44.1 kHz sampling rate, with up to two channels. The clip may be no longer than 15 playable seconds. myMotherLode.com will connect the audio files to the display creative, but will not do any audio encoding.