Powerful Free Adserver
I paid hundreds of Dollars for link tracking and split testing software and services, before I heard about power of the OpenX ad serving software for managing all kind of advertisements and affiliate links on my websites.

Manage All Ads from a Single Interface
OpenX structures ad serving by defining ad spaces on a web page, and connecting the spaces to advertisers and banners. An ad can be a picture, html code, java script, flash object, or plain text. Now the adserver manages, which banner appears on which ad space how often.

Manage Ads by Viewer Location and Language
I can also display banners according to the browser language of my viewer or according to his geographical location. I do not want to bother a German visitor with an offer for a vitamin supplement out of his reach because of his government’s customs regulations. And I do not offer that Spanish language ebook to visitor, whose language preference is Russian. The better I target the ads the more conversions I will get.

Manage Campaigns by Time
If needed, I define a time frame for the display of an advertisement. A time limited offer will not show up after the end of the sale. If no ad is available for a zone, e.g. because the maximum number of impressions is exhausted for each ad, nothing will be shown. But I like to use my ad space. So I define a Google Adwords banner as a default ad for the zone, and display Google ads if no other banner is available.

Pick the Winners, Drop the Flops
But there is more: The adserver generates a set of statistics. I know now in detail each banner’s impressions, clicks and conversions. Using these stats, I can easily determine, which banner is profitable, and which one is a waste of time and space.
The statistics allows me to set up a formal banner management. I ad and remove banners and affiliate programs based on real information, not guesswork. This improves my negotiation position with the advertiser. I know how many visitors I sent to him. And I have a clear idea, what I can get, if replace his offer.

Hide Affiliate Links
The adserver has an additional advantage: My visitor cannot see the affiliate link. If he wants to see the offer behind the ad, he has to click on it. This means I will be credited for the lead or sale.

Let me give a short recap:

An adserver allows me to

• rotate ads from different vendors
• limit the time frame of campaigns
• limit the number of impressions for an ad
• measure the performance of each ad
• if Ihave access to the sale page, measure conversions for each ad
• manage ad impressions by location of my visitor
• manage ad impressions by language of my visitor
• hide the url of the landing page of the ad.

Easy Instrallation
I need just a hosting account with php and mysql to run my OpenX server. Installation of OpenX is about as simple as installing Wordpress. Basic installation without plug ins does not even take 30 minutes. You can get the server for free at http://www.openx.org