NeXplore Ads FAQ

1. How do I create an ad?

To create an ad, you need to do several things first. You must create the following structures in this order:

1. Create an account.

2. Create an ad campaign.

3. Create an ad group.

Now you can create an ad.

2. What is an account?
   
   An account is an ad account. It contains everything below it: campaigns, ad groups, ads and keywords. Anything you do that charges you money, such as activating your account or accumulating ad clicks, is billed to the account that the activity belongs to.
   
   Note: An account is not the same as your login. You have one login but you can have more than one account tied to that login.
   
   
3. What is an ad campaign?
   
   An ad campaign is a collection of ad groups. It might be helpful to break down your ad strategy into campaigns, such as the Fall/Winter campaign or the Tennis Shoes campaign if you have many products or you want to group them in some way. If you are advertising only one product you only need one campaign.
   
   
4. What is an ad group?
   
   An ad group is a collection of ads and the keywords that show those ads. You can organize your ads by group in any way you wish. As an example you can create an ad group called Shoes, and you can have several different shoe ads in the group.
   
   
5. What is an ad?
   
   An ad is just the information displayed when the ad is shown. That includes the ad description and a url the user can click on to go to your site. If you wish it can also include a picture or video to help sell or describe the item, and even contact links where the user can get in touch with a sales representative directly to ask questions or place an order.
   
   
6. What is a keyword?
   
   A keyword is a single search term that will show your ad when a user searches for that term on the NeXplore Search page. You can declare a keyword to have Broad, Phrase, Exact or Negative matching to better fit your requirements (please see the question below for definitions of these terms). When you enter the keywords in the NeXplore Ads interface, every time you hit the enter key the system considers that a new keyword.
   
   
7. What do the terms Broad, Phrase, Exact and Negative mean for keywords?
   
   A Broad match means that all the words in the keyword are in the search query, but the words can be in any order and there could be extra words in the search query. For example, for the keyword “red hat”, a query of “my hat is red” would match. The words “my” and “is” don't matter, and the order of “hat” and “red” also don't matter. The query “my hat is green” would not match.
   
   A Phrase match is like a Broad match, in that all the words must be there and extra words don't matter. For a Phrase match the words must appear in the same order as the keyword. For the keyword “red hat”, the query “I have a red hat” would match but “my hat is red” would not.
   
   An Exact match is like a Phrase match, only this time there can be no extra words. They must type the query exactly the same way the keyword is worded. For the keyword “red hat”, only the query “red hat” would match. “I have a red hat” would not match.
   
   A Negative keyword is the same as a Phrase keyword except that the ad is NOT shown if the keyword matches. All words must appear and they must be in the right order. The query “I have a red hat” would match a Negative keyword of “red hat” and the ad would NOT show. Negative keywords are also unique in that the keywords can be part of other words. The keyword “red hat” would match the query “Fred hates that color” because “red hat” is part of the words “Fred hates”.
   
   
8. Is there a cost associated with creating a login?
   
   No.
   
   
9. Is there a cost associated with creating an account?
   
   No. There is a fee of $5.00 for activating an account however. Please see the next question for how to activate your account.
   
   
10. How do I activate my account?
    
    To activate an account, you only need to provide a valid credit card in the Billing tab. There is a $5.00 charge to activate an account. The charge is applied immediately after verifying that the card is valid.
    
    The $5.00 charge is a one-time fee per account. After an account is activated, you will not be charged this fee again, even if the card is removed. Please note that an account has to have an active, valid card at all times or the ads will not be shown. You can still edit ads with an inactive account.
    
    
11. Are there any other charges?
    
    You are charged for clicks and to a lesser extent for impressions. For more about the cost for clicks on your ads please see below.
    
    
12. What is Max CPC? How is it used?
    
    Max CPC (CPC stands for cost per click) is your bid to show your ad. If you are the only ad to show for a keyword, your cost per click (CPC) is $0.15. If you are in competition with other advertisers however, your Max CPC is compared against all other advertisers. The advertiser with the highest Max CPC wins the right to show their ad.
    
    You are not charged the cost of your Max CPC if you win the bid however. You are charged one penny ($0.01) more than the next lowest bidder. For example if you bid $0.35, and all other advertisers bid $0.24, $0.20 and $0.18, you would win the bid. In this case, for each click your ad receives you will be charged $0.25, one penny more than the next lowest bid.
    
    
13. What is my daily budget and how is it used?
    
    Your daily budget is the maximum amount of money you want to spend per day. Your Max CPC (see previous question) will determine how many ads will show to some extent. If you win the bid and start getting charged $0.25 per click, and you have a $5.00 daily budget, your ad will show that day until it has been clicked 20 times. Once your budget is met, your ads will not show again until the next day.
    
    If you don't win the bid to show your ad, but all of the others who won run their budget out, your ads will begin to show.
    
    
14. Why isn't my ad showing?
    
    An ad might not show for several reasons. Please check all of the possibilities before contacting support. The possibilities are:
    
    

1. Your account has not been activated. Please see question 10, “How do I activate my account?”, for details.

2. Your ad, ad group, campaign or account have not been approved. Please see question 15, “How do I get my ads approved? What does 'on hold' mean?”, for details.

3. You have not won the bid to show your ad. Please see question 12, “What is Max CPC? How is it used?”, for details.

4. Your ad has exhausted your daily budget. Please see question 13, “What is my daily budget and how is it used?”, for details.

5. You have removed your credit card from the Billing tab and have not added a new, valid card. Please see question 10, “How do I activate my account?”, for details.

6. Your ads have been flagged for a copyright violation, or for some other reason related to the ad content. Please see question 15, “How do I get my ads approved? What does 'on hold' mean?”, for details.

7. You keyword isn't behaving as you expected to show your ad. Please see question 7, “What do the terms Broad, Phrase, Exact and Negative mean for keywords?”, for details.

8. You used a Negative keyword and that keyword is appearing in the search query. Please see question 7, “What do the terms Broad, Phrase, Exact and Negative mean for keywords?”, for details.

9. Your ad is paused or deleted. Please see question 16, “What do the terms paused and deleted mean?”, for details.

15. How do I get my ads approved? What does “on hold” mean?
    
    Ads (and all associated levels above ads, such as ad groups, campaigns and accounts) must be approved by NeXplore before the ad can be shown. Until they have been approved, ads are “on hold”. We do not wish to hamper creativity or censor ads, but we reserve the right to place ads on hold or to not approve ads that are illegal or that promote illegal actions. We must also take into account copyright violations. We consider copyright violations a very serious matter and we will investigate any violations brought to our attention. While an investigation is conducted your ads might be placed on hold.
    
    The current approval process is automatic. NeXplore will check for new ads and approve them as they appear in our system. The approval process might take up to 24 hours to complete, or longer if copyright violations or other matters come up. Please be patient. After 24 hours have passed, please contact our support staff if your ad has not been moved from “on hold” status to “active”.
    
    
16. What do the terms paused and deleted mean?
    
    We try to provide as much control as possible for your convenience. At any time, you can change any entry in the system that is active to paused, or you can delete the item. A paused item will not be presented to a user. If an ad is paused, the ad will not show. If an image or video is paused but the ad is active, the ad would show but the image or video would not. If a contact is paused, that contact is not listed in the ad when it shows. You can see what items you have paused by checking the “paused” check box in the user interface.
    
    If something is deleted it is treated like a paused item, in that it will not show, but it is also not available to be added to ads in the case of contacts, images or videos. Deleted items are not permanently erased. They are kept in our database for record keeping and you can see deleted items at any time by checking the “deleted” check box in the user interface.