At first, it can seem a bit confusing.

It needed to be said, and we’ve said it. There are several pieces to the puzzle that makes up the placement of an ad. Potentially more confusing, they don’t really have to be performed in the same order every time.

But let’s pretend, for an initial introduction, that you’re going to follow them from A to Z, your first time around.

The steps in placing an ad:

1. Log in to AdDogs
2. Build an ad, modify one of your prior ad designs, or upload a finished ad
3. Search our media database to find publications, placement types, and pricing
4. Choose one or more publications and placement types (add to your “media list” for later use)
5. Create an order, by matching up your ad with one or more of the publications in your media list
6. Add the order to your shopping cart, specifying publication dates and approving final ads
7. Check out, pay for the ad, and receive confirmation of your order

Read on, however – our aim is to make this potentially complicated process clear for you.

How can AdDogs help, and what is the Guided Ad Creation option?

If you select and use the Guided Ad Creation option, you will automatically be guided through the ad creation and placement process, in a linear, unyielding manner.  This option is designed as an instructional tool to teach first-time users the necessary steps of creating and placing ads in the media.

 If you decide you would prefer not to be guided through the process then uncheck the Guided Ad Creation box otherwise, the system will think you still need direction and you will be dragged  back to the part of the process it thinks you’re supposed to be on.

Here’s the thing: In the real world, there’s no guarantee that every ad placement is going to occur in a nice, linear fashion. Say, for instance, that you’re waiting for pictures or text to place in your ad, and are not ready to start building it yet. You can easily log in to AdDogs and decide to start by searching for media in which to place the ad.

If you are in the Guided Ad Creation mode, there is no flexibility to allow you to do things out of order.  Simply uncheck the Guided Ad Creation box and you are then free to roam about the site. Click here to see a start-to-finish video overview of the ad placement process.

Perhaps more digestible, you can also see video of the individual pieces of the process via the links below.

(Note: Video clips coming shortly)

Building an ad:

A short video of the ad building process, including template selection, modification of prior ads you’ve placed, the ability to upload a finished PDF that’s already the size you want (since while AdDogs can do wonders with ads designed on our system with our templates, we can’t resize or reshape your PDF to fit various ad placement slots). Coming soon: You’ll be able to upload an InDesign file and AdDogs will resize and reshape it automatically to fit your target media products.

Selecting media:

A short video of the media selection process, including the multiple criteria on which you can search, including keywords, product names, geographic and demographic constraints, and target audience. After you’ve gotten your list of the media products satisfying your search, you will be able to view the profile and description of each media product, choose individual ad placement positions within one or more of the products, specify any contract pricing that might apply to you, and, if you like, maintain a list of media you most often find useful for ad placement.

Creating an order:

A short video of the order creation process, in which you choose an ad that you’ve built, uploaded, or which was already in your media library ready for placement. The function of this step is to select media from your “media list” and proceed to match up ads and media for placement. Without either an ad to place or media in which to place it, this would hardly count as advertising, we hope you’d agree. Once created, the order will be on file for you to purchase, should you choose to do so. In this video, you’ll also see how to take a completed order, specify dates of publication, verify that the final to-be-published format is to your liking, and add the item to your shopping cart.

The checkout process:

A short video of the final step in your ad’s journey from imagination to publication, checkout. In this video, you’ll see the options we provide for checkout. Note: they’re not what you might be used to)