=== Ad Swapper ===
Contributors: (this should be a list of wordpress.org userid's)
Tags: ad swapper, ad swapping, advertising, site promotion, more hits
Requires at least: 3.0.1
Tested up to: 4.4.2
Stable tag: 1.0.0
License: GPLv2 or later
License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

A plugin to swap ads with other WordPress sites on the Web. Build your site's readers/sales the fast, easy (and inexpensive) way.

== Description ==

There are squillions of WordPress sites out there (both blogs and
business/eCommerce sites), that have *way less traffic* than they want.

**Advertising** *is an almost guaranteed method of building any site's traffic*.
But paid advertising is too expensive for most blogs and small businesses.  And
the alternatives – like SEO, site makeover, and content expansion/improvement -
can be expensive and time-consuming too.

**Ad swapping** (Ad Swapper), by contrast, is **inexpensive and fast-acting**.
Better still, the number of additional visits/hits you get, depend only on the
number of sites you ad swap with.  Which you easily and continuously build up
all the time.

Once the Ad Swapper plugin is installed, just **select the sites your target
readers/customers visit** (*from the "Sites You Want To Advertise On" list*).
Your request will automatically be transferred to the sites concerned.  And once
any such site has approved you, your ads will automatically start displaying
there.

Then, since there are no doubt squillions more sites you could potentially
advertise on (with more being added to the Net every day) – you can **easily
grow the number of sites you advertise on**.  By simply emailing or Contact
Forming the sites your target readers/customers visit.  After all, those sites
almost certainly want to grow their readership/sales as much as you do.  So ad
swapping with each other (and everyone else,) will benefit you both (all).


= Creating Ads =

Creating Ad Swapper ads is **easy and inexpensive**.  Ad Swapper ads are simply
web compatable images (ie; GIFs, JPEGs and PNGs – including animated GIFs).  So
you can **create them yourself** (with Office tools like Word or Paint, for
example).  Or **have designers do it** – from sites like Fiverr
(https://www.fiverr.com/) – for as little as $5.


= Safety/Security =

Ad Swapper ads are **completely safe** – since they're just GIF, JPEG and PNG
files.  So there's NO Flash or Javascript for hackers to attack you or your
readers/customers with.


= Limits =

With Ad Swapper, there's **no limit** to the number of your ads that are
displayed every day – or the number of different ads you can have.  This makes
it easy to **aggressively promote your site**.  By trying different messages and
presentations.  And by advertising as many blog posts, pages, articles or
products (etc), as you want.


= Google Page Rank Improvement =

Ad Swapper ad swapping creates **two links back to your site (from every site
advertising you)**.  Which of course
    ([see here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank)),
should improve your site's Google Page Rank.

So, by steadily **building up the number of sites** you're ad swapping with
(especially the larger, well-established sites, with high Page Rank themselves),
you not only create **direct visits** back to your site (from people clicking
your ads), you also help **improve your site's Page Rank** (and thus generate
even more hits, by moving your site closer to the top of Google Page 1).

So, ad swapping's a **double-win** site promotion strategy.  The visits
generated by your advertising make your site's possibly poor **Google Page Rank
irrelevant** (many small sites will soon be **generating more visits from Ad
Swapper**, than Google currently brings them).  While the **mere presence**
of your ads on other sites helps to improve your site's Google Page Rank (even
if nobody clicks your ads - though that's extremely unlikely).


= Free Trial Version =

This version of the plugin – hosted at the WordPress Plugin Repository – is a
**free trial version**.  It has no limits, other than the number of other Ad
Swapper websites you can advertise on.  Which are limited to the following:-

*   **Your own site**,
*   [adswapper.com](http://www.adswapper.com/) (main Ad Swapper site, for sales and support)
*   [Fern Technology](http://www.ferntechnology.com/)
*   [Woo Daily Deals Demo](http://woodailydealsdemo.ferntechnology.biz/)
*   [Mermaid Chapel](http://www.mermaidchapel.com/) (small blog site), and;
*   (Occasionally perhaps) one or two others.

However, this free trial version is **fully functional** (and is exactly the
same plugin as used by paid subscribers.  So you can fully evaluate all Ad
Swapper's features (and even do some limited free advertising).


= Paid Subscription =

To advertise properly (on other Ad Swapper sites), you must take out a **paid
subscription**.  This is because Ad Swapper is a complex piece of someware
(which allows every WordPress site on the planet to swap ads with every other
WordPress site).  So there's no way we can develop and support this – and
provide the Ad Swapper Central site hosting (through which the ads are swapped)
– for free.

The good news though, is that the yearly subscription fee – for **one year's
unlimited advertising** – is just **USD 29.99**.  So Ad Swapper may not be
completely free – but it's still by far the **cheapest (and most effective)**
method of getting additional readers/buyers to your site.

Once you've taken out the paid subscription, you **carry on using this exact
same "free trial version" Ad Swapper plugin** (and any ads that you've already
created).  But the plugin will auto-detect your paid subscription, and give you
**instant access to all the other Ad Swapper sites**.


= Support =

Ad Swapper is supported from the [main Ad Swapper site](http://www.adswapper.com/).
And in particular, the [Help/Support page](http://www.adswapper.com/help-support/)
– which provides:-

*   A [support **Ticketing** system](http://www.adswapper.com/help-support/my-tickets/),
*   [**Contact Form**](http://www.adswapper.com/contact-us/),
*   [**FAQ** pages](http://www.adswapper.com/help-support/faqs-frequently-asked-questions/),and;
*   [**Docs/Tutorals**](http://www.adswapper.com/docs-tutorials/).

We recommend that you place all support requests there.

= More Info. =

Ad Swapper is described in more detail at the
    [main Ad Swapper site](http://www.adswapper.com/).

The **FAQ** and **Screenshots** pages (accessed from the **tab bar** above),
also provide further information...


= Please Review Ad Swapper =

**The more sites that use Ad Swapper, the faster your own site's readership /
customer base will grow**.  So a **five star review** from you will go a
long way towards making that happen.

Once you're up and running, please **click the Review tab** above.  It only
takes a minute - and will repay the time spent with **lots more sites** you can
instantly select to start advertising on.



== Installation ==

Ad Swapper is **downloaded, installed and activated the same as every other
WordPress plugin**.

If you're not sure how to do this:-

1.  **Download** the Ad Swapper plugin (from this site, to your local PC – by
    clicking the **Download** link above right).  Then;

1.  Go to the Ad Swapper
        **[(How To) Install and Use The Ad Swapper WordPress Plugin](http://www.adswapper.com/docs-tutorials/ad-swapper-how-tos/how-to-install-and-use-the-ad-swapper-wordpress-plugin/)**
    page, and **follow the instructions in Step 3**.

= Initial Plugin Setup =

Once you've activated the plugin, there's some **Initial Plugin Setup** to be
done – as described in **Step 6** of
    [(How To) Install and Use The Ad Swapper WordPress Plugin](http://www.adswapper.com/docs-tutorials/ad-swapper-how-tos/how-to-install-and-use-the-ad-swapper-wordpress-plugin/).

= Signing Up With Ad Swapper Central =

The first step of that Initial Plugin Setup is to **register an account** at Ad
Swapper Central.  And the Initial Plugin Setup is easier if you **register this
account first**:-

1.  Go to the [Ad Swapper Central login page](http://www.adswapper.net/wp-admin/),
1.  Click the **Register** link, and;
1.  Enter the Ad Swapper Central **username** that you'd like to use, and your
    **email address**.

An email will be sent to you – giving you a link to a page from which you
can enter a **password** (for this account).  Follow the instructions in that
email.

**NOTES**

*   **Ad Swapper Central** is the site via which your site swaps ads with other
    Ad Swapper sites.  **You need an account at this site** – whether
    you're using the Ad Swapper plugin in Paid Subscription mode or in Free Test
    Drive / Trial mode.

*   There's **no charge** for this Ad Swapper Central account (no matter whether
    you're using the Ad Swapper plugin in Paid Subscription or in Free Test
    Drive / Trial mode).

= Complete The Initial Plugin Setup =

1.  **Start the Ad Swapper plugin** (that you've just downloaded, installed and
    activated), and;

1.  Go to the Ad Swapper
        [(How To) Install and Use The Ad Swapper WordPress Plugin](http://www.adswapper.com/docs-tutorials/ad-swapper-how-tos/how-to-install-and-use-the-ad-swapper-wordpress-plugin/)
    page, and **follow the instructions in Steps 4 to 6**.

= Evaluating and Using the Plugin =

You're now ready to start using Ad Swapper.

The
    [(How To) Install and Use The Ad Swapper WordPress Plugin](http://www.adswapper.com/docs-tutorials/ad-swapper-how-tos/how-to-install-and-use-the-ad-swapper-wordpress-plugin/)
page gives a brief introduction to Ad Swapper.

And the plugin includes **detailed inline help**.  In particular, the help
at the top of the **Main Menu** page, will get you going with tasks like:

*   **Creating your ads** (and uploading them to your site),
*   Preparing the **"Ad Slots"** – on your own site – in which other
    site's ads are displayed.
*   **Selecting other sites** (to advertise – and advertise on),
*   **"Synchronising"** with Ad Swapper Central (to do the actual ad swapping).
*   etc.


== Frequently Asked Questions ==


= Do I HAVE To Display Other Sites Ad Swapper Ads On My Site ? =

No!  But expecting other sites to display your ads, if you're not prepared
to display theirs, is unlikely to bring you much good karma.  Other sites
may eventually notice your lack of ads (and stop displaying your ads in return).

Ad Swapper however, **doesn't** monitor the number of ads you display.  Or
penalise if you're doing little if any advertising.

This is to give you a chance to **test/evaluate** Ad Swapper.  In other
words, we expect that you'll first want to **get some trial ads out** (and see
them appearing on other sites).  And then, **once you've proved it all
works**, get your own site organised to display ads.

So for now, Ad Swapper operates on an **honesty basis**.  *However, other
Ad Swappers may not be quite so generous.  Especially if you've had long
enough to get yourself sorted – but still don't appear to be displaying
any ads.*


= Where Are The Ads On My Site Displayed ? =

Ad Swapper ads are displayed in what we call **"Ad Slots"**.  Which you can
place whereever you like, and on whatever pages you like.  So, some pages
may have NO Ad Slots, while other pages may have 1 or more.

Three Ad Slot types are currently supported:-

*   **Fixed-Height Banner**.  A single, generally full-page-width ad – usually
    displayed at the top or bottom of the page.

*   **Sidebar**.  A column of 1 or more ads – usually displayed in a sidebar.

*   **Fixed-Row-Height Grid**.  A #rows x #cols "grid" of ads – as frequently
    found at the bottom of pages.

The
    [Ad Slots](http://www.adswapper.com/docs-tutorials/ad-swapper-user-manual/the-big-picture/ad-slots/)
page, gives more details and screen shots.&bvsp; See the **Screenshots** page
(on the tab bar above), too.


= How Do I Get Ad Swapper Ads Onto My Pages ? =

There are **three** ways to insert ads into your pages:-

*   WordPress **Widget**.  Just drag the *Ad Swapper Ad Displayer* widget
    into whichever widget areas you want ads to appear.  This is generally
    the easiest way.  And you can have as many of these widgets – in
    any widget area, and on any page – as you like.

*   **PHP Function**.  If your theme doesn't have widget areas where you'd like
    ads to appear, just place a call to the Ad Swapper PHP function into the
    relevant theme files (or any other PHP code).

*   **Shortcode**.  A shortcode is also provided – if you'd like ads to appear
    within your page/post content.

See
    [(How To) Add "Ad Slots" To Your Site's Pages](http://www.adswapper.com/docs-tutorials/ad-swapper-how-tos/how-to-add-ad-slots-to-your-sites-pages/)
for more details.


= Who Selects the Ads Displayed (On My Site) ? =

**You do!**

Ads become part of your site's content.  So while ads for stuff that's
relevant to your site will **enhance and improve it** – porn (and all the
other dodgy stuff that people like to peddle on the Net,) may well **degrade
it**.

For this reason, every Ad Swapper site has the ability to **select/approve**:-

*   The **sites** that are allowed to advertise on their site, and;
*   The individual **ads** – that any given site is allowed to display.

*Note that you can set Ad Swapper up to **automatically display ads from
approved sites**.  But we suggest that you avoid doing this, until you're
satisfied that the sites you've approved are trustworthy.*


= What About Porn And The Like ? =

There's **no chance of porn or any other dodgy stuff appearing on your site**
(unless you let it).  Because (as described above), it's **YOU** who
selects/approves the sites and ads that display on your site.


= What About Competitors ? – I Don't Want To Advertise Them ? =

Again, because it's **YOU** who selects/approves the sites and ads that display
on your site, there's no danger of competitors stealing your readers/customers
(unless you allow them to).  Just **don't select/approve those competitor sites**
(you're perfectly free to do this).


= What If Some Other Site Doesn't Want To Display My Ads ? =

**Not A Problem!**  The ads that any Ad Swapper displays on their own site are
those they feel will enhance and improve it.  So if they feel that your ads
aren't a good fit, **don't worry about it**.

There are squillions more sites out there for you to advertise on.  So go out
and get ad swapping with those.  And **respect the decision** of those who may
not be interested in advertising your site (just as you expect others to respect
your decisions as to the ads shown on your site).


= Does Ad Swapper Support Geo-Targeting ? =

**YES!**  Ad Swapper's Geo-Targeting allows you to **select the countries
to whoose visitors your ads are shown** (no matter which Ad Swapper site -
showing your ads – that they visit).  Which in turn, allows you to
**eliminate the time wasted handling enquiries from countries that you can't or
don't want to support**.

It also allows you to **advertise on sites all over the world**.  Even if
your site is only intended for readers/customers from a single country (or a
small group of companies).  For **best results from your advertising**, you
want to advertise on **ALL** the sites that your **target readers/customers
visit**.  And with Ad Swapper **Geo-Targeting**, it doesn't matter where in
the world those sites are based/focused – Ad Swapper will see to it that
only visitors from the countries you've selected see your ads.



== Screenshots ==

1.  The **Maintain This Site's Ads** / **Manage Outgoing Ads** option lists the
    **ads you've created for your site**.  From here you can **add new
    ads** – and **edit existing ones**.  Note that you can create an
    **unlimited** number of ads (and have these **all** displayed on other Ad
    Swapper sites).  Also; individual ads may be **temporarily disabled**
    (if you want to stop showing them for a while – but retain them for
    later use).  These pages also remind you of the countries/continents
    you've **Geo-Targeted** your ads at.

2.  **Adding and editing ads is easy**.  Once you've created an ad, and
    uploaded it to the Net (storing it in your site's Media Library, for
    example), **all you have to do is specify the ad's Image and Link
    URLs**.  The **Image URL** is the URL of the ad's GIF, JPEG or PNG
    file.  And the **Link URL** is the page (generally, but not necesarily,
    on your site), that you want the user to goto when they click your ad.

3.  You select sites to advertise (and advertise on), from the **Select Sites To
    Advertise** (and **Select Sites To Advertise On**) screens.  These list
    all the sites available for you to advertise and advertise on.  Click
    the **view/edit** button to change the settings for any particular site (see
    next screenshot).

4.  The **Edit Available Site** site screen (for any particular site), allows
    you to select:-
    *   Whether or not you want to **advertise on this site**.  And;
    *   Whether or not you approve **this site advertising on your site**.

    Once you've changed any of your site selections, run the **Synchronise**
    option (on the Ad Swapper Main Menu), to transfer those selections to Ad
    Swapper Central.

5.  This page has a **Fixed-Height Banner** type **Ad Slot** (at the top), to
    display **banner ads** in.  However, you can have **as many Ad Slots on
    a given page as you like** (including none).  And any given Ad Slot
    type can be displayed **anywhere on the page** that you like.  In this
    example, we've displayed a second **Fixed-Height Banner** in the middle of
    the page content (by using the Ad Swapper **shortcode**.  Both the
    height and width of the **Fixed-Height Banner** type Ad Slot, can be
    adjusted to suit your theme (and the size of the area you want the Ad Slot
    to appear in).  *(As illustrated in this example.)*

6.  The **Sidebar** Ad Slot type can be used to display a **single column of
    ads** – as are typically found in sidebars.  You can set both the
    **maximum height** of this Ad Slot (in pixels – defaults to
    1000).  And the **maximum number of ads** displayed (defaults to
    unlimited).  You can also set the **width of the Ad Slot** (in pixels),
    to whatever you like.  This allows you to **adjust the width of the Ad
    Slot to the width of your site's sidebar** (the ads displayed within it,
    will be auto-adjusted in size accordingly).  This ensures that the ads
    displayed **match the other content in your sidebar** (no matter how thick
    or thin the sidebar concerned is).  And if you have **multiple
    sidebars** – **each of a different width** – and want Ad Swapper
    ads in more than one of them, it's not a problem.  Just create a
    separate "Sidebar" (or any other,) type Ad Slot.  And set their widths
    (and/or max. heights), as required.

7.  The **Fixed-Row-Height Grid** allows you to create a grid of ads –
    with the number of **rows and columns** that you specify.  Such grids
    are usually found at the bottom of pages (but as with Ad Swapper Ad Slot
    type, can be placed anywhere on the page that you want).  The
    **Fixed-Row-Height Grid** is also smart enough to detect when there aren't
    enough ads to fill it.  And **won't display any unfilled rows**, as
    required.  *(The above example is of a 3 row x 4 column grid.  But
    since there are only 6 ads to display, the last row has been discarded.)*

8.  If you have **PHP, HTML, CSS and Javascript** programming skills, then you
    can place Ad Swapper ads on your pages in any number of creative ways. 
    As **popups**, for example.  Just get the ad HTML from the **PHP
    Function** – and then wrap it in the required HTML, CSS and/or
    Javascript.  This screenshot is of a 1 row x 3 column
    **Fixed-Row-Height Grid** - fixed-positioned on a WordPress login
    page.  And with a Javascript "show/hide these ads" button at the top
    (in case the fixed-positioned ads cover the login form).  You can check
    this out at the
        [Woo Daily Deals Plugin Demo](http://woodailydealsdemo.ferntechnology.biz/wp-admin/).
    If you login to the demo, much the same thing appears on the WordPress
    Dashboard.



== Changelog ==

= 1.0.0 =
* First Version