One of the useful things about WaypointAds is that you don't always have to leave advertising placement entirely to your Joomla template or module positions. Sometimes you know exactly where advertising belongs on an article page—and WaypointAds gives you a very simple way of telling it.
That is where the three WaypointAds article anchors come in:
{WAYPOINTADS:TOP}
{WAYPOINTADS:BODY}
{WAYPOINTADS:BOTTOM}
They may not look particularly exciting, but each one creates a specific advertising opportunity within the article itself. Once they are in place, the advertising displayed there is still managed through WaypointAds. You are simply telling WaypointAds where it is allowed to put it.
The TOP Anchor
Place: {WAYPOINTADS:TOP} near the beginning of an article when you want an advertising position associated with the top of the article content.
This can be particularly useful for a prominent banner or other campaign that you want visitors to encounter before getting too far into the article. Instead of depending upon a Joomla module position somewhere around the component area, the anchor establishes the advertising location as part of the article layout.
For example:
{WAYPOINTADS:TOP}
Article Content
WaypointAds recognizes the anchor and can serve the appropriate Zone there. The anchor itself isn't displayed to the visitor.
The BODY Anchor
The BODY anchor is a little different—and considerably smarter.
{WAYPOINTADS:BODY}
Rather than meaning, "Put the advertisement exactly here," BODY effectively tells WaypointAds, "Start looking for a suitable place from here onwards."
That distinction is important.
WaypointAds can examine the article content after the BODY anchor and look for an appropriate location for advertising. It can avoid unsuitable areas and place the advertisement within the flow of a sufficiently long article rather than requiring you to manually decide that an advertisement must always appear after paragraph 5, paragraph 10 or some other arbitrary location.
A typical article might therefore begin:
{WAYPOINTADS:TOP}
{WAYPOINTADS:BODY}
Article Content
TOP provides the defined advertising position near the beginning, while BODY gives WaypointAds permission to find a sensible advertising position farther into the article.
This is particularly useful on a website where articles vary greatly in length. What works beautifully after the sixth paragraph of a 5,000-word article may make absolutely no sense in an article containing only eight paragraphs.
The BOTTOM Anchor
Finally, there is: {WAYPOINTADS:BOTTOM} This establishes an advertising opportunity at the end of the article content.
For example:
Article Content
{WAYPOINTADS:BOTTOM}
It is useful when you want an advertisement to appear after somebody has finished reading the article but before they move on to whatever comes next on the page.
Because it is tied to the article rather than merely being placed somewhere lower in the Joomla template, it provides a predictable advertising location regardless of what other modules or page elements may appear below the article.
Using All Three Together
There is nothing preventing an article from using all three anchors:
{WAYPOINTADS:TOP}
{WAYPOINTADS:BODY}
Article Content
{WAYPOINTADS:BOTTOM}
In fact, this can provide a very flexible advertising structure and is exactly what I use on Mark The Day.
- TOP gives you a defined opportunity at the beginning.
- BODY allows WaypointAds to intelligently find an appropriate advertising location within the article.
- BOTTOM provides another opportunity once the reader reaches the end.
The important point is that these are placement anchors, not advertisements. They do not determine which Advertiser, Campaign or Creative will appear. That remains the job of WaypointAds and the Zones and Campaigns you have configured.
The anchors simply establish the places—or, in the case of BODY, the territory—where WaypointAds is permitted to work.
You Don't Have to Use All Three
There is also no requirement to use every anchor.
A website might use only TOP.
Another might use BODY because its articles are long and it wants WaypointAds to handle advertising placement intelligently.
Another might use TOP and BOTTOM but leave the middle of its articles completely free of advertising.
And a content-heavy website may decide that all three provide exactly the structure it needs.
That flexibility is the point.
A Small Piece of Code With a Big Job
The WaypointAds anchors were designed to keep article advertising simple. You don't need to embed advertising scripts throughout your content, and you don't need to edit hundreds of articles every time an Advertiser or Campaign changes.
You establish the advertising locations once:
{WAYPOINTADS:TOP}
{WAYPOINTADS:BODY}
{WAYPOINTADS:BOTTOM}
Then you manage the advertising where it belongs—in WaypointAds.
The result is a useful separation between content and advertising management. Your articles remain articles, while WaypointAds decides what advertising should occupy the opportunities you have provided.
Three little anchors. Quite a lot of control.
