What is My-Big.com ?

My-Big.com is a product created to to manage the ad space and marketing for a group of websites.

Web advertising is a costly business, some search engines charge up to £80 for every 1000 times they show your banner advert!

With My-Big.com it's free. For every 10 times one of your webpages is viewed showing adverts for other sites, your advertising banner is shown 10 times on other member's sites.

Example: Assuming your webpages are normally seen 500 times per day, if you use My-Big.com, your banner advert would be shown 500 times on other My-Big.com member's sites. People will see your banner advert and click on it, increasing the number of webpages seen.

See how it works now ? The more visitors you get, the more times your site is advertised, meaning you get more visitors..

What do I need to do to get started ?

1. Create an account (Here)
2. Include the HTML code in your webpage
3. Submit a banner

Didn't work ? See trouble shooting.

Can you guarantee me traffic ?

There is never a guarantee that your site will have increased traffic, even if you spend money.

This could be for one or more reasons.  

1. Even if you think your banner is wonderful, that doesn't mean others think it is.
   
   
2. Industry standard clickthru ratio stands at about 0.5%, meaning you would get a clickthru every 200 times your average banner is shown (Your mileage may vary).
   
   
3. The more traffic you have, the more you will be advertised on our exchange. It's a geometric growth. If you have little traffic, things will be slow to start with
   
   
4. Do not underestimate the value of brand awareness.
   
   OK, so you may not get a clickthru for your 200+ banner impressions, but you have been advertised 200+ times. Just because people see an ad for a soap powder, that doesn't mean they immediately stop what they're doing and go to buy some. But next time they want some thing like they've seen advertised, they may choose your product.  

A banner advert is a logo/graphic that represents your site. It is this that is shown on other member sites. This is what is clicked for the viewer to visit your site.

How do I get a banner ?

You can either create one yourself or have one created for you professionally.

If you create one yourself, you will need a paint package like PaintShop Pro (www.jasc.com) and then save it in a GIF format.

Can My-big.com create a banner for me ?

Not at present but we are working on it.

What size / dimensions should it be ?

Banner: 468 x 60 pixels.
Button: 120 x 60 pixels.

More ad formats will be online shortly.

Do i have to display anything that shows i'm using the My-Big.com exchange?

No.

Can I have more than one banner ?

Yes, but only one banner will be displayed to the same user at any one time.

What's an animated banner ?

An animated banner is a GIF image that consists of several frames of animation such as scrolling text.

How do I create an animated banner ?

Create individual images using a paint package (such as PaintShop Pro), then merge them into one GIF using a product such as Animagic.

What code do I need to include in my webpage ?

Login to your account, and click on the HTML Code link.
Open your webpage in an editor, and copy & paste the HTML text into your webpage.

Can I have multiple pages with the HTML code ?

You may include the HTML code on multiple pages on your website. You should modify the HTML code, changing the "page=" value to "page=2" for the second page carrying UKBanners, and so on.

We are working to make this automatic.

Can I make my page/My-Big.com refresh ?

No. That would artificially raise the credits your account earned. Your account would be suspended.
Our system periodically checks the validity of member accounts.

Can I refresh my page with a banner on ?

No. Your account will be deactivated if it is found that you are doing this.

Can I have multiple My-Big.com banners per page ?

You may display multiple banners in different ad formats but never that same.

NOTE: You can only carry one banner from each ad format per page.
(e.g you cannot display two 468 x 60 banners on the same page..)

I've lost my password, help !

Don't worry. Click here and fill in your account and E-mail address. If the E-mail address we have for you matches the one you enter, we will send your password to the E-mail we have on record.

I want to change my password..

Login as usual and click on the Change Account Details link. You can change your password in there.

What is a credit ?

Credits are the number of exposures of your banner you have earned. This includes the exposures that have already happened and those yet to happen. You earn a credit for 10 out of 10 banner views on your site. This compares favourably to most other sites that only give you 8 out of 10.

What is an exposure ?

An exposure is your banner being shown on another members site.

What is a click-thru ?

A click thru happens when someone sees your banner on another site and clicks on it to visit your site.

What is a click-thru ratio (CTR) ?

It is a ratio of the number of times your banner is shown on other sites compared to the number of times people click on it.

E.g a CTR of 3% means that for every 100 times that your banner is shown, 3 people click on it and visit your site. (1.5% is the industry average).

How can I improve my CTR ?

Practice. Practice. Practice. Keep changing your banner and see what changes improve it. However, in our experience the following is true:

• Animated banners do better than non animated banners.
• Banners which include a CLICK banner do well.

If you include your product name in your banner, people will remember it, even if they don't visit.

I would like to suspend my account for a while and keep my credits, can I do this ?

Yes but you can only keep your account on hold for 14 days after that your credits will be lost.

I don't want a particular site shown on my site. What can I do about this ?

Login in to your account, and click on the "Blacklist Site" link. In the field "banned" you can supply a comma separated list of web site accounts that you don't want to see on your site. You can list up to 30 sites. E.g MY546 will mean that you will not see banners from those accounts on your site.

To find what account number a given site is, simply right click over the image and view the properties. The part of the image name is the account number.

I've lost my HTML Code, where can I find a fresh copy ?

Login as usual, and click on the HTML Code link. This page details exactly what you need to include in your pages.

Where can I see my banner shown on other sites ?

Your banner is shown in proportion to your traffic. So if your site has 1000 page impressions a day, your banner will be shown 1000 times around our network. Take a look at the advertisers on UKBanners, click on their banners and you will see just how many sites are in the network.

What is a cookie ?

A cookie is a device used to remember what banner ad a user has been shown.
That way, when the user clicks on the banner we know where to redirect them to.

Must I accept them ?

Yes, if you want My-Big.com to work.

Can they damage my system ?

No, they're harmless. Besides, if you're not sure, you can look at the contents of them as they are served to you.

Enabling Cookies on your browser :-

Using Internet Explorer

Select the Tools > Internet Options menu item

Select the Security tab

Select the Custom level button

Enable "stored" + "per-session" cookies.

Press OK

You will need to close all Internet Explorer sessions for this to take effect.

Using Netscape

Select the Edit > Preferences menu item

Click on the Advanced item (top level)

Click on "Accept only cookies that get sent back to originating server"

You will need to close all Netscape sessions for this to take effect.

I've lost my password!

Lost it? and follow the instructions.

I'm using Frontpage and the banners don't show

Try this:

1. Open your HTML document
2. Place the Insertion Point at the location you want your link or where you would like to enter your My-Big.com HTML code
3. Select INSERT from the menu bar.
4. Select HTML MARKUP
5. Enter your UKBanners HTML code (exactly as supplied)

NOTE: You must type in the UKBanners code manually (you cannot Copy and Paste)!

Press OK

I've lost the HTML Code, help !

Login, then scroll the page down to the HTML Code section and click on the banner. This page will show you the HTML code you need.

I have the HTML Code in place, but I don't earn any credits, huh ?

This could be caused by one or more of the following:

• Your banner has not been approved. Login and see if this is the case.
• The HTML code is wrong. Login and download a fresh copy.

I've never seen my banner on other members' sites. Why ?

Due the the sheer number of banner we show, it's highly unlikely that you'll ever see it.

• Sales
  
  Telephone: 01723 830030
  E-mail: info@my-big.com
  
  
• Support
  
  E-mail:info@my-big.com
  
  
• Company Information
  
  My-Big.com is a product of GLS Properties, Woodend Creative Workspace, The Crescent, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, YO11 2PW

• By using My-Big.com, members agree to be bound by the following conditions:
  

• GLS Properties reserves the right to modify these Terms and Conditions. It is the responsibility of the member to keep current with changes in the Terms and Conditions. Changes to the Terms and Conditions apply to ALL registered members.
  

• Member's banners must not be misleading.
  
  By misleading we mean any banner which:
  
  a) Makes no reference to the site it represents or any indication of it's content
  
  and/or
  
  b) Has been designed with the purpose of looking like an integral part of the webpage/desktop it's displayed on, rather than the site it represents. (This therefore includes system error type messages)
  
  (e.g a banner containing solely "click here" or "Next / Previous" will not be allowed)
  
  
• My-Big.com will reserves the right to reject any website from using it's service. Particularly those containing:
  
  Pornography/Nudity/Sexuality
  Spam
  Racist Content
  Copyright infringement
  Illegal activities
  Illegal Software/Hacking
  

• My-Big.com also reserves the right to refuse any site that is:
  
  A URL which is a referral/affiliate account for a parent site
  A Get Rich Quick site
  A site containing unnecessary/excessive popups
  A site that resizes the browser to fullscreen
  

• My-Big.com will periodically visit each members website to ensure they are still within the guidelines of these terms and condition. If errors are found, the members account may be suspended until corrected.
  
  
• My-Big.com may deactivate an account if it felt that a member is gaining excessive credits using page-refresh methods, or including more than one banner of the same format.
  

• Members agree that their information (stats, company name etc) may be used by GLS Properties. In accordance and within the terms of the Data Protection Act.
  

• Members agree to insert the provided HTML code for displaying banners on their web site. The supplied code may not be modified in any way without our express permission.
  

• Banners must be displayed on the page such that the banner is easily visible and within the main body of the web page
  

• A member must not display My-Big.com banners on sites other than the one to which the account is configured for, unless written permission is given.
  

• GLS Properties will keep members information confidential and will not be distributed to other parties.
  

• GLS Properties cannot be held liable for any damage or loss of information that may occur from the use of the My-Big.com services.
  

• Members use My-Big.com at their own risk and GLS Properties makes no guarantee regarding the accuracy or reliability of the service
  

• Should a members account be suspended/terminated for whatever reason, no refund/compensation will be given for any unused banner credits lost.