Failing SSL for AdRotate and technical shizzlewizzle

ssl-imageAs some of you know I’ve secured my sites with SSL (HTTPS). Recently when moving adrotateplugin.com over to this website I also moved over all related services such as the updates API.

Today it turns out that WordPress in all it’s wisdom decides to not validate my SSL certificate for ajdg.solutions but the one for adrotateplugin.com. Which of-course fails because the domain is not matching with the request.
This means; broken updates for everyone…

Disabling SSL seems to be the only sane workaround for this. Updates work if you have AdRotate Pro 3.12. But everyone else who didn’t update yet still relied on the update api on adrotateplugin.com which now doesn’t work anymore. Yep 🙁

Because of technical limitations on how most browsers treat such things adrotateplugin.com is now offline. Sticking with http seems of little use since everyone uses https.
I took the site offline and will be redirecting it to the new page on this website.

If you have a license key that starts with 101 and you can’t update Get in touch. Please mention your license key and email address so I can set you up quickly!

I will be developing a easier and self-help solution for this over the weekend or next week. But this kinda hit me in the face and I’m working hard to make this a workable situation soon-ish. Bah…

AdRotate Pro 3.12.1 – Refinements

logo-512x512After an otherwise well received update here are some refinements to make it even better.
You’ve probably noticed some Geo Targeting alerts 🙁 … Yea, fixed.

Some other tweaks/fixes are included as well.

Changes

[unordered_list style=”arrow”]

  • [fix] Metro/DMA Codes not properly stored for some Geo Services
  • [fix] Geo Targeting Quota messages being sent unnecessarily
  • [fix] Cookie expiry setting now shows the right value

[/unordered_list]

AdRotate Geo – extra lookups now available

geo-serviceAdRotate Geo is the exclusive Geo lookup service for AdRotate Pro users. The pre-paid lookups are now available for purchase. I’ve decided to make this crazy cheap so it’s in reach for everyone.

Originally the prices were going to be €20, €80 and €160 euros for 100.000, 500.000 and 1.000.000 lookups respectively. The price is now set at €10, €50 and €100 euros.
Check out the page here; AdRotate Geo product page.

Do you need Geo Targeting

If you have your ads targeted at specific areas, sure. It’s most useful where you can run localised campaigns. Your advertiser may require it for their campaign. After-all, if you have a restaurant in New York, it makes no sense to advertise in Japan or even Philadelphia… So make the most of your advertising campaigns and use geo targeting.

Geo Services

AdRotate Pro supports several lookup services such as MaxMind’s GeoIP2 and the GeoBytes IpLocator.
Both services are very affordable but still not everyone can afford it. Some simply forget to include it in the advertiser pricing, others simply have cheap adspace. Regardless of that, AdRotate Geo plays right into the market of medium sized sites that need affordable geo lookups.

Accuracy

How does AdRotate Geo compare to other services? AdRotate Geo uses Maxmind’s GeoLite2 database. This is fairly accurate and most countries can be detected without a problem. Cities are not always listed but most developed areas are supported just fine. Maxmind themselves rate the database as 90% accurate.

Try for free

AdRotate Geo’s basic subscription is free. It’s built right into your dashboard starting with AdRotate Pro 3.12 (released earlier this week) and all you have to do is activate it. If you don’t pay for extra lookups you get 14400 lookups for free, every day. For most small sites that will be plenty. For larger sites, well – Buy more 🙂 You know you can afford it.

AdRotate Pro 3.12 – Geo Targeting overhaul

logo-512x512At long last. Updated Geo Targeting!
Due to ongoing problems with FreegeoIP that service is no longer support and has been replaced with AdRotate Geo and Telize. Both of which can be used for free.

The geo targeting code has been overhauled to work more reliable using cookies and session data. And most geo services now also show states and metro codes for cities.

Changes

[unordered_list style=”arrow”]

  • [new] BETA AdRotate Geo Service
  • [new] Bot filter now also applied to Geo Data
  • [new] Cookie lifespan configurable from 24 to 168 hours
  • [new] $_SESSION used for initial Geo data
  • [new] Geo Data now includes City Metro ID’s
  • [new] Geo status in email notifications
  • [new] Geo status sent in push notifications
  • [new] AdRotate compatibility with new License API on ajdg.solutions
  • [fix] More accurate filtering for mixed city/state adverts
  • [fix] Impressions per day for schedules not accurate
  • [fix] Better check to see if Geo Cookie exists
  • [fix] Impression counting using the right timestamp
  • [fix] Warning undefined offset ‘city’ and/or ‘country’ for some adverts
  • [fix] Warning undefined variable ‘$adrotate_queue’ for some users
  • [tweak] Dynamic groups now hide all ads but one on pageload
  • [tweak] Updated links and stuff for new ajdg.solutions website
  • [tweak] 20% smaller geo cookie
  • [tweak] Impression timer can be 10 again, default remains 60
  • [tweak] Load/Check Geo Cookie only on front-end
  • [i18n] Spanish updated
  • [i18n] Russian translation added

[/unordered_list]

New website

As you may have seen, the AdRotate website has merged with my primary site ajdg.solutions. All sales, support and updates will go through this website from now on.