How do I move the monetization bar at the bottom? And what are credits, etc?

I'm a new forumotion owner and use phpbb3; located in the USA.
http://poodlecrossbreeds.forumotion.com/

Currently I'm building a small dog forum, using the free forum option. It's fun, and I think I'll be lucky if I get 20 regular members who post often, so I doubt ads in this forum will ever be a cash cow.

The ads are near the top of the page and have nothing to do with the content of the forum. They visually distract from the forum. The ads are click-bait airline travel ads from latam.com. I'm in the USA and have never heard of this airline.

So I have several questions:

1a) How do I move your ads to the bottom of the page and what is the code for this?

1b) If I can't move your ad bar to the bottom in the free forum version, how do I get ads that are specific to my site?

1c) On my Admin Panel > Misc > Personalized Ads > Ads.text file, it has a link to https://support.google.com/dfp_premium/answer/7441288?hl=en. This has several other links on what you have to do to get personal ads. It sounds like monetization to me.

However, forumotion says you can't monetize your forum. so is there any advantage to signing up with AdSense at google and getting an ads.text file?

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About credits. I see that if I upgrade, I can get rid of the ads.

2a) Are credits another word for money?

2b) How many times do members have to click on an ad for me to get these credits?

2c) How much is one click worth in terms of credits? For example, is three hundred clicks worth three credits, six credits, etc?

2d) Or does my forum earn credits for the ads simply being there whether anyone clicks on them or not?

2e) Do clicks by guests count, or only from members?

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Credits & Upgrades - I know if I upgrade, I can disable ads. However:

3a) If I upgrade, can I then move the ad bar from the top to the bottom of the page?

3b) If I upgrade, can I get my own ads from advertisers that will pay me directly if a member clicks on it?

3c) It says "60 credits a year" for premium. How much is that in US dollars?


It's a lot of questions, but I haven't seen a handbook on my forumotion forum in my Admin Panel that explains all this in depth.

Thank you!

Hello PoodleyPie


1a) You cannot move Forumotion ads. You can just remove them buying a package including ads removal

1b) You cannot choose ads which will be displayed. It's mostly determined with where the user has gone before. For example if you empty the browser cache and visit few websites related to dogs, you might have some chance to get ads for dog kibble, or maybe for a dog training course.

1c) You cannot easily monetize your forum without premium package and ads removal for both members + guests. But you still can monetize your forum (just a bit harder than easy) on the old fashion (template editing and/or javascript). Please note monetization will always work better if Forumotion ads has been removed first (too much ads kills ads).

2a) Forumotion is available all around the world, in countries using various currencies. Credits is sort of virtual money common to all countries. Easier for Forumotion to say an advanced package costs 3600 credits a year than to display price in dozens of currencies (and price would even vary since FM is an EC company, credits's prices are given in EUR, regardless the currency you will use to buy them.

2b) Members can get credits only by paying them (or occasionally winning some contests on support forum). They cannot get credits clicking on ads.

2c) Nothing !

2d) If you remove Forumotion ads and place yours instead, you earn according to terms of service of ads company. Nowadays, it's usually a cost per display (rather than a cost per clic)
If you did not remove ads, Forumotion get cash from the banner and it's the main income Forumotion will use to provide free hosting.

2e) No differences between an ads displayed by a member or by a guest. But usually, there is a limit with IP. For example a founder wont be able to monetize his website only by refreshing thousands of times the page.

3a) Yes ! More details here -> Monetizing Site with the Premium Package
Edit : In fact you cannot move existing ads. You can remove them, then choose where to place yours if you want to add yours instead.

3b) Yes

3c) You can get the prices on clicking on button "Switch to premium". You wont pay anything before another click
"60 credits a year" -> Oh ? You must be lucky, for me it's 6000 for annual premium. And 600 for monthly premium.
So 6000 credits -> about 60 EUR -> 70/75 USD

But "naked" premium package won't allow to monetize. You need to choose premium with ads removal for Members + Guests (Basic cost 7660 credits per year, 760 credits per month / For very active forum can be higher)

Neptune, thank you! I really, really appreciate you for taking the time to respond to all these questions.

@PoodleyPie is this topic now solved ?

If yes please post solved and then click the green solved button that can be found at the top of this thread.
@Neptune- Thank you for your help you have been a great help to us and the members

APE wrote:@Neptune- Thank you for your help you have been a great help to us and the members

You're welcome @APE !