It's quite interesting to realize that despite the importance in the world of digital marketing campaigns, many in business don't know much about ad servers or how they’re developed. To know how to build an ad server according to SmartHub, you'll have to start from the ground and work yourself there. It is crucial to learn and know as much as possible about ad servers, And it is quite a complex task that requires technical expertise in development and database management.
So let’s properly understand what the ad servers are and see their importance. Afterwards, we'll look at how to create the ad servers, and why building one for yourself gives you a leg up.
Defining the servers
Ad servers are pieces of tech that help with the tracking, management, and serving of internal promotions or ad inventory. Another way of describing them is that they decide on what content is best for serving at specific moments, and particular places, while also being based on the budget, relevance, and revenue goals.
The typical process of getting an ad placed on a publisher's website is somewhat complex, but with this piece of tech, everything is considerably more efficient, which even includes the ability to track the performance of ad content across multiple platforms. One thing that these tools bring is a sense of centralization as it pertains to your ad management.
This avoids reliance on the publisher's ad teams to manage your ad campaigns, which can become a logistics problem the more publishers are involved. With your server, you manage all campaigns in one place, which is time-efficient. This is one of the benefits of having your server, which we’ll get to later on.
Building them
As we'll see, building an ad server is quite beneficial, hence the need for companies to have their own. You can't just go into it with reckless abandon, as you'll need to know how to make an ad server. The first step of this process is for you to understand that having a custom server built and hosting yourself is far from cheap and quick.
It's for this reason that the best way to go about a build is to rely on third-party cloud infrastructure tools that provide the APIs and SDKs needed to bring functionality to the present environment. While their presence will greatly minimize the time spent building the server, engineering resources will still be needed. With some APIs, the following can be achieved:
- Custom platforms can be launched within weeks
- Build tools on the server side can be accessed to integrate customer content and native ads
- Management APIs can be used to integrate features concerned with reporting into your site
- The stopping and swapping of content is automated
- Server-side ad calls can be used to better your monetization options
- Revenue-boosting tools can be used to optimize and monetize
Features
Another thing to think of during the build is the features needed to allow the server to compete with major networks such as that of giants like Google. WordPress plugins as well as video and picture ad request options simply won't make monetization a certainty, hence the platform's need for the following:
- Targeting features that include keyword, country-based, and contextual forms can help reach the right people and improve revenue
- Analytics and tracking features such as click tracking and custom event following that allow you to follow the ad performance
- Serving options that allow you to have ads delivered in a myriad of ways including on a cost-per-click basis among others
- Features concerning campaign structure
- Any possible extra features that may deal with billing as well as compliance
The above very much deals with how the tools are being built, but there is an element of maintenance that has to accompany everything. This mainly has to deal with scaling, as you can't aspire to reach Google's 200 million monthly impressions, without having the right teams behind operations. In addition to this, there needs to be a lot of emphasis made on keeping up with regulatory as well as technological shifts to ensure that you don't lag.
Does this cost anything
So, how much does all the above cost? Well, there isn't a fixed number, as it's based on a few factors. The building and maintenance costs aren't the only things that are thought about, because the cost of serving, and the months to launch have to be in mind as well. In addition to this, you'll have to think of the annual costs. Suffice it to say, it will be far from free, but the benefits, which we’ll get into, are very much worth it.
The benefits of building your server
Now that we know how to build a server, we can properly delve into why you might do this. Including the centralized management of ads discussed earlier, let's look below at the list of the benefits:
- Having your server allows you the ability to track ad performance allows you to ensure that publishers keep their word
- Having your server allows you to gain crucial, fully transparent information regarding campaign metrics and statistics
- Having your server allows you to keep and control your data, while also keeping analytics private, as well as not forfeiting reporting information
- Having your own server gives you a great deal of creative control regarding ad format, and how the ads are delivered
Final thoughts
Having an ad server as part of your existing arsenal can allow you to flourish in a myriad of ways, be it managing your ads or ensuring that publishers are held accountable. Getting there, however, demands that you know how to build an ad server, an endeavor that is by no means easy, but certainly worth it. As you get into the space of at least considering an in-house build, remember to think of everything which includes the engineering resources, and the prices attached to them.
When these things are considered, you'll have an easier path. Said path could be made smoother when APIs are used, so they are worth considering as well.