Stallion WordPress Theme Chitika Setup

Log into your sites WordPress Dashboard after installing the “Stallion SEO Ad Theme” via the “Appearance” >> “Themes” page and on the left menu click:

“Stallion Theme”

This opens the main Stallion options page (labeled “Stallion Theme”). If you’ve not registered Stallion with your unique Stallion ID, please do so now, you can not save any options settings before registering.

When the Stallion theme is registered change the Chitika on/off setting to “Chitika ON” (Chitika is OFF by default) and change the “Chitika Publisher ID” setting to your Chitika Publisher ID.

The Chitika ID listed by default is mine : clickity

Your Chitika ID is the username you use to log into your Chitika account.

Make sure you do not inadvertently copy a space/tab before or after your Chitika ID, it will break your Chitika ads (please check there’s no space/tab, get quite a lot of support requests for this copy/pasting mistake with AdSense).

Click the “Save Settings” button and basic Chitika is setup so you receive the ad revenue. If you are happy with the default Chitika colours, placements etc… that’s all you have to do, all other Chitika settings are optional.

On the main Stallion options page you can also select which of the three main ad systems (AdSense, Chitika or Clickbank) should be considered the most important (default order is AdSense, Chitika, Clickbank). These settings are under “Misc Ad Settings”.

The “Ad Post Number” sets which archive post that ad type should be shown on for the home page and archive pages (Categories, Tags, Search etc…). The ad network(s) set to “Post 1″ will be shown within the first post of an archive page AND in the main content of Posts and Pages (top of the main content). By default AdSense is considered most important “Post 1″, if you want Chitika to be considered most important set Chitika to “Post 1″ and AdSense to “Post 2+”. If you make this change the “Chitika Main Content Ad Unit” (by default a 336px x 280px Rectangle ad) will be shown in a high click through area of all pages.

If you set more than one ad network to “Post 1″ it will look a bit messy, you can have them all as “Post 1″, but best to choose one of the main ad networks as the important one (I always keep it as AdSense as they tend to pay best, but if you are only using Chitika set Chitika to “Post 1″). Ad networks set to “Post 2″ and above will have their “Main Content Ad Unit” only shown on archive pages only.

Optional Chitika Settings

For optional Chitika settings click the “Chitika Options” link on the left menu under the “Stallion Theme” menu. I realise these settings may appear a little daunting at first, but they are mostly self explanatory and very easy to use. On all Stallion options pages there’s a “Restore Default Settings” button at the bottom, if you make a mess or get lost with the settings, restore them to defaults (I do it all the time ).

At the top of the “Chitika Options” page there’s settings for Chitika ad colours, use the link to the “WebSafe Colour Codes” to select colours.

Below this is a section for each of the Chitika ad units, there are six ad units available, 2 are designed for the sidebars (widget areas) and are added via the widgets page (“Appearance” >> “Widgets”).

The “Main Content Ad Unit”, the settings are self explanatory as are the settings for most ad units.

The “Movable Content Ad Unit”, this Chitika ad unit can be placed in 4 locations, some of which allow for a large 728px x 90px Leaderboard ad. Try them out with various ad sizes to see what works for your site.

The “Sidebar Content Ad Unit 1″ and “Sidebar Content Ad Unit 2″ are added by using the widgets menu : “Appearance” >> “Widgets”, drag and drop the “9GAT Chitika Ad 1″ and or the “9GAT Chitika Ad 2″ widget to whichever sidebar you want it on.

There are two additional settings for these ad units related to it being on a sidebar, you can have these ad show or not show a heading “Advert” and show or not show a background that matches the colours of the theme (I tend to have no heading and no background colour set, looks better IMO).

Please take into account some ad unit sizes will not work in some locations, for example the 728px x 90px Leaderboard ad won’t fit if you select it for the “Main Content Ad Unit”.

Testing Chitika Ads

Please note Chitika ads are designed to be shown when a search engine visitor enters your site. This can make it a little difficult to test Chitika ads as they don’t always show up.

If you add

#chitikatest=keyword

To the end of a URL the page will show ads relevant to the keyword. For example:

http://www.domain.com/#chitikatest=chickens

Would show ads about chickens

Also be aware when Chitika is first installed it can make other ads (AdSense, Clickbank) break temporarily. Refresh the page a few times (use CTRL F5) after activating or making a Chitika change and the issue is resolved (I think it’s a caching issue, so not a ‘real’ fault).

How to Hide Chitika ads on a Post by Post Basis

As of Stallion 6.1 the Chitika ads have a CSS class you can use to hide the ads. The ads are still loaded on the page, but your visitors won’t see them.

For posts and pages you wish to hide Chitika ads on do the following.

Edit the post or page, at the bottom of the edit form (where you add the main content) add one of the following. It’s best to add the code at the very bottom so it’s less likely to be loaded on archive pages, if a page is short of content the code might be used as part of the excerpt.

To hide all Chitika ads add:

<style>.stallionhideads, .stallionhidewads {display:none !important;}</style>

To hide the Chitika ads within the main content only (sidebar, header and footer ads will still be visible) add:

<style>.stallionhideads {display:none !important;}</style>

To hide the Chitika ads within the sidebar, header and footer areas (main content ads will still be visible) add:

<style>.stallionhidewads {display:none !important;}</style>

Do not use this code on posts where you have selected a Post Format (on the right menu of your edit screen: Aside, Audio, Chat etc…) where the format results in the entire content to be shown on archive pages. This would include the formats Aside, Audio, Chat, Image, Link, Quote, Status and Video. Standard and Gallery are safe. Using this code on one of the post formats above will load the code on archive pages like the home page and your ads will be hidden on the home page and other archives the post is loaded on.

Note: this code will hide AdSense, Chitika and Clickbank ads (works for them all).

David Law : AKA SEO Dave, Search Engine Optimization Consultant at SEO Gold Services, Internet Marketer, Developer of the Best WordPress SEO Theme and Nice Guy :-) This is an example of the Stallion WordPress SEO Themes author biography box, everything within this box is built into the Stallion theme.

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