Getting more and more questions about the ad system from Neighborlogs site owners so time to say a bit more about how the Neighborlogs advertising system works.

• As a Neighborlogs site owner, you control your ads. We give you a default set-up when you create your site but you are free to move and remove and add anything you want to enhance your site and business. To add/remove/move, right click as you would with any content element and choose from the pop-up menu.
• Even if you aren't operating your site as a business, the Neighborlogs ad system can be a good way to promote your site features or organizations in your neighborhood. You can add 'house' ads by going through the same advertising process as any advertiser -- click an Advertise Here link and get started. Select "Site Promotion" or "Public Service Announcement" in the wizard process.
• When there are no sold ads or promo ads in your system, the ad placements show adsense. To have these ads credit your own Google Adsense account, create an adsense account and enter the ID number here http://www.yoursiteURL.com/admin/ads/revenue/sharing
• If you have another third party service you'd like to use other than Adsense, it's easily done. Won't add the steps here but let us know and we can point the way. 
• Selling advertising on your site is in your control. The service is self-serve in that an advertiser can come to your site, click the Advertise Here link and put an ad on your site. As you grow, many advertisers will do that. But you will also need to market your site and ad tools to grow. Send e-mail, make phone calls, leave a card when you go out for lunch in the neighborhood.
• One feature of the Neighborlogs ad system is that 10% of impressions on each site are made available for free. This is a useful feature to tell potential advertisers about so they can trial your site or to encourage nonprofits in the area to utilize. To take advantage of the free ads, an advertiser creates an ad and chooses the "Free" button on the payment page. It's an easy way for somebody to try out your site. To get more exposure with more ad impressions, they'll need to upgrade their ads to a paid placement.
• If you have a potential advertiser who doesn't have ad banners, make sure to tell them about the Logo + Text ad options. These layouts use HTML to create a graphical ad and are a pretty nifty way for anybody with a photo or a logo image to create a great advertisement.

There's an overview of the Neighborlogs ad system. I'll post more about the more difficult side of the equation -- how to talk with a potential advertiser about being part of your site.

And, hey, advertisers! If you are interested in opportunities to get your message shown across the Neighborlogs sites, drop me a line. It's a great time to get involved with the sites and to be part of the new local media world.