A new ad platform starts with a lot of settings and no obvious order to do them in. Brand, domains, ad formats, payment methods, minimum prices, review queues: miss one and the first advertiser cannot add funds, or the first publisher cannot be paid. The new Setup Guide in the GoAdserver admin panel turns all of it into one checklist. It sees what is already done and takes you straight to the screen for each step that is still open.
October 2026
A checklist that floats over your panel
The Setup Guide is a small panel that stays open while you work. It does not replace the settings screens, it walks you through them. Each step has a short explanation of why it matters and a Show me button. Show me opens the right page and highlights the exact tab, field or button to use, so you never have to search the menus for where a setting lives.
When you save something and move to the next page, the guide checks again and ticks off the step by itself. A progress badge on the launcher button shows how far along the platform is.
It checks your real setup
Most steps are not ticked by hand. The guide reads your platform's own configuration and tells you what is still missing, in plain words:
- Network: the network name and panel title are still placeholder values, or the panel and ad domains in your settings are not the ones you registered.
- Domains: a new platform starts on temporary addresses so you can work right away. The guide lists, per type (panel, ad serving, static files and RTB), which ones still run on a temporary address, which own domain is registered but not yet in use, and which certificates are still being issued.
- Filter lists: every list your switched-on features depend on, such as banner sizes, must have at least one active entry. A new platform comes with a starter set of the most used banner sizes, and you decide what else you sell.
- Money: at least one payment method for advertisers and one payout method for publishers (on ad and offer networks), and your minimum prices.
- Launch: your first approved publisher website, your first advertiser campaign and, optionally, your first RTB demand partner.
A manual tick never hides a real problem: if a step you marked done is still missing something, the guide keeps showing it. Steps that do not apply to you can be skipped.
Four phases, in working order
The steps are grouped the way a launch actually goes:
- Basics: network name and settings, your own domains, branding, legal pages, ad formats, modules, login security and filter lists.
- Money: payment methods, payout methods and minimum prices.
- Team: email templates, inviting colleagues, and the review queues for new users, sites and campaigns.
- Launch: the first website, the first campaign and outside demand over RTB.
The list adapts to your setup. An ad network gets the payment, payout and pricing steps; an ad manager running ads on its own sites skips what it does not need; an offer network gets the steps for its own payment flow.
Shared by the whole team
Progress is stored per platform, not per person. When one admin connects the domains and another sets up payouts, both see the same checklist with both steps done. The guide is shown to admins who are allowed to change settings.
It opens by itself only on a platform that has nothing live yet, so it does not get in the way of networks that are already running. Any admin can still open it at any time from the getting-started guides in the panel, for example to check a second brand or to see whether something was missed.
Why we built it
Every new GoAdserver platform starts with the same questions: what do I do first, and how do I know I am ready to invite users? The answers used to come from onboarding calls and our documentation. Now the panel itself answers them, from your own data, and the onboarding call can be about your business instead of where a setting lives. If you are still planning your network, our checklist for building your own white-label ad network covers the business side, and the documentation explains every screen.
About GoAdserver
GoAdserver is a hosted, white-label ad serving platform for ad networks, ad managers, offer networks, publishers, advertisers and affiliates. We run the servers, scaling and updates; you run your business on your own brand and domains. Thinking about launching a platform? Talk with our team.