Which Ad Manager Plugin Makes Managing Ads Easiest?
As bloggers, we have to spend a lot of time writing.
We also have to spend a lot of time moderating comments, following other blogs, reading emails, upgrading plugins and for some, finding advertisers.
So who wants to waste more time on setting up those ads?
WP125
Download WP125.
Advantages
- Calculates advert end date and automatically takes it down. When you add an advert, set how long you want to run it for and the plugin will automatically take it down for you when it's run is over. No counting dates or setting reminders!
- Easy to set up and choose the layout. You can choose the number of ads and columns from the plugin options, and it writes the HTML for you.
- Deactivate ads, don't delete. Easy to re-add an old advert this way. I use it to set up 4 "Default" adverts linking to my Advertise page, and reactivate them when there's a free space.
- Click counting. Only drawback to this is that the URLs change to redirects. It makes things look a little shady to me, so I don't use this feature. That's just a personal preference though. The functionality works perfectly.
Disadvantages
- Only 125x125 ads. As the name would suggest, it's only for 125x125 ads. If you want to use Adsense or another size of banner, you'll need a different tool.
- Ad links can't be given titles. Not sure how many people would use this feature, but I'd like to be able to give readers a few words about what the ad is for.
WPAds
Download WPAds.
Advantages
- Works for banner ads, Adsense or any other type of ad. You'll never have to change plugin to add a new type of advert.
- Counts views. Counts the number of times an ad is shown, and can be automatically removed after a certain number of views.
- Weigh ads in the same zone. You can place more than one banner in the same spot, and use weights to choose how much each ad will be shown.
Disadvantages
- Write your own HTML code. You have to write the code for the link and image yourself. Not difficult, but a nuisance.
- Blog ads tend to be sold by the month. The view counter is an interesting idea, but ads in the blogosphere tend to be sold by the month, not by the number of views.
- Hasn't been updated since January 2007. That's not to say it won't work in WordPress 2.6, just that you shouldn't expect any new features, and if it needs a compatibility update in the future, you might be in trouble.
ISIS Ads Management
Download ISIS Ads Management.
Advantages
- WordPress widget. Very easy to setup for any blogger. Just drag the widget to wherever you want in your sidebar.
- Drag-and-drop re-ordering of ads. The zones system in other plugins works well, but it's just not as cool as visually dragging and dropping the banners into the order you want them.
Disadvantages
- Take down the ads manually. There is no system for automatically taking down the ads, so you'll need to resort to your calendar.
- Only 125x125 ads. Works great for regular blog advertising with 125x125 ads, but you'll need a different plugin for anything else.
- Widget-only. Not all themes use widgets, so it may not work on your blog.
Other Options
OpenX - The Swiss army knife of ad managers. Might be a little over the top for simple blog advertising, but have a look at their huge list of features. It does everything you could hope for.
UBD Block Ad Plugin - Similar to WP125, but with less functionality. Does have a very cool preview tool though, and some great videos showing you how to use it.
AdServe - Provides real time reports for your advertisers, but has only been tested up to WP 2.3 so far. Also allows you to put your ads directly into posts.
Feature Wish List for Ad Managers
There were some features that I didn't see in any of the plugins (Except maybe OpenX!), but would love to have. If anyone has seen a tool that can do these, I'd love to hear about it!
- Email reminders when advert is close to expiring. The WP125 plugin does a great job of working out the end-date of ads for me, but I still have to ad that date to my calendar so I know when to follow up with those advertisers about renewals. It would be great if a plugin could create those reminders for me!
- Future schedule ads. The plugins do a great job of putting multiple ads in one zone, but what about setting up one ad to be added as soon as another goes down?
- Upload ability. The plugins above all ask for the URL to the image, so you still have to fire up your FTP client. Would be much handier if the plugin could handle the uploading for me.
- Default ad option. When I have an empty space, I put up an image linking to my Advertise page. It's easy enough to set these up as normal adverts in each of the plugins, but you have to do it 4 times, and re-add the advert each time a space appears.
Overall, my favorite was WP125. It's simple to use, and has the most useful features for me. What do you use to manage your ads?
(Disclaimer - The owner of the WP125 plugin, Matt Harzewski, is a friend of mine and has an advert here at the minute, but I was using the plugin before he could buy the advert, and you can see from this post why it really is my favorite!)
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About the Author - Michael Martin is the founder of Pro Blog Design. He works as a freelance web designer, loves WordPress, and has an unhealthy addiction to smilies. Written on 18th August 2008.
Other posts tagged with Ad-Manager, Ads, Advertising, Plugin, WordPress.
18th August, 6:16 pm GMT
I've been using WP-Ads for quite a while now and has worked wonderfully well. I've never heard of WP125, so I'll surely be checking that out.
Sly
http://slyvisions.com
18th August, 7:25 pm GMT
I use Ad-minister. It's pretty decent. And ad-size is no issue. I do wish I could make a block of randomly placed 125px ads with it though. But overall it's very good with almost no learning curve.
18th August, 7:54 pm GMT
Great post, Michael, and thanks for the mention. Now, about WP125...
I'm trying to keep track of what people want to have in future releases of the plugin, so I'll be noting your comments.
Also, I thought you'd like to know that 3/4 of the features you wish the plugins had (Email, default ad, and uploading) were actually on the original list of features for WP125, but were cut last minute due to time constraints (in order to be eligible for the WeblogToolsCollection Plugin Competition). They will most likely be added to the plugin in the future, over a period of new releases.
18th August, 8:48 pm GMT
Hi Michael
Thank you for the great resource; and the time you've saved me not having to do the research myself
18th August, 9:49 pm GMT
I am a satisfied user of OIOpublisher but since it is a paid plugin, not much people want to give it a try.
UBD Block Ad Plugin is another free ad manager that is worth to try
18th August, 11:23 pm GMT
I have been using WPAds for quite a while now but recently considered moving to another ad management application. I wanted to use WP125 but since I have 2 468x60 ads on my blog it just won't work for me.
19th August, 2:32 pm GMT
Great article!
I was faced with the problem of finding an add manager about a month ago and finally decided to forgo the plug-ins and just write some simple PHP to randomly display 3 adds from an array of available adds. I don't get any stats and I can't really manage it through Wordpress... but it works.
My problem is that I'm using a theme that promotes an add size of 100 x 100 which, from what I have found, is not standard. So those plug-ins that only support 125 x 125 or other standard sizes won't work for me.
21st August, 2:07 pm GMT
I hand code my ads because I enjoy pain and suffering. I have to agree with Chris's idea of just writing code out. I wanted to attempt coding a wordpress plugin anyways, might as well be a practical one.
I might give ISIS a try, though. It looks pretty useful.
25th August, 6:55 pm GMT
Hey thanks!
I've been wondering what are the good ad management plugins out there.
If anything goes wrong, I'll pin the blame on you!
28th August, 10:03 pm GMT
Goldfries, If you use WP125 you don't have to worry about anything going on. I respond to most email support requests within 48 hours, generally sooner.
4th September, 1:39 am GMT
love wp125. have made it into wp468 for 468x60 banners and wp600 for 160x600 ads. only problem i run into is placing the 468 banners in my posts. have tried just entering posts and also tryied to put it into the index.php. when i do it in the post i just see the code nothing else, when i try to put it into the template after the section of content. i shifts my site to the right and messes it up but works. i need to find out how to put it into the template under the posts. other than that its the best pluggin out there. !!
12th September, 3:24 am GMT
Just a quick note: Version 1.1.0 of WP125 is out, and it adds default ads and email reminders.
17th September, 8:16 pm GMT
Really great. Thanks!
25th September, 4:37 am GMT
I use WP Ads right now, it turned out the be the best for me. I can use any size ad, and put it anywhere with a little php call. It tracks clicks and views also.
The problem is that the tracking data cannot be reset every month or year and so on, the plugin has to be un and re-installed (at least I think so). That should be easier to do at least.
I wish the plugin would be able to give me data, such as export functions, so that I could easily create graphs with it.
I would also like an ad plugin that could give clients some sort of nifty update in the form of email weekly, or monthly, so that they could see how their ads are doing.
I tried using OpenX but that got to be way too much for me, as far as installing, configuring, and maintaining.
I recently learned that Google has an ad manager, which is free, that is much like the way OpenX works. I will consider looking into using it when I outgrow or become too frustrated with WP Ads.
And this is my new favorite design blog as far as relevant, insightful, and quality content for Wordpress design.
29th September, 7:37 pm GMT
Are these plugins only available for Wordpress? I have a network on ning.com and I am in desperate need of an ad manager.
2nd October, 10:29 pm GMT
I recently found MaxBlogPress.com plugin for banner management called "Max Banner Ads". Did not try it yet, but it looks promising. Anybody had experience with this plugin?
9th October, 6:46 pm GMT
OpenX is actually very good. You can set up campaigns and adgroups, track clicks and impressions, and customize your ad any way you wish. It really isn't hard at all to install, you just need to upload all the files onto your server, create a database, and follow the instructions. Once installed, it is fairly simple to learn and get the hang of.
9th October, 7:16 pm GMT
Denise,
Most of them are, sorry, but OpenX can be used anywhere. You should try it out!
Max,
I haven't tried it yet, can't comment, sorry.
NSM&MMPC,
It did seem to be the most feature complete, by far! But for all I wanted, I think it was overkill. WP125 is easy to work with and no hassle. It does just what I need. For sites with more complex requirements, then I agree with you that OpenX looks like a great solution!