WP125 Plugin: Easy WordPress 125×125 Ad Management

Jul 10, 2008 by Matt | Posted in Featured, WordPress 68 Comments

After a few months of planning and work, I’ve finally released my new WordPress plugin. I’d had the idea sine around the time I started selling 125×125 ads on Webmaster-Source. I thought it was a bit of a pain to hard-code ads in and manually take them down after their run was over. And I don’t like figuring out end dates by counting ahead on a calendar either. That’s why I put together WP125, a WordPress plugin for easy 125×125 ad management.

I built the plugin to simplfy the management of 125×125 ads, and lower the barrier to get started selling them a little. Some of the features include

  • Custom ad layout options.
  • A widget to drop into your sidebar to make it easier to set the plugin up. Or you can use a template tag if you’re pro-code like me.
  • Click tracking.
  • Ads are automatically taken down on their end date.
  • The plugin can figure out an ad’s expiration date automatically, based off how many days you say the ad should run for (no more counting forward on your calendar!). It took a bit of time and effort to get this feature working, but it was certainly worth it.

Try the plugin out, and tell me what you think. It’s a first release (1.0.0), and it’s barely been out tweleve hours, so it may have some bugs or interface oddities that need fixing. (It’s not on WordPress plugin site quite yet either, but I’m working on that…) Tell me what you like, what needs fixing, etc.

I think WP125 is off to a good start, but I had to shave off a couple features I’d originally planned in order to get it out the door in time for the WLTC WordPress Plugin Competition. Sadly, that means I’m unable to use it on Webmaster-Source to manage my ads. I built the plugin to work the way I figured most people woud prefer, and pushed my preferences to the side for now. I handle my ads a little differently than other people, and it would have taken too much extra time and work to build support for that into the plugin. Hopefully I’ll have the time to include the settings I’d like at a later date.

Enjoy the plugin, and send your feedback along!

  • http://www.problogdesign.com/ Michael Martin

    Sounds awesome Matt. Well done. :D

  • http://blogbuildingu.com/ Hendry Lee

    Thanks, I’m going to test it.Btw, I have recently compiled a list of six ad server plugin for WordPress.

  • http://www.webmaster-source.com Matt

    @Michael I partly made it for the Weblog Tools Collection competition, but I rarely have good luck in contests. I’m hoping it will work well as linkbait (GoCodes certainly did) anyway.

    @Hendry. I read your post on the ad plugins. Nice roundup. I hope you like WP125.

  • http://www.ruelicke.net Marco Ruelicke.net

    Matt, you just got another one who uses your plugin ;)If you have any beta releases and wants to test them, let me know :)

  • Pingback: ...when coding passion, gaming addiction, Internet surfing syndrome and the real life collide... - Ruelicke.net

  • http://www.fullfigureplus.com Glen

    I just replaced the plugin from Unique blog design with this one.  The randomizer makes this blog a winner for me.

  • http://whispertrail.com Sand

    I have a background behind my widgets, but it doesn’t show up behind the ads; only behind the title. How can I fix this.Also when using the ad widget above another widget it squeezes the one below it along side rather than just stacking.These problems may be related. I could really use some help here.

  • http://www.webmaster-source.com Matt

    @Sand, what site is this that you are having the problem with? I’d like to take a look at it.

  • http://whispertrail.com Sand

    http://whispertrail.com The widget is displayed on all but the homepage

  • http://www.webmaster-source.com Matt

    @Sand, First of all, nice design. :D I’ve been looking through your CSS and HTML for awhile now, and I have to say it’s puzzling. It seems to be a CSS issue, specific to your site for some reason. Have you tried posting a help request on the free web help forum at w3schools.invisionzone.com? They’ve got some real CSS fanatics over there who may know what’s wrong. I suggest posting there. If they don’t find anything, I’ll give it another shot, or refer you to another help source. I can also advice you on how to patch the plugin if you have any trouble implementing a fix the W3Schools people come up with. Sorry I don’t have an immediate answer, but I hope your problem will be able to be resolved soon.

  • http://whispertrail.com Sand

    Thanks for the help. I am new to CSS. So I very well good have done something strange. Ill let you know if I can get it working

  • http://www.theanand.com/blog/ TheAnand

    Thanks! I orignially came here for the affliate link plugin, but this looks good too! I will try it and let you know about my bugs too.if any tht is ;)

  • http://topasianmodels.net mike

    hey is there a way that i can center the ads in my sidebar? i currently have a sidebar width of 160px and the ads are being aligned to the left  and I can’t figure out how to have them centered.

  • http://www.webmaster-source.com Matt

    Try something like this:

    #wp125 { margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; text-align:center; }

    • http://liquidsaltmag.com Glenn

      Hi Matt,
      Thanks for your support on this widget! Question: When I added the code above to center my ads, my Thesis column headline (“Partners”) centered as well. How can I keep my ads centered and return my column headline to left justified?
      Thank you so much!

      • http://www.webmaster-source.com Matt

        Try adding this to your CSS: #wp125 h3 {text-align:justify;}

  • http://guntotingliberal.com The GTL™

    Awesome, awesome, AWESOME!!!
    Question — is there some way to use this widget in two different columns for two different sets of ads in those three-column themes like the one we use?
    Either way, thanks again for such a fantastic plugin and keep up the great work :-)

  • http://www.webmaster-source.com Matt

    @The GTL, No it isn’t possible to really use two instances of the widget.

  • http://guntotingliberal.com The GTL™

    Thanks for the fast response, Matt —
    Couldn’t it be renamed or something (a second instance)?  Pardon my ignorance on the topic — I’m definitely no programming genius :-)

  • http://www.webmaster-source.com Matt

    It wouldn’t be too hard to put together a second widget, but it would be a real monster to handle all the other nuances of the plugin. You’d pretty much need to create wp125-2, and go and rename the widget, and change every mention to the database tables, etc. Eventually you’d end up with two admin pages called “Ads,” two database tables for ads, and you’d have to set every setting twice to apply to both widgets…

  • http://guntotingliberal.com The GTL™

    WOW!  I see, said the blind man :-)  I sure wish it were easier than all that!  Thanks again for the quick response, Matt and thanks again to you for creating this awesome plugin…

  • http://www.webmaster-source.com Matt

    @The GTL, It would be real hard, not necessarily impossible, but still a real pain. Glad you like the plugin, though I’m sorry it doesn’t have the multi-widget support you want.

  • http://fafamonge.com fafa

    Nice plugin, I see how it works here. I need to customization it for my blog but I have a few problems with it. The Slot dropdown field is empty when I create any Ad and all of them saved with 0 (Appears in Manage).Also the columns doesnt work, I dont know what am I doing bad. Please help me.Bye

  • http://www.webmaster-source.com Matt

    @fafa, To fix the slot dropdown, try upgrading to WP125 1.1.4.

  • Mike

    hey matt. where would i implement this code to make the ads centered?#wp125 { margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; text-align:center; }

  • Mike

    ok figured out the centering part.. thanks for your help matt, awesome plugin!one more thing, is it possible to set the links to open in a new window or tab?

  • http://www.webmaster-source.com Matt

    @Mike, It’s *possible* to make the ads open in a new window/tab. You’d have to open up wp125.php, find the function that writes the ads in, and add the deprecated target=”_blank” attribute to the a tags.

  • http://fafamonge.com fafa

    I tried to center the ads but I cant. I tried:#wp125 { margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; text-align:center; }in CSS /* Styles for two-column display */#wp125adwrap_2c { width:100%; }
    #wp125adwrap_2c .wp125ad { width:125px; float:left; padding:10px;}tried:<div id=”wp125adwrap_2c” align=”center”>and after<div class=”wp125ad” align=”center”>and after echo'<center><div …’ echo'</div></center>’and nothing work.Matt can you help me please, the ads are left.Thank you.

  • http://www.webmaster-source.com Matt

    You want to make #wp125 width:100% and text-align:center;. Then you want to change #wp125adwrap_2c (or 1c if you’re using one column) to have the margin-left, margin-right statements.

  • Steve

    I’m having the same centering issue. I’m using the code instead of the widget because i have two connecting columns, and using the widget puts the ads in a verticle line. Because of the theme design, I have to put the code in the footer to get the correct placement. It’s in correct area but aligned to the left.  Can some one please tell me what the css code is and where to place it?

  • http://www.stevesimon.us Steve Simon

    Question if the two column selection isn’t working is it because of side bar width? If I use Google Chrome Theme what would need to be changed to use two column wp125?
    Thank you

    • http://www.webmaster-source.com Matt

      Yes, it is related to the width. If you reduce the padding around the ads, you may be able to squeeze them into a narrower sidebar.

  • http://www.stevesimon.us Steve Simon

    Thanks Matt I will experiment.
    Your Plugin is wonderful:)

  • http://guntotingliberal.com The GTL

    Hi again, Matt. For items such as centering the ad(s) and controlling padding above and below, I'm taking a wild guess these are not options easily implemented into the admin area of the plugin for we "CSS challenged" individuals, otherwise you'd have probably already done so. Is this a true statement, sir? If not, I'd sure be looking forward to these options in upcoming releases :-)

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/redwall_hp redwall_hp

    It's definitely a true statement. :) Centering is something that is often theme-specific, and the feature likely wouldn't work for everyone. It's a feature I'd like to add, but I'm not sure how to go about it for maximum compatibility.

  • RaiulBaztepo

    Hello!
    Very Interesting post! Thank you for such interesting resource!
    PS: Sorry for my bad english, I’v just started to learn this language ;)
    See you!
    Your, Raiul Baztepo

  • brazoc

    I all,
    Excuse for my english.

    This plugin is very nice but I have this question:
    If I want insert the ADSENSE banner 120X90, how can I do? I try a lot, but the result is no good.

    Thanks,
    Brazoc

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/redwall_hp redwall_hp

      AdSense is not supported at this time. The plugin is generally intended fir 125×125-sized banners, which isn't really the sort of ad type the AdSense is intended for. (AdSense also generally performs better near content than off in your sidebar.)

  • http://www.zoopmedia.com ZoopMedia

    Love this plugin. It's by far the easiest way to manage 125px ads on a blog. Plus it's free!

  • http://nullbyte.info Lord Noxarethor

    Hi, how can I have 3 columns instead of 2?:D

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/redwall_hp redwall_hp

      Just set it to two-column mode. They'll appear in three columns if the parent containing div (the sidebar) is wide enough.

  • http://www.eyeonannapolis.net Jfrenaye

    What is the minimum width to set your blog column to in order to support two columns of 125 ads?

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/redwall_hp redwall_hp

      290-300px with the default CSS, though you can decrease the padding around the ads (see FAQ) and squeeze it into a slightly smaller column.

  • http://it-aroma.com it-aroma

    hi,
    hope u all will be fine, this plugin is awesome, i am using it on my site http://it-aroma.com, but the problem is that i cannot add ads which include coding like:

    <script type="text/javascript">
    /* <![CDATA[ */
    function affiliateLink(str){ str = unescape(str); var r = ''; for(var i = 0; i < str.length; i++) r += String.fromCharCode(5^str.charCodeAt(i)); document.write(r); }
    affiliateLink('9d%25mw%60c8%27mqqu%3F**rrr+q%60%7Dq%28ilkn%28dav+fjh*%3Aw%60c87321%3D7%27%3B9lhb%25vwf8%27mqqu%3F**rrr+q%60%7Dq%28ilkn%28dav+fjh*lhdb%60v*gdkk%60wv*cp%60i%28470%7D470+oub%27%25gjwa%60w8%275%27%25diq8%27Q%60%7Dq%25Ilkn%25Dav%27*%3B9*d%3B');
    /* ]]> */
    </script>

    This is the code of 125 x 125 ad for the site Text link Ads, how can i add these type of ads? sorry for my bad english :)

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/redwall_hp redwall_hp

      At this time WP125 can't handle ads like that. You need to have an image and a basic affiliate link. I hope to add support for this sort of thing in the future though.

  • http://kimetech.com Carolyn

    How does the click tracking work? I am unable to make what I see in the backend jive with analytics on the target site…any advice?

  • http://www.becoming-mom.net ariana

    I have the same problem as Carolyn, my advertisers report drastically different stats than the click tracker. Yes I have super cache running but I have index.php disallowed as was recommended. Any advice?

  • Em

    same problem with differing stats as the people above. Ad owner stats reported much lower click throughs via the ad than were suggested in the WP125 tracked clicks; any clarification as to why this might be? And how can we resolve it?

    Otherwise, a super useful plug-in; particularly *because* of the click tracking… although not if it’s inaccurate!

  • Keith

    Hi,

    I’m a novice trying to figure out WordPress and WP125 …
    There seems to always be an extra blank image. For example, I have the ads set
    for 4, in 2 columns. And there is a 5th ad slot.

    It even appears above on your site, this way.

    Anyway to get rid of the extra?

    Depending on number of ads, and columns … I sometimes get the no image displayed “?” and sometimes an “advertise here” box. I don’t want either :-)

  • http://localhost alfie

    I am presently developing my website offline using xampplite. I have made a great deal of progress and am ready to insert some ads. There are some issues that are not to clear such as zones, I do not see any tutorial describing where the zones are located on any of my wordpress pages.

    Since I am working offline, my target url would be http://localhost/wordpress or http://localhost/wordpress/wp-...../index.php. I have tried all variations and have also entered the path to my images (http://localhost/wordpress/wp-.....pa/images/ but when I execute the application no ads are observed. Please advise. Alfie

  • http://localhost alfie

    disregard above post there was some confusio with another plugin.

    I now have wp125 working in the left sidebar but cannot create widget in right sidebar since i have used the only availkable wp125 widget ??

    It appears that I can only place an image file in the ad to represent the ad. Is it also possible to use scripts for ads?

    I require ability to manage ads and clicks for purposes of author revenue sharing. Can wp125 work with other plugins or can it perform such a function.

    I also want to place ads in other locations posts footers etc. I saw a comment saying use templates. Are they referring to conditional tags such as Is_home_page(). Can you provide an example of how this would be done.

    • http://www.webmaster-source.com Matt

      1. Nope, single widget and ad zone only for now. It’s an oft-requested feature though.

      2. Yes, it only works for images at this time.

      3. WP125 can’t do revenue-sharing type stuff. The basic click counter is as far as it goes.

  • http://marketsecrets.biz Caleb

    It would have been cool if you integrated Paypal, so i would not have to add Paypal shopping plugin in order to accept payments ;)

  • http://www.hisforhomeblog.com H is for Home

    Hi Matt,

    Thanks so much for such a simple & easy to use plugin – does just what we need!

  • http://jackson.fitgolf.com david ostrow

    Hey, great plugin. It works on all of my blogs except 2. I just added 2 new blogs jackson.fitgolf.com and indianapolis.fitgolf.com. On all of my other blogs, example tampbay.fitgolf.com, the ads display in the right side bar fine. I have defined my own CSS. These sites all use the same template.

    I have tried uninstalling all plugins, then putting up your plugin, reindexing my database, repairing my database, using the default css, using the default wordpress template all to no avail. The wierd thing is that in the admin, I put in the ad as usual,and save, but it does not show up in the manage ads screen either as active or inactive. It is there, because on the first two sites above there are little blocks at the top of the sidebar. They deadend as links, and they do not display right. For the life of me I am stumped. I am sure it something easy, just not sure where to look.

    Any ideas?

    Dave

    • http://www.fitgolf.com David Ostrow

      Somehow fixed this last time but have CRS so cant recall what I did to fix it. I just add another blog and want to set up this pluging,,,,no ads being saved to the site, not showing in admin, and not showing on site. See the default ad image in all 3 slots. HELP PLEASE

  • dz

    how to add the widget on more pages? right now i add it to home, and then the widget cannot be added to other pages.

  • http://thekruser.com thekruser

    I am desperately trying to center my ads in the widget. This is what I have. What am I doing wrong??

    Thanks, by the way, for an awesome plugin!!


    /*
    Stylesheet for the WP125 ad management plugin
    URL: http://www.webmaster-source.co.....wordpress/
    */


    /* Styles for one-column display */
    #wp125adwrap_1c { width:100%; }
    #wp125adwrap_1c .wp125ad { margin-bottom:10px; }


    /* Styles for two-column display */
    #wp125adwrap_2c { width:100%; text-align:center;}
    #wp125adwrap_2c .wp125ad { margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; width:125px; float:right; padding:5px; }

    • http://www.webmaster-source.com Matt

      You need to explicitly set the width of #wp125adwrap_2c instead of having it be 100%, and then you add margin-left:auto; and margin-right:auto; to it. Something like this, I think:

      /* Styles for two-column display */
      #wp125adwrap_2c { width:270px; text-align:center; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; }
      #wp125adwrap_2c .wp125ad { margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; width:125px; float:right; padding:5px; }

      You might need to tweak the value of width to get it to work right.

  • http://jamesspain.com james

    Matt,

    Had my site built but was optimized with their affiliate info and have gone in to make the changes to myself and can’t seem to get them to appear as they should. Could you direct me to your tutorials on installing so I may correct any mistakes.

    Thank You
    James Spain

    jamesspain.com

  • dz

    again, how to add the widget on more pages? right now i add it to home, and then the widget cannot be added to other pages.

  • http://www.dragonblogger.com Justin Germino

    I made some tweak to the plugin to open all targets in a new window, by default it would replace existing window.

  • http://dl.dropbox.com/u/39928083/BS.exe Tajaun

    Is it possible to have additional slots?

  • http://www.clickitupanotch.com Courtney

    I love this plug-in! My only issue is I have it set up for 8 ads (2×4 columns). Sometimes when I refresh the page it adds an extra add on the 4th row which is blank. Thus causing a 5th row with a blank ad as well.

    Wondering what I can do to fix this. Thank you!

  • http://www.theemtspot.com Steve Whitehead

    Love the pluggin but I also have an advertiser who reports click through rates at about one tenth what the click tracker in the pluggin reports. This is problematic for me because I quote these click through rates to advertisers. If they are inaccurate I’m not representing my site accurately to my advertisers. Any ideas?

    • http://www.webmaster-source.com Matt

      To this day, I’m still not quite sure as to why the numbers tend to seem a bit inflated. My guess is web crawlers like GoogleBot. I recommend treating it as an estimate rather than a hard number. I may, if I get around to it in the future, replace the counter with a JavaScript tracker instead, which would throw out non-human user agents (at the expense of the minority of tinfoil hat-wearers who turn off JavaScript). Until then, just quote the number as a raw estimate and suggest that your advertisers use their own tracking. It would be pretty easy for them to use UTM campaign tags if they use Google Analytics. (Here’s a guide on how it can be done.)

  • http://hisforhomeblog.com H is for Home

    Hi Matt,

    I’ve just updated to the latest version and I’ve aligned “center” but now every other ad has a thin, 1px vertical line to the left. What have I done wrong?

    Thanks,
    Adelle

  • sumesh961

    Hi guys, I have this trouble with WP125. The ‘ads’ control panel doesn’t show up at the dashboard admin panel on the left-hand side anymore..therefore i couldn’t edit the content whatsoever (link, images)..However, the ad is still visible at the main website tho..

    How to ressurect the ‘ads’ control panel at the wp dashboard again..

    Please, please help..thank you very much in advanced