A WordPress Sponsor Ad Management Plug-In
September 2nd, 2009 | 
Author: 
Defining Zones
The cd_ad_sponsor plug-in does not limit you to a single zone in a particular theme element, such as the side bar. For example, you can create a zone for the sidebar header, another zone for the sidebar footer, and create one or more zones to embed within the sidebar. The cd_ad_sponsor plug-in will track whether one sponsor ad is currently displayed in a zone, and not display the same ad in that zone again during the presentation of your page content. You may, however, have different ads defined for the same sponsor that are assigned to different zones. In such cases, duplicate sponsor ads may appear.
To display ads for a zone you simply insert the following function call into your theme where you want the Ad(s) to appear.
The syntax is:
Where zone_id is the Zone ID you specified when creating the zone.
If no parameter is passed, or the default value, zero (0), is used, then no ad will be displayed in that zone. If you pass a zone ID that is not defined, no ad will be displayed. Refer to the Sponsor Ad User Guide for more information about using the cd_ad_sponsor plug-in.
Conclusion
I want to caution you on using this plug-in with many zones defined. It can lead to a noisy web site. This will only detract from your site, and drive your visitors away. I recommend that you define zones sparingly. This is definitely a case of less is better.
I hope that you find this plug-in beneficial to you as it has been for me. Please feel free to comment or make suggestions for future enhancements.
Posted in 
Tags: 
Hi Datadirt,
Thanks! Glad I could help.
You might want to make sure you have version 1.2. You can either download from my site or wp codex.
Note: The version number is in the readme.txt file. Since I still haven't heard back from the wp codex gurus I have not been able to fix their renaming of '_' to '-', subsequently, the update plugin feature on the plugins page does not work. :-/ Updates are done manually for now.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Have a great weekend too!
thx for the hint - just upgraded to the new version. Nice new feature!!! I'm running all my ad buttons via your plugin now.
Hi Coyote,
Is it possible not to cloak the link generated by this plugin ? since the link generated by this plugin is not xhtml 1.0 compliant
Thanks :)
Hello Anangga,
The 'cloaked' link consists of a parameter list which determines the appropriate banner URI as provided by a sponsor. I may, at some later date, re-work some elements of the plug-in, but I have no immediate plans to do so. I would, however, welcome any suggestions you may have to add to my to-do list.
Thanks
Coyote
Hi Coyote
I'm curious to know if you have tested this in 2.9.x? I've installed it and am running into a few strange things. I think it is 'me', and not the plugin, but I thought I would check just in case.
I'm working on http://m2live.org and have created 2 zones, one for each sponsor ad. The actual sponsor pic displayed for one (1) impression, then never showed again. I tried changing the revenue type code, as well as other settings with no avail.
Thanks, and it really does seem like an awesome plugin.
best,
Sean
Hello Sean,
Yes. I am running both 2.9.x single and mu versions of WP with this plug-in.
Looking at your site source code I see that you are running 'execphpwidget' immediately prior to the location of your sponsor ads within the sidebar. You do not need to execute any php. The user guide explains how to insert the function call in to your theme, and how to configure a multiple-ad zone.
If you are still experiencing difficulty please contact me on Skype or by email and I will assist you as best I can.
Best regards,
Coyote
Hi,
I am using WordPress 2.9.2.
I'm looking for an ad program that can support gif, jpg, and swf files.
Is this the right program for me?
Also, Can I manage multiple zones and campaigns and also view impressions and click-throughs
Also, does it support clicks and also, a small text advertise here so I can refer users to my email that want to advertise on my site.
Thank you.
Hello Larry,
Thank you for your interest. I will answer your questions in the order you submitted them.
The cd_ad_sponsor plug-in does support all standard graphics file formats, such as gif, jpg, png, etc. The swf file script and parameters should be added to the script-based ad section of the Manage Banner page.
I believe this program is right for you, but only you can make that determination.
You can have any number of zones defined within your theme. Impressions and click-through are also tracked. Campaigns would be determined by your configuration with your sponsor. Each campaign would then equate to a Program Type using this plug-in. You can read more about this in the User Guide.
The plug-in supports clicks for non-script-based ads. For example, AdSense is script-based and, therefore, cannot be tracked through the plug-in. Those statistics, however, are available through your sponsor that offers script-based ads.
Yes, you can include a text-link to display with ads that either redirects the user to your advertising page, or to your email address. You would simply add the anchor tag to your theme at the location where you want the link to appear.
I would like to recommend that you read the user guide on my new web site, http://cd-ad-sponsor.com. This is a new site I created specifically for this plug-in. There you will find the User Guide, Tutorials, etc. I will be adding more in the coming weeks.
If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me on Skype or by email. I will be more than happy to help.
Best regards,
Coyote