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Banner Management

 

What This Page Does

This page is your central hub for managing all the banner advertisements on your site. You can view all your banners at a glance, see how each one is performing, and quickly edit, copy, test, or remove banners. Banners can be either images or HTML code, and they appear in designated areas (zones) on your public site.

[Screenshot: banner-management-main-interface]

How to Get Here

Navigate to Admin Panel > Advertising > Banner Management

Understanding the Page

When you open Banner Management, you see your banners displayed as visual cards in a grid layout. Each card shows a preview of the banner along with key information and performance numbers.

Page Header

At the top of the page, you see the title "Banner Management" along with a row of navigation buttons that take you to related pages.

Button What It Does
Sponsors Go to the page where you manage your advertising sponsors
Banners You are already here (this button is highlighted)
Add Banner Create a new banner
Banner Zones Manage the areas on your site where banners can appear
Sub-Sponsors Manage sub-sponsors under your main sponsors
Statistics View detailed analytics for your advertising

Below the header, you have tools to find specific banners quickly:

Filter What It Does
Search Box Type a banner title or sponsor name to find matching banners. Results update automatically as you type.
Sponsor Show only banners from a specific sponsor
Placement Show only banners assigned to a specific zone on your site
Status Show only banners with a specific status (Active, Inactive, Paused, Scheduled, or Expired)
Tip: You can combine multiple filters at once. For example, select a sponsor and set the status to "Active" to see only that sponsor's live banners.

To clear your filters, reset each dropdown back to "All" or clear the search box.

Banner Cards

Each banner is displayed as a card showing:

  • Banner preview -- A small version of the image or HTML content
  • Title -- The name you gave the banner
  • Sponsor -- Which sponsor the banner belongs to
  • Type -- Either "IMAGE" or "HTML"
  • Zone -- Where on your site this banner appears
  • Dimensions -- The banner size, or "Auto" if not specified
  • Status -- Whether the banner is active, inactive, paused, scheduled, or expired
  • Performance numbers -- Impressions (how many times shown), Clicks (how many times clicked), and CTR (click-through rate as a percentage)
  • Categories -- Which content categories the banner is targeted to (shows up to 3, with a count of any extras)

[Screenshot: banner-management-grid]

Pagination

If you have many banners, they are split across multiple pages (12 banners per page). Use the Previous and Next buttons at the bottom to move between pages.

Common Tasks

How to View a Banner at Full Size

  1. Click on the banner preview image on any card.
  2. A full-screen preview opens showing the banner at its actual size.
  3. Click anywhere outside the banner to close the preview.

 

Note: For HTML banners, the preview also shows the destination web address and the banner dimensions.

 

How to Add a New Banner

  1. Click the green Add New Banner button in the filter area (or click Add Banner in the navigation bar at the top).
  2. You are taken to the banner creation page where you can set up your new banner.

 

Tip: Before adding banners, make sure you have at least one sponsor and one banner zone set up. Use the Sponsors and Banner Zones buttons in the navigation bar to create them first.

 

How to Edit a Banner

  1. Find the banner you want to change.
  2. Click the green Edit button on its card.
  3. Make your changes on the editing page.
  4. Save your changes.

How to Copy a Banner

Copying is useful when you want to create a similar banner without starting from scratch.

  1. Find the banner you want to copy.
  2. Click the orange Copy button on its card.
  3. You are taken to the banner creation page with all the settings from the original banner already filled in.
  4. The title is updated to include "(Copy)" at the end.
  5. The copy starts as Inactive so it does not appear on your site right away.
  6. Make any changes you need, then save.

 

Tip: Copied banners always start as inactive. This gives you a chance to review and adjust everything before making the banner live on your site.

 

You can verify that a banner's destination link works correctly without leaving the admin panel.

  1. Find the banner you want to test.
  2. Click the Test button on its card.
  3. A confirmation message appears showing the banner name and the web address it links to.
  4. Click OK to open the link in a new browser tab.
  5. The click is recorded and the banner's statistics update on the card.

 

Warning: Test clicks count toward the banner's real statistics (impressions, clicks, and click-through rate). Use this sparingly to avoid skewing your analytics data.

 

How to Delete a Banner

  1. Find the banner you want to remove.
  2. Click the red Delete button on its card.
  3. Confirm by clicking OK in the popup.

 

Warning: Deleting a banner is permanent and cannot be undone. The banner is removed from your site immediately, and any uploaded image file is also deleted.

 

Banner Statuses Explained

Each banner has a status that controls whether it appears on your public site.

Status What It Means
Active The banner is live and showing to visitors on your site
Inactive The banner is turned off and not visible to visitors
Paused The banner is temporarily stopped but can be reactivated later
Scheduled The banner is set to start showing on a future date
Expired The banner's end date has passed and it is no longer showing
Note: Only banners with an Active status and valid dates appear on your public site. All other statuses keep the banner hidden from visitors.

Banner Types

Your site supports two types of banners:

  • Image banners -- A standard image file (such as JPG, PNG, or GIF). You can upload the image directly or provide a web address where the image is hosted elsewhere.
  • HTML banners -- Custom HTML code, which is useful for embedding third-party ad network code or creating interactive banners.

How Banners Appear on Your Site

Banners are displayed in specific zones on your public site (such as the header, sidebar, footer, or between content). Here are some important things to know:

  • Changes are immediate. When you activate, deactivate, or delete a banner, the change takes effect on your site right away.
  • Banner rotation. If multiple banners are assigned to the same zone, they rotate automatically. Banners with a higher weight value show more frequently.
  • Category targeting. You can assign banners to specific content categories so they only appear on relevant pages.
  • Tracking is automatic. Every time a banner is shown to a visitor (an impression) or clicked, it is tracked automatically. You can see these numbers on each banner card.

 

Warning: Activating or deactivating a banner takes effect immediately on your public site. There is no preview or staging step, so double-check your settings before making a banner active.

 

Tips for New Users

 

Tip:
  • Start by setting up your Sponsors and Banner Zones before creating banners. You need at least one of each.
  • Use the Copy feature to quickly create variations of successful banners.
  • Check your banner statistics regularly to see which banners are performing well (high CTR) and which may need replacing.
  • Keep your banner collection organized by giving each banner a clear, descriptive title that includes the sponsor name or campaign.
  • Remove or deactivate expired banners to keep your management page clean and easy to navigate.

 

Troubleshooting

Banners are not loading on the management page

What you see: The page appears blank or shows an error message where the banner cards should be.

How to fix it:

  1. Refresh the page in your browser.
  2. If the problem continues, try clearing your browser cache and refreshing again.
  3. If banners still do not load, contact your site administrator or hosting support.

 

A banner image is not displaying

What you see: The banner card shows a broken image or a blank preview area.

How to fix it:

  1. Click Edit on the banner card.
  2. Check that the image file was uploaded correctly, or that the external image web address is still valid.
  3. If the image was hosted externally, try opening the web address in a new browser tab to confirm it loads.
  4. Re-upload the image if needed, then save.

 

The Delete button does not work

What you see: Clicking Delete does nothing, or the button appears greyed out.

How to fix it:

  1. Your site may be running in demo mode, which prevents deletions. Look for a red warning banner at the top of the page that says "Demo Mode Active."
  2. If you are not in demo mode, try refreshing the page and attempting the deletion again.
  3. If the issue persists, contact your site administrator.

 

The Copy button does not seem to work

What you see: You click Copy but nothing happens or the new banner page is missing some information.

How to fix it:

  1. Refresh the page and try copying again.
  2. If some fields are missing on the new banner form, fill them in manually and save.

 

Changes are not appearing on the public site

What you see: You activated or edited a banner, but the old version (or no banner) still shows on your site.

How to fix it:

  1. Make sure the banner's status is set to Active.
  2. Check that the banner's start and end dates include today's date.
  3. Clear your browser cache and refresh your public site page.
  4. If your site uses a caching service, you may need to clear that cache as well.

 

Page When to Use It
Add Banner When you need to create a new banner or edit an existing one
Banner Zones When you need to set up or manage the areas on your site where banners appear
Sponsors When you need to add or manage the companies or advertisers your banners belong to
Sub-Sponsors When you need to organize sponsors into sub-groups
Statistics When you want to see detailed performance reports for your advertising

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