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Banner Zones

 

What This Page Does

This page lets you create and manage the advertising spots on your website. Each "zone" represents a specific location where banners can appear, such as the header, sidebar, or below a video player. You define the zones here, and then assign banners to them from the Banner Management page.

[Screenshot: page-overview]

How to Get Here

Navigate to Admin Panel > Advertising > Banner Zones

Understanding the Page

When you open the Banner Zones page, you will see your zones displayed as a grid of cards. Each card represents one banner zone on your site.

Header Area

At the top of the page, you will find a row of navigation buttons that link to related advertising pages: Sponsors, Banners, Add Banner, Banner Zones (the current page), Sub Sponsors, and Statistics. Use these to quickly move between advertising management pages.

Controls Bar

Below the header is a bar with an Add New Zone button on the right side. This is how you create new zones.

Zone Cards

The main area shows all your zones as individual cards. Each card displays:

  • Zone Name -- The friendly name you gave this zone (for example, "Header Banner")
  • Zone Code -- A short uppercase code that identifies the zone (for example, HEADERBANNER)
  • Dimensions -- The recommended banner size in pixels, or "No size limit" if no size was set
  • Statistics -- Three numbers showing how many banners are in this zone:
  • Total Banners -- All banners assigned to this zone
  • Active Banners -- Only the banners currently running
  • Max Allowed -- The limit you set for how many banners this zone can hold
  • Description -- A note about what this zone is for (if you added one)
  • Status Toggle -- A switch at the bottom to quickly turn the zone on or off
  • Action Buttons -- Buttons to Copy, Edit, or Delete the zone

[Screenshot: zone-card-grid]

Empty Page

If you have not created any zones yet, you will see a message saying "No zones found" with a prompt to create your first zone.

Common Tasks

How to Create a New Zone

Create a zone for each spot on your website where you want banners to appear.

Click the green Add New Zone button.

  1. Fill in the Zone Code field with a short, descriptive code using only uppercase letters, numbers, and underscores. For example: SIDEBARTOP or FOOTERBANNER.
  2. Fill in the Zone Name field with a readable name. For example: "Homepage Sidebar Banner".
  3. Optionally, add a Description to remind yourself what this zone is for.
  4. Optionally, enter the Width and Height in pixels if you want to specify a recommended banner size.
  5. Set the Max Banners to control how many banners can be assigned to this zone. The default is 10. Set it to 1 if you only want a single banner in this spot.
  6. Choose the Status -- set it to Active if you want the zone to start working right away, or Inactive to set it up without showing anything on your site yet.
  7. Click Save Zone.

 

Tip: Use descriptive names that tell you where the zone appears on your website. For example, "Video Page - Below Player" is much more helpful than "Zone 3" when you are assigning banners later.

 

[Screenshot: add-zone-modal]

How to Edit a Zone

  1. Find the zone you want to change in the card grid.
  2. Click the green Edit button on that zone's card.
  3. Update any of the fields you want to change.
  4. Click Save Zone.

 

Warning: If you change a zone code, your banners may stop appearing in that location until your site templates are updated to use the new code. If you are unsure, it is safer to leave the zone code as it is and only change the name or other settings.

 

How to Turn a Zone On or Off

You can quickly enable or disable a zone without opening any forms.

  1. Find the zone in the card grid.
  2. Click the toggle switch at the bottom of the zone's card.

The change takes effect immediately. When a zone is turned off, none of its banners will appear on your website.

 

Warning: Turning off a zone immediately hides all banners in that zone from your site visitors. Make sure you are not disabling an active advertising campaign by accident.

 

How to Copy a Zone

If you want to create a new zone that is similar to an existing one, copying saves time.

Find the zone you want to copy in the card grid.Click the orange Copy button on that zone's card.

  1. A form opens with all the details pre-filled from the original zone. The zone code will have COPY added to the end, and the name will have "(Copy)" added.
  2. Change the Zone Code to something unique and meaningful for the new location.
  3. Update the Zone Name and any other details as needed.
  4. Click Create Copy.

 

Note: Copied zones are always set to inactive by default. This prevents new zones from accidentally showing banners on your site before you are ready.

 

How to Delete a Zone

  1. Find the zone you want to remove in the card grid.
  2. Click the red Delete button on that zone's card.
  3. A confirmation dialog appears. Click OK to confirm, or Cancel to go back.

 

Warning: You cannot delete a zone that still has banners assigned to it. You must first go to the Banner Management page and remove or reassign all banners from that zone before you can delete it.

 

 

Note: Deleting a zone is permanent. If you are not sure, consider turning the zone off instead of deleting it. That way, you can turn it back on later if needed.

 

Settings and Options

When creating or editing a zone, you have the following options:

Setting What It Does Recommended
Zone Code A short unique identifier for this zone. Uses uppercase letters, numbers, and underscores only. Use a format like LOCATIONPOSITION (e.g., HEADERTOP, SIDEBAR_LEFT)
Zone Name A friendly, readable name for the zone. Make it descriptive so you remember where it appears
Description An optional note about this zone's purpose or location. Add notes about what banner sizes work best here
Width The recommended banner width in pixels. Optional. Set this to match the space available on your site
Height The recommended banner height in pixels. Optional. Set this to match the space available on your site
Max Banners The maximum number of banners that can be assigned to this zone. Set to 1 for a single static banner, or 2-5 for rotating banners
Status Whether the zone is active (showing banners) or inactive (hidden). Start with Active for zones you are ready to use

Tips for New Users

 

Tip:
  • Plan your banner layout before creating zones. Think about where on each page you want banners to appear -- common spots include the header, sidebar, below the video player, and the footer.
  • Start with a few key zones and add more later as needed. You do not need to create every possible zone on day one.
  • Use a consistent naming pattern for your zone codes. For example, always start with the page area (HEADER, SIDEBAR, FOOTER) followed by the position (TOP, BOTTOM, LEFT, RIGHT).
  • Set the Max Banners to 1 for zones where you only want one banner at a time, like a header banner. Use higher numbers for zones where you want banners to rotate.
  • Keep your zones organized by giving them clear, descriptive names. This makes it much easier to assign the right banners to the right spots.

 

Troubleshooting

A zone code is already in use

What you see: An error message appears when you try to save a zone, telling you the code already exists.

How to fix it:

  1. Look through your existing zones to find which one is using that code.
  2. Choose a different, unique code for your new zone.

 

Banners are not showing up in a zone

What you see: You have created a zone and assigned banners, but nothing appears on your website.

How to fix it:

  1. Check that the zone is active by looking at the toggle switch on the zone card. If it is gray, click it to turn it on.
  2. Check the Total Banners and Active Banners numbers on the zone card. If Total Banners is 0, you need to assign banners to this zone from the Banner Management page. If Active Banners is 0, the banners assigned to this zone may be inactive.
  3. Visit your website and verify that the banner spot exists on the page where you expect it. If the zone was recently created, your site templates may need to be updated to include the new zone.

 

Cannot delete a zone

What you see: An error message appears when you try to delete a zone, saying banners are still assigned.

How to fix it:

  1. Go to Admin Panel > Advertising > Banners (the Banner Management page).
  2. Find the banners that are assigned to the zone you want to delete.
  3. Either reassign those banners to a different zone, or remove them.
  4. Return to Banner Zones and try deleting again.

 

The page says modifications are disabled

What you see: A red banner at the top of the page says you cannot make changes, and all buttons appear grayed out.

How to fix it: This happens when the site is running in demo mode. Demo mode is meant for testing and prevents any changes from being saved. Contact the person who set up your site to disable demo mode.

The page asks you to refresh after an error

What you see: An error about an expired or invalid session appears when you try to save or delete.

How to fix it:

  1. Refresh the page in your browser.
  2. Try your action again.
  3. If the problem continues, log out and log back in.

 

A zone is at its banner limit

What you see: You cannot assign more banners to a zone because it has reached its maximum.

How to fix it:

  1. Go to Banner Zones and find the zone.
  2. Click the green Edit button on the zone card.
  3. Increase the Max Banners number.
  4. Click Save Zone.
  5. You can now assign additional banners to that zone.

 

Page When to Use It
Banner Management View, edit, and manage all your individual banners and see which zones they are assigned to
Add Banner Create a new banner and assign it to one of your zones
Sponsors Manage the companies or advertisers whose banners you display
Sub Sponsors Manage sub-accounts under your main sponsors
Statistics View performance data for your banners and advertising zones

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