Ads & Packages lets you sell time-limited sponsored placements on your homepage and beside every listing, and manage the bookings from one screen. It is for directory owners who want local businesses to pay for visibility.
Before you start
- You need an administrator account (the screen requires the manage_options capability).
- Visitors who buy a placement on your Advertise page pay through Easy Digital Downloads, so install and set it up first. Booking a placement yourself needs no payment and no Easy Digital Downloads.
- Prices use your Easy Digital Downloads currency automatically.
How to use it
- Go to Directory > Ads & Packages and open the Settings tab.
- Tick Enable ads (“Sell sponsored placements on this directory”).
- Set the Base price (first month), the Homepage + Sidebar price, the Per-month discount and the Maximum months.
- Under Ad zones, keep a zone ticked to show it, and set how many slots it sells.
- Choose your Approval rule: tick “Publish ads automatically on payment” or leave it clear to review each paid booking yourself.
- Check the Price preview table at the bottom of the page, then press Save ad settings.
- To book a placement for a business yourself, open the Create Ad tab.
- Pick a Placement, then fill in Advertiser / business name, Advertiser email, Link URL and Duration (months).
- Press Choose image, pick a creative from the media library, then press Use this image.
- Press Publish ad. The booking goes live straight away, pre-approved.
- Open the Ads tab to see Slot usage and the Bookings list. Bookings that are waiting show Approve and Reject buttons.
How bookings are approved
Bookings you create on the Create Ad tab go live immediately, whatever the approval setting. Bookings bought on the Advertise page start as Pending unless you ticked the automatic publish option. Use Approve to make a pending booking Active, or Reject to mark it Rejected.
The Bookings table shows a coloured status badge: active (green), pending (amber), expired (grey) or rejected (red). Edit changes the advertiser, link, duration or image, and Delete asks you to confirm before removing the booking.
Lifecycle and emails
A daily check runs in the background. It marks an active ad as expired once its end date passes, and it emails the advertiser when the ad reaches each renewal reminder day (default 7 and 1 days before expiry). An expiry notice is also sent when the ad lapses.
The Emails section sits below the settings form on the Settings tab. It has three editable templates: Renewal reminder, Expiry notice and Lead follow-up. Each has a Subject and a Body, and you can use these placeholders:
- {business}
- {site}
- {days}
- {link}
- {unsubscribe}
Leave a field blank to use the default. Press Save emails when you are done.
Settings and limits
- Ads are off by default.
- Default base price is 79 and the Homepage + Sidebar price is 119 (first month, in your Easy Digital Downloads currency). You can change both.
- Default per-month discount is 5% and it is capped at 90%. Each extra month is discounted from the previous one (compounding).
- Maximum months defaults to 12 and can be set from 1 to 36.
- Default slots are 3 for the Featured carousel and 2 for the Listing sidebar. Each zone can have up to 50 slots, and unticking a zone hides it from your site.
- Renewal reminders default to 7,1. Lead follow-up is on by default and sends after 6 hours (1 to 720 hours). Each lead is emailed once and every email carries an unsubscribe link.
- Sponsored links are marked rel=”sponsored nofollow” so search engines treat them as paid.
FAQ
Why do I see “Ads are switched off” on the Ads tab?
Ads are off until you tick Enable ads on the Settings tab and save. Visitors see nothing until then.
Can I add a sponsor without taking payment?
Yes. Use the Create Ad tab. The booking is published straight away with no payment and no approval step.
What happens to people who start the form but never pay?
They are saved as Leads on the Ads tab. If Lead follow-up is on, they get one email after your chosen delay inviting them to finish, unless they have unsubscribed.
Which currency is used?
The one set in Easy Digital Downloads. If it is not available, the plugin falls back to its own general currency setting, or USD.
What does a visitor see when a slot is unsold?
An Advertise Here card that links to your /advertise/ page. The homepage shows one such card for all unsold slots, and each listing sidebar slot shows its own.