What is the Sponsor Ads Manager?
The Sponsor Ads Manager is where you can create, organize, and edit advertisements for your organization's sponsors.
Note: The Sponsor Ads tool requires initial setup and page placement by the MC Professional Help Team if it is not already built into your website template. If you want to add sponsor ad zones to your site, please contact the Help Team.
Unlike a standard image slideshow, sponsor ads do not constantly rotate on a timer while a user sits on a page. Instead, the system shuffles and changes the displayed ad image each time a member navigates from page to page throughout your website.
To access this tool, go to Website > Sponsor Ads.
Creating a new sponsor ad
Before you begin: You must have at least one Client profile set up in the system. To do this, click the Clients link in the upper left-hand corner of the page, add your sponsor's company details, and save.
Once your client profile is ready, follow these steps to create the ad:
- Click the New (+) button in the top toolbar.
- Add the following details:
- Name: Enter the sponsor's name.
- Alias: Enter the exact same name in lowercase, replacing any blank spaces with dashes (for example: if the name is "Acme Corp", the alias should be "acme-corp").
- Client: Select your pre-configured sponsor from the Client Name drop-down menu.
- Impressions Purchased: If applicable, enter the maximum number of views the sponsor paid for. Leave blank or set to unlimited if the ad runs on a flat time frame instead.
- Click URL: Enter the external website link where visitors should be redirected when they click the ad.
- Image: Click the Image button to select or upload the sponsor's banner graphic.
- Click Save.
Important note: Do not copy and paste text, graphics, or code directly from outside sources into the editor text fields. This can pull incompatible HTML code into your website, which can break page layouts or cause issues in member email clients. Always type your text or paste it as plain text.
Using the manager
The main dashboard lists all your ads. You can manage and track your campaign metrics using the following controls:
Finding and filtering ads
- Filter text search: Type a partial name, full word, or unique ID number into the search bar on the left and select Go to find an ad quickly.
- Select state: Use the dropdown to display only Published or only Unpublished ads.
- Column sorting: Click any column header to sort the entire list by that value.
Understanding the list columns
- #: A standard index number automatically assigned by the platform for easy tracking.
- Checkbox: Select this box to target ads for bulk toolbar actions like publishing or deleting. Note: The Edit button only opens one file at a time. If you check multiple boxes and select Edit, the system will only open the first selected ad in the list.
- Name: The title of the ad. Click this name to edit the ad settings.
- Client: Displays the assigned company profile. You can click into the client record to view or update their backend contact names and phone numbers.
- Published: Shows whether the ad is active. Click the status icon directly in this column to instantly toggle an ad between published and unpublished states. Unpublished ads will never appear on the live site.
- Order: The display sequence of your ads. You can adjust this value manually when editing individual ad settings.
- Sticky: This setting gives priority to specific ads. Marking an ad as "sticky" does not make it flash or move; instead, it tells the system to only display sticky ads across your site until their paid impression limits are completely reached. If your sticky ads are set to unlimited impressions, non-sticky ads will never be shown.
- Impressions: Tracks ad views. The first number shows how many times the ad has been displayed to visitors so far. The second number displays the total views purchased. This helps you track agreements whether you sell ads by volume (e.g., 50 impressions for $50) or by duration (e.g., 1 month for $50).
- Clicks: Tracks user interaction. The first number shows total clicks since your last reset. The second number shows the click-through rate percentage (how often users click the banner when it is displayed). We recommend manually resetting these counters monthly, quarterly, or yearly to keep clean records.
- Tags: Optional keyword tags used to display specific sponsor ads only when a member is viewing a website article that contains matching topic tags.
- ID: A unique identification number automatically assigned for internal system routing. It cannot be changed.
Understanding the toolbar and parameters
Select the checkboxes next to your chosen ads, then click a top-right toolbar button to manage your active campaigns:
- Publish / Unpublish: Instantly activates or deactivates the selected ads on your live website layout.
- Copy: Duplicates selected ads to use as setup templates for new campaigns.
- Delete: Permanently removes the selected advertisements from your database.
- New: Creates a new sponsor ad.