Sometime ago, I introduced to you the Show125 Wordpress widget, which was a WordPress plugin dedicated to display and manage your 125×125 advertisments.

My friend X-OR, who blogs with me at CatsWhoCode, decided to re-build a new version of the widget, which is now named ISIS Ads management.

What’s new?

ISIS Ads management expands the possibilities of Show125: You once were limited to 4 ads, but now you can manage an unlimited number of 125×125 banners.

Also, the plugin control panel has been totally rewritten. No more forms, you can now drag/drop your ads to place them as you wish, and edition have never been so easy before: Just click on the pencil icon to edit your ads properties (Link url, link target and css class)

ISIS Ads Management Demo

X-OR recorded this great video in order to demonstrate the possibilities allowed by ISIS Ads Management.

Click on the picture below to watch it.

Download ISIS Ads Management

If you’re interested by ISIS Ads Management, you can grab your free copy at CatsWhoCode.

X-OR (and me on this post) are also offering free support, so let us know if you experience any problems with the WordPress plugin.

Statistics have long shown that rotating your advertising or affiliate banners can decrease advertising blindness and increase clicks.   More clicks makes bloggers happy and advertisers happy!

A few months ago I wrote a post about the Got Banners WordPress plugin, which is a simple WordPress plugin that was designed to allow you to rotate banners in a set location.  What it does not do is allow you to rotate multiple banners without displaying them all, meaning you can’t rotate 8 banners within 4 posts, etc.

I’ve been waiting for a suitable replacement and I believe yesterday I may have found what I was looking for.   What I’m talking about is a new free WordPress plugin by MaxBlogPress called Max Banner Ads.

To get an idea what this plugin is about, you really need to click over and check out the video demonstration that comes with it, but I will attempt to explain it here.   Max Banner Ads sort of works like the Shylock AdSense WordPress plugin in that it requires no code hacking.  You actually control your advertisements from the WordPress dashboard.

Max Banner Ads allows you to rotate several banners in a single spot or multiple spots, and you can choose from several locations, including your header, sidebar (using widgets), footer, or even within your posts.   Want to place it only in the second post?  You can do that as well!

As I mentioned above, this plugin is actually being released for free by the author, but he does ask that you write a quick review or at least mention it on your blog.   Considering the potential value of this plugin, I think that is more than fair.

[Check out the Max Banner Ads WordPress Plugin]

Updated: August 6, 2009

About a month ago, I sent a call out to the WordPress community requesting that more themes be released that by default include slots for 125×125 banners. These ad ready WordPress themes are all the rage, yet it seems that few designers took the time to optimize their themes for these banners. Common sense says that if there is very little supply but a lot of demand, the people that fill the demand will find tremendous success.

In looking at the recent trends with newly released themes over this past month, it seems that bloggers have really responded and there is now a wide variety of WordPress themes available for download. I decided there are finally enough of them now that I can throw together a gallery of WordPress themes that allow for 125×125 banners. Enjoy!

Update:  The below are all free WordPress themes.  If you’d like to get a more advanced WordPress theme, check out our Premium WordPress Themes gallery.

2-Column Themes

Typebased Theme

Source/Demo | Download

Vintage Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Blues Theme

Source | Download | Demo

PassionDuo Theme (3 Colors)

Green: Demo | Download, Red: Demo | Download, Blue: Demo | Download

WP Freemium Theme

Source | Download

Dark Zen Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Maggo Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Green Tech Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Blue Sensation Theme

Source | Download | Demo

3-Column Themes

Padangan Theme

Source | Download | Demo

SimpleWP Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Black and White Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Firebug Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Simple Red Theme

Source | Download (Requires free registration)

True Blue Theme

Source | Download (Requires free registration)

WP Premiere Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Magazine-Style Themes

Structure Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Forte Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Mag on Wood Theme

Source | Download | Demo

Studio WordPress Theme (Available in Blue, Green, & Red)

Source | Download | Demo

Know of a good quality one we missed? Contact us or let us know in the comments below!

When it comes to WordPress 2-column themes, people seem to fall into one of two categories: left sidebar or right sidebar.   Which do you prefer?

I’m not sure which is better, but in browsing through my 2-column WordPress theme gallery, one of the first things you’ll notice is that theme designers seem to prefer releasing themes with a right sidebar.   Is this a coincidence or do theme authors find that they get more downloads with a right sidebar?

I couldn’t tell you for sure, but I know that most “A-list” bloggers use 2-column themes with the sidebar on the right, so I suspect that this has something to do with the trend.  I know from my personal experiences that I prefer a right sidebar because I feel it looks better and creates a much more friendly experience for readers.

David of CyberCoder argues that people that have advertising on their websites should use a left sidebar for their 2-column theme.   His argument is that heat maps show that people read from left to right and your advertisements are more likely to get noticed on the left side.  While this is probably true, most advertising these days seems to be moving away from PPC advertising and more towards direct advertisements.   This is why the few theme designers that offer 125×125 banner slots on their themes are getting a ton of downloads.

So, what do you think?  Why do you prefer to use a 2-column theme?

This site has been up for about a week now and things are starting to come into place.   Now that I’ve established some content and good references, I’d like to open up this blog to advertising opportunities.

If you are interested in promoting your blog, product, or service, you can now purchase a link at the top of my sidebar for only $15.00 a month through Text Link Ads.   You can also now purchase a link on individual posts if you would like.

If you’d prefer to purchase a link directly through me, you can check out details on my Advertise page, then Contact me directly.