3 Ways to Use the Built-In Advertising Space on Your CMS Theme

This is an ad from 1forall.us for a scholarship contest that runs from Feb. 22-28, 2015.

This is an ad from 1forall.us for a scholarship contest that runs from Feb. 22-28, 2015.

Most CMS themes come with preset ad space allowing staffs to post ads on everywhere from the front page and sidebars to within posts and pages. Here are 3 things you can do with that space.

  1. Sell that space to advertisers – Use the space for what it’s intended for, sell it to advertisers and share their products, websites or services with your audience. There are a variety of ways you can deal with that space for ads. Here is a post from a few years ago (but still relevant) about how some staffs charge for their web ads.
  2. Use the space for house ads – Maybe you don’t want to mess with selling ads for your site. Regardless, the space is still there and could be utilized for something. Consider adding house ads (ads for publication related things) to your site. Consider creating an ad that reminds people yearbook sales are going on and allows them to click and purchase theirs. Maybe your staff could use the space during registration time to for ads recruiting students to join staff or your intro courses. Maybe you simply use the space to highlight different parts of your site from photo galleries to current contests you’re running.
  3. Use the space for PSAs – Another option is to run public service announcements in that space. This could be for something like texting and driving, or maybe it’s a national scholarship opportunity like the 1forall.us #picturefreedom scholarship opportunity to the right of things here. These things can be found throughout the web with simple google searches. For example, you can find some from the Red Cross here.

Written By: Aaron Manfull