fraew Custom Adverts — Version 1.4.0

Sell your own ad space to real advertising customers. Add image adverts with links, place them in widgets, and track views, clicks, and earnings with automatic pricing and monthly reports to advertisers.

What This Plugin Does

fraew Custom Adverts is a lightweight way to sell your own ad space directly to advertising customers, rather than relying on a third-party ad network.

Create an advert for each advertiser (an image plus a target link), place it in any widget area, and the plugin automatically:

Records views, clicks and click-through rate (CTR)
Sends monthly email reports with performance metrics
Calculates earnings based on flexible pricing templates
Tracks analytics per advert

You can show your advertisers exactly what their placement delivered, and get paid fairly based on actual performance.

Key Features

Core Functionality

✓ Create adverts with title, target URL and image
✓ Display any advert in any widget area via the Custom Advert widget
✓ Rotating adverts — select multiple adverts per widget and display a random one each page load
✓ Per-advert analytics: views, clicks and CTR
✓ Filter analytics by last 7, 30, 90 or 365 days

NEW in v1.4.0: Pricing & Reporting

Flexible pricing templates — set up multiple templates with different pricing models:
- Cost Per Mille (CPM) — charge per 1,000 impressions
- Cost Per Click (CPC) — charge per click
- Daily flat rate — fixed daily charge
- Monthly flat rate — fixed monthly charge
Monthly email reports — automatically send advertisers performance summaries on the 1st of each month
Earnings dashboard — assign pricing templates to adverts and track earnings automatically
Email logs — history of all sent reports with earnings snapshots for transparency

Why Sell Ad Space Directly?

Keep all revenue — no third-party network taking a cut
Choose your advertisers — work with brands you trust
Guaranteed placement — real, local businesses value consistent placement on sites their customers already read
Data-driven pricing — use built-in analytics to justify pricing and renewals with real numbers
Professional reporting — send automated monthly updates without manual work

How to Set Up

1. Install & Activate

Download from WordPress.org plugin directory or upload the ZIP file to your site. Activate from Plugins screen.

2. Create an Advert

Go to Custom Adverts → Add New
Enter a title (for your reference)
Enter the advertiser’s target URL
Upload their image
(Optional) Enter advertiser’s email for monthly reports
(Optional) Select a pricing template
Click Publish

3. Display the Advert

Go to Appearance → Widgets
Add a Custom Advert widget to any widget area
Select which advert(s) to display
For rotating adverts, select multiple adverts and save
A random advert displays on each page load

4. Set Up Pricing Templates

Go to Custom Adverts → Costings Templates
Click Add New
Enter template name (e.g., “Standard”, “Premium”)
Choose pricing model(s):
- Impressions: Cost per 1,000 views (e.g., $0.10 per 1K)
- Clicks: Cost per click (e.g., $0.50 per click)
- Daily: Fixed daily rate (e.g., $25/day)
- Monthly: Fixed monthly rate (e.g., $500/month)
Click Save Template
Assign template to adverts (edit advert, select template)

5. Monitor Analytics

Go to Custom Adverts → Analytics
Select date range (7, 30, 90, or 365 days)
View views, clicks, CTR and earnings per advert

6. Monthly Reports (Automatic)

The plugin automatically emails advertisers on the 1st of each month at 2 AM UTC with:

Performance overview (impressions, clicks, CTR)
Earnings breakdown based on pricing template
Month-over-month comparison

No additional configuration needed — just add advertiser email to the advert.

Screenshots

Pricing Templates Admin — Manage flexible pricing rules for different advertiser tier types.

Create Templates — Set up pricing models: CPM, CPC, daily flat rate, or monthly flat rate.

Advert Management — See which template each advert is using at a glance.

Automatic Monthly Reports — Advertisers receive professional email summaries with performance metrics.

Smart Notifications — Admin sees which adverts were notified when template pricing changes.

Easy Setup — Add advertiser email and assign pricing template when creating an advert.

Dashboard Analytics — Track views, clicks, CTR and earnings by advert and time period.

Requirements

WordPress: 5.0 or higher
PHP: 7.2 or higher
Tested up to: WordPress 7.0.1

Privacy

fraew Custom Adverts does not transmit data to external servers. All analytics data is stored in your WordPress database.

When tracking advert views and clicks, the plugin records: Visitor IP address — used for session-based deduplication (prevents counting the same view multiple times per page load) and User agent string — browser and device information, used for analytics reporting

This data is retained per your WordPress backup and retention policies. It is never shared with third parties.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I display the same advert in more than one place? A: Yes! Add the same advert to multiple widget areas. Analytics are combined across every placement.

Q: Can I run more than one advert at a time? A: Yes, there’s no limit to the number of adverts you can create or display simultaneously.

Q: How is a “view” counted? A: A view is recorded when a widget containing an advert loads on a page, tracked via a nonce-verified AJAX request.

Q: How is a “click” counted? A: A click is recorded when a visitor clicks the advert image. The link opens in a new tab.

Q: Does this plugin phone home or use external services? A: No. All tracking data is stored in your own WordPress database; the plugin does not send data anywhere else.

Support This Plugin

If fraew Custom Adverts helps you sell ad space, please consider buying me a coffee to support development!

Version: 1.4.0
Last Updated: July 16, 2026
Repository: GitLab