The Popular Choice

Recently, I put together a Web site, plugged in some interesting content, and (against all my expectations) the public actually liked it. People started telling each other about it, and visiting it again and again. Which was great for my ego, but really hard on my wallet; after the first month, I was sent a humongous traffic bill by my Web hosting company.

I had to think of some way of subsidizing the costs of my Web hosting program. The traditional route -- signing up for a banner exchange program -- beckoned, but I didn't really relish the thought of spending the days counting all the cents that came my way. So I thought of making things more interesting -- managing the show by myself and pocketing all the dollars (not cents) without having to share them with anyone.

This led to a simple mandate -- find a simple, easy-to-use, effective banner management application. I went straight to Google.com for the answer, and immediately came across the very popular phpAdsNew application. A quick review revealed that this application had matured from a primitive banner management application to a sophisticated piece of software suitable for use on any large portal. Only one catch: the complex marketing terms and wealth of options left me a little dazed, and I thought I'd keep looking to see if I could find something a little simpler.

I got lucky (just like my Web site) and came across phpBanner.