Advertising - techniques or plugins?

[Cleo3]

I don't know why I can't find a solution to this, but nothing I've read or tried is working.

I'm using the MS feature of 3.1 to build a demo site which - if I ever get it to work - will then be moved to my real site. It's a slightly modified version of AgentPress.

I want to put 2 columns of 125 x 125 ads in a sidebar widget. I'll sell them myself - no networks involved here. I might start with 2 rows or three and would like to go up to maybe 4 rows with 2 columns. After I get over 8 ads sold, I'd like the ads to rotate.

Tried the wp125 plugin that is often recommended on here and I can't get it to work. When I add a new ad, it says it's added successfully but then nothing will ever show up in the list of ads. So I gave up on that one.

WP-Bannerize gave me the same problem - adding the ad doesn't seem to result in an ad being saved.

Also tried just pasting code into a text widget - but how would I get two columns? Obviously, I'd lose any click tracking plus there would never be any rotating. So this wouldn't be an ideal option - but it would be better than no ads!

I've tried Datafeedr Random Ads V2 plugin but it seems to only want to put one ad in the widget and that really won't work. Plus the plugin authors' support forum seems to have been removed.

Advertising Manager seems like the best bet because it would also work with networks when we get to the point where that's an option for us. I can actually add and ad that stays saved on that one. However, I can't figure out how to get the two columns of ads. Researching that one I found one reference to the code not being good and that made me notice that it's not one of the frequently recommended plugins on here. Maybe that's just not a good one to pursue? I'd like to use something, of course, that will be useful for years to come . . . .

I don't even know what direction to go here. Is a plugin really what I want? Have I not found the right one yet? I'm open to other ideas. Suggestions about what would be the best approach would be very welcome!

The site I've been working on is one of the subsites. Again, it's a demo site.

http://montanahorsesales.com/multi3/...rses-for-sale/
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