@ Joel

Well… maybe instead of a slider, which depending on which articles you read do not have high interaction rates … somthing I agree with only from a personal bias since I virtually never bother even looking at sliders…

Consider, a responsive grid instead of their logos instead … I would imagine your featured advertisers would rather not be hidden in the slider.

And maybe on the directory page where you have the newest … maybe links to your featured too would be appropriate.

I working hard to get Connections 8.2 out this weekend. With 8.2 version, I can release the Widget Pack 2.0. YOu could add all your featured entries to a Featured category and show their name and logo. More details here. As you see the new category widget is for, far more flexible.

In additional, if you opt to add your featured advertisers to a category, you could use the new Custom Category Order extension to put that category at the top of your category list in your sidebar. My goal it to get that released this weekend too.

You could also use some CSS to make both the featured entries and the featured category list item to make them “pop” do something to make them stand out a little more. Maybe for the featured category list item in the sidebar, make it the red accent color that is used on your site. For the entries themselves, maybe just a add subtle background color. You could even use CSS to add a “featured” badge.

Well, those are just a few things that jumped to mind … hope that helps give you ideas!

@ Joel

For the grid instead of the slider, try this plugin to create the grid:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/grid-columns/

Read the FAQ tab, it has the instructions.

The ide is would would put each feature advertiser logo within its own block in the grid. That way there are all shown.

I can not think of any examples off the top of my head where a user is using CSS to highlight an entry. But here’s an example:

#cn-list .food-franchises {
  background-color: yellow;
}

That would turn the background of all entries that are categorized as Food Franchises to yellow. So, it you had a Featured Advertiser category, you could do this:

cn-list .featured-advertiser {

background-color: yellow;

}

Of course you would use a nicer color, prolly something more subtle but still noticeable.

Adding a “badge” would be very similar, you would be adding a background image (the badge) which it position could be offset so it doesn’t cover up any of the entry info.

The new category widget coming in Widget Pack 2.0 is just like the one you have not but with many more configuration options. For example, you would have one widget configured to show just like you have it now. But you could add a second widget and configure it to show only the entries in the Featured Advertisers category with their logo.

The Custom Category Order extension would simply let you make sure the Featured Advertisers category is at the top of the category list (that you already have in your sidebar) rather down with the other categories that begin with “F”.

Hope that helps. Any way, just something to think about if you want to try to make them more prominent.