Making Money With Adsense

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3.  The Best Ad Formats

Not only does the text used in an ad matter, but so does the shape of the ad.  Some ad formats get a lot more clicks than other formats:

High CTR Ad Formats:
These formats get more clicks because they are able to better fit into the content areas of the page and look more like the content.  They also can be easily positioned into the most visible areas of your web pages.

• 336 x 280 (large rectangle)
• 300 x 250 (rectangle)
• 250 x 250 (square)

Low CTR Ad Formats:
In general, banner ads and skyscraper ads don't work as well because they "Look Like Ads".

• 468 x 60 (banner ad size)  This will work if it is a text ad that is integrated into the text of your page.
• 160 x 600 (wide skyscraper size)
• 120 x 600 (skyscraper size)

Banner ads usually look like traditional advertising and thus, visitors pay less attention to them.  Visitors have acquired ad-blindness towards these ad shapes. 

I have had some personal success with the 468 x 60 banner ads when using them only for Google text ads and imbedding them in the page content.  They can also work to a limited extent if they are placed at the bottom of an article.

Skyscraper ads don't have a bad design, but they have a lower CTR because their size and shape usually means that they have to be placed on the sides of the page, which is where the navigation structure usually is.  This placement forces them to compete with the navigation structure and also places them away from the center of the page where the main content is.

• Usually  you will do better if you use the High CTR ad formats and avoid the Low CTR formats. 
• The 336 x 280 rectangular Ad format gets the best results and should be used whenever possible.  It is the widest of the three High CTR Ad boxes.  Ads placed inside this box will have more room to spread out horizontally so it will be easier to read them from left to right, just like the content on your web pages is read.
• Only consider using the other High CTR ad formats if you have space limitations.

4.  The Best Ad Locations

The location of the ads on your page will have a huge impact on attracting the attention of your readers and this will also affect the CTR.

Studies have determined that readers most often look at the center and middle of a page (above the fold, i.e. the top part of the page).  Thus, for ads to get maximum visibility, this is where they should be. 

But remember, they still should look like part of the  the page and match the the text on the page so they don't become a "distraction" that makes the visitor "not look at it". 

There are two good options for ad positions on your page:

• Position the ads above the content of the page, but below the heading.  The ad won't actually be in the text content, but will be immediately above it. So if your page is about "Fly Fishing", your HTML would be organized something like this:
  -----
  <h1>Fly Fishing</h1>
  336 x 280 rectangular Adblock  (aligned either left or centered)
  The rest of the page content
  -----

• Position the ads inside the content (aligned either left or right) and let the text of the page wrap around them (see the ads at the top of this page for an example).
  
  This option works well because it allows you to put ads in a prominent position on the page without giving your web pages an ad saturation look.

5,  Make Color Combinations Match

In most all cases, matching your ad colors with the colors of your web pages will increase your CTR because it will make your ads look less out of place, less like ads and more like part of the page content.  For example, if your web page (or website) background color is white, then the background and border colors of the ads should also be white.

If the advertiser's URL shows in the ad, then it's color should match the text color on you page.  You want it to blend in with the rest of your text.   You can also choose a color that complements the background color of your site but does not stand out.  On a white background, you could use a light-gray.

For the hotlink URL in the ad, it's color should match the link URL colors on your page..

Generally, the traditional ‘blue' link URL color works best, no matter what kind of color scheme you use for your site. This is because people are so used to seeing blue underlined text for a hot link that can be followed.

Also, consider that search engine users are the ones most likely to click on your ads.  What this means is that you really don't need to come up with a fancy color scheme to make your hot links stand out.  You can if you want to, but this target group of visitors really doesn't care about a fancy color scheme.  They are looking for information or products and once they see the link to it, they are going to click on it.  For them, the standard blue link will stand out and be the most obvious.

• Remember, the goal is to make your ads look less like ads and more like regular text.

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