If you're trying to make money online with the help of your blog, making simple and quick changes to your layout can have a significant effect on your online income. Should you use a blog that uses one column, two, or three columns? Here's the answer to your blog and ad layout questions...

First of all, be prepared to test. Just because someone is succeeding with a particular layout does not mean you will experience the exact same thing with your blog. Afterall, your visitors are different from someone else's. Anyway, let's move on to the basic principles.

The more columns you have, the more distracted your visitor becomes. When your visitors are flooded with so much information, they will tend to ignore certain parts of your web page. If your goal is to sell advertising that does not require interaction, then using a multi-column layout will make sense.

(When we say "does not require interaction" we refer to advertisers who simply want their logo to appear in your blog.)

The single column layout (usually) focuses the attention of your visitors the most. If your blog has a single column of text, then your reader will not be distracted by anything else to the left or right of that text, simply because there's nothing else there. If you, therefore, place an ad within that single block of text, your readers will notice it and perhaps even interact with it. Use this approach if your advertisers require higher visibility for their ads.

Three column blogs can still work... The goal is to place the high-interactive ads closer to your content, and the just-display-ads farther from your content. For example, if you use a wide-narrow-narrow layout (meaning, wide column on the left, two narrow columns on the right), and assuming your main content is found in the leftmost column, then display your Adsense ads in the middle narrow column, and your 125 pixel square ads in the rightmost narrow column.

Again, you will need to test this. While the above is the general case we've seen in numerous 3-column blogs, you might earn more if you place your AdSense ads in the rightmost column. Why the discrepancy? The test results vary depending on the content of the column beside your AdSense ads.

What about narrow-wide-narrow layouts? There are ways to easily make those 3-column layouts look like a 2-column blog.

2column-layout.jpgUse a 2-column layout for flexibility. There is a way to make a two-column blog actually look like a single column. It has something to do with the use of link colors. The beauty of going two columns is that you can quickly adjust it for high-interactive ads as well as for just-display-me ads. With a WordPress blog, you can create a dynamic 2-column layout that adjusts depending on whether your visitor came from the search engines, or from somewhere else.

In the example on the right, you will find two 2-column layouts. However, by simply adjusting the link colors, you can make a 2-column seem like a single column. Although all the navigation links are accessible, the use of link colors focuses the attention of your readers.

Should the narrow column be on the left or on the right? Again, you will need to test. I've seen similar blogs (in terms of content and layout) perform differently just because one had a narrow column on the left, and the other on the right.

Most of you are trying to earn money through AdSense ads, so if you want to improve your earnings, try moving the ads closer to your content. And yes, it helps to make use of AdSense channels to clearly track which ads are more effective for you.

So if you're wondering why your online earnings are so low, please consider adjusting the layout of your blog, including the ad placements. :-D

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"Blogs and Ad Layouts"
First Posted: November 1, 2008 | Filed in: Make Money Online

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