Where To Place Ads

If you're wondering why your ad-supported web site is not earning much in terms of advertising revenue, you might consider checking if your ads are properly placed. Where, exactly, must you place the ads on your web page? And what size should they be?

Here are the surprising answers...

An invisible ad is usually a non-earning ad. No surprises there. Advertisers want to be seen. If you cannot present your advertisers to their target market, or if you are unable to catch the attention of your readers, then those ads are as good as wasted.

No surprises there.

Tip #1: Place ad spots where people can easily see them, even if they do not press the pagedown button.

The lower down the page, or the more times people have to scroll down just to reach the ad, the greater the chance that the ad will remain invisible. And you already know what we've said about invisible ads.

Tip #2: Don't believe the gurus just like that.

A popular tip being shared in various AdSense ebooks involves placing 336 x 280 AdSense ads under the article title, and to the left of the beginning paragraph of your article. It's like a newspaper article whose first few paragraphs are indented, and the space is taken up by the ad (please see the figure on the right).

Sure, it makes sense. People are attracted by the headline/title of your article, and then they first see that ad block. And seen ads are more effective than invisible ads, right?

And yes, a lot of sites that adopt this kind of layout are successful with their ad performance.

However, and this is where you shouldn't just believe the "gurus", you need to test different layouts in your sites. Yes, that's at least two sites.

I've seen two similar sites, similar subject matter, similar traffic levels, similar layout and ad placement (specifically, the 336 x 280 block floating to the left of the article). Yet their ad performance was as different as night is from day.

And so the poorly-performing site had a change in layout, and instead displayed a 120 x 600 tower ad floating to the right of the text.

And surprise, surprise! It performed better than the first site. Perhaps this 336 ad is over-rated afterall?

But when the first site was redesigned to follow the right-aligned 120-tower ad format, the results were disappointing. This prompted the designer to go back to the original left-aligned 336 ad block.

Imagine that: two similar sites with similar traffic (in terms of volume and quality) and similar color schemes, and yet the ideal ad type and ad placement was different in each case. So what does that tell us? Were the gurus fooling us all along?

The gurus were most likely talking about their own experience, or the experience of their friends. That doesn't mean it will be the same for everyone. And no, it doesn't mean that will be the exact same experience for YOU.

Tip #3: Build a flexible layout.

You don't know for sure which layout will click with your site's particular audience. So it helps to build a web site which is flexible enough to easily try different ad types and layouts:

• Ads with borders or without?
• Use rounded or rectangular borders?
• Ads on the left or on the right?
• Use similar colors or different colors?
• Similar background color, or one that stands out?
• Ads on top, or below?
• Ads right on top of the page, or X number of inches from the top?
• Floating ads, or ads with no text to the right or left of them?
• Two ads placed side by side, or stacked one atop the other?

Tip #4: Prepare for constant change.

So you've been feeling a bit OC (obsessive-compulsive) and have conducted enough tests to make even John Reese bow in deference to you. Resist the urge to sit back in complacent bliss.

Someone in your team has to monitor the ad performance of your site, so that you can quickly tell if it's time to try a different advertiser, or to consider another monetization model.

And part of this anticipation of change, is a burning desire for continuous improvement. If you don't know HTML, PHP, or Javascript, then take the time to learn it. Or find a team member who is comfortable with such techie matters.

(I recommend you find a techie friend, so that you can concentrate on the writing and marketing aspect of your site.)

Tip #5: Be open to invisible ads.

What's this? Are we being inconsistent? Not really.

As we mentioned earlier, an invisible ad is usually a non-earning ad. If your site is able to attract people, and if the visible spots in your site are already taken by a number of advertisers, there will still be companies who are willing to have their ads placed in the not-so-visible places of your webpages.

There's nothing blackhat-ish about this. And it still plays within the "rules" of Google.

Just remember to be open. Be flexible. And test, test, test.

Grow and learn. And banish ignorance. For, as Mr. Kadir says, ignorance leads to fear.

Which brings Yoda to mind: "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering..."

(For those curious about the upcoming affordable course How To Build A Flexible Website, please send email to ManuelViloria@GMail.com, and kindly place in the subject line: "FlexibleWebsite" (so that I can easily find your email).

In the body of your email, please let me know what your level of Internet Marketing experience is.

Please note that, inspired by the example of some self-proclaimed internet millionaires, this HTBAFW course will not be available to everyone. Afterall, money can't buy you everything, right? )

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Manuel Viloria is your friendly multimedia internet publishing coach who helps you gain more traffic for your web sites. Whether it's through blogging, podcasting, article marketing, videoblogging, email listbuilding, or even through Web 2.0 or social network marketing, you can increase your website visitors today. For more information, please visit Get More Traffic | ManuelViloria.com

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"Where To Place Ads"
First Posted: January 25, 2008 | Filed in: Adsense

Tags: ad placement layout