Sidebar menu blindness - solutions?

I have noticed that visitors to my sites very rarely click on sidebar menu items. Of course I would like them to, because that's where either affiliate ads are or deeper links to the rest of my content.

I have a feeling this is not just an issue specific to my sites - I have noticed that even where I have a link to my site in someone else's sidebar I see very little traffic from it.

So anybody got any bright ideas how to make that site more "sticky" by improving the attraction of sidebar menus in some way (or getting rid of them altogether!!)?

 

Normal people, look at the left column of a web page first, as this is where navigation usually appears, switch the navigation to the right and affiliates etc to the left.

Best of luck.

 

You can also try having the navigation on a bar format (right below the header) instead.

 

Sure, I was just looking for general thoughts because as I say, it is not a problem unique to just one of my sites, or even just my sites.

But for example see my mountain biking blog, the sidebar is a bit messy at the moment because I have been rearranging it and not really polished it off, but this is a typical example. I have a feeling that people probably don't read down far enough usually to see the navigation items, but they DO click the gallery thumbnails more often.

My site isn't really set up for a 3-column layout, though I could try it I suppose, never thought about it...

 

On the right where you have affliates links, maybe try and target a product there rather then what you have. Because when I looked I saw ads, rather then something I would want to buy. Just a thought.

 

It is strange, my best CTR is on the left side bar, better than the rest of the site by far

 

Told you , works with AdSense aswell

 

I tend to click on right-side bar more than left-side bar.....

 

Hmmm, I will have to write a script which randomly swaps the sidebars over