I've been lurking on here for a while and finally made the adsense plunge - I've tried to take advice from all the posts I read and blend my ads while positioning them at hotspots. How did I do? http://www.whitehouseorbust.com HTML: Please comment not just on blending but design as well - I feel like maybe things are too cluttered? I don't know. I've never designed with adsense in mind before...
i would definitely make things less clutter than they are. Its very hard to see the relevant site links. I would suggest you use a two column layout. Have the menu/site links in the left or right column and the content in the main site column. Put the ads on top and at the bottom of your your pages.
Dang it! I knew my hunch would be confirmed. I was hoping I was being overly critical of the layout, but I knew I didn't get it quite right. Do you think adding more white space to the main content section would help? Changing the line height? How about a color change to the tan column on the right? I don't want to scrap the layout totally unless I absolutely must. Can it be saved?
I'd either center it, or find something to put in that empty space on the right side (I'm viewing on 1280 x 800 resolution). Empty space isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it should be equal on each side.
No question, content is king - this site is still sort of "pre-launch" so I haven't put much in yet. I've never implemented adsense before, so I'm trying to get the layout right before I drop all of my content into the database. The blog is all custom coded, so I can change any element of it, if you think it would make it work better (ie, remove the tag links, or change their position, alter the "Read More" text, etc.) Thanks for the feedback so far, I'll probably rework it tonight after some more ideas on how to improve it.
I added more whitespace, which I think helps a ton, and also put hr breaks in between posts. I think it's quite a bit better now. Agree or not? Generating traffic - talk about another area of deficiency. I'm trying to do some link building right now, but it's another completely new world for me. Everything I've developed before had a very localized angle to it, and typically offered a high priced sale item, so adsense worked well there. Now, I've got nothing to sell and need to generate traffic... still trying to figure out how to do that without plunking down a lot of coin. I'll keep scouring the marketing and SEO forums. Design/blending comments are still welcome - I'd like to give my site a chance to make a little bit of money.
Try adding a adsense into the start of your article ^^ proven to be one of the best CTR ! I will siggest removing the left SKY adsense for good, those always dont convert much, and limiting your adsense to the best location means the highest cpm too. So 1 adsense before your article right after the header, that be the way i do it (do try it for a few days! ) You can try a different ad block after your article too, it will convert some, try having some pics near it .... BUT dont go overboard with the blending to avoid TOS. Email google whenever in doubt.
Oh yah, if you are interested in knowing more how i will do it, send me a PM, i do some photo edit and show you where and what i mean. be glad to help : ))
One more design update, thanks to nystul who was kind enough to PM me an image showing great placement on my site. I'm using his placement on the full story pages - no skyscraper ad, instead using a smaller ad in the content of the story, then putting exit links at the bottom of the story content before the comments display. I left the modified original design on the main page, since full posts aren't appearing, it's hard to properly align the ads using the same layout. Besides, since I made each ad placement a separate channel, this should give me a chance to track what placement generates more clicks. Thanks again for all the help so far. Any other input would be greatly appreciated! Also, nystul, you should find yourself a few cents richer.