Shoemoney has a vertical column that runs down, having ads run straight down it. Problogger and a lot of others I've seen have a 2x3 kind of block. Which is best? shoemoney.com problogger.com
I don't think any are better than the other. I've seen many different layouts where monetization works on a blog. You should probably go with what looks best to you. Many bloggers experiment with their layout from time to time to see what works best.