hi.... what template or file would i edit for wordpress in order to get the ads or anything else on the side.... i have attached a picture to show where i would like to edit and put something.... thanks for your time
It should be a file named sidebar.php. It looks like you have two sidebars so it may be sidebar2.php. It's all according to what the theme designer named it.
Shue it can be sidebar1.php or sidebar2.php or something with "sidebar". You can find these files going to Presentation-> Theme editor
It may just be me, but I dont see a left sidebar. If there's not one there and you're not fluent in PHP and CSS, I would pick a three column wordpress theme.
This is a two column theme, it's kinda centered. You really should pick a 3 column theme. You can modify this but why bother if there is an easy way. There are lots of 3 column themes available like this one.