Ad Placement On Your Blog Is Crucial
What is the best place to put ads on your blog??? Ad placement is crucial and can make or break your site. Stuffing your site with ads will send readers running and maybe even get you banned from the ad network for spamming.
Many bloggers will line their sidebars with ads thinking they are going to be clicked all the time. This is true in some cases but not always. Google has done a nice case study outlining the hot spots for ad placement. The most popular seems to be the left sidebar due to the fact we all read from left to right and our eyes are instantly focused on the left sidebar. Most websites we see use the left sidebar for navigation purposes and this is also another reason I believe we are more likely to click on something in this area. The next hottest spot for ad placement is a horizontal banner above your 1st post and continued after every few posts in the center of the page. This may be a bit confusing at first but for readers of a blog its always a good idea to have your ads start at the top of your page and follow your content all the way to the bottom. This is part of the reason placing ads between posts is popular.
Heat maps can be a good source for learning better placement. I have used heat maps several times to help me with my personal blog. The best way to understand heat maps is that the darker shades are the hottest spots and the lighter are the lesser hot spots. Use this wisely. It can definitely help you with your placement.
The best advice I can give you is to not spam your site with ads. Some people tend to add tons of ads in hopes of really striking it rich. This in turn just turns readers away from your site. Believe me, I started out blogging awhile back and did this in my early days and it killed my site.
A quick recap of this info would look something like this:
* Skyscraper ads are 160×600 pixel vertical banners
o Place in left sidebar
* Horizontal banner ads are 468×60 pixel banners
o Place in center column above your first post and continue randomly between posts
Tags: banner ads, bloggers, case study, crucial, google, hot spots, left sidebar, lighter, maps, navigation purposes, personal blog, pixel banners, placing ads, sidebars, skyscraper, spamming, start at the top, vertical banners, wisely
