Check out my adsense placement- guide for newbies...

I have seen a lot of questions about ad placement on this site. Now, i am by no means a pro or an expert at this. I have only been doing it for 2 months. But i am off to a fast start and i have played with my layout a lot. I wanted to share my latest layout with you b/c it have really been working great. my CTR's are way up and i think you can learn from my layout.

Again, i am no pro, but i used tips that i learned from "the adsense code" by joel comm, and other tips i found online.

Here is my blog: free-stuff-finder.blogspot.com (i can't link direct yet)

Here is why it works:

Link Units:
Notice my link unit placement. It is above the fold (meaning a user does not have to scroll at all to find it). Moreover, it is right at the top of the page. It looks like it is the menu for my site. The background color is the same as my site (white) and the links are the same color scheme as my posts (orange). This does not scream "Ad!!". People are more prone to click it.

Text Units:
I am a big fan of putting the text links in the body of a post, article, or whatever. Peopel are already reading the info and the ad is right there. They don't have to look for it, it finds them. I find that when people have skyscraper ads in the sidebar of their pages then they are assuming people are going to look their for the info. When it is right in the body you don't have to worry about that.

I also use an orange that is slightly off from my post header color. I found this helps my CTR. I am not sure why. I think it is b/c it doesn't make my blog all one color and helps the ads stand out in a mild way that doesnt make them scream "ad"

Also, i found that the square units work best in the body of a paragraph. i like the 250 x250 square, the 336 x 280, or the 300 x 250

Search Unit
I put my search bar in one of the places that many sites have a search. You don't want your users to have to look all over your site to fins it. But you also don't want it taking up your prime areas b/c it will most likely earn you less then text or link ads (at least in my experience).

Put it somewhere where people can see it, but don't make it your focus. That's all i have to say about the search.

Referral links
this is one area where i really don't have any good advice. I have only gotten one sign up. Referral buttons won't make you rich, so put them in the sidebar, on the bottom. (unless anyone else has any better advice on this area....)

Like i said, i am no pro. But i do have a pretty good CTR. So maybe my blog can serve as a starting point for you newbies looking for some guidance. Good luck!

-Ross
free-stuff-finder.blogspot.com

 

looks fine for me.