constructive feedback for new adsense user

Hi
I'm new to adsense. I've lurked here for a while but thought it about time I posted. I've got my website to a standard I'm happy with (particularly given my limited skills!), and am chasing some feedback on how to get the most out of adsense. At the moment my click through rate is really low (around 0.4% and no where near enough to cover my hosting bill!), so I'm looking to increase that as a starting point. Any tips and suggestions would be welcome.
Cheers
Here's the link:
www.swollenpickles.com

 

Overall ad placement and blending is good...no complaints there. Only problem I have is that I am being shown an Ambien CR Ad from google...not very targeted to the content.

I would like to also suggest making the color of the links in the ad the same as the blue for the "Posted by" and "date" text

 

Nice blending. I would suggest moving up the ads that you have on the right column to get better CTR.
Also, I am not too big of a fan for the bright colors you chose for your site.

 

Thanks for the advice.

The colour is a controversial one. Some people love the bright colours, some hate them.

 

Any other tips??

 

I would use a 336x280 ad unit at top of page and maybe split your right menu, so you begin by some menu and then the 160x600 ad, then the rest of the menu.