Site review

Hi,
I just started a site in blogger (just to test). And after reading so much about placements and blending, I would like to request for a review/comment of my site and see what you think.

http://pregnancy-matters.blogspot.com/

I am worried about the section on the left title "People Who Found This
Article Interesting, Read These Too:". Is it against the TOS?

I am thinking of having a domain and forum etc etc if this works out.

Regards

 

You're correct, it is against the TOS which stipulates that only "sponsorised links" or "advertisements" can be used to label the ads.
Simply swaps your recent post and adlink at you're ok you can let the text in place.
otherwise, your ad placement is fine, I would float the square block in the article on the left instead of right, but otherwise the choice of colors if good to me.
You could do with a picture somewhere. What others think of it?

 

The "Recommended Reading" tag above the Adlinks is still a TOS violation. You are only allowed to use either "Sponsors" or "Advertisement". I would suggest removing any type of label above your Adlinks ASAP or risk a stern warning from Adsense. (Remember that once they warn you, they've flagged you as a potential problem, so any little infringement in the future may result in full-blown banishment.)

As to ad placement, I would recommend going the "less is more" approach. get rid of the leaderboard and skyscraper. You're simply giving the reader too many things to click, and most of them won't click on anything. If you need more than one ad block, leave the large box at the top, embedded in the article, and place a second one at the bottom of the article. I can almost guarantee you that two ad blocks far apart will generate more than three ad blocks cluttering up one area.

P.S. Get rid of the google search or put it at the bottom. It's just cluttering up your site's layout.

Good luck.

 

Thank for the suggestions!

Is this less of a clutter now?

 

Definitely a major improvement! :thumbsup:

 

By the way, if I were to start sites on healthcare (I am in healthcare), would it be better to have multiple domains (cost factors) for different topics or should it be all in one domain (easier to advertise and drive traffic)?

By the way, I read someone on this forum that the search button should be place on the top right where most users are used to. Is that true?

 

yes top right is fine and why not populate the text field with a related keyword or keyphrase, the ones your users most probably would like to find out more about..

Why not try to switch the large box from right to left, while keeping it inside the content? It's a matter of taste anyway.

Other than that, that's good. And the only two allowed wordings for labelling the ads are exactly: "advertisements" and "sponsored links"