First, you’ll have to tell Google whether you’re a company or a one-man
show. That’s important because it tells them where to send the money. (In
general, it’s better to get your money by direct deposit; Google charges for express mail checks.) You’ll also have to choose whether you
want content-based ads, search ads or both. (Content-based ads are
better but I’ll tell you how to benefit from each.)
Once you’re approved, you’ll just have to copy and paste a small piece of
code into your website and you’re done!
The Best Performing Ad Size
So you’ll want to use text ads and you’ll want them to look like anything but
an ad. But you’ll also want them to be a particular size. Which size is that?
336 x 280 – the Large Rectangle.
Why should you choose the 336 x 280 ad block? Simple. It gets the most
clicks! My studies have shown that this format looks most like real content
added to a page. I’ve dabbled with every size Google offers and this is the
size that consistently has the best results. Other people have told me the
exact same thing. That’s all I need to know!
Second best is the 300 x 250 – The Medium Rectangle.
This ad block size is really useful when you went to have two sets of ads side
by side. They fit on most web pages just perfectly!
I would also recommend using the ‘wide skyscraper’, text-only ads on the
right hand edge of the screen — in conjunction with the 3-way matching I
talk about in chapter 4.
If you think about it, nearly all PC users are right handed (even left-handed
people like me control their mouse with their right hand because it’s how we
were ‘brought up’ to use a mouse.) By placing the ads on the right hand
edge it’s psychologically ‘less distance’ between your right hand and the
screen.
This ‘closeness’ in my opinion makes the user feel more comfortable and
therefore more likely to click through to a link. They feel more in control of
their visit experience.
Stay away from the 468 x 60 ad block!
Using Colors To Increase Your Clicks
I once went to a fashion show where each model wore the exact same black
outfit for the entire duration of the show. Boring? Hardly! The show was
intended to showcase platinum jewelry, and the outfits were designed to
enhance the jewelry — instead of distracting the audience.
You don’t have to make all the pages on your website identical (or black).
But you do want to make sure that the look of your page draws attention to
the ads — and makes them appear as attractive and as valuable as platinum
jewelry.
Many websites have strong graphic elements that catch the eye —
usually at the expense of the AdSense units.
One of the first things people do when they sign up for AdSense is to grab a
468 x 60 ad block.
Text is Design too!
That’s right: the text size, font, color and the color of your ads must match
the other text elements. If the text color of the ads is the same as the text in
the body of your page, it’ll help the ads blend into the site and make the
reader feel that you’ve endorsed them.
And if the size of the font in the ads is the as the size of the main body of the
content, it will have the same effect: they’ll look like part of your site and not
something brought in by Google.
That’s the sort of blending that translates into clicks.
You can see this on my blog. I’m running a test where I’ve changed the title
color of the ads to match the color of the titles on the text. I’ve also matched
the text color of the ads to the color of the site text and the background of
the ads to the background of the page. (I could also change the size of the
font and see what that does to my CTR.)
This 3-way matching (titles, text and background) can generate excellent
click-through rates.
Too many text styles add clutter and can confuse your visitors. Instead, try
every legitimate way to make the ads look like a part of your web content.
In other words use the colors to make sure that your ads don’t look like
ads!