Monday, November 24, 2008

Ad Sense Foul Ups - Where Did I Go Wrong

By Julie Roze

There is a common myth that simply putting Ad Sense on your website will get you some instant cash. If you are one of the millions who have tried this.you know it's not that easy. Many people simply create the ads and place the code on their site without giving them another thought.

Your ads can be customized in many different ways. Location is probably the most important and first thing you should be thinking about. Where should you be putting your ads? The best locations are in the upper left hand side bar (if you have one), just below the header, and right in the center of the page. One more place you can put it, is just below your text at the bottom of the page.

Let's move on to the style of your Ad Sense ads. Borders are a big no-no when it comes to Ad Sense ads, yet I still see them around. When you have a border it provides a visual stopping point between your text and the ad. Make your border the same color as your background on your site so that it becomes invisible. Also, the background of the ad itself should be the same as your site.

Your title color should be the same as the links in your site, which ever area you are working with. This will allow the reader to know that the text is an active link. The text and URL color in the ad should be the same as the text in your site. Make sure you match the color exactly, if you don't, users will be able to tell and it is unprofessional.

Here's another trick, don't treat your ads as ads and your customers won't either. Pretend your ads are links to relevant content, which they are, and give them the same look and feel of your site. Web Surfer's have developed something called banner blindness, which means they don't even see ads anymore, particularly image ads. Their brain simply blacks out that area of your site.

A few more tips, I would avoid image ads when it comes to Ad Sense. Unless your site has mostly images that you can click on. Also, maximize your Ad Sense. Currently, you are allowed 3 text ads, 3 Ad link units; and so on these are the two I use. Make sure you use them all.

Ad links work the best when placed in navigational areas. The border and background color should be the same as the background in the areas that the link unit is to be placed. The title color should be the same as the rest of the navigation links. Horizontal units can be placed just below the header or just above the footer. Vertical units can be placed in the middle, above, or below vertical navigational areas.

Try to get the same size of font as you are using. There are only two sizes, which are determined by the amount of link units. If you have 4 links in the unit, the font will be larger, if you choose 5 links, the font will be smaller. Also consider underlining your links so that they match Google's.

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