The Layouts Exp1

The Layouts

In this section, we will discuss some website layouts that have been proven to give a high CTR across different niches. I will give you a diagram of the layout and discuss why that particular layout is successful in getting a high CTR Please note that the colors used in the layouts below are for illustrative purposes only. Your final design would incorporate different colors (use the included themes as a guide).

Example 1

In this example, we will look at a layout for a mini-site with a dozen or so

pages. Such sites can be highly lucrative even with very little traffic and give

you very high CTRs, sometimes even going above 20%

This is a simple two column layout with three Adsense units: a 336x280 large rectangle, a 160x600 wide skyscraper, and a 160x90 Adsense link unit. It is my most successful layout to date and I use it across most of my sites.

The height of the header is between 100-150px, and the sidebar is between 180-200px wide. The main body area is between 600 to 620px in width The header is sparse, largely text based. You can use a logo, but keep the

graphics to a minimum. Make sure that the header has a dark background (more on colors later).

The sidebar is just wide enough to inco rporate a 160x600 Wide Skyscraper ad unit. The sidebar should be of a dark color, but preferably lighter than the header.

The navigation unit is made up of a list of pages on the website. This is the only element you should have in the sidebar, besides the ads. Y ou can also put in a blogroll, but make sure that you bury it at the bottom, beneath the ads.

The main body of the layout has a white background with black text. Immediately below the article title we have a large ad unit that immediately draws the attention of the visitor.

Why does this layout work?

Because when a visitor comes to your site, he has just four options:

1. Click on the main ad unit (336x280 Large Rectangle beneath the headline).

2. Click on one of the ad units in the sidebar.

3. Click through to another page.

4. Leave the site.

By minimizing the number of escape routes and distracting links, we literally compel the visito r to click on an ad. In fact, by getting him to click on an relevant ad, we are probably helping him find the correct solution to whatever problem he wanted to solve.

The largest ad unit, the 336x280 Large Rectangle is placed directly between the article title and article body. Thus, if the visitor was looking for a “cure for acne” and he sees an ad directly beneath the article title promising such a cure, there is a high likelihood he would click through on that ad. The 336x280

Large Rectangle is one of the highest converting ad units and will make up for the bulk of the clicks. The other two ad units are there just to minimize the escape routes.

Such a layout is also very clean and puts the content up front. There is just one large ad unit in the main content area. The article isn’t cluttered up with multiple ad units that obscure your content. The end result is a happy visitor who gets the information he wants, while still bringing you the ad money.

A few additional tips:

Tip 1:

You can try centering the 336x280 Large Rectangle ad unit by

wrapping the Adsense code inlike this:

[Your Adsense code]

In some niches, this can give a higher CTR.

Tip 2:

As a general rule of the thumb, if you put the navigation (i.e. the list of pages) below the first 160x600 Wide Skyscraper ad unit, you will see a higher CTR at the cost of usability. By placing the navigation elements below the ads, you are literally forcing the visitor to click on an ad. If you want to focus a bit more on usability, I would suggest placing the navigation elements at the top of the sidebar.

Thus, you could have one layout like this with the ads above the navigation elements:

And another layout with the navigation elements above the ads (higher usability, slightly lower CTR)

Let’s take a look at a real world example of such a layout:

The background is a neutral shade of gray. The number of colors in this theme are very few – black, white, dark red, and gray. T he ads are placed in such a way as to invite clicks. At the same time, the content hasn’t been obscured by the ads.

The footer is pretty simple with a black backgro und and white text. The privacy policy, contact page, sitemap and about page go here.