Blogging tips #16: Making money from your blog - AdSense: which ads? And where?

(NOTE: this is part of the “Blogging tips” series)

At last, the long awaited (I hope) part 16!

Google AdSense offers many ad formats: big, small, horizontal, vertical, with or without images… so, which to choose for your blog?

The answer, of course, depends on several factors. And there probably isn’t a single one: it’s likely that you’ll be better served by using different ad formats in different places.

Also, if you have other sources of money on your blog, such as affilliate ads, it may affect the number and position of AdSense ads. But affiliate programs are a subject for a later part.

A few tips, then:

usually, you want the appropriate ad for a particular section (a vertical ad for a vertical section such as a sidebar, and a horizontal one for the rest).
the ad should be as big and noticeable as possible, without, however, drawing attention away from the content. Content is king. You don’t want your blog to look like an “ads blog”. People see those and close the window (or, if they’re intelligent, close the tab :)).
a large, horizontal ad at the top of the page, either with the page’s color scheme, or with a different one, which fits nicely, tends to work well.
vertical ads on the sidebar aren’t as good, but can complement the top ones nicely.
ads at the bottom are usually ignored. In general, don’t bother.
avoid “Link Unit” ads (go to https://www.google.com/adsense/adformats, they’re the ones at the bottom). My experience with them has been dismal: 0 (zero) clicks in two weeks. It’s possible that in other kinds of blogs, or using them in a different way, they work… If so, I’d like to know how.
on individual article pages, an ad after the text can work well.
I haven’t used these yet, but I intend to: ads between articles in the main page (but only a few - no more than 2 in the whole page). Some people seem to use them quite successfully. These ones will probably work better either using the site’s color scheme, or a very similar one - they should be different enough so that people notice them, but not so different that people just skip them without even consciously looking.