Many online marketers automatically assume that monetizing with Google AdSense is as easy as choosing the right theme, especially if they’re using WordPress.
But if you were to ask an AdSense expert, or even a seasoned web designer, you’ll hear a completely different answer.
Earning from AdSense is about building up a great click-through-rate, or CTR. And getting a high CTR can’t be solved instantly with a good-looking theme. The secret to effectively monetizing your website with AdSense is proper placement (among other things).
‘So I Shouldn’t Consider Using Website Themes?’
If you’re a marketer who doesn’t have a lot of time on his hands, or if you’d just like to set up Google AdSense and get it over and done with ASAP, then using website themes may be your best option.
However, if you’re interested in generating the highest possible click-through-rate while monetizing your website, knowing the basic principles of placement and design is the best way to go.
The Sense in Designing for AdSense
You naturally have full control over the size, color, and location of the ads on your web page. But as someone who may be new to AdSense, you’ll easily find yourself overwhelmed or confused about where to start.
Below are some quick facts about positioning and creating your ads that should help clarify things at first:
- Choosing the size for your ads is a matter of personal preference. You’ll be offered different sizing options, and some will work better than most.
- When it comes to colors, you have the option to go with premade color schemes, or you can make your own.
- The placement of your ads will depend on the purpose of your web page and the size of the ads. For example, if you’re selling products, place the ads somewhere that’s still within view while keeping your products the highlight of the page.
Effective Design Tips to Follow For Your Ads
Different websites will naturally produce different ad results, even if the same placements, sizes, and colors are used. With this in mind, make sure to take the below tips with a grain of salt. Eventually, you will discover which practices work best for your specific website.
But there are certain tips you can follow that’s very likely to produce the most results, and they are the following:
1. Use Effective Dimensions
Most successful ads are shown to have the following dimensions:
- 336 x 280 Large Rectangle
- 300 x 250 Medium Rectangle
- 160 x 600 Wide Skyscraper
- 780 x 90 Leaderboard
Below is an example of how the Wide Skyscraper can be used on a webpage to garner the most attention:
2. Know Where to Place Your Ads
In general, these ad placement practices produce the highest click-through-rate:
- Ads that are “above the fold” will generate better CTR than adds below the fold.
- Place ads where a person’s eyeballs would naturally wander to, such as the top left section, near titles, near the site navigation menu, etc.
You can try using a heatmap tool, such as Crazy Egg, to know where most of people’s attentions are drawn to on your page.
Once you find out where these ‘hotspots’ are on specific pages, then you have a better idea about the designs and sizes needed for your ads.
Another approach you can take is to use certain layouts that others have found effective. They can all range from aggressive to non-aggressive placements, depending on how you want to balance out your page.
Below is an example of one of these non-aggressive placements:
3. Optimize Your Website for Speed
We can’t stress the importance of optimizing your web pages to load faster. If you’ve had a slow website for some time now but didn’t pay much attention to it, then we’re here to tell you that you have lost plenty of potential leads or sales already.
Speed is everything when it comes to keeping people on your page. If they’re having a lousy experience because things just take longer to load, you can be sure they’ll be out of there in less than a minute.
If your page loading times are more than 4 to 6 seconds, you definitely have a problem. Fortunately, there are several solutions for you to try:
- Enable caching.
- Get a better web host.
- Use a reliable content delivery network (CDN).
- Remove unnecessary plugins and add-ons.
- Optimize your images to reduce file size.
4. Research on the Psychology of Colors in Marketing
Colors have a powerful impact on people’s behaviors. And you’ll be surprised to know how the right color scheme can produce a high click-through-rate for your ads.
In fact, everyone from web designers, graphic artists, and product marketers all use colors to produce specific types of results. And although there may sometimes be conflicting data on which colors are more effective and such, there’s no doubt that they do play a crucial part in creating emotions or inducing action from people.
According to Divvy Online, the following would be your go-to colors depending on what you’re trying to accomplish with your ads:
- Blue – Considered masculine and often used to portray intelligence, security, and cleanliness.
- Green – Can represent money, wealth, and financial decisions. It is also closely associated to growth, freshness, and security.
- Red – A common color used to excite people. Also a favorite color for food businesses to encourage an appetite. Can also be used to convey urgency, danger, or passion.
- Yellow – Inspired joy, optimism, and energy. It’s also a great excitor and can be used to compel people to take action.
- Orange – Effective for attracting attention to your ads because of the visual stimulation is produces. Can be used to convey strength and energy.
Key Takeaway
Keep in mind that practically anyone can start monetizing their website with Google AdSense. But if you want your level of success to be anywhere near satisfying, there are specific practices to follow.
Fortunately, the tips we’ve shared with you above aren’t difficult to implement, and you’ll soon be raking in that money with from Google AdSense in no time!
