As you can tell, I’m not a big fan of putting ads on this site. The traffic required to make those ads worth it would have to be a lot, and though I would like to tell you this site is getting 10,000+ visitors a day, it is not. Most sites do have ads though, and there placement can make all the difference in the world.

Considerations in Ad Placement

The first thing you need to think about when putting ads on your site, is why? This falls into your sites plan. Are you building a website to make money from ad space, or are adding ads to supplement your income? If it’s to supplement your income, I would strongly reconsider your decision. I have many sites, most have ads running on them, but not all. Which ones make the most money? The ones without, go figure. Ads are a distraction, and if you are selling a product, why on earth would you want distract them. An even worse case scenario, is they actually click on one of your ads, and leave your site. Did you make money in that case, or lose money from a loss of sale?

Where to Put the Ads

If your site is there to make money from ads then you need to decide where to put them. There are all sorts of sites out there that will tell you where to put the ads, Google Adsense is one of them. It’s basically common sense though, put the ads where they eyes would naturally go. One strong bit of advice is though, don’t put the ads in a place where it can interfere with the sites navigation. This may get you a click, but you will for sure aggravate the visitor. Depending on your ad agency, if it happens enough and the bounces are high, you may not even get credit for those clicks. Loss of visitor, loss of money.

Without much effort I was easily able to find a site with some Google ads on it, Graphic.org. Graphic.org is designed to be a resource for educators showing different types of graphical methods of organization. The ads are aggressively placed within the content, but are done in a way that does not interfere with the sites navigation or function. Visible, but not interfering is the key to good ad placement. They have also been consistent in placement so it is easy for the visitor to know what is an ad, and what is content.

Some might say that they don’t want to place their ads so aggressively. I would partially aggree. The solution? If you want to make money from ads, be aggressive in placement. If you don’t want to make so much money from ads, don’t put them on your site.