AdSense Tips: AdSense Is Not A Banner
For those of you who are part of the AdSense publisher network, and may be struggling to see much return for their efforts, or are considering joining up but not sure how to start, I’ll regularly post tips on how to get the most out of Adsense. Make some money, in other words 
There’s no reason why anyone should be worried about the minimum pay out threshold. $100 is easy. Some people are making that daily. Some are making that every hour! And more. Ok, so not everyone is going to get to that level overnight, but there are a lot of common mistakes that are easily avoided.
The most common mistake that will prevent you making money with AdSense is this: placement.
Publishers often place AdSense off to the side, treating AdSense as a banner ad. The problem with this approach is banner blindness. Visitors have come accustomed to ignoring banners and, more importantly, the areas on the site that banners commonly occupy. Check out Jakob’s F-shaped scanning pattern to see why this might be.
An easy way to counter this behavior is to think of AdSense as content, and shape your page layout around AdSense, not the other way around. For example, integrate AdSense with your paragraph copy, much like magazines do with inline advertising. Also consider making your Adsense links the same color as your navigation links. Visitors will be more likely to click on them.
“This will send visitors away from my site!”, some may say.
To which I’d answer – “yes”.
That’s how you make money with Adsense. That’s how Google built an empire.
By sending people away.
PS: A good resource for news about AdSense is the Jensense blog.
April 26th, 2006 at 8:55 pm
[...] If you’re using the default setting of Adsense, and leaving borders switched on – try turning them off by making the border color the same color as your background. Chances are, you’ll find your click-thru rate will soar, especially if you position these as part of your content. [...]
April 30th, 2006 at 7:01 pm
[...] Finally, make the text and URL color the same color as the text on your site. This technique helps you blend the Adsense creative into your site, effectively blurring the lines between advertising and content in the mind of the visitor. Combined with appropriate Adsense creative positioning, the text variables are a powerful way to influence click-thru percentages. [...]
August 6th, 2006 at 9:27 am
My earnings with adsense doubled by just removing the borders, and then again increased when I changed the color of ad links to of my default page link color. Always place banner at the top location. horizontal leatherboard is the best one for top locations.