In this article, I’m going to discuss the importance of ad placement on your website. This is one of the most overlooked aspects of making money online. Even the right kind of AdSense ads won’t bring you any business if they’re put in the wrong place.

To understand why ad placement is so important, you have to understand the psyche of the common consumer. The average person generally tunes out when it comes to ads and they don’t like ads being forced down they gullet. That means large, aggressive ads on your website will be actively ignored. So does that mean you should hide your ads somewhere in the back? Of course not- if your AdSense ads are hidden, then that’s as good as having no ads at all.

Think Scientifically

Effective ad placement, especially on a website is not a matter of aesthetics; instead it is all about scientific research and study. The Poynter Institute recently conducted a series of studies on how people viewed a website while browsing. Here are some of their findings.

• People tend to view the upper left-hand area the most. You’ll notice that applications like Microsoft Word and Internet Explorer all have their document titles in that exact area. Bold, dominant headlines that are in the top left hand corner usually attract attention first.
• People tend to view the top of the webpage first. This is where they form their first impressions and decide whether they want to explore further. To make sure that people click on your AdSense ads, they need to be along the top to be most effective. Ads placed at the bottom are far less likely to be noticed.

Given the results of this research, there are three very effective ways to place your AdSense ads so that they translate into money for you.

1. You can disguise your ads as navigation links. This is a bit sneaky but if done in the right way, it can translate into lots of clicks and heaps of cash. Remember that while some people might not want to click on ads, they will probably click on other kinds of links, like navigation links.
2. You can install an AdSense for Search box on your site. This resembles a Google search box and people can use it for ordinary searches. The extra benefit here is that AdSense ads will pop up too.
3. As we stated before, aggressive and loud ads don’t work. So you need to make sure that your Adsense ads are as natural-looking as possible- the best way is to make them look like a part of the website. Use the same color scheme, font and style when you create them.

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