Since Google automates so much of the ad sales process and has such a large user
base, some people can make good money just by selling AdSense ads. Here are a
few tips for getting the most profit out of your AdSense ads:
• Good advertisements do not look like ads. Blend AdSense ads with
the site design by using similar fonts and colors.
• Usually the banner ad format is not good unless is looks exceptionally
similar to the site design. Different format types will have different
CTRs and earnings. The vertical 160×600 “wide skyscrapers” and ad
blocks work well for me.
• Some people place many ad units on each page. This may work, but
many times this hurts earnings since you are selling more ad inventory
to cheap ads, which may end up getting clicked instead of the more
expensive ads that would display if you ran fewer ad units.
• Default blue with underline is good at getting clicks. Increasing ad
clickthrough rate should be a consideration before doing any major
design or redesign.
• Some people place visual cues next to their AdSense ads, but you
cannot tell people to click on the ads.
• If you are running a somewhat spammy AdSense site that is just there
for AdSense revenue, you want to limit users’ options by not giving
them many other links to click on. Either do not use site navigation
above the fold or visually depreciate the navigation links.
• Google AdSense has channel tracking and URL tracking, which will
show you how various channels and sites perform. Additionally, there
are a variety of third party programs that sell for around $50 to $100
that provide additional details.
• Google offers AdSense optimization tips on their site at

https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/static.py?page

=tips.html. Notice how placing ads where navigation typically goes
increases earnings.
• JenSense.com is a good blog about contextual advertising. Jen is also
branded as an AdSense expert. She sells consulting services to help
people optimize their accounts and is also a moderator at Search
Engine Watch forums.
• Your ad click-through rate is going to be highly dependent on your
audience profile. More sophisticated people tend to click fewer ads.
• Yahoo! is beta testing a publisher contextual ad program similar to
Google’s, but Yahoo! does not have as much ad network depth as
Google does. Also, Yahoo! tends to focus on expensive ads, whereas
Google focuses more on ad relevancy, and, thus, gets a higher
clickthrough rate.

When using AdSense, the CTR and earnings can be much higher if you make a
couple small changes. The key is to test different things to see what is most
effective for your site design and setup.
Some sites place the ads in such a way that it hurts their ability to gain links. If you
are actively trying to promote a site and build an audience, make sure the ads are
not so prominent that they end up causing people to question the purpose or
usefulness of your site. For example, it may make sense to show no ads on your
home page to make the site seem more legitimate.
Many blog posts are generally short, targeted, and quick to make. Many blog
networks are used as AdSense keyword nets. Reporting topical news can build a
large number of pages quickly. Weblogs, Inc. is one of the more well-known blog
networks that aggressively integrates AdSense ads.
Google also offers AdLinks, which is another ad format that has helped some
publishers. A new contextual ad program by the name of Chitika has been gaining
praise from a number of bloggers although some have been absolutely frustrated
by their ad auditing.

An Example of Aggressive Google AdSense Integration

Please note the the below integration is rather aggressive, moreso than you would
probably do if you were running a longterm business. Google may eventually look
at artificially high AdSense clickthrough rates and flag the associated websites for
review and/ or demotion.
At one point in time you could put images right next to ads to entice clicks, but
after too many people started abusing it Google changed their policy to disallow
that.

This screenshot is the upper left corner of an AdSense site. For the screenshot, I
changed the topic of the site to “Illinois Dental” because I didn’t want to point out
the vertical the site targeted.
Notice the following about the screenshot:
• Under the tab titled Illinois Dentists, in an area that looks like sub
navigation, there are Google AdLinks.
• Where left-hand navigation normally goes, there is a 160x 600 wide
skyscraper.
• The AdSense link color is default blue.
• The AdSense URL color is the same color as other page elements to
integrate it into the site design.
• The color flag in the upper left draws attention toward the upper left.
If the eye moves down or to the right from there, people find ads.