Could I get some thoughts on my adsense integration?

[KelliShaver]

I just switched my Photoshop site over from YPN to Google. YPN wasn't targeting as well and the higher payouts I was seeing initially had dropped substantially over the last month. I wanted more relevant ads and more options for ad integration that google gives. I also didn't want to have to fool with geotargeting.

So far it's doing reasonably well and I'm pleased with it. However, I'm still seeing low CTR percentages. I suspect that this is probably because I tend to target a more tech-savvy demographic, but I wanted to ask for a 2nd opinion on ad placement. Since this is my first real content site that I've put any effort into, I'm still learning as I go.

Here's the URL (yes, getting a domain shortly): http://tutorials.kellishaver.com
And for your convenience, here's an internal page: http://tutorials.kellishaver.com/drawing-painting/mechanical-pencil/

Most of the pages aren't that long. I've started breaking up the tutorials into multiple pages in order to help with bandwidth issues and increase pageviews/ad impressions, but I haven't gone back and done this on a lot of the older tutorials.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. :)

[Emancipator]

i found images next to the google ad dont work. To me I would lose the images, and align the ad to the right side of your article. That way they are reading the article, and the ad is inlayed. That I find works for me. Example http://www.game-reviews.ca/news_1305.htm

[KelliShaver]

The problem with having it right aligned is that sometimes a tutorial will have very little text (i.e. not enough to clear the ad) before placing an image, so having the ad floating within the tutorial would really screw up the formatting when that occurs. This is why I'm not doing it.

I've thought about putting the synopsis up there, though, to the left of it, with a "continue reading" link that would just jump to an anchor farther down the page, below the ad.

What doe you all think? Would such a setup just be a confusing annoyance on multi-page tutorials? It's currently my best performing ad block on the site.

[Emancipator]

ahh ok good point. My content is always at least enough to fit an ad.

[Chris]

I think the top adlinks would function better lower where you have non-bolded menu links.
Between off site links & technorati tags.

Where they're at currently consider putting a little box ad.

Of course a 728x90 like at the bottom would work well at the top, but I'm sure you considered that already.

[chromate]

Personally I would align the large rectangle to the left. As it is now (centered?) there's too much of a jump for the user's eye. It's too easy to skip it and funnel straight down to the article text if you see what I mean. If it was aligned to the left, then the user's eye will move straight across from the menu to look right at it.

I also agree with Chris about the placement of the adlinks. Move them to under your bold menu links and above the mailing list box.

These are only minor improvements though. I think you've done a pretty nice job of it anyway!

[KelliShaver]

Thanks a lot, guys. :) Some good ideas. I appreciate the insight.

[KelliShaver]

Of course a 728x90 like at the bottom would work well at the top, but I'm sure you considered that already.

I've thought about this a lot and had one there at one point. The thing is, some of the tutorial pages are rather long, so I like having something at the bottom. I'm working off of the theory that by the time they get to the bottom of the page, they've read the content and are ready to go somewhere else. So I want to have ads there to provide a place for them to go, because it's my last chance to make any money off of them. Maybe I'm wrong in my thinking, but that was why I moved it down there initially.

Ideally, I'd love to have a 728x90 at the top and bottom both, but the one at the top didn't perform quite as well as the 350x280 at the top of the content does.