I've tried a few different design formats for blogs, and I've come to a conclusion: the three-column format works best.

The format I'm referring to is the same format this blog you're reading right now is presented on. The content is featured on the left column, the advertising creative in the second column, and the site links in the third column.

When I say, "works best", I'm mostly talking about the performance of the Google AdSense creative, namely the click through rate.

In the two column format, I've experimented with having the AdSense creative on the left side and the right side. The general concensus is that the left column is the "hot zone", where everyones' eyes tends to start on. I agree that that peoples' eyes generally wander from left-to-right. But this doesn't mean that people tend to click on ads when the ads appear on the left side of the screen.

On the contrary. Peoples' eyes will move from left to the right, and WILL COME TO REST on the right. So, you want to place the advertising creative to the right of whatever is on the left.

So why do I think the three column format works better than the two column? I still don't know! I can tell you that when I put myself outside of the mindset of a website publisher, I feel a little more comfortable seeing three columns than two.

The three column format you're seeing on this blog, right here, is probably the format that looks least like a blog. Maybe that also has something to do with it.

Labels: Blog Designs, Google AdSense