The Ultimate Heatmap

The Ultimate
Heatmap!

How to Triple Your

Advertising Revenues
Without Additional Traffic
by Michael Campbell
 The Ultimate Heatmap

The Ultimate Heatmap

Preface

The first question everyone asks is, "Why is this report free?" Followed by, "Are
you nuts?" It's free because it's a gift. A deposit into the Bank of Karma. ;-)

(Note: Version 2.0 of this report is available as a paid product, or you can get it
as a free bonus when you purchase the Ultimate Heatmap Wordpress theme.
See the "Important Update" box below for more info.)

Yes, I could have made a quick $50,000 by telling my newsletter readers about
it. Then, who knows how much over the years, from the affiliate sales force...
But I decided not to sell it. I chose to give it (version 1) away instead.

This information is far too valuable to keep in the hands of a few. Everyone from
graphic designers, to advertisers, to publishers with websites and blogs can
benefit from it.

There's nothing good about hoarding information. When people approach life
with scarcity and lack, that's what they get in return. When they approach life
with abundance, its what they get in return.

There's also nothing good about hoarding money. When people are afraid to
spend, and hang on to every penny, the whole world economy goes in the tank.

It is my hope, that everyone who receives this gift, will make more money.
Hey... maybe I'm "overly" optimistic, but if I can help enough entrepreneurs and
small business owners, maybe, just maybe, I can affect the world economy.

If everyone is making more money, they spend more money. And that is my
goal, to keep the money circulating. When everyone is spending, consumer
confidence is up, and everyone's doing good.

I'm not out to change the Universe. I'm just trying to give our planet a tiny
nudge to the economy. That's why I decided to gift this research to the world,
that all may benefit, and be blessed with abundance.

Important Update

Now you can get all the Ultimate Heatmap templates with the push of a
button, in a premium Wordpress theme. You can test which layout, colors
and fonts work best for your market.

You can run AdSense ads on your entire site, or make money with affiliate
programs instead. No coding or design experience is required. We've done
all the hard work for you. Get it at http://www.UltimateHeatmap.com
 The Ultimate Heatmap

Introduction

I overlaid hundreds of heatmaps, clickmaps, web usability studies, eye

tracking reports and ad placement guidelines from the big ad networks.
I then created 30 templates based on this data, and tracked the amount
of ad revenue generated, depending on ad position.

The result of this research, is a definitive set of nine templates. You can
double or triple your ad revenues, without any additional traffic, clicks, or
page views, just by moving the ads to the hot spots. A highly fascinating
and profitable experiment to say the least.

Of course your results will vary from mine. The type of market you're in,
the type of ads you use, and the people who visit your sites, will all affect
your results. So I advise against overhauling your website, without
testing first.

Think of these templates as a "best practices" or guidelines for ad

placement. If anything, be sure to experiment with some of the layouts,
on a few of your pages, because they could double, or triple the affiliate,
or ad revenues, that you're making right now.

Don't have any advertising on your site? That's ok. The Ultimate Heatmap
can be used draw attention to the most important areas of your site. It
can have a dramatic effect on signups, donations, optins and conversions.

For graphic designers and advertising professionals, there's plenty for you
here too. You'll discover important site layouts, standard ad sizes, and
how to design more effective advertising.

Finally, I'd like to thank the members of my Dynamic Media private site,
for helping me with this research. Thank you for letting me use you, and
some of your web properties as guinea pigs in my "mad scientist"
research experiments.

Oh... one more thing. If you want the full size heatmaps to refer to while
reading this report, you'll find them in Appendix B at the end.

I hope that you enjoy this report and profit like crazy because of it.

Michael Campbell

by Internet Marketing Consultant Michael Campbell V 1.1 - Page 3

 The Ultimate Heatmap

Keys to the Ultimate Heat Map

The hottest spots on any web page are shown in the keys above. Red 1's
are the hottest areas, getting the most clicks and eye fixations. Blue 6's
are the coolest being practically ignored, with almost no clicks.

The dashed line represents "above the fold." It is the prized area of the
page that the viewer can see without scrolling. Everything above the fold
is hotter than areas below the fold, with the exception of subheads, nav
bars and the final paragraph.

The transparent oval is the lens. It is hotter left 1/3 of the body copy, that
skimmers will read. It's the first four to five words of each paragraph.
They must generate enough interest, that the reader will want to come
back to the top, and read the whole article.

by Internet Marketing Consultant Michael Campbell V 1.1 - Page 4

 The Ultimate Heatmap

On the Ultimate Heat Map, you'll see the lens overlay, running down the
left side entire body copy. Skimmers generally hit your site reading the
headline, jumping to each subhead, then reading the final paragraph. If
you catch their attention with any of those elements, they'll go back and
reread the entire body.

Note About the Templates

There were over 30 templates to start with. There are nine "finalists"
presented in this research. They can be used for blog posts or web pages.

The platform I used for publishing was Wordpress that I hosted myself.
The Wordpress themes I used were Thesis, and Headway, because of
their large user communities, SEO benefits, clean code, and ease of use.

The nine winning templates are presented from least effective, to the
most effective. Plus there's two pushing the limits of good taste, into the
obvious MFA (Made for AdSense) style sites.

The 21 losing templates fell into two categories. Three column layouts
and layouts with small "non-standard" ad units. We'll talk about both of
those next.

Two Columns Instead of Three

After looking at hundreds of heatmaps and clickmaps, it's obvious that

most people ignore the entire right column. The only thing people look
for, in the upper right hand quadrant, is a search box.

By adding a masthead to the top, and a rail down either side, it's almost
as if you're telling the reader, pay no attention to the sidebars, the
important stuff is in the middle. By framing the content, you're helping
the brain to ignore the ads and everything else in the sidebars.

Even though the area above the fold, in a three column layout, has a
slightly warm right column, it only scores a four on the heat scale. Below
the fold is a complete waste of space according to the heatmaps and
clickmaps I studied. The tests confirmed it.

In tests with three column layouts going head to head with two column
ones, with the exception of one ugly template, the two column ones

by Internet Marketing Consultant Michael Campbell V 1.1 - Page 5

 The Ultimate Heatmap

always generated more revenue. So based on my test results, I decided

to scrap three column layouts altogether.

That's not to say you cannot use a three column layout if you want to. I
just want you to be aware of the consequences. If anything, you could
put a navigation bar in there, which would get attention, simply because
any section with navigation gets looked at and clicked on.

Finally, the point of this research is to increase your ad revenues. A two

column layout will do that, performing up to 300% better in some tests.
So if you want to generate more revenue, go with two columns.

The first four - two column - templates I'll be reviewing, have the ad units
on the right. Since the right side is much cooler than the left, ads placed
to the right generated less revenue. The remaining templates have the
ads displayed on the much hotter left side of the page.

If you're looking for a correlation in the three column Ultimate Heatmap

and the two column templates, just lop off the column that's not in use.
Then overlay the heatmap on top of the template to see where the
hottest areas are, in terms of attention and clicks.

A Word About Standard Ad Sizes

These four ad sizes make up the IAB Universal Ad Package.

Leaderboard (728 x 90)

Medium Rectangle (300 x 250)
Small Rectangle (180 x 150)
Wide Skyscraper (160 x 600)

All compliant member publishers have agreed to support these sizes for
internet advertising. This includes the likes of AdTech, Brightcove, CNN,
Disney, Fox, Google Content Network, Reuters, Yahoo, YouTube and many
others. You can visit the IAB.net site for a full list compliant publishers.

The IAB created these standards, "For the purposes of reducing the costs
and inefficiencies associated with the planning, buying and creating online
media." The guide list also suggests, "Keeping ads to under 40k in size,
and animations under 15 seconds, including multiple loops."

* Note: For a full list of standard ad sizes, see Appendix A at the end.

by Internet Marketing Consultant Michael Campbell V 1.1 - Page 6

 The Ultimate Heatmap

As a product creator, or advertiser, you should make these ads first. By

the time your product is ready for market, be sure you have several
variations of these ads ready to use.

As a content publisher, or graphic designer, it means that your site layout

must accommodate these ad sizes. Consider making your sidebars fit at
least up to 180 pixel wide ads.

According to Google, the following ad units are the best performing sizes
for AdSense. All three of them are part of the Universal Ad Package that I
listed earlier.

Leaderboard (728 x 90)

Medium Rectangle (300 x 250)
Wide Skyscraper (160 x 600)

They get clicked on the most. So it's a good idea to have these sizes on
your pages and posts. And not just for AdSense, use them for regular ads
that sell any kind of physical, or digital products.

AdSense Tips

First off, the most important question. How many AdSense ads can you
put on a single page, or post?

Google's answer at the time of this writing is, "AdSense publishers may
place up to three AdSense for content units on one webpage. You may
also place a maximum of three link units and two search boxes on each
webpage. However, keep in mind that placing the maximum number of
allowed ad units on a page may result in it looking cluttered."

What are invalid clicks? Google says, "This includes, but is not limited to,
clicks or impressions generated by a publisher clicking on his own ads, a
publisher encouraging clicks on his ads, automated clicking tools or traffic
sources, robots, or other deceptive software."

"Some implementations that could lead to accidental clicks include,

placing your ads in close proximity to Macromedia Flash games. Under
pop-ups or download prompts. Near site navigation controls on your
pages, such as drop-downs or menu links."

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"We strongly recommend that you move any ad units that are in close
proximity to interactive site features." How close? Recently Google stated,
"Since each game and site are unique, we can't advise publishers on an
exact distance between ads and games, but we do recommend a
minimum distance of 150 pixels between the Flash player and ads."

"Please note that clicks on Google ads must result from genuine user
interest, and any method that artificially generates clicks or impressions
is strictly prohibited."

Google also suggests that you should, "Blend ads in, but not too much
that users don’t see them. Borderless ads tend to work well, as does
highlighting the link and URL."

And this tidbit, "Great ad positions include, above the fold of a page (the
section of the page a user can see without scrolling), near the end of an
article, or aligned with content."

And this nugget. Be sure to commit it to memory. "The highest paying ad

we have for your site will be shown in the first ad unit that shows up in
your HTML code." So be sure to test leaderboards vs medium rectangles
as the first occurring ad unit."

Finally, Google's TOS say that you must have a privacy policy in place,
that discloses how you use cookies for advertising. Internet attorney Mike
Young has drafted a sample privacy policy that you can download for free.

You, Me and the FTC

If you sell products, or services, or do any kind of business online, even if

you're just an affiliate, the FTC requires you to have certain legal pages
on your site. Pages like terms and conditions, earnings disclaimer,
compensation disclaimer, privacy policy and more.

You can get all the mandatory legal pages, written by a real lawyer, in a
single software package called the Legal Forms Generator. So please take
advantage of it, and protect yourself from getting sued.

Even affiliate networks like Clickbank, specify in their terms, that if you
want to sell Clickbank products, you must adhere to the FTC Guidelines.
That means you must have these legal pages on your site, not just in the
USA, but world wide. It's mandatory now, not an option. So do it!

by Internet Marketing Consultant Michael Campbell V 1.1 - Page 8

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Template A

Template A is the worst of the best.

Number nine on our effectiveness
list, out of over 30 tests.

It is the least obtrusive design. It

minimizes distractions while
maximizing revenues and
readability.

You see this layout everywhere,

especially with blogs. It usually
happens when the blog owner
attempts to monetize with ads.

Most blog owners throw Adsense

ads into the right sidebar, which is
usually somewhere between 120 to
150 pixels wide. We don't want that
width anymore, because it's proven
to be ineffective.

Keep in mind that we've tossed out

all "losing" templates with smaller ad sizes. We are now going with the
IAB Universal standard ad sizes, which means bigger ads.

Even if you're using AdSense, instead of another ad network, or creating

your own ads, Google flatly stated that wider is better. They suggest a
column width 170 pixels or wider, to accommodate a 160 x 600 Wide
Skyscraper.

In template A the sidebar is more than 180 pixels wide. It accommodates

two of the IAB standards, the Small Rectangle and the Wide Skyscraper,
yet only the Small Rectangle was used. Remember that Template A is
meant to be "very polite" to its readers.

The top ad is in a fairly warm position and generates fair click volume.
The ads under the nav bar are below the fold. They don't get clicked on
nearly as often as the ad in the top spot.

by Internet Marketing Consultant Michael Campbell V 1.1 - Page 9

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Template B

In this test, I removed the navigation bar from the column. It's all ad
related, with three ads appearing above the fold. This increased ad
revenue by about 20% over Template A.

There is a row of text link ads right

below the first paragraph. The
background color of the ad block is
almost the same as the body of the
article. From here on in, these
"inline ads" that almost match the
text, is standard on the templates.

Research showed that in general,

ads are viewed about 40% of the
time. The more related they are to
the page, the more views they get.

Text ads and graphical ads, that

have text separated out from
image, get viewed about 50% of the
time. Pictures of attractive people
get more attention, as do simple
backgrounds. Bright colors and
fancy formatting scream, I'M AN AD
and are largely ignored.

Text ads that almost match the style

of the site, get viewed a whopping
85% of the time. Now you see why
I made it a standard.

In most heatmaps from ad

networks, they don't include the navigation bar. They only look at the
page content. My research shows this to be a big mistake.

Look at the Ultimate heatmap. The final paragraph is very warm and the
bottom nav bar is hot. That's because it's not just heat, or attention we're
after, we also want clicks.

When you overlay the clickmap research on top of the heatmap, the end
of the page heats up. Readers reaching the end of the page, will click on

by Internet Marketing Consultant Michael Campbell V 1.1 - Page 10

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any links that appear near the bottom, where the nav bar should be.
Based on this evidence, ads at the bottom of the page are also standard.

Finally, I decided to test the footer. I wanted to confirm that the area
below the footer is as ice cold blue as the Ultimate Heatmap shows it to
be. Even though I presented the readers with a large, tasteful
Leaderboard ad, in terms of clicks, it was dead as a sack of hammers.

Template C

Now we're cooking with gas... as

the saying goes. Revenues jumped
another 20%.

The Wide Skyscraper is one of the

best performing ad sizes. Just one
unit has replaced all the small ads in
the column. That lets us put more
"ad inventory" around the rest of
the page.

I moved the Leaderboard Ad to the

top of the page. Although it got
more views, the clicks were still low,
because it's stuck in the "banner
blindness" area. It's that top 80
pixels of any web page, that we've
been trained to ignore.

The inline ad under the first

paragraph continued to do well,
except for AdSense. Remember that
the highest paying ad gets shown
first, which in this case is the
Leaderboard at the top, in the ice
cold zone.

The other big winner in this layout is the Medium Rectangle after the final
paragraph. The ad unit takes the place of a bottom nav bar. Ideally these
ads should be tightly related to the page content for maximum revenue.

by Internet Marketing Consultant Michael Campbell V 1.1 - Page 11

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Template D

This template doubled ad revenues over template A. It's as good as it

gets with a two column layout, with the right side devoted to ads.

The three most successful elements

were kept in place. This includes the
inline text ads, or Link Unit, below
the first paragraph. The hugely
successful Wide Skyscraper. And the
Medium - where should I click now
that I read you whole page -
Rectangle at the bottom.

What really kicks this template up a

notch, is sandwiching the nav bar
between ads. This forces the reader
to look at the ads, any time the hot
horizontal navigation is required.

All I did was move the Leaderboard

ad under the masthead, so now the
masthead is up in the cold blue
zone. The Leaderboard ad moves
down into the warmer yellow
Masthead area on the Ultimate
Heatmap.

The red hot zone is still the

headline. But in this template, I was
a little sneaky. I shoved a second
inline ad unit into the heat, and
bumped the headline down into the
orange zone. The result was double
the clicks on the Leaderboard and inline ad units.

Now before you attempt this layout, a few words of caution. It's ugly and
annoying, but it does generate a lot of coin. So it's a balancing act.

You'll need to decide if readability and comfort is more important to the

viewer. In that case, you're better off using Template C. It generates

by Internet Marketing Consultant Michael Campbell V 1.1 - Page 12

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about 65% of the revenue as Template D, but it is much less obtrusive.

It's a more calm and gentle user experience.

If on the other hand, you're paying to get articles written by the dozen,
then Template D may be the better choice. You're not so concerned about
reader comfort as you are with generating income.

And heck, if its a good article... they'll read the whole thing anyways.
After all, a lot of the big name portals are a lot more ugly and annoying
than this.

Template E

This is where I switch the ad units

from right to left. It is now standard
on all templates. If you really need
to have ads on the right, then do
what you must. If you want to
generate more coin, put the ads in
the left column.

The Ultimate Heatmap shows the

left column to be much hotter than
the right. This is partially because
the way we read, from left to right,
top to bottom. As the eyes move
left to start a new line of text, the
ads come further into peripheral
vision and awareness.

It's also where the left vertical nav

bar usually goes. But instead of
finding the nav bar, over 50% of the
people will look and read the ads in
the Wide Skyscraper instead.

by Internet Marketing Consultant Michael Campbell V 1.1 - Page 13

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Text ads in the Skyscraper section tested better than graphical ads,
unless the graphical ad tightly matched the page content. In that case the
graphic ad faired slightly better.

I kept the Leaderboard Ad under the site masthead. It's now standard on
all templates, because our tests from Template D show a substantial
increase in heat, attention and clicks.

Instead of having the Medium Rectangle down by the footer, its moved it
up under the first paragraph. The results were explosive in terms of
revenue. The text ads in this middle position were looked at around 90%
of the time.

Now the reader is forced to "read over" the ads to continue with the
article. They also see it if they've reached the end of the article and are
returning to the top nav bar.

The ad at the bottom, instead of a nav bar, is what Google calls a Link
Unit Ad. Remember that they permit you, "Up to three AdSense for
content units, and a maximum of three link units, and two search boxes
on each webpage."

We've used up all three "Content Units" above the fold, in the hottest
areas possible. That means if we're using AdSense, we have to rely on a
"Link Unit" above the footer, which worked out well anyways.

Why? Because many people thought it was the nav bar, and naturally
clicked on it, for info that was related to the page content.

Of course, if you're not using AdSense, you don't need to follow their
rules. You could use a different ad network and place as many ads as
their terms of service allows... but would you want to?

Personally, I think Template E is bordering on annoying, with that big

honkin ad in the middle, but it sure is effective. From here on in, the
layouts only get uglier and more obtrusive. You'll need to use your own
judgement as to how cluttered you go.

by Internet Marketing Consultant Michael Campbell V 1.1 - Page 14

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Template F

Taking the lessons learned from Template D, I sandwiched the top nav bar
in-between ads. I've also introduced an inline text ad, or Link Unit, into
the middle of the article.

Revenues jumped immediately

over Template E, but some test
subjects started complaining about
the amount of ads. It was partly
due to the positioning of the
Medium Rectangle.

This time, instead of forcing people

to read across the ad, to get the
the rest of the article, we forced
them to read around it. The ad unit
tends to sparkle in this position
and it keeps calling for attention.

The result? Clicks actually went

down by about 2% in this position,
while reader's annoyance went up
by about 30%.

The overall higher revenues from

this template were higher though,
because of the sandwiched top
horizontal nav bar.

It's got ads on three sides. Plus

there's an inline Link Unit just
above the fold.

Revenues would have been even higher, if I had centered the Medium
Rectangle in the middle of the page, as in Template E.

by Internet Marketing Consultant Michael Campbell V 1.1 - Page 15

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Template G

This template is nasty. Just nasty. It's because I've maxed out the
number of Content Units and Link Units that are permitted by Google, and
added a really sneaky twist.

It keeps the positioning of the Wide

Skyscraper, and the two inline Link
Units. I re-centered the Medium
Rectangle, based on lessons learned
from Template F.

I added an additional Link Unit in

the bottom left. That's as far as I
can go with AdSense, but if you're
using another network, you could fill
the whole left column with Small
Rectangle ads if you wanted to.

You'll have to look closely, to

discover why this template
generates more revenue than
Templates E and F. It's sneaky.

I moved the Leaderboard Ad to the

red hot spot, below the top nav bar.
There is no other nav bar on this
page. We force the reader to cross
the ad and look at it, every time
they need navigation links.

The other major change is taking

the Medium Rectangle, and shoving
it into the warm orange area, where
the first paragraph would normally be. The two hottest areas on the page
- top horizontal nav and headline - are surrounded in an ocean of ads.

This template generated more revenue than any previous template. There
are still two more to show you, but I would stop here. Even though
Templates H and I generate more coin, this is were good taste ends.
Beyond this lie dragons.

by Internet Marketing Consultant Michael Campbell V 1.1 - Page 16

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Template H

This is the only three column template to make it into the finals. It
generates a lot of revenue, but it's ugly and annoying. I don't know about
you, but I'd "click off" just to get away from it. ;-)

The nav bar has been moved to the

cool right side. Above and below it
are Link Units or Rectangle shaped
ads. You could substitute the top
Link Unit for a Google Search Box,
to generate even more clicks.

The Wide Skyscraper maintains its

warm orange position on the left
side, where most people expect the
navigation to be. Plus there's a Link
Unit at the bottom, where the hot
bottom nav bar would normally be.

The Wide Skyscraper tested best

with a graphical ad. The best ads
had pictures of an attractive person,
and text that was separate, or not
overlaid on top of the graphic.

Since the Wide Skyscraper is first to

appear in the html code, so it also
generates the most revenue. That's
because many advertisers pay a
premium for large display ads like
this. So if someone's bidding high
for this spot, your cut will be higher.

The real ugliness, and 65% of the revenue, comes from the two big
honking Medium Rectangles in the middle of the text area. This is
annoying to say the least. It's very obvious to the reader that ad revenue
is more important than their comfort... at least that's how it feels to me.

The headline is up where the top nav would have been, leaving the red
hot headline area to the first Medium Rectangle. The second Medium
Rectangle comes after only one paragraph of text.

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Text ads in the medium rectangle generated more revenue than image
ads. More than 90% of the readers viewed the ads, when the background
color of the ads almost matched the rest of the page.

Template I

This template is rude, rude, rude.

There's no other way to put it. The
reader is totally inundated with
advertising. They cannot even read
the full article on one page.

Readers are forced to hunt down the

link to the full article, where they
are bombarded with another set of
ads like in Template H. The
navigation bar leads to more pages
just like this one, each with just a
snippet of the article.

Remember what Google said, "We

strongly recommend that you move
any ad units that are in close
proximity to interactive site
features." So I was careful to put
enough "wind" or 50 pixels in-
between the Link Unit, the link to
the full article, and the bottom left
Medium Rectangle Ad.

I ran this template for several months. Google didn't seem to have a
problem with it. Yes, it did generate the most revenue, but at this point
it's a matter of taste, or lack of it in this example.

I sure wouldn't want to spend much time on a site like this. So in my

opinion, since I care about the user experience, I'll stick with Templates E
and G as the best compromise.

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A Word About Ads

Most companies don't mind you using their product shots and logos for
advertising. So long as you're selling their products in an ethical manner,
they're ok with it. It's considered fair use.

(Can you imagine if grocery stores, and office supply chains, had to get
written permission to use the hundreds of logos and photos in their
weekly flyers? The entire print industry would grind to a halt.)

Now, having said that, there are some companies that are very trademark
sensitive. Be sure to check their product websites for terms of use, or
other guidelines when advertising their brands.

Go hunt around product sites for things like press rooms, or press kits.
You can often find logos and product shots, that are ready to use.

But what should you do if there are no ads for a particular product? Make
them of course. I do it all the time.

Many advertisers and ebook publishers haven't heard about the standard
ad sizes. It's the same deal with physical products that get sold through
affiliate programs.

Get a graphics program like Photoshop Elements. Take a night school

course, get a book, or watch some videos on YouTube.com. You can
create very effective ads, with just a basic skill set.

Set up a Medium Rectangle (300 x 250) canvas. Copy and paste their
product shot, or buy a stock photo of an attractive person from iStock
Photo, and put some text underneath the graphic. Do the same for the
Leaderboard and Wide Skyscraper sizes.

With digital products, I've gone so far as to create a "box" or "cover" for
their digital product from scratch. You can formulate the bits in Photoshop
Elements and then import them into rendering software like Box Shot 3D
for great looking images.

The first product I designed a cover for, tripled my sales as an affiliate.

That's because people want to feel like they're getting something
tangible, even if its a digital product.

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And as a bonus, the ebook publisher was so impressed, that he bought

the rights to use the ad I created for his product, so other affiliates could
use it. A quick 500 bucks for something that took me less than 20
minutes to create.

So the point being, if there are no standard ad sizes for what you want to
sell... create them. Take everything you've learned here and apply it.
Chances are, with this new knowledge, your ads will outperform the ones
that are supplied by the advertisers.

Important Points to Remember

When I speak of heat, it's not just the heat map, or eye tracking. It also
includes clickmaps, the area of the page where most of the clicks happen.

CSS ninjas can bend their code, to determine the order in which objects
appear. This lets you change which AdSense ad is the "first occurring
unit" on a page, without affecting the physical layout, that users will see.

Annoying ads that are animated, blinking, sparkling, splashy, or highly

colored, are usually ignored. They also annoy the readers.

Large fonts, fancy formatting, blinking text, and large areas of red
colored text, are usually ignored. They too annoy the readers.

Three column layouts are like an upside down horse shoe. They literally
focus reader attention into the center. Don't use them unless you have to.
(But please, always experiment with a few pages first, before committing
to a complete site overhaul.)

Bigger ads are better, that's why the Leaderboard (728 x 90), Medium
Rectangle (300 x 250) and Wide Skyscraper (160 x 600) are the most
clicked on ad sizes.

After photos of attractive people, the headline is the hottest element on

any web page. It gets the most attention.

Navigation attracts heat. Sub navigation gets the most eye fixation.

Top horizontal navigation bars attract the most heat and clicks. Place ads
near them for maximum exposure.

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Side horizontal navigation is expected on the left. Put ads there instead.

Move side navigation - if using it - to the right where it's cool. Doing so
will warm up that side.

The search box is expected in the upper right. Put ads in there or a
Google search box instead.

Few people will pay any attention to the top inch of the screen.
Exceptions are logos and pictures of attractive people.

Subheaders are important. They describe the page content and draw
attention, especially from skimmers.

Keep paragraphs short. The longer the article gets, the cooler it gets.
Skimmers usually read the last paragraph first.

Ads that are near, or surrounded by content work the best. It doesn't
matter if they are AdSense, some other network, or affiliate links.

Ads in context with the content perform extremely well. So if doing a

product review, do not link to it 100 times throughout the article. Put one
affiliate link near the end of the article, when making the buy
recommendation.

Ads with simple backgrounds containing a large single image, work better
than ads with crowded settings. Try to avoid clutter from multiple objects.

Ads that are highly related to the page content, attract more than double
the attention, than ads that are only slightly related.

Ads with photos of people get noticed. A human face, or anything with
eyes, is the first thing people will look at. The more attractive the person,
the longer it gets looked at.

Text ads get more than double the clicks of graphical ads, if they nearly
match the graphic design, or style of the page.

Graphical ads with separate text and graphics, are almost twice as
effective as ads that have text on top of an image.

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Inline ads that break articles into two or three sections, are some of the
most effective. So are Medium Rectangles that break text apart, forcing
the reader to gaze across the ad to continue reading.

Links at the end of an article are very effective, especially if there is no

footer navigation. People finish reading your content and want something
to do, or click. Give it to them.

Photos with attractive people get viewed four times longer than less
attractive people. So don't use ugly people in your ads... unless they're so
ugly you can't stop looking at them. ;-)

Conclusion

I hope that you experiment with some of these templates. May they boost
your ad revenues by 200 to 300%. All I can say, is that a lot of effort
went into this research and these templates worked for me... so I hope
that they work for you too. I wish you all the best for online success.

Michael Campbell

P. S.

Need help with your internet marketing? Want more traffic that converts
into customers? Feel free to give me a call, or visit my private site, for full
details on the coaching and consulting packages that I have available.

Phone: +1 (360) 450-5880

Email: [email protected]
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Legal Stuff: Copyright 2011 Dynamic Media Corporation. All rights reserved world wide. All trademarks and
service marks are property of their respective owners. The information contained in this publication is the
opinion of the author based on his personal observations and years of experience. Neither the author or
publisher assume any liability whatsoever for the use of or inability to use any or all of the information
contained in this publication. Use this information at your own risk. Links in this publication may be affiliate
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APPENDIX A

Complete List of Standard Ad Sizes

Here is a complete list of the standard ad sizes, also known as the IAB Ad
Unit Guidelines. Please note that all dimensions are in pixels (width x
height). Ad sizes noted with an asterisk * are used by AdSense in the
Google Content Network.

Text Ads Image Ads

Banner (468 x 60) * Banner (468 x 60) *

Button 1 (120 x 90) Half Page Ad (300 x 600)
Button 2 (120 x 60) Large Rectangle (336 x 280)
Button Square (125 x 125) * Leaderboard (728 x 90) *
Half Banner (234 x 60) * Medium Rectangle (300 x 250) *
Half Page Ad (300 x 600) Skyscraper (120×600)
Large Rectangle (336 x 280) * Small Square (200 x 200) *
Leaderboard (728 x 90) * Square (250 x 250) *
Medium Rectangle (300 x 250) * Wide Skyscraper (160×600) *
Micro Bar (88 x 31)
Micro Button (80 x 15) Video Ads
Skyscraper (120 x 600) *
Small Rectangle (180 x 150) * Large Rectangle (336 x 280) *
Small Square (200 x 200) * Leaderboard (728 x 90) *
Square (250 x 250) * Rectangle (300 x 250) *
Vertical Banner (120 x 240) * Skyscraper (120 x 600) *
Vertical Rectangle (240 x 400) Small Square (200 x 200) *
Wide Skyscraper (160 x 600) * Square (250 x 250) *
Wide skyscraper 160 x 600) *

Pop Up Ads

Pop Under (720 x 300)

Square Pop UP (250 x 250)

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APPENDIX B - Full Size Templates

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