Comments on: The Holy Grail of Blog Design http://themeshaper.com/the-holy-grail-of-blog-design/ Experiments in Theme Design Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:40:12 +0000 By: Ian Stewart http://themeshaper.com/the-holy-grail-of-blog-design/#comment-485 Ian Stewart Fri, 07 Mar 2008 23:45:29 +0000 http://themeshaper.com/the-holy-grail-of-blog-design#comment-485 It's really a tough call, James. You should know that I consider advertising-supported content a necessary evil and something I feel really conflicted about. That drives a lot of my thinking about ad/content placement. But I suspect that a layout that gives precedence to content <em>at the expense of ads</em> would turn out in the long run to be more successful. It shows trust on your part and breeds loyalty. Loyal readers may click on ads less, and you may be unable to charge a top rate based on position, but loyal readers <em>are glad</em> to click on ads. … in my opinion, anyway. And again, this isn't an article about how to determine ad placement. It's about content placement. I hope that helps get inside my head, James. :) It’s really a tough call, James. You should know that I consider advertising-supported content a necessary evil and something I feel really conflicted about. That drives a lot of my thinking about ad/content placement. But I suspect that a layout that gives precedence to content at the expense of ads would turn out in the long run to be more successful. It shows trust on your part and breeds loyalty. Loyal readers may click on ads less, and you may be unable to charge a top rate based on position, but loyal readers are glad to click on ads.

… in my opinion, anyway. And again, this isn’t an article about how to determine ad placement. It’s about content placement.

I hope that helps get inside my head, James. :)

]]> By: James Joyner http://themeshaper.com/the-holy-grail-of-blog-design/#comment-445 James Joyner Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:42:59 +0000 http://themeshaper.com/the-holy-grail-of-blog-design#comment-445 Ian, I'm not a designer but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with this information. The reason two sidebars with content in the middle became the Holy Grail is that it allows more ads above-the-scroll. Going to two columns, with the content on the left, leaves only one column for ads above-the-scroll AND it takes away one of the hot spots from the well-known Google heat chart you include above. Most of the ads on my site are impression based rather than click based. Still, I can sell ads in that left column for more than I could in the right. Ian,

I’m not a designer but I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with this information.

The reason two sidebars with content in the middle became the Holy Grail is that it allows more ads above-the-scroll. Going to two columns, with the content on the left, leaves only one column for ads above-the-scroll AND it takes away one of the hot spots from the well-known Google heat chart you include above.

Most of the ads on my site are impression based rather than click based. Still, I can sell ads in that left column for more than I could in the right.

]]>