Big thanks to Sasquatch, for posting a link to Michael Cheney's video for improving CTR. That said, I've watched it, and made some changes to my site.
Since watching the video, I've MUCH improved the blending of the ads on my blog; Placed a blended ad every fourth blog post between the post content and the "read more" link, which I think looks really good... Also, on the "single post" pages that are more than 2 paragraphs, I added a large rectangle IN the body of the text, floated to one side.
That said, I've got a semi-3 column layout on my site, and I can't figure out what to do with the third column. I know that I
should get rid of it, but honestly, I just really like it aesthetically. My original idea for the blog was that the center navigation column would 'band' the other two columns apart (you'll have to look at it to know what that means), but without actually having any borders. It was really an exercise in whitespace for me, and I think I pulled it off quite well, however, it's so far removed from the content that I don't actually expect any kind of click throughs on it.
If you have time, please take a look at my site (
kamikazelabs.com) and let me know what you'd do with it. I already know that the colors need changing from default, but should I blend them, contrast them to make them stand out more, give up the fight and get rid of the column, or something else?
Thanks in advance to anyone that took the time to read all this.
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