by Paul_Buckley » Fri Jun 30, 2006 8:06 am
Google is always going to place the highest paying ads in the first ad block it finds in your source code, the lowest paying clicks will go in the last one.
We have no way of knowing which ad will attract a visitors click, so much depends on what the visitor is looking for. all we can do is take appropriate steps to attract the visitors eyes to the ads.
The higher on the page and farther to the left, preferably 'above the fold', ads will have the highest CTR. Surprisingly the 250X250 ad block, located in the top left corner of your content area, is the best performer not the ubiquitous sidebar skyscraper.
I don't think your 'don't-get-scammed' blog will ever be a sterling performer simply because of the subject matter. your visitors are looking for information and not in the mood to risk being scammed by the ads that will inevitably appear related to your keywords. Were it my blog, I'd consider removing all ads, provide good relevant content and link this site to my other sites for traffic flow-through.
A little tweaking will probably improve results from the other two blogs. reduce the size of the header to bring the main ad block above the fold. This coulkd be done by simply reducing the font size on text below the first line.
You might also consider changing the ad block directly below the header to text links.