Most webmasters are faced with this simple question: how to monetize their sites and keep their sites user-friendly? There are no strict guidelines regarding the amount of ads that should be displayed on a page, but following are some considerations to keep in mind:

1. The number of ads that is acceptable on a site largely depends on the quality of the site. A good site that provides useful information is normally allowed to have more ads. Why? Because somehow the site is more credible and people tend to be “fine” or “ok with it” when they see ads on credible sites.
2. The number of ads is important, but also critical is the quality of the ads displayed. Poor quality ads look spammy and tend to be very distracting. How to avoid spammy ads? Choose what ads to display carefully and only display ads that are relevant to the theme of your site. Good ads can actually form part of the content of your site. Why do so many people buy those “trendy” fashion magazines? To read the articles? No, to look at the ads. When your ads integrate so well with your content that they form part of it, you know you’ve done a good job. Along the same line, a good way to integrate ads to your site is to give a review of a product with an affiliate link at the end of the review.
3. Diversify the type of ads displayed on your site (pay-per-impression, pay-per-action, pay-per-click, text-links, you name it).
4. The number of ads that are displayed on a site should grow as the site grows. At the beginning, your main preoccupation should be building content and traffic. In any case, most of the good ad networks won’t accept sites into their program unless those sites have reached a minimum level of traffic.
5. Choose your ad units wisely and tailor your ad units to fit the theme and feel of your site.
6. Spread the ads over the page so that they are not clumped together. As surfers go through your page and scroll down, they should see the “ads landscape” changing.
7. Some ads are more spammy than others. Choose the right type of ads. I would personally avoid pop-ups.
8. It depends on your site’s theme. Some themes are more “ads friendly” than others.
9. Be creative.

To conclude, let’s face it. We need ads to keep providing good content. If some people don’t understand, tough luck… After all, the reason they have free access to all this information on the Web is mainly due to those same ads that they despise so much.

One of the biggest mistakes made by new webmasters is not positioning their ads correctly. By “positioning,” I refer to putting the ads:

1. on the right page; and
2. at the proper location on the page.

Regarding point #1, many people assume that the home page is the page that gets the most traffic. That’s not necessarily the case. Knowing how much traffic your site gets is not enough. You should know more detailed stats, such as what page of your site gets the most traffic, for what keywords does your site rank the highest, where do your visitors come from, etc. The more you know about your site, the easier it will be for you to monetize your site. Gaining traffic to your site is already difficult… at least try to make the most out of the traffic that you receive.

Regarding point #2, putting your ads at the right location on a page can have a dramatic impact on your earnings. How to know what location works better? Experiment. If it means changing the layout of your site to accommodate your ads, do it. By experience, try to put yourself in the shoes of your visitors and ask yourself what catches your attention on a page. Once you’ve answered that question, position your ads around that area.