The other day I was in a forum conversation about CTR, and said that my average CTR hovers at between 35% and 40%. One of the guys in the conversation private messaged me and asked if I could do anything with his site.

I've been toying with the idea of changing the layout but I was moving to something more complex but now I think I'm going to keep the layout/concept the same but just change the color scheme. If you're interested, take a peek {url removed}. My CTR for April is only 14%. Most ads for {subject removed} pay low but there have been days when I get a good click.

One look at the site told me that there were too many adblocks and none of them were in the optimum position. Though his CTR is already quite high, this can easily be bettered. My advice as follows:

You need to change the layout. This looks like it should be a 1 page site? I have a 1 page site at {url removed} - look a the difference between where you have your ads and where I have mine…

I would:
~ remove the thin (links) adblock
~ put a 336 adblock above your content & links.
~ remove the right hand column adblock
~ blend the colour scheme of the adblock to match your site

CTR should at least double then.

And that was the end of that. Today I received this reply:

I just wanted to pop you a note to say "Thanks" for the tip on my website. My CTR hit 38% today. That's way better than it ever did before. Too bad those clicks pay pennies …but pennies add up too

If you want to increase your CTR, all you need to do is follw the same advice. Google even give a handy chart showing "click hotspots"…

Good luck!