Working out what goes above the fold is only part of the problem. There is still the issue of page width to address. Make your page too wide and visitors will have to scroll sideways to read it. Make it too small and visitors with big screens will see a tiny column of text sitting in a sea of blank space.
If you use Wordpress or Typepad, the default layouts will adopt a sensible compromise, using a width around 720 pixels for the main content. Screens smaller than 720 pixels (less than 5% of users) will have to scroll sideways to view it all. On larger screens the main 720 pixel column is centredwith blank areas either side of it. These will expand or contract as required and you can see it in action by resizing your browser's window.
Having limited our content to an area 720 pixels wide (with 768 pixels above the fold) we are still left with a problem. A single column of text, 720 pixels wide, will be difficult to read because human eyes have problems tracking along that far in a single line. 720 pixels equates to around 25 words in a line. By comparison, a novel will have 10 - 15 words a line and a sheet of A4 paper, 15 - 20 words. To keep the text readable, and keep visitors on the site, our 720 pixels needs to be sub-divided into columns.
How many columns and how wide they need to be depend on what you doing and personal taster but you are planning to make money with your web site content. So lets look at the size of adverts and work out what is the best layout.
Google Adsense uses the following formats:
| Wide | Tall | Square-ish |
|---|---|---|
| Leaderboard (728 x 90) | Leaderboard (728 x 90) | Button (125x125) |
| Banner (468 x 60) | Wide Skyscraper (160x600) | Small Rectangle (180x150) |
| Half Banner (234x60) | Vertical Banner (120 x 240) | Small Square (200 x 200) |
| Square (250 x 250) | ||
| Medium Rectangle (300 x 250) | ||
| Large Rectangle (336 x 280) |
These sizes are standards and most affiliates will have adverts in these formats though Amazon's affiliate widgets tend to be larger. Its worth checking what size adverts are available when deciding how to implement an affiliate strategyon your web site.
The column size for our main content wants to be around 400 - 500 pixels so that the text has a comfortable number of words per line. That leaves 200 - 320 pixels of width. If that is used in a single column for adverts, wide enough for Google's Square or Medium Rectangle adverts, then there is a danger our text column will be overshadowed. Remember that we want the visitor to be able to spot our headline and first paragraph in an instant or that effort selecting good keywords will be wasted.
Splitting the remaining pixels into two small columns ensures that the main content column remains distinct. I find a good starting point is one column of 160 pixels and one of 120 pixels with a main column of 440 pixels. This gives allows plenty of variety and flexibility in the adverts you run. Of course this is only a starting point. Over the months and years you will be running your site, you will discover some adverts work well and some are literally a waste of space. The layout of your web site will similarlyebb and flow as new forms of advert become available and dead wood is removed.
The sequence of the three columns is important. Having the widest column containing your content in the middle is a very common format but not one I recommend. English speaking people read left to right and studies of where our eyes look when using the web show that we first look near the top left hand corner of the screen. So placing you main content column on the left ensures that the headline, with its keywords, is straight in the visitor's eye line. The remaining two smaller columns are next to each other on the right of the screen.
Once you have picked the best place for your adverts in your search engine friendly web design, it is worth going back and looking over the SEO checklist. It is very easy to become focused on one area of the site's layout to the detriment other important factors like how you are using your links and keywords.
Chris Tregenza runs a variety of web sites including MiceLife, writes free seo articles and a SEO Blog
Better search engine placement through article writing.