Tip #9: Create AdSense ads on Adsense, use Blogger to get the right color scheme

If you are using a Blogger blog, and you are also using Adsense, this tip is for you!

As things stand right now, you can insert Google Adsense ads on your blog using the new Blogger Page Elements interface. This is easier as you just add the Page Element, select the ad size, and color scheme and you are done. There are two automated color scheme options where you can select to Match or Blend the ad into the blog's existing template. Those are very helpful options, especially for those of us who are color-matching challenged. However, the Blogger Adsense interface does not offer the use of Channels (tracking information). This is a deal killer if you are trying to analyze, optimize and monetize your blog. As it has been repeated by AdSense and many successful AdSensers, tracking is one of the big keys to sucess.

And the only way to add Channel information is if you create the Ads on Google's Adsense page. However, with this approach you have to either manually come up with the color scheme or using one of the default color schemes (palettes) which may be okay for your blog, but it may not likely be as optimum as a matched or blended palette. So what to do?

Bringing them together
Step 1: Start creating the Ad on Google's Adsense Setup page as usual, and add the Channel tracking information.

Step 2: Open Blogger, go to Template, select "Add Page Element", and select "AdSense" from the list. There select the Match or Blend option and see what colors are selected by the computer in the little preview box. Please note that this depends on where the ad will go, which is the top of the column/area that you selected "Add Page Element" from. If the ad will go to another place in the blog that has different formatting and color schemes, then you may have to save the Blogger Adsense ad, save the template, and open the Blogger Adsense ad again at its new location and see what you get in the automated Match and Blend options.

Step 3: Go back to the Google AdSense Setup page, and cut/paste the colors from the Blogger window. For convenience you may want to save this palette in the AdSense Setup page so you can reuse it later on.

This can be used for both AdSense for Content and Link Units, and the same approach can produce colors for the Referral palettes.


Caution!
If you already have the maximum number of AdSense for Content or Adsense Link Units on your blog, be careful not to save an extra one while using the Blogger color matching technique mentioned above.

For example if you already have three AdSense for Content units live on your blog, and zero Link Units, and you want to save a temporary one on Blogger (in order to get better color matching from the actual location), select the Link Units for your temporary Blogger experiment instead of the Adsense for Content. And vice versa.