Wordpress Themes - Frequently Asked Questions

[GeorgR.]

Can aynone recommend GOOD wordpress themes optimized for adsense, not the usual "prosense" etc. junk themes?

ty!

[Clyde]

Something from clickbump should suffice.

[Darren Cooper]

I've used and had good results with Talian theme. It does cost though.

hxxp://www.google-adsense-templates.co.uk/wordpress-theme-talian-with-adsense-and-seo-optimisation.html

[Spot the Ball]

After playing around with a lot of themes recently, Ive settled on the heatmap theme Adsense and Ads Ready WordPress Theme - HeatMap Theme

Ive not used most of the features yet but I like the overall feel of the theme.

[Monetizer]

Flexibility 2 theme - easy to customize, great for adsense and affiliate ads ,and it's free. Get it here - Flexibility Theme for WordPress.

[Saiddon]

Also looking for an adsense optimized wordpress theme. thanks for the info.

[D Baker]

The best Adsense optimized theme I know of (and I looked for one for a long time) is called

HeatMap Theme

WordPress Adsense Ready Theme - HeatMap Theme

You can use the free version or get the premium one... I think it is the best Adsense theme available.

[Marhelper]

Originally Posted by Al Mukmin

Something from clickbump should suffice.

I second that ...

[Fraggler]

I don't think there is a magical theme. I have had just as much success with the Wordpress 3.0 default theme than any of the 'optimised' themes. I have used the MFA themes and had failures, too.

I think you are better of using a theme that looks good and is easy to use. A lot of the MFA themes are just painful. Avoid the magazine style themes that are too busy - even for normal use.

Any 2 column layout should give you decent success, but yeah...the default WP3 theme is a good one! (the way you can customise the navigation is very handy! Quick to get a site up and running, too. )

[bgmacaw]

The new WP 3.0 Twenty Ten theme is quite good although you may need to know a little HTML/CSS/PHP tweaking to get it where you want.

My recently updated dateless mini-site theme (link in sig) uses WP 3.0 features that allow you to have custom logo, background graphic and colors and uses the standard WP widget interface to allow you to place ads in the best spots for Adsense, eBay EPN and Amazon.

[jtpada]

Check out the themes from courtneytuttle (dot) com

They are all optimized and free. Guy runs the Keywordacademy and is a wizz in this busines

[Enfusia]

I'm using the adsense crusher theme sold on the WF and it seems to be doing well for me.
OP

[packjack]

Blue Bucks adsense theme works good for me
SEO Optimized Blue Bucks Adsense theme for wordpress blogHosterio

[munstersg01]

I would suggest using Artisteer, and create your own premium theme. It is really easy to use and the themes are clean and professional doesn't look like cookie cutters that are MFA. I had fun making a few themes myself for my own Adsense sites.

Thesis theme is another clean and customizable theme, I find it expensive though.

Another nice theme I enjoy is the Flexibility 3 theme (just recently launched) and it is free

[D Baker]

No one here checked out the HeatMap Adsense theme?

It is a great theme that was created for use of Adsense and ads.

Just check out all the built in ad placements you get with it:



You can see a live demo site that runs this theme at - Live Demo site for Heatmap Theme - HeatMapTheme.net

I really find it as the best theme for Adsense.

[L41db4ck]

Originally Posted by D Baker

No one here checked out the HeatMap Adsense theme?

No one here read the thread?

Oh, and thanks to all the recommendations!

[Abhik]

I personally don't think there's any Adsense Optimized wordpress theme.
It's all about you and how you place your ad units.
My suggestion is to go with the theme you like most and tweak it's codes to place ads.

[ellush]

Some great themes here I wasnt aware of, especially the Heatmap theme which looks mighty fine, if a little busy for Adsense. I use the Atahualpa and Flexibility 2 themes but am always on the lookout for something new.

[Amy Balti]

here is another choice to consider Golden Goose (it is easy to customize) has 3 column, very neat and seo optimized

[Alessandro Zamboni]

I confirm Heatmap is good enough for Adsense, but it's a little confusional for visitors.
In case is better to use two column designs and insert Adsense carefully with the same colors of the site.
That's what I do.

Another good theme for Adsense and advertising is Atomic Theme that you can check on my internet marketing books website : Internet Market Books. (No affiliate link obviously)
But the bad thing is it's costly and requires time to be customized with colors.

See you,
Alessandro

[SoundsGood]

Clickbump is very good.

[Rajul kaushik]

My choice:
1) ClickBump
2) Socrates
3) Cool Adsense Theme ( CAT )

[Stuart Wider]

Thanks Guys for the nice comments about HeatMap here on this thread. Much appreciated.

Hey Allesandro, If you like your ad themes minimal without many distractions you are going to love the new version of HeatMap I've got in alpha test right now. Its going to be a substantial upgrade, with options that allow you to go super minimal (less distractions for your ads), but also with lots more ad placement options.

I expect it to go into Heatmap Insider Members beta in the next couple of weeks.

[penpal6]

I use AdSense crusher and bluesense AdSense themes

[jargonbust]

bluesense is bad for SEO and you should try mystique

[netw6000]

Hello:

I found a good one here... free-wordpress-theme.net

They are Adsense optimized too.

[John Williamson]

Another vote for Clickbump...

[DonReview]

Hi warriors, I am surprise that there is no mention of David Law talian 5, or Stallion 6
wp themes I just new I would get some reviews from this forum.

The Stallion WordPress SEO Plugin was created to replace the so called WordPress SEO plugins currently available that damage a sites search engine optimization efforts. Any WordPress plugin that uses noindex and/or nofollow on your WordPress sites has the potential to damage your sites search engine rankings and should be avoided or at least used with extreme care.

The popular WordPress SEO plugins including the Yoast WordPress SEO Plugin and the All in One SEO Pack WordPress Plugin use nofollow and noindex : Yoast WordPress SEO Plugin uses noindex and nofollow, All in One SEO Pack WordPress Plugin uses noindex.
Why you shouldn’t use WordPress SEO Plugins that use Nofollow

WordPress SEO plugins like the Yoast SEO Plugin should not be used because nofollow deletes link benefit, it’s as simple as that. Google changed the way nofollow works some years ago (2008), unfortunately many WordPress SEO ‘Experts’ either don’t keep up to date with changes in SEO techniques or they don’t care (it’s an easy way to gain traffic touting a WordPress SEO plugin even if it is flawed/SEO damaging).

Don’t believe nofollow deletes link benefit, do some research and find what Matt Cutt’s (he works for Google) had to say about Google’s change to nofollow back in June 2009:

Stallion includes 9 options pages encompassing almost 200 options, a convenient main options page for activating the theme (add your PayPal/Clickbank transaction ID) and for adding your Google AdSense Publisher ID, Chitika username and Clickbank username. Those are the only settings you have to set, you can of course turn all the ad networks off on this options page and run Stallion as a WordPress SEO theme with no ads (or use the custom widget areas for your custom ads).
The remaining 8 options pages are optional though highly recommended you play around with them as they add all sorts of useful features. Over the coming weeks I’ll be filling this site with various Stallion tutorials (and videos if I get the time!) so we all can get the best out of Stallion 6.

[Fernando Veloso]

Funny.

I want optimized themes to achieve HIGH rankings - and maintain them. Not a footprint theme for high CTR. Besides, you achieve high CTR with high rankings - not the opposite. So why ask for a high CTR theme?

/confused/

Anyways, my "best" option is always place the code by hand, create new CSS Divs, open PHP files and move on.

Just my 2 cents.

^^ Need a high CTR punchline.

[axus_auto]

Tell you what guys .... stop paying for any themes until you look at these two:

Flexibility Theme for WordPress

SEO WordPress Themes


Trust me and there is no need to thank me

[TryBPO]

Some themes will do better for some sites than others.

We tested both the Heatmap and ProSense themes on a bunch of sites and found similar results. Aesthetically, I like the Heatmap theme better, but that's just my preference and not based on actual data.

Pretty themes don't work as well for our sites as the less-pretty themes. If you're looking for a good selection of templates to choose from that are "pretty" check out the club rates for WooThemes. We're members there and use some of their templates for our sites...

[36burrows]

Not one mention of CTR theme? Shocking...that theme can easily give you a double digit click through rate

[bitriot]

I use heatmap theme because I can basically, copy my settings from blog to blog and get a full blog set up going in about 10 minutes. Much easier than all of the cloning tools that require DB access and all that. It also comes with like 20 color skins which is nice.

As far as adsense placement goes, there are only so many placements that work in the prototypical High CTR placement model. Then you get into blending. Then you are out of things to optimize.

So to me, the value of the theme outside of its placements is what matters. The only other thing I would consider are themes that allow for easy AB testing. That would be very cool for blogs with enough traffic to matter.

[Jayce]

You can usually tell just by looking at a theme's layout whether or not it might perform well, but I'm curious to know which one's perform well overall.

[hashbury]

Prosense is an oldie but goodie.

[BloggingPro]

Prosense is good. I have used it on several sites. The menu at the top is a real barn burner when it comes to Adsense income.

[John Williamson]

Don't remember if Bluesense is free or not, but it's pretty good. And Heatmap maybe.

That said, Clickbump blows 'em all outta the water and will pay for itself in no time, thus it is well worth the tiny investment.

[GGpaul]

Hey everyone, who here uses CTR theme and actually has great success with it?
I'm not getting much in terms of earnings. I don't know if that's the keywords that I've used, or whatever it is. If you are having success with it, are you using picture ads or straight text ads or both?

[Jayce]

Although some themes do seem to out perform others, I think it has more to do with your content, what type of ads you host and how well you blend the two.
My best CTRs come from camouflaging my ads in my copy.
The key is to blend them in without making them invisible.

[Jayce]

Also (and I apologize for going so far off topic, but...), the more specific your keywords and content the more specific your ads will be and the more likely your visitors are to click those ads.

[xylement]

I am using CTR theme for my sites and they work great. All you have to do is to get more traffic in, eventually you will notice the $$$ =D by using it my CTR is at 9% currently.

[imdomination]

I use a theme that works with the website's topic and get great results (7+%) that way. I never use a theme "designed" for CTR.

[John Williamson]

Originally Posted by GGpaul

Hey everyone, who here uses CTR theme and actually has great success with it?
I'm not getting much in terms of earnings. I don't know if that's the keywords that I've used, or whatever it is. If you are having success with it, are you using picture ads or straight text ads or both?

Are you getting a good CTR though?

[futuremills]

dont use picture ads..picture ads are usually not targeted as text ads. they will throw in pictures that have nothing to do with your topic

[36burrows]

I used to use CTR theme, but it creates such a horrible user experience I just couldn't stick with it. You can just get a good clean theme, make it user friendly, and still get a good CTR

[MrRankExpert]

hi GGpaul, I would like to say that today people get attracted to blogs by their unique designs and layouts. Blogs which have "awesome designs" and "awesome content" with "awesome presentation" actually ROCK now days. CTR and other themes like that might claim good CTR but design is so poor that there are 100% chances of an increase in "Bounce Rate"...

[Oranges]

Originally Posted by MrRankExpert

hi GGpaul, I would like to say that today people get attracted to blogs by their unique designs and layouts. Blogs which have "awesome designs" and "awesome content" with "awesome presentation" actually ROCK now days. CTR and other themes like that might claim good CTR but design is so poor that there are 100% chances of an increase in "Bounce Rate"...

Then what's point of making an adsense site? Adsense sites will always have high bounce rate, if the CTR is high too. Its pretty much obvious.

TO OP - I get 10%+ CTR with the default twenty Eleven theme comes with core wp installation setup. Left side bar 160x600 + 336x280 above the fold + 336x280 after content is all what you need to have decent CTR.

Those high CTR themes are just a result of hype and effective sales pitch and some crazy advertising on webmaster forums.

[puneet]

I just started using CTR on one of my site and here are the 2 day results:-

Day One - 480 Impressions - 7 Clicks
Day Two - 550 Impressions - 0 Clicks
Day Three (Today So Far) - 60 Impressions - 0 Clicks

I don't think it is going well but I will let it run for another few days before making any changes - let see how it goes.

[TryBPO]

What we've found is that CTR is much more closely related to niche than it is theme. As long as you have all the "basic" layout stuff covered (most of the ready-for-adsense themes do) it's likely the niche and not the theme.

I like how CTR theme rotates the ads for you...that's pretty cool...but I wish it could rotate theme layouts...that would be awesome I think. We're testing it out now against our previous theme and have noticed slightly lower CTR's on a large amount of sites/traffic, but it's pretty early in the test to make any determination...

[puneet]

TryBPO,

Thanks for the insights - what is your experience on the Electronics niche in general. I think this niche has low CTRs as people interested are internet savvy and are aware of these ads and all.

Thanks!