Adding Adsense to a Wordpress blog - how?

I'm a little late to the game, but I FINALLY joined AdSense! Yeah, I know, I sat around for a long time on the sidelines - but now I got the nerve to actually get started. That first step was a big one and I can say that I have made it - now it's time to make it work for me.

So --- I've got this blog that I post on for my company. And I want to put AdSense text links on it. Because the blog is Wordpress based, I knew that a plug-in would be required to get the ads onto the blog posts and pages.

Alright - fine, I get that. So I searched through Wordpress's plugins directory for anything that will do the job. Let me say, although there are plenty of plugins that sound appropriate, some of the ratings and reviews were unkind - and for different reasons.

After reading through all of that stuff, I knew I had to just "pick one" and go with it. Worst thing that could happen is it wouldn't work for me and I'd deactivate it.

So the one I downloaded and installed was "AdSense Integrator". I got it activated and proceeded to check out the settings page. Hooboy! I was totally lost looking at it. Couldn't make heads or tales of it. Didn't seem like it was going to do the job so I turned it off pretty quick. Maybe when I actually know what I'm doing will it work well.

Back to the drawing board. I selected a different plugin. This one is called "Easy Adsense". It got mixed reviews but it sounded like it might be ok for my needs (easy set up). Did the install and activation.

The settings page was a bit easier to figure out but still, I had a few questions about how to get going. I read some of the roll-over help and felt I had enough information to give things a try.

First things first, I was aware that I needed to create the Ad code in Google Adsense. Yeah, but that was a bit tricky too. So, I figured - this is a test - so if it failed, I could always start over.

So I generated my first Google Ad settings, mostly by picking and choosing a few different options and hoping it would all work in the end. I got the code, and copied it - as directed.

Went back over to the Wordpress plugin settings page and started pasting. Filled out the other options and hit save.

Then, I checked the blog itself.

Oops!

No good....

I had a big ad block in the middle and my posts were all shoved over to the side.

UNDO!!!

Second try - I read through the help section again and figured out that I needed to suppress all the blocks, except for the one(s) I wanted to display. Ok, got it. Hit Save....

Still, no good. Now my posts were gone completely, leaving only the Headings themselves. I did see a couple of the ad links but they were getting chopped off on both sides. Arggghhhh!!!!!

It dawned on me that maybe the Google Ad was too wide. So I went back to Google to make a smaller ad, and put the code back in to the plugin settings page - and tried, yet again.

Still not working. Maybe my Wordpress theme (CognoBlue by blogsdna) was the problem? I'm really not sure - but they say it is fully AdSense compatible. :confused:

Gave it one more try late last night. This time, I made a vertical block of text links, instead of the horizontal block I wanted. I added it to the sidebar on the left.

THAT WORKED!

BUT... it was much lower down than I wanted. I checked my sidebar settings and moved it up. It's still not at the top and I don't know what is overriding it. Not only that, I'm unable to add anything to my right hand side bar. That may be a problem with the theme itself (or my understanding of how it works) - I'm not really sure.

My first Adsense ads were live and visible - so in that regard, it was something to be proud of. It was much too late to keep going so I left the ads where they were and figured it might be a good idea to ask for some assistance here.

Basically, I want to have unobtrusive text link ads that are horizontal and placed near the top of the page - under the header would be best. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thank you in advance.

Looking forward to earning my first two cents on Adsense!