Why Use 125×125 Ad Blocks

While looking through some free WordPress templates for a niche blog that I am starting, one made me question the designer’s choice of ad blocks. I am wanted to eventually sell ads on this blog so I am looking for themes with ad blocks already built in. This particular one is a very nice theme but it has three 100×100 ad blocks. At first that didn’t seem like such a big deal, but the more I thought about it I realized that it probably wasn’t a very wise move to go down from the de facto 125×125 sized blocks.

Here’s why.

Standard

Your advertisers possibly run multiple ads on various blogs. You are less likely to get an advertiser if they have to alter their preexisting ads to suit your blogs needs.

Space

When I was first getting into doing web pages I did banner ads for my Uncle’s site. Although the copy text he wanted was often the most verbose, infomercial-like stuff such as "lightning-fast shipping", "super duper savings", or "call with in the next 10 minutes to get twice more for only double the price", I quickly realized how important every pixel was. Going any smaller than 125×125 can really make a different between an effective ad and a forgettable one.

Alternatives

Until a blog has a well-established readership, advertisers are going to be slim. So instead of having four empty ad blocks you can put in alternative forms of advertising already formatted for the 125×125 dimensions. I know Google Adsense and Amazon Associates have banners that can be placed in those spots along with many affiliate programs.

Who knows who came up with the 125×125 parameters but in my opinion it’s probably unwise to stray from it until some of the bigger bloggers start to move on to something else.