Someone asked a question in the comments section of my blog Blogger Tips and Tricks (close new window to get back to this page), "What is the best template to use for AdSense". I think that is relevant to this blog. Rather than typing a post all over again, I think I will just post my response:

That is a hard question to answer.

There are so many factors to take into consideration. For example, if there are not still 10-20% of visitors using small screen (600x800 screen resolution) to this blog, I would use a 3 column template. (How do I know that?

I use statcounter, a hit counter which give quite a bit of statistics about my visitors, but which doesn't give private information if any visitors to my site is worried about that).

If you want to know how to install a hit counter to your blog, go to How do I track visitors to my site. (Close new window to get back to this page). If you happen to be using Blogger Beta, then go to Blogger Beta: Adding advertisement, hit counters, etc.. (Close new window to get back to this page).

The reason why I don't want to use a 3 column template for this blog is because if I change to a 3 column template, depending on the design of the template, visitors with 800x600 resolution will either have to scroll to see the rest of the page, or the appearance of the site will change to something I, and especially my visitors, may not like.

This may put off my visitors and may discourage them from coming back again.

Why do I prefer a 3 column template? With a 3 column template, I can put more stuff above above the fold, the part of the page which a visitor first see without having to scroll when they first get to your site. That is the best place to put your ads.

It also enable me to put, for example, my ads on the left sidebar, and the profile, Previous Posts, Archives, link list, etc on the right sidebar, or to put some referral buttons right at the top of the right sidebar if I want good visibility for that.

If you want to see an examples of 3 column template with ads, surf over to Choosing and caring for digital cameras (Close new window to get back to this page), or this one: TV Network (close new window to get back to this page). If you happen to be using large screen and you want to see how visitors with small screen will see these two sites, type or paste this into the address bar: javascript:top.resizeTo(800,600) and press the ENTER key.

The second example will give a better result. If you want to know how to do that, surf over to Blogger for Dummies is now 3 column (close new window to get back to this page), and for the second example, go to Blogger template tutorial (close new window to get back to this page). I use the modified Thur's 3 column Minima template for some of my blogs.