Getting the colors right with Adsense

[islandhopper]

I just added Adsense to my site and would like some advice on colors for my Adsense ads. Should I make them blend in to look more natural, as if if they were index items. Or should I keep the colors slightly different so they stand out on my page? I've done the latter thus far and no hits:

http://refinancing101.blogspot.com

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
islandhopper

[Jenstar]

There are two schools of thought on this.

If you have a high number of repeat visitors, many go for the blending effect - the border and background the same color as your page background. Then select the title color to the same color as your site links, or a complimentary color. This makes them appear less like ads.

If you have mostly one-time visitors, you can use the above, or you can hit them with an "in your face" color scheme (ie. something obnoxious like red border, red text and yellow background). Some people swear by this technique, but since my sites have a high percentage of repeat visitors, I prefer not to hit them over the head with an obnoxious and annoying color combination like that, and I generally stick with the blended technique or a variation of it.

It could also be a traffic issue though, since you mention you have no hits. Very few sites have 0% CTR if they have some traffic.

[islandhopper]

I tried several approaches, but I think I like blending the Adsense ads the best. This has the cleanest look rather than an "in your face" approach.

See what I've done at
http://refinancing101.blogspot.com

Thanks for your help!