How to Choose Ad Sizes and Placements That Actually Earn on a Crypto Site

Two crypto sites with identical traffic can earn very different money from the same ad network. The difference is rarely the network. It is where the banners sit, how many there are, and whether the formats match the devices readers actually use. This guide is a placement audit you can run on your own site in an afternoon, with specifics for the five formats offered by Affizy, a crypto-native ad network that pays publishers 80% of ad revenue in USDT.

What you need

For this audit

• Your analytics open on the device split (mobile vs desktop share) and the top 20 pages by pageviews.
• Access to your theme so you can move or remove ad slots.
• At least one week of per-unit earnings from your ad network dashboard. If you have none yet, run the default layout from Step 3 for a week first.
• A phone. You will test every change on it.

Step 1: Learn what each of the five formats is for

Formats are not interchangeable. Each one exists because it fits a specific spot in a page.

The 300×250 is the workhorse. It fits in a sidebar, inside a column of text and on a phone screen, and most advertisers produce it first, so fill is rarely a problem. If you run only one format, run this one.

The 480×320 spotlight is the format most publishers underuse. At the end of a long article, the reader has just finished something and is deciding what to do next; a large, well-designed creative in that moment earns attention a header banner never gets.

Step 2: Understand viewability before you choose positions

Advertisers pay for impressions that people can see. The common industry definition counts a display ad as viewable when at least half of it is on screen for at least a second. A unit that renders at the bottom of a 2,500-word article is technically served but almost never viewable, and over time advertisers' results on that unit drive its rates down.

Three positions are reliably viewable on a content site:

1. Above the fold, below the header. Seen by everyone who lands on the page.
2. In-content, after the second or third paragraph. Seen by everyone who starts reading.
3. Sticky sidebar (desktop only). Stays in view while the reader scrolls.

Everything else (footer, below related posts, inside a collapsed section) is a long tail of impressions that mostly go unseen. These positions are not worthless, but they are the first candidates for removal when you simplify.

Step 3: Design the mobile layout first

Check your device split. For most crypto news and analysis sites, mobile is the majority of sessions, and on mobile the sidebar does not exist. That means a desktop-first layout with a leaderboard and two sidebar units earns nothing from more than half your audience.

A mobile layout that works:

• One 320×50 directly under the navigation. Small, always viewable, low intrusion.
• One 300×250 after the second or third paragraph.
• One 480×320 or 300×250 at the end of the article.

Two rules for phones: never let a unit cover content (no sticky bottom bars over text), and never place two units within one screen height of each other. The phone test is simple. Open your busiest article on your own device and scroll; if you see two banners at once, move one.

Step 4: Then layer the desktop layout

On desktop, you have width to use:

• 728×90 under the header.
• 300×250 at the top of the sidebar; optionally a 160×600 sticky below it on layouts wider than 1,200 px.
• 480×320 at the end of the article.

If your theme collapses the sidebar below the content on narrower windows, make sure the sidebar units do not render there as well as the mobile units. Most themes let you set visibility per breakpoint; use it so each device sees its own set.

Step 5: Decide how many units per page

More units do not mean more revenue. Each additional unit splits the same reader attention, and advertisers, through their results, pay less per impression for crowded pages. The dilution is visible in your own dashboard as a falling average CPM when you add units without adding traffic.

A practical ceiling:

• Content pages (articles, guides): three units.
• Listing pages (home, category archives): two units.
• Tool pages (calculators, trackers, price pages): one or two, placed away from the tool itself.

Here is the test. Compute revenue per thousand pageviews (RPM) for the page type with its current units. Remove the lowest-earning unit for a week. If RPM holds or rises, the unit was diluting; keep it removed. If RPM drops by more than the unit was earning, put it back. Most sites find they can remove one or two units with no revenue loss and a visibly cleaner page.

Step 6: Set minimum CPM floors deliberately

Affizy lets you set a minimum CPM per ad unit. Used well, a floor raises your average rate; used badly, it empties your slots.

The approach that works:

1. Week one: no floors. Collect the natural average CPM for each unit.
2. Week two: floor your best unit at slightly below its average. You lose the cheapest campaigns and keep nearly all the fill.
3. Leave weak units open. A below-fold unit with a floor will simply serve nothing. Either move it to a better position or let it fill at market rate.
4. Revisit monthly. Advertiser demand shifts with the market. A floor that was right in a busy month can be too high in a quiet one.

A floor is a statement about your inventory's value, and it only works when the inventory backs it up. Floors on viewable, well-placed units hold; floors on filler slots do not.

Step 7: Static versus HTML5

Both run in the same slots, so as a publisher you do not choose, but you should know the difference because it affects page performance and reader experience.

• Static creatives are single images. Light, instant, predictable.
• HTML5 creatives are small animated packages rendered in an iframe. They draw more attention and advertisers use them for launches and brand campaigns.

Two things to check on your side: that your theme does not force the ad container into a flexible layout that squashes the iframe (centre it with text alignment rather than stretching it), and that your page still scores well on mobile speed tests with the units in place. If a unit noticeably delays the page, move the script to load after the main content rather than removing the unit.

Troubleshooting and FAQ

My RPM dropped after I added a skyscraper. Classic dilution. The skyscraper is pulling impressions that advertisers value less than your rectangle, and dragging the average down. Try the removal test from Step 5.

Should I put a unit above the headline? Rarely. Readers scan past it to reach the title, and on mobile it pushes the headline below the fold. Under the header but above the article body is the better spot.

Is a sticky 320×50 at the bottom of the phone screen acceptable? It is common, and it is viewable, but it covers content and readers dislike it. If you use it, keep it dismissable and do not pair it with a top banner on the same page.

My site is mostly tool pages (price tracker, calculator). What changes? Readers come for the tool, not the text. One rectangle beside or below the tool outperforms three units around it. The spotlight slot works well under the results area.

What about auto-refreshing units to earn more impressions? Do not. It violates publisher policies across the industry, including Affizy's, and advertisers detect the pattern in their results. You trade a short burst of impressions for lower rates and a possible suspension.

How soon do placement changes show in earnings? Give each change a full week, ideally including a weekend, because crypto traffic and advertiser bidding both vary by weekday.

The short version

Design for the phone first. Three units per article, two on listing pages. One 300×250 in-content is the backbone; a 320×50 under the nav and a 480×320 at the end round it out on mobile, a 728×90 and sidebar units on desktop. Floor only your best unit, only after a week of data. Then stop adding units and start adding readers. Setup details for each format are shown when you create a unit in the publisher dashboard at affizy.network, and the release notes on affizy.com list format changes as they ship.