Useful Tools
XML Files Tool for Google SiteMaps (free)
Free tool that helps you create the XML file needed when using google site maps
Adsense Preview Tool
http://googleadspreview.blogspot.com/
Rather than visiting a website, you can bring up a pop-up window full of ad samples by right clicking and selecting the preview tool from the pop-up window.
Adsense Notifier Tool (Firefox only)
http://code.mincus.com/3/adsense-notifier/
This is an invaluable too for OC people who check adsense stats every 5 minutes. Checking adsense habitually is a painful process—its like watching grass grow. But this handy little extension makes it less of a headache. The Notifier can sit in the bottom of your browser window and displays whatever stats you want– total clicks, daily earnings, impressions, CTR, etc. Wondering if you made any more money yet? You can find out with a quick glance. It’s highly configurable and can save you bunch of time.
Adwords Bidding Tool / Traffic Extimator
https://adwords.google.com/select/TrafficEstimatorSandbox/
This is probably the most useful tool out there. The only drawback is that you must have an AdWords account to get access to the information. I would suggest getting AdWords anyway, since it gives you a good idea of what publishers go through and what options they have when creating ads.
This bidding tool is THE resource for figuring out what keywords result in the highest paying AdSense ads. It’s quite possible that all those pages and blogs that list the Top X-number of highest paying AdSense keywords use the bidding information found through AdWords or Overture. As a site/blog owner, its important to know what words you might want to emphasize in your content.
Best Ad Placements recommended by Google
https://www.google.com/adsense/static/en_US/images/placement.gif