Gotta agree with the whole design issue. Not long ago I made 10 sales from a gallery with (I thought) some very dodgy text links. Soon after I made a nice looking gallery that was meant to draw the surfer in to a pretty, custom sponsor graphic (and text links too) and it made 3. Seems big, bold and obvious non-graphic ads can work well with him.
Either was, he still always more than pays the BW bills
BTW, I presume you realise you gotta pay for the No1 spot?