I’m still on administrative leave, but Patrica from Bobble Bee sent a great thought provoking article about advertising. Admittedly I myself often wonder these questions, and is the most compelling reason to start IFB:

via Bobble Bee:

When shopzilla contacted me months ago to place an ad in my blog it was a very happy day for me; I needed money at the time for milkshake chocolate’s expenses and it also gave me the chance I was craving for, getting paid for my time and ideas.They were very honest with me from the beginning and we discussed different wages until we got the deal.Months later they offered me to place ads “per click”; I would get paid regarding the “clicks” those ad-links would get from my readers.I thought it a good idea and placed those ads for a couple of months… until I realized I was advertising those companies (others than shopzilla) without getting paid. Then I decided to remove them.Since then I am still trying to figure out why these “per click” ads are so popular (google is a favourite) among bloggers who want or need to earn some money. Many of these bloggers are quite followed thus their traffic permits these ads to do “their job”.Those ads have the name of the company big and bold and so it gets stuck in our heads somehow. Therefore, companies are advertising in the blog without paying a penny. Aren’t those companies playing with the bloggers’ “hope” that someone will click?.I wonder how many people click those ads.They (the ads) are rather dull and uninteresting, we are reading a blog and don’t want to be bothered. The months I have them up not even one person did a single click.This is my opinion and the reason why I removed those “per click” ads. They’re not for me, thanks.>>> More on blog-sploitation* by the great Liberty London Girl.