Is advertising on websites lucrative?

I was thinking the other day of a few questions:

Is advertising on a website lucrative?

Can you make a living on running a website?
(That doesn't sell a product)

Is it per click driven?

Do any of you actually click the banners?
(Would you if you knew it helped ATS or another favorite site?)

I know. It is not a very in depth introduction into the thread but I think it will spin into something larger. I have planted a seed and I know many of you are curious too! ATS mods and Owners, can you answer these? Oh and one last question. How come you guys don't take donations? (or do you???) Do you receive funding from the Government since you are required to store the posts for X amount of time?

Have the records been asked for about that Nut Job that opened fire in Tuscon?

I was looking on a website for the store halfords the other day.. Browsing for an iPhone transmiter for my car radio..
Now alot sites I go to have big flashing adverts in my face, for iPod transmitters for the car, it's obviously because I already looked on the web for this item.. Really p's me off!!!!

Originally posted by NeverApologize
I was thinking the other day of a few questions:

Is advertising on a website lucrative?

It can be Depends on site nitche and traffic.

Can you make a living on running a website?
(That doesn't sell a product)

Most people that make living from online advertising run many, many sites

Is it per click driven?

Sometimes but not generally no.

Do any of you actually click the banners?

Some people do By mistake. No but seriosly percentage isn't high but you got enough traffic you will make enough profit.

I'm not ats admin or mod, but i have done my share of internet marketing. Targeted blogs are the way to go

Very cool. Thanks for the breakdown!

I wonder how many clicks ATS gets per week? Mod? Are you allowed to tell me? This is all morbid curiosity, nothing else

I remember when I had a Geocities Website probably 10 years ago, and I placed a banner for FreeYellow on my website. The company claimed to pay 20 cents per click and tracked per IP. Well. My buddies and I got the wise idea to download an IP spoofer and click all day long, running a script! So by the end of day one we had over 6000 clicks from original IP's!!!

The website never paid us, maybe they knew of the spoofer idea? I was really upset. But do the math quick, that's over a thousand bucks we were owed! HAHAHA!

Back on point. Does ATS advertise there own site across the interwebs? I have never seen a banner or ad for ATS anywhere. (Sort of debunks those: "ATS is the Government" threads! Wouldn't they want to be known by as many as possible people?!?!)

i should add that some companies pay you to advertise on your site if your popular enough. its not unlike radio stations and tv. if your site generates traffic someone will want to market on your site. one site that comes to mind is rotten tomatoes. the creator appears on my local morning show from time to time and that is pretty much all he does for a living. to think he just started as a little movie review site and now he has access to all the red carpet movie awards. and facebook is the best example of turning a site into a 50 billion dollar company in just a few years.

Take a look at these statistics

Facebook Now On Pace to Serve 1 Trillion Display Ads Per Year