Those Silly Little Links

So I was reading the news on MS-NBC yesterday and noticed something: A whole bunch of tiny advertisements under the heading “Sponsored Links”. The products I typically see there are for everything from refinancing to weight-loss products to improving computer performance. Pretty much, it’s all of the same spam I used to get in my email before I put the spam-filter on it.

My question is: Who even notices these things? I mean, I see them, but I never think of clicking on them, just like I never clicked on the links in the spam emails that were sent to me. I have to wonder if there is any kind of real revenue generated for the people using this as a means of advertising.

I’m guessing there has to be some effectiveness to this kind of advertising, but I have to also question if the people clicking on the links are really the target demographic of the advertisers. Really, it looks more like a ploy of desperation and complete lack of a marketing strategy. It must have some effectiveness, though… The ads have been there for quite some time.