When people advertise for the first time using money out of their pocket, they normally don't get the results they are looking for. If I were to make a blog about Adf.ly (as an example) and spend $100 USD for 100k world wide unique visitors, the results would not be that great. You need to make sure that your audiences interest will be peaked the minute they see it. After all, the advert lasts for 5 seconds then it will be skipped. Which means you have 5 seconds to make an impression on your visitors.
How can you do this? What catches peoples eyes?
1 - A big header
2 - A few words
3 - Audio
4 - A clean site
Sure the above helps, but let me ask you this, if someone finds your site interesting, views it for a bit then decides to leave your site, do you think they are going to come back? 99% of the time, people will not come back to your website. So what do you do about it?
1 - You must get them to subscribe for more information.
example - Header "Make Money When Someone Visits Your Blog." Sounds catchy right? Below the header, tell them to subscribe for more information by capturing their name and email address.
2 - You must make sure that they put in their real email address so have a double opt in system in use (have them confirm their email address).
You must send them useful information every once in a while and not spam them about trying out Adf.ly or some other opportunity.
3 - You need to follow up with your leads. If they subscribed with their real phone number for example, throw them a text message. Start a conversation then get them on the phone. Do not spam them.
4 - Make sure your site has some kind of security image. For example, a No spam image ensuring them they won't get any or some sort of lock or norton image that shows your site is safe.
5 - Use your own url address. Pointing people to blogspot or wordpress isn't the best of ideas. A .com is more powerful as well.
6 - Using the word "FREE" is a good idea. Even if you are trying to sell them something, you can always offer "free" information about the product or service you are advertising.
Finally, here is an example of what kind of site you want your audience to see. It doesn't need to look exactly like this but its simple and too the point. Not to fancy either.