In the traditional media, advertising sales is a crucial function. A publisher lives or dies on the competence of their ad sales department and their ability to convince advertisers that space in their publication is worth more than just eyeballs.
It's obvious to all of us that a click isn't just a click. There are quality clicks and bad clicks. There is clear value in advertising even with no direct response. It's up to you as a publisher to convince advertisers that your readers are richer or more spendy or more enthusiastic or more easily persuaded than Joe Random.
Print publishers laugh at us for our naïveté. As online publishers, we just don't have the cultural sense that our job is to match up advertisers with people who want to be advertised to. That's the real value-add of ad-supported media, the content itself is just a hook to attract and retain the right demographic.
Ad sales is an active pursuit. If you're waiting for people to find you, you're doing it wrong. If you're expecting advertisers to know what space to buy, you're doing it wrong. If you're not thinking in terms of campaigns and strategy, you're doing it wrong. If you're not pursuing ongoing relationships with agencies, you're doing it wrong.
If you were an advertiser, would you buy advertising from you?