Pay per click sites. Is this how it works?

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Can anyone tell me if they have made good money from these sites? From what I can see, an owner of a site allows advertisers to pay for traffic. Owner gets money. Owner allows people to join free and get paid (a fraction of what he is paid) to look at these ads. I am thinking not a bad set-up for fast easy money. After awhile these sites get less and less advertisers, thus less and less to offer. Eventually they close. Those that have invested their time to look at these ads, get nothing. The advertisers get traffic, but not the staying kind. What to you think, and do you know if any of these sites have been around for a long time?