I added a link list earlier under my nav links and got a ton of clicks on the links but very few on the ads that came up. Seems like they are a waste of space. The whole point of putting them near the nav links is to trick people, but once the link comes up with the real ads, they won't click on them if they didn't want to in the first place.
Adlinks (I think that's what you mean by link lists) do fairly well for me. I don't have much trouble getting people to click the second time to go through to the merchant's page. My secret, as always, is to write the kind of content that attracts people who are researching products or services and therefore are already in the mindset of buying something soon. If you have a site that is based on news or entertainment, you're less likely to get visitors who are in buy-mode, and they'll be less likely to click ads in general (which is why you end up having to trick them...).