if you have a decent website you can charge for 3-6-12 month ad placements. advertise in the buy, sell section and i'm sure you'll find somebody
Yep, people are always looking to do direct advertising. I would recommend being honest with them though, they'll stick around longer. Try to find advertisers taht would be a good fit. Adsense is great though if you're unable to do so. My experience is that Adbrite, Kontera, and other places just don't pay out as well.
there are tons that gonna pay you for publishing their ads but best is adsense. Others in this business are kontera, yahoo, microsoft, adbrite, info links, affiliate links.
The most important thing is to have really good website, that way you can use the mentioned ones, but as well you could contact other websites and offer the spaces on your site to prmote them. It might be a better business.
Aren't they're also a couple that pay you per day instead of per click? So that, an advertiser can pay you $1 per day to have the ad on their site. It might not be a good idea for people who already have lots of traffic, but if you are just starting out that $30/month for that $1 a day ad could pay for your hosting costs while you continue to expand.
If you are just starting out then Adsense is the best. From there you can add more revenue streams once you have the traffic.
Start with adsense, and see in which direction you site goes. Then shape in to that. You might find a affiliate product that compliments your site. Don't rule our any possibility's!!