Blogging is your online diary of events, thoughts or for the business person a reserve of articles and comments directed toward your business. That definition is just the beginning of what blogging is becoming -- it's becoming much more.
Since Google Adsense has allowed Google Ads to occupy a place on your blog -- additional revenue, is at your disposal. "Oh", you say, "is that all?" No way. There are some individuals that do not have a website, but are utilizing their blog or multiple blogs to create an income, even testing the waters before a website goes up, and again, creating a presence on the web. And as for advertising for your blog -- take a look at BlogSnob at http://blogsnob.simpleads.net.
Your Blog, Your Website
For those who have a website, your blog can help you with your SEO process. As your readership increases so will your ranking -- what is dependent on that, of course, is the quality of the content. Content and search engines are extremely compatible as you know -- thus, your search engine ranking can take a big jump.
If you have a website, here are some ways to getting noticed:
1. A remotely maintained blog or one on your own server, place a link on your website. This can help you to increase traffic to your blog.
2. When you make an entry into your blog, try to make reference to something on your website -- this creates an inbound links. In addition, I would use absolute links -- which will enable you to place a couple of keywords in the title. 
3. Be keyword aware -- and relevant to your website. This helps your SEO process as well.
Blogging Accessories and Necessities
After you have written your quality content -- get it out to the masses -- have it pinged by Ping-o-Matic (http://pingomatic.com/)-- again, it's free. Pinging gets your blog out to the masses, letting them know that you have updated your blog and it is ready for them to read.
As your readership increases you may feel the urge to create a blog forum -- a tagboard services, which enables your readers to interact, as if in, a forum. If you are on blogger.com they have several free tagboards that you can use -- look under "Third Party Add-ons", or do your own search in Google.
Will there be Misuses with Advertising?
Will there be and misuses with advertising in blogs? Yes. People have different agendas, priorities and scruples.
You will probably see article misuse as well as, reader frustration to advertising if it is overkill. Thus, first and foremost, the blog must give potential readers quality content, and as to advertising -- it must be appropriate without overkill, or your reader will just simply click the blog away.
For example:
1. If you have more advertising then content -- you've lost the premise of a blog.
2. And if you put links to your own products within the body copy of another person's article, this, in my opinion, is changing copy, and saying that the author endorses the product. (article misuse)
Blogging can be a positive addition to your website or even to your first attempt to gaining a presence online. But with everything, there is a right way and a wrong way of presenting your product, service or views on line. Remember, to always keep your reader in the forefront -- by asking yourself -- if I was reading a blog, what would I want to see -- and most importantly, what would annoy me the most.
To conclude, blogging is beginning to grow, and its uses, are only limited by an individual's imagination, and of course, the search engines rules -- and I might say, individual readers tolerances and your ethics.