Attracting advertisers - How do I do this?

[neocivitas]

OK. My forums are nearly ready to be opened to the public and have already cost a fair bit to set up.
I want my forums to be free for everyone to register and use but there is only me to foot the bill.

I am willing to consider placing a random banner on the top of every page but I am unsure of how to attract advertisers and how much revenue I can expect to be generated.
I intend to run my forums on a totally not-for-profit basis so any advertising revenue would be initially used to keep the current level of service and hopefully then to migrate to a dedicated server.

Anyway, I digress. Some of you must have once been in a similar position as me and I would appreciate any insight you could provide on the matter.

Thanks.

[freehtml]

Depends on the site traffics and unique visitor and of course the targetted customer..It can be easy or hard to attract advertiser. Especially in the bad economic where people are all tied up...