PTC sites - When points only convert to advertising

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I really like it better when the points convert to cash but what if you are stuck on a PTC site where the points only convert to advertising. It seems that they give you so many ways to spend the points on advertising that it is confusing. If you have the minimum amount of points to spend, what is the best choice for spending them? What if you don't have your own web page but you want people to use your referral link so that you can build a good "downline". Is that considered "advertising" and how do you go about setting that up?