When Huffington Post co-founder Ken Lerer admitted that he had no plans to ever pay his bloggers, there was some outrage from the reporters and pundits who had grown accustomed to getting money for their work.

But the fact is, The Huffington Post offers her bloggers something which can be more valuable than money: Web traffic.

Consider Valerie Wilson’s blog on the Huffington Post. She became a writer on the site literately three hours after her 60 Minutes segment. She’s written three posts on the Huffington Post, mostly about her book, and her experience trying to promote it.

While Fair Game has its own website, presumably one that Wilson's publishers have paid her to upkeep, a book’s website does not offer the kind of traffic the Huffington Post does.

For established figures looking to make a presence online, it’s not about time or money, it’s about hits. Arianna Huffington has made a business model out of exposure, and in this age, that counts for something.