Abstract: Systems and methods for providing a user with customized advertisements in response to a user indication of a desire to receive the customized advertisements. The user, by opting in and creating a user-controlled profile, indicates a desire to receive targeted and highly relevant advertisements that correspond to the user-specific information provided by the user in the user-controlled profile. This information, for example, may be the user's demographic information, location, marital status, information from the user's web-based calendar, or whether the user has children. The customized advertisements may also be selected according to the user's location, which may be determined by any location determining technique. By purchasing an item presented in a customized advertisement, referring a customized advertisement to another user, or taking some other defined action, the user may receive an incentive, such as points, currency, discounts, or credit to be used toward a future purchase.