thats what I am wondering, how is sending the actual click? does he have access to a PPC feed (from who?) or is he somehow getting the links for the link via javascript and for what ad networks ??
That, unfortunately, I could not observe. My intuition says that he had a PPC feed for his parked domains and he was using the click.mygeek.com etc services to click on them.
Note that he was not always clicking on the links, to maintain a reasonable low clickthrough rate for the ads.
You run a video site or a search engine that serves CPM ads. If you can buy PPC cheap enough, you can arbitrage and make money.
PPC from Google is expensive, but there are companies that sell cheap clicks. Some publishers on these ad networks run porn sites with hidden iframes that generate the clickthrough.
However, iframes generate a http referer, and this gives away the rather dubious traffic sources. The series of redirected clicks are used to subvert click fraud analysis.
Hmm I used this page: http://www.treasury.gov/Pages/default.aspx and went to the 10yr note and looked at its return. So to be clear, I'm talking about US Treasury Bills and not Canadian Treasury Bills. If you have a relationship with a financial institution you can buy them 'directly' (which is to say you own t-bills as opposed to buy into a fund which invests in t-bills) at $10,000 each. (insert caveat about 'Goldman Sachs' which handles sales of t-bills to individual investors and takes a cut, grrrr)
I don't have a magic bullet for finding a good financial advisor, mine cold called me in 1988 when I was at Sun and convinced me to by some California Municipal bonds. Now going on 23 years later I still consult her for financial advice. I think its more of a style thing in terms of being able to talk with someone about what makes sense and what doesn't with investing.
To give you an example, I was waaaaaaaaaaay over invested in tech in the 90's. My advisor told me I was, but didn't push me to do something different. 2000 may not have had a y2k bug disaster but it was financially painful for me.
Some folks might blame their advisor for not being forceful enough and getting me out of tech, but I don't roll that way. I heard what she had to say, we talked about the pros and cons, and I went with 'let it ride for one more roll' (a reference to the game of craps).
I was less forgiving of a recommendation for a fund manager who turned out to be a total turd. But I'm a big believer in Iacocca's comment that if more than half your decisions are good then you are ahead of the game. So advice for looking for an advisor:
1) Interview them, ask them the 'hard' questions, like "did you suggest to anyone to invest in Madoff's schemes?" (note either 'no' or 'yes' has good follow up questions, "No? It was such a great return why not?", "Yes? Even when the returns were out of line with other investments?")
2) Know that the wider the diversification the closer to the mean you will get. If the S&P 500 has a return of X% and someone tells you they can guarantee you > 1.5X% return, then you know they are not being truthful :-) Doing about 50% better than the S&P 500 occasionally has sort of emerged for me as a good razor for becoming suspicious. (note that 'banks' make there boatloads of cash on volume, not because they beat the S&P by 50% but because they beat it by a small amount but on a lot of other peoples money, and FedRsrv money but that is a whole different rant)
3) Check for compatibility. Everyone is different in how they interact with each other, and money, like sex, is one of those things that often has some really strong notions that were burned into ones brain at an impressionable age which color the way you look at everything. Risk averse? Risk seeking? Money as a tool? Money as a game score? Do they define themselves by how much money they manage? Do you? Its perhaps the hardest thing to get right.
Thanks for your help, I have considered buying a franchise but as you may know:
1. Good locations are taken
2. Priority generally given to current owners
3. It is a business I would have to overlook on a consistent basis (However a hotel investment I think would be okay in this sense, but again, good Hotel franchises are way more expensive plus again good locations are taken, and I do not want to work in the Boonies)
Again with the diversification: I'd be more inclined to buy several 350k stores than 1 multi-million dollar hotel. The added benefit is you do not need to be as involved as you think, as you can hire middle management pretty easily at that level. (I grew up in a 7-Eleven store, which was purchased by a guy in a similar situation to you, along with several other ones from prior owners).
Second, you can talk to far away yet successful chains and offer to be the "anchor" locally. Find a Vancouver chain, for instance, and convince them to open stores in Toronto, etc.
Also, remember there are tons of chains out there, including ones that don't have offices/aren't mainly associated with their offices. I mean, for instance, stuff like Deco, which is a lot of "on site" window repair (Full disclosure: I have a indirect relationship with them, but I say their name more because I'm an American who knows few Canadian businesses than any particular knowledge of Deco).
I would not be surprised to find out there is a Canadian office of business affairs who'd help point you towards franchise opportunities.
Lastly, you can purchase them from people who already own them (with most franchises). I know that's how my family got out of their 7-Eleven store. In this economy, I'm sure there are people looking to sell. If you look hard enough, you may find one who is doing so due to hardship rather than due to poor performance.
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All that said: I say all the above because franchises are stupidly good at maintaining wealth. If you want passive and are willing to risk inflation issues, I'd go to with passive.
Also, you may want to buy some USD right now if you're all in CAD. USD swung down due to oil price issues. Oanda is cheap for large currency transactions according to my banker friend (flat fee as opposed to %). RBC also has free CAD->USD conversion for Canadians IIRC.
Then again, this might be permanent, and speculation is never a great way to gain security.
its a way to pass time with friends, same reason why friends go and drink together, people smoke together... not to mention it can be safer and cheaper then booze.
