jfrase / i used a similar method back in the day with the AOL Community Boards
we used to write software to automate tasks on AOL, or do other STUPID every day tasks that computers didn't do so well back in Windows 95/98 era.
we write software, put up a sales page on a free web host like tripod, or angelfire.
signup for a url re-direct from cjb.net or jump.to etc to make it easily rememberable
surf community boards for specific demographics who were prone to buy cheap $9.99 software that does idiot pointless stuff but to the novice PC user was a life saver (at home mothers).
join / post on the board and pull on heart strings with your "story".
interest gains, you become popular, and that's when you say, "well if i could just get off my feet again i'd be set, but for now the only way i can make money is by selling my software online".
all the ladies are like "wait, you actually MAKE software? so you're not only the sweetest wopman on the planet but you'rea genius too? omg take my monies!!!" plug, plug, plug, sales, sales, sales.
i had this method fully automated through the use of leaked internal software that allowed me to send / read tokens from the boards.
i won't get into specifics about FDO, Tokens, or Rainman...buuuut it was pure blackhat / social engineering, worked like a charm though. especially once i learned winsocks programming in VB4! we throttled up proxies + multiple computers back in those days running win95 & aol2.5 / 3.0 - so generally i had about 6-7 PCs going and i'd sit all day and all night and do this. i can't give you exact numbers but i was making around $100/day at my peak.
great idea though! i remember these advertising accounts, we used to target them for rainman control access. i NEVER knew how companies obtained them, now i do! thanks! ;p
ps.
we also used to troll the boards for the CL (Community Leaders) social engineer our way into their hearts & they would promote for us as well.
mind you this all worked well back then because AOL had the largest subscriber base. i dunno about these days. ;p
oh and to all you nay-sayers - go make some $$ & quit hating on people's methods like you know anything about them or it.