After reading about www.zecco.com and following coverage here at Bloggingstocks.com, I had to wonder if Google's advertising-only model can just be indefinitely extended. Is it true that just about any online company with a content- or service-rich model disrupt the status quo by providing products and services for free with ad revenue to support it?

Will this strategy work for everyone? The backers of Zecco.com sure think so -- and in the space of personal finance and online trading, I think this is one example where Zecco will shake up the online trading community with its free trades -- if it can build a customer base and attack the likes of Schwab, E*Trade and TD Ameritrade.

Can Google advertising save the, um, industry? Any industry? I'm not so sure it's that simple, but the sheer success of Google's advertising juggernaut is legendary. But, can a pretty decent transaction processing structure (if it's that complicated) be completely financed by income generated by Google ads and other relevant advertising? Zecco.com believes so, and this is an industry where I tend to believe that Zecco can indeed survive on ad revenue. Other industries are questionable, but no online trading according to your truly.

The challenge Zecco.com will have will be to build an audience and recruit longtime traders from online discount brokerages like Schwab, TD Ameritrade and E*Trade. For those that trade frequently or even daily, Zecco.com's "free trades" is bound to catch the attention of quite a few active traders among other folks. The challenge will be to get them to click on Google ads when they get over to Zecco.com.

Last week I pondered what the launch of Zecco, a free online stock trading service, could translate to as far as what it could do to online brokerage firms' profit margins on online trading. I gave a couple of different paths and possible longer-term implications, but this morning one of the paths has already been set.

Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC) is going to offer free online stock trading for self-directed investors with account balances of over $25,000.00. Zecco's minimum balance is $2,500.00 for free online trading, only a tenth of the requirement for free trading at Bank of America. While there is a discrepancy between these two offerings, it is almost certain we will be seeing more freebie or discounted offerings from other online trading operations elsewhere.

That can't be good for profit margins at E*Trade Financial Corp (NYSE: ET), TD Ameritrade Holding Corp (NASDAQ: AMTD), Schwab Corp (NASDAQ: SCHW) and others. To point, online brokers are lower this morning in pre-market trading: ET is down 4.5% at $23.36, AMTD is down 5.5% at $18.04, and SCHW is down 4.2% at $17.30. I haven't seen any trades or indications on TradeStation Group Inc (NASDAQ: TRAD), although they are also an online trading firm specializing in direct trading access for stocks, options, futures and forex.

The big three in online trading -- ET, AMTD, SCHW -- can't be too thrilled about this as they had finally found some price stability after commission wars left only them standing as the leaders.

Jon Ogg is a partner in 24/7 Wall St., LLC; he does not own securities in the companies he covers

Recently, I was at a Web 2.0 conference. I asked many companies a simple question: "So how do you charge for your service?"

In most cases, the answer was: "It's free."

Well, as I dug in some more, I realized the business model for these companies is usually an advertising play.

And that's the case with a New Age brokerage firm, Zecco. If you want to trade stocks on the site, you will pay no commissions (the company's name is a mesh of "zero commission online"). Instead, you must deal with Google ads.

That sounds like a pretty good deal. Hey, how many of you actually look at ads?

So, how good a deal is this for Zecco?

It's a tough call. In the brokerage business, the cost of acquiring a customer – and keeping a customer – is not cheap. But, if a firm offers free trading, this can be a great way to get lots of customers.

Although, there are likely other revenue models, such as making money from cash balances, margin loans and so on. This is a big reason that brokerage firms have been charging rock-bottom rates over the years.