When this blog was first founded, it featured stock market advice and sportsbook tips in addition to ways to make money online. Over the past few years of operations, I have drastically narrowed the focus on blogging… but I believe that the new year will be the perfect time to implement a change in policy.

Two New Post Categories for the New Year

Those of you that have been long-time readers probably know that I absolutely love the financial markets. I’ve managed a $400K stock portfolio to a 18.5% outperformance over the S&P 500 in 2008 (nearly a 40% nominal gain), worked in investment banking at a major bulge bracket firm and presided over a mutual fund with assets under management (AUM) of over $4 million. On the side, I manage my personal portfolio which continues to beat the overall markets year after year… and I think that I want to shine a light on my stock picks when I buy and sell.

Additionally, some of my older posts are sportsbook recommendations and gambling picks every week. While I am more successful on NFL Football games than anything else (and the season it winding down), I am going to pick up in 2011 and begin sharing my thoughts on weekly props. In particular, I’ve had records over .500 for quite some time, and if you can manage this kind of track record you will make money over time if you bet proportionately. Therefore, I think this fits well with the investment theme and I would like to start to keep a running tally of my successes and failures on the blog.

Is this going to change everything?

I wouldn’t worry about this blog changing too heavily from what my core competency is. The goal here is to diversify what we are talking about… as I believe having numerous ways to invest is key in this economy. And heck, I really enjoy writing about the stuff.

Hope everyone has a great New Years… tons of great material to come in 2011!
-Jimvesting.com

Going through a lot of my methods of making money online, you may have noticed that a majority of the techniques involve buying a domain name at some point. True, when you are dealing with online businesses it is essential to have that winning website address that is going to sit on top of the Google search rankings and ring in your customers’ heads when they visit.

The only problem? Most good domain names are taken.

Our old solution to this method was to manually go to a website like GoDaddy.com, NameCheap.com or 1and1.com and search the name’s availability one by one. However, more recently I have come across a website called PC Names that let’s you do everyone in one shot — without even reloading the page!

As you can see by the video, PCNames.com is a very cool tool that will save you a boatload of time. Let’s get into a few of the pros/cons below.

Pros

I think that this service has a lot to offer, but a few of the best features are:

• Real-time search engine results
• Quickly see what is available / taken / for sale
• Keep track of your results, history and favorites with a interactive list
• A free and extensive database of reviews for all of the major domain registrars
• Additional tools like Bulk Lookup, Mobile App and Domain Generator

Cons

There aren’t a whole lot of drawbacks, but a few that I found are:

• The mouse-over feature on domain names doesn’t always load correctly
• The website is packed with affiliate ads (though heck, it is a business)
• Some of the additional “tools” on the site could be more expansive

In all, I was really excited when I came across this website as I think it is going to save a lot of my clients a TON of time as they try to build their own media empires or place investments online. It is 100% free to use and as long as you can avoid over-paying through their affiliate links… I think that this could be the one-stop shop for people looking to do a little late-night domain name research.

Stay bullish my friends.
-Jimvesting.com

The following is a sponsored post brought to you by Jimvesting.com. The opinions in this article are entirely unbiased and reflect my own views.

If you are an avid reader of this blog, you know that I use and recommend HostGator as your primary web host. However, I like to be unbiased and try to get you the best solution to make your business tick — so I welcomed the opportunity to take a look at an up-and-comer, Web Hosting Hub! Let’s get into it.

All About WebHostingHub.com

Is this a new business? Yes. HOWEVER, the service at WebHostingHub.com is absolutely phenomenal, the prices are fantastic and the whole team is made up of very motivated and professional individuals who want to help you. Some of the top features include:

• Fast Setup with a Web Builder and WordPress
• Free Domain Name Registration
• Unlimited Web Space, Bandwidth, Email, and More
• Reliable with 99.9% Uptime
• Low Price and 90 Day Money Back Guarantee
• Top-notch US-based 24/7 technical support

If there is one word to describe this web hosting company, it is reliability. User reviews are off the charts and the uptime guarantee has really proven itself with superior server stability. Here’s what one user had to say:

“I am in the process of developing my web page and have been very pleased with Web Hosting Hub’s features and with their exceptional customer service. Having access to technical support 24/7 is a real time saver. The tutorials they offer exceed my expectations. I give them my highest recommendation.”

Want to Set Up a Blog?
Web Hosting Hub is a perfect solution for anyone to get up and running, and they will give you EVERYTHING for the low price of $4.95/month. A lot of people have asked me about recommendations for the Thirty Day Blog series… and I think HostGator is a great move, but WebHostingHub.com might be just the alternative that gets you started for less!

Bottom Line: Web Hosting Hub is a pretty new web host, but all the reviews I have seen have been incredibly positive. The support is terrific and the features are plentiful — if you want hosting at the right price, take a look at the Hub.

-Jimvesting

Well ladies and gentlemen… every dog has his day, and I guess mine was today!

A bit earlier this evening, I received word that I had amassed a huge affiliate sum from my account at Aweber Communications (the folks that handle my email newsletter). Turns out, I am doing much better than I expected — thank heavens they decided to set up my preferences in order to alert me every time I get a payment in any form!

“Cheers” is right Tom Kulzer, I’m going to be buying all of the finest aged whiskey I can get my hands on with my shiny new thirty cents. Thank you everyone for your love and support. It’s been a great run! If you’d like to reach me, I’ll be in SkyMall buying a new G-6 jet.

-Jimvesting

Today I’ve got a great method that can make you big money by turning niche websites and domain names into easy sales. Sounds like any other sales pitch right? Well I’m not charging , so sit back and let me know what you think.

The  Costs:

• Domain Name (~$8) — Buy from 1and1
• Web Hosting (~$40/yr) — Buy from HostGator

The Benefits:

• $100-$1000+ per website  sold… remember, your one hosting account at HostGator can hold every site you make!

The payoff and profit potential is pretty clear, and if you do this time & time again you will net yourself a huge profit margin on every dollar you invest. Eventually, your only real cost is the domain names you purchase… and you can grab them for under $10 nowadays.

The Method

No need for fluff material here, let’s get into the ten steps:

Step One: Idea Generation
The first thing that I want you to do is take out a pad of paper and a pen. Take five minutes and think about a dozen or so different types of businesses. This could be anything from a “racing company” to a “florist” so use your imagination!

Step Two: Get Local!
In order to make this profitable and not just like any other domain flipping technique, what we are going to do is add a little local flare to it. Choose one town or local city (think somewhat mid-size like “Detroit” or “Georgetown”), and keep in mind that this doesn’t need to be necessarily where you live.

Step Three: Combination Domain Names
The next move for you to make, and the most important, is to find a domain name combining your business with your location. For example, I could have “GeorgetownFlorist.com” or “DetroitRacing.com”. The hard part is finding names that aren’t already taken,  so it may take awhile for you to manually input combinations into a domain registrar website. One solution is to use software like Domain Name Analyzer (available for free here) to search combos out for you.

Step Four: Adding A Word
Knowing that most of your combination domain names might already be taken, you should experiment with adding short words to get something unique that you can register. Try adding words like “best” or “in” (example: “FloristsInGeorgetown.com” or “BestDetroitRacing.com”)! The software we showed you above can help you combine names and hopefully find a great one.

Step Five: Search It Out
Now we are going to see if we have a winner… go ahead and take the domain names that you just created and enter them into Google. What you are looking for is the ads on the right-hand side — the domain names that have more sponsored links are the ones you should use. For example “Best Detroit Racing” showed no sponsored results… but “Florists In Georgetown” had quite a few, including a local business which is even better!)

Step Six: Registration
Step Six is pretty simple, log into 1and1.com (for $8 domain names) or GoDaddy (usually more like $10, but there are more coupons) to register the domain name(s) that you have selected!

Step Seven: Record Contact Information
Now you need to go to each website and grab the contact information for the site’s owner. This is why any kind of small business will be especially good for the method. If necessary, use iwhois.com to figure out who bought the domain name.

Step Eight: Make a Blog for Each Domain Name
You don’t need anything special, in fact it probably won’t take more than 10 minutes if you know what you are doing. With HostGator, you can install WordPress blogs through their CPanel administrative backend with one click.  What goes on the actual website? Just put the names and contact information about the businesses you just grabbed in step seven! Don’t forget to edit out the big store names — if you only put mom & pop stores you will be much better off. The headline and title of your website will be your domain name phrase (i.e. “Florists In Georgetown”).

Interestingly enough, very simplified websites like these will index into Google quickly. It’s not uncommon to see the target phrase in the top 5 for your keyword within the week — but even if it doesn’t get there immediately don’t panic! You can always do some quick article writing or basic marketing to boost your rank.

Step Nine: Send Emails to Prospective Buyers
“Good afternoon Mom&PopGeorgetownFlorist.com, I just noticed that you are paying Google to sponsor ads for your keywords. You can boost your rankings even more by buying my website, which is already ranked for your keyword. I’m number 3 and 4 in the rankings and am currently providing traffic to you and all your competitors. Whoever buys the site will get exclusive traffic rights and score better exposure online!”

Naturally your actual email should be more formal, but it just goes to show that you really have a great opportunity for all of these small business owners. Be sure to put your real full name, address and email so that they can respond to you… and definitely include unique information about their business in the message so they know you aren’t spamming.

Step Ten: Sell The Thing!
This is my favorite step… just sit back and wait for the offers to come in. Feel free to make other websites in your spare time. I think the whole process start to finish should take around 3 hours, and you can easily make hundreds on every sell if you find a niche that is competitive enough.

If you enjoyed this free tutorial, don’t forget to share it with your friends!
-Jimvesting.com