Jimvesting dot com has come a long way since I first started things up in October of 2007. As the current theme was first released to the public on March 01, 2008… subscriber numbers have been bucking the trend for months. We first managed to hit the 100 mark on April 12th, and just a few months later on July 30th it was the 500 mark that was broken! We’re on a great pace to break 1,000.

Jimvesting has been a growth story like none other, and passing 500 RSS subscribers is a huge accomplishment that all of you should be very proud for contributing toward. Personally, I feel that the 500+ subscriber blogs are a more elite group. Any blog with more than 500 readers is validated as a reputable authority, and people see that high number as a proof of hard work and dedication. As such, I’m ecstatic to be counted among the few that have been able to stay the course and attract new people on a consistent basis to reach the benchmark number with theNetFool.com.

As a token of my appreciation… I wanted to give something back!

Announcing the 24-hour Jimvesting 500 Subscriber Party!
It’s a scavenger hunt starting now!

So how does it work? I’m giving away 6 awesome prizes to the lucky people that find them first. I’ve hidden images that represent each prize in old posts from theNetFool.com… and it’s your job to find them! So get on over to the archive page and check out my old articles. If you found one that is a winner, you’ll see one of the images (below) in the post. You can only win one prize, and the prize that you win is the prize that you find and comment on. So let’s get this under way!

The Prizes
I had some stuff that wasn’t my size from Market Leverage’s care package I received in the mail two months back, so I’m giving away some awesome gear! What’s up for grabs? A very high-quality Nike golf shirt (size medium) that looks quite professional, a cool ML baseball hat (one size fits all) and an awesome ML “I’m Blogging This” t-shirt (size XL) that you can show off. In addition, I’ve decided to let you guys at a free private registration on a domain name, a 125×125 advertisement on theNetFool.com and a featured text link advertisement on theNetFool.com. This is some awesome stuff that will only last until claimed… so get hunting!

The Images
Below are the images that you will be hunting for on old posts from theNetFool.com. Don’t try to use Google because I’ve renamed everything so it simply won’t help to try and cheat! All of these will be inside the actual content of my posts, and to win you need to comment on the posts as is instructed below. The image that you find is the prize that you win, and again you can only win once, so if you are a good scavenger you might want to pick your favorite!

“The Catch”
Obviously, to win you need to be subscribed to my RSS Feed! The only way I can confirm this is to check my email subscribers… so you should go ahead and register via email for my updates if you haven’t already! You can do that by entering your email below… it only takes a few seconds to sign up and confirm, and you’ll get nothing but updates (we don’t spam!) and be automatically entered in all future contests.

But How Do I Claim My Prize?

If you find an image, you can claim your prize by posting in the comment section for that article “I found a free _____ from the Net Fool’s 500 Subscriber Party!” and I will email the address in the comment for information on how to claim. Don’t forget that even if someone has commented, there’s a chance they aren’t subscribed so you can even try to sneak in as a runner-up winner. All unclaimed prizes will be randomly distributed to the commentators on this post!

Helpful Hint: I have scattered the prizes around my posts, but there is no more than one prize per month of my writing. So if you find an image in an April publication… you’ll have to go to another month of writing to find a different prize. Remember to use the Archive for help!

Again, I wanted to thank all of you for making theNetFool.com such a success to this date. We’ll be shooting for 1,000 over the next term… I wonder how long it will take to reach that elite milestone? The scavenger hunt is active starting… now! So stay tuned for more updates from me, and stay bullish on the net!

UPDATE: If you happen to track down the location of all six prizes, send me an email at jim@Jimvesting.com and I’ll send you 100 Entrecard Credits!

-Jimvesting

Good afternoon everyone,

Those of you who decided to participate in last month’s contest, I want to thank you for such great support. Despite the relatively low number of entrants, the field was extremely competitive for the top two finishers. This contest was really used as a social experiment on my behalf more than anything else. Despite the doubters, this competition managed to add in 108 active RSS subscribers to my numbers. I feel that word-of-mouth advertising is better than anything that money alone can buy… and with two big competitors that had their eye on the prize (FREE Flip Mino Video Camera), this experiment was definitely a success.

Before I announce winners, I want to give a big thanks to Market Leverage for once again sponsoring the monthly contest here at Jimvesting dot com. They are clearly dominating the “make money online” niche of blogs, as has been noted time and time again. Market Leverage is my go-to affiliate network whenever I want to run an ad campaign to make some money on the internet… so try them out. The least you can do is sign up for their generosity… it’s completely free and you can see what the program is all about!

So how did I decide the winner of the $200 Flip? Quite simply, I made this a competition rather than a contest. This means that whoever actually went out and got the most recruits would win the camera, taking the “luck” element almost completely out of the event. I feel that this is the correct way to run such a referral contest.

In order to get referrals recorded in your name, you had to use the contact form that I set up to email your friends the subscription link. I then got a carbon copy of the referral script, and was able to record the names (along with the sender) and compare that list to my official feed subscriber list to add up the correct number of referrals for each contestant. Now, I understand that this would have been made a LOT easier with some sort of program or mailing list; however, when I’m capable of doing a decent job for free… I’m taking the zero-expense route and doing things myself.

Now… on to the results.

As I said before, there were a decent amount of people that used the form provided to email a few friends, but two people in particular went way over the top: Enkay from EnkayBlog.com and M. Dinesh from Contest Winner. The lead actually changed hands several times over the course of the last week of action, so I figured I would give both of you a backlink to make it not entirely a waste of the runner-ups time.

So without further ado…

Winner of a Flip Mino Video Camera
M. Dinesh from Contest Winner! (51 Referrals)

Runner Up
Enkay from EnkayBlog.com (44 Referrals)

Honorable Mentions
Hinpaki, The Blogote, Jay Bigley

A big thanks to everyone that participated! The August contest is going to be a bit smaller and easier to enter, I am anticipating a contest focused on handing out advertising spots across the web… so be sure to stay on the lookout for that post!

That’s all for today, I’ll be emailing the winner for some contact information and shipping prizes as soon as I can. Once again, congratulations and thanks for all the hard work everybody that participated!

-Jimvesting

On the back of a fantastic showing in the first round of “question & answer” here at Jimvesting dot com, it’s time (as promised) to head into round number two! I know that a lot of you had questions left over from the original post that you didn’t have a chance to ask… so now is your time to get the answers you want!

As those of you who have been in contact with me over email or instant messenger already know, I love to talk and teach about everything business. I feel that the best way to learn something is to hear from someone who’s been there, so I am going to try my best to give you the best answers and information possible. Everyone who asks a question before I start up with the answer post will get a response, that’s my guarantee. So go ahead and shout out your off-the-cuff or well-researched questions, and you can pick up some valuable information that you might otherwise need to dig and dig to find. As an added incentive, the top two questions are going to get a free text link ad for one month here on theNetFool.com! That’s a free Pagerank 4 link back to your website for all to see… for making me answer your question. That sounds fair, doesn’t it?

Some ideas for questions: Blogging Tips & Tricks Monetization Information Stock Market Picks Stock Analysis (Buy, Sell or Hold & Rationale) Making Money Online Personal Updates & Plans Sportsbook Info & Sporting Events Affiliate Network Programs

These are just some ideas, and I really don’t know what the bulk of you want to hear about. I am going to try and field as many of these questions asked as possible. Please refrain from the use of profanity or generalizations in your questions, and try to use the best grammatical layout possible. I will be answering these questions in a new post, which will be available either today or tomorrow.

Best Two Questions Win A One-Month Featured Text Link!
That’s right! I’m upping the ante this time around, and the best two questions I find here will get a nice featured text link right on top of my sidebar. So get your questions in now for the chance to get a Google PageRank 4 link in a great position at absolutely no cost to you!

-Jimvesting

You knew it was coming…

Jimvesting’s July Contest is a REFERRAL EXTRAVAGANZA! In honor of Blogging Idol (a contest that I perennially rag on but still support) this month’s theme is all about getting referred subscribers to theNetFool.com. You get the most email subscribers (including yourself) to sign up with theNetFool.com… and you will win yourself a brand spankin’ new $200 Flip Mino video camera!

Once again, when I needed an enticing product to get you guys active, my wing man Market Leverage wholeheartedly through an entire video camera my way. Wow! Market Leverage is my favorite affiliate network, and they have the best payouts in the business. Not only this, they have the best referral bonus in the industry with a 5% kick-back from everyone you sign up underneath your account. I highly suggest that you give Market Leverage a go, and at least take a few seconds to sign up so that you can see what they have to offer. Who knows, maybe you can form a great relationship with the friendly staff like I have!

The Competition
The July Referral Extravaganza is going to be held right here, with all of the entries tracked through an easy-to-use script I threw together for this purpose. Simply CLICK HERE to start referring as many of your friends as possible. For everyone you refer, an email will be sent to their email account with a link to sign up to my email-driven RSS feed. I have a way to keep track of every email address that is supplied, and once I cross-reference it with a list of email subscribers, I’ll credit you for every match! Sounds fun, eh? The contest starts now, so start getting in those entries.

Tell A Friend About theNetFool.com & Win!

No longer are things left up to random chance, if you put more effort into recruiting subscribers than anyone else… you are going to find a shiny new video camera on your doorstep come August! Remember that the email address you send to needs to match up with the email that subscribes. This competition is going to run from July 17th to July 31st… a full two weeks for you to finish ahead of the pack.

Flip Mino: This camcorder is packed with easy-to-use technologies that let you capture memories as they happen. No manual settings and instant playback options make this camcorder a fast and fun way to record important events.

• 2x digital zoom
• 1.5″ color LCD display
• VGA (640 x 480) resolution at 30 frames per second
• Easy one-touch recording; instant playback, pause, rewind, fast-forward, zoom and delete functions
• Rechargeable Battery: Yes
• 2GB of built-in flash memory holds up to 60 minutes of MPEG-4 video
• No manual settings required: auto-adaptive exposure algorithms analyze the scene and adapts to the changing environment
• Child-safe mode lets you share your camcorder with your kids by preventing them from deleting videos by mistake
• USB interface provides a connection to a PC or Mac; TV output and included cable let you watch your videos on your TV
• Built-in microphone
• Built-in software lets you view, edit, share and e-mail video footage and capture still images from video with ease
• Includes wrist strap, TV cable, carrying case and quick-start user guide

The Flip Mino is a really nice camera. I have my own, also courtesy of Market Leverage, and anyone who is looking for a high-quality camera that is simple and easy to use is in the right place.

BONUS ENTRY ALERT!
Keep this on the down-low. I’ll be giving an extra 5 referrals to anyone who makes a 350-word blog post about this contest with 50 or more RSS subscribers and uses the anchor text “making money online” to link back to http://www.Jimvesting.com. It’s as if you got five more people to sign up under you!

How to Enter (Summary)
Whoever refers the most email-feed subscribers to theNetFool.com in the month of July (July 17-July 31) will receive their very own Flip Mino video camera for free. But you must use the link below so I can track it!

Tell A Friend About theNetFool.com & Win!

There may be an extra way to get a few entries as well (cough cough), but let’s keep it short and sweet. Good luck to everyone this month, remember you have two-weeks starting now to get your entries in to the competition. Whoever ends up with the most points at the end of the month wins!

Good luck to you all, and stay bullish on the net!
-Jimvesting

It’s been a great two-week competition here at theNetFool.com! I’m giving away a brand new Flip Video Mino camera as well as a $50 MarketLeverage Rewards Card this month, and the winners are finally in! A big thanks to the guys down at Market Leverage for donating the prizes. Here’s the official results video:

Congratulations to the winners! This contest was a big success for this blog, as our RSS subscribers have really grown over the past two weeks to pass the 300-level for the first time… continuing upwards toward the famed 500-subscriber RSS status.

Not a video-watching person? Don’t worry, we’ve got the winners of the Flip Mino and the $50 ML Rewards card listed below… just wanted to make sure that you guys had a little suspense.

Using Random.org’s number generator in combination with an Excel spreadsheet that I composed for the 713 entries in this contest, I was able to draw two completely random winners to make things fair and square for you all. Everyone had an equal opportunity to win, though some received more entries through submitting videos and blog posts among other things.

And without further ado, the winners:

$50 ML Rewards Card: ClickUserName (YouTube Submission)

Flip Mino: reid@********** (Email RSS Subscriber)

Congratulations to both of you! I want to thank everyone that entered this month’s contest brought to you exclusively by theNetFool.com and Market Leverage. Go ahead sign up for a free account to make some money online with Market Leverage. I am an active member, and absolutely love their services. You’ll see in tomorrows post just how much they care about individual clients!

Stay tuned for more contests coming up!
-Jimvesting