Jimvesting.com’s got a brand new feature just for you:
GET THE STANDOUT COMMENTS PLUGIN – FOR FREE!

Two weeks ago, we saw the launch of a brand new blogging tool from John Chow, Alex Shalman and Jeff Rose. Their product called “Standout Comments” is a WordPress plugin that integrates all of the useful features of a comment section into one — in order to help you drive traffic to your newsletters, RSS feeds and marketing lists.

What’s new about this product you ask? NOTHING! And that’s the beauty of it (?). For a limited time… you can own this fantastic repackaging of plugins that already exist for a lower price… for only $67!!!

RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME DEAL ALERT!
Not only is this a killer deal, a few bloggers have upped the ante!

• If you sign up through John Chow’s link you will have a 1-in-10,000 shot at winning an Apple iPad that he doesn’t want!
• If you sign up through ZK of Web Traffic ROI, you get a truckload of eBooks he says are worth a combined $447 on the open market!
• And if you hit up Dan Scocco of Daily Blog Tips you can get his obsolete domain advice eBook for FREE!

But I’ve got ‘em all beat — No… I am not going to provide an illegal download

How to Get “Standout Comments” by John Chow for Free

When I told John Chow that I thought $67 was way overpriced for everyone, he responded: “Then don’t buy it and all day searching for the 2 to 3 free plugins. For others, time is money.” What John didn’t factor in is that I’m not concerned about me not buying it… I’m concerned about people getting taken for a ride because they think they need it. You can get every single feature of Standout Comments for free, and you can do it in less than an hour. Better yet — you can do it in under 15 minutes because I am going to provide you every single component of Standout Comments in a package I call “Jimvesting’s Comment Miracle.”

If your time is worth $268/hour, please disregard this post and buy it.

The Features of Standout Comments

• Subscription Options
• Sharing Options
• Advertising Banner
• Admin Panel
• Aesthetics
• Tweetback URLs
• Money Back Guarantee

Subscription Options
The main component of Standout Comments is that it offers you a way to provide a link to your newsletter at the end of your comment entry section so that any time anyone posts a comment, you are offered a chance to subscribe to a newsletter as well. This can be perfectly replicated by a lot of premium plugins, including: Opt-In Comments ($57), Action Comments ($17) and WP Optin ($27).

I’ve found our free solution (after a LOT of digging, this thing was totally buried!) in “Aweber WordPress Plugin” by Guru Consulting Services. This plugin puts a checkmark in your comments (AND on user registration if you want) to automatically add anyone who comments to our Aweber opt-in list. Bravo! That’s the same thing Standout Comments does!

The second thing that Standout Comments accomplishes is that it adds a checkbox for users to be “subscribed” to the comments, so that whenever anything new is posted they get an email. There are literally dozens of these plugins available for free, my favorites are: 1) Subscribe to Comments and 2) Enroll Comments. Bingo bango… we’re done here!

Sharing Options
Sharing options is something that we discussed a week ago: Linking Your Blog to Your Social Profile. To recap, there are quite a few social plugins that will accomplish exactly what Standout Comments is doing, and my favorites (for the purposes of looking like Standout Comments) are: 1) SexyBookmarks; 2) Socialize This; 3) Sociable.

Advertising Banner
This is another easy one, as everyone and their grandma has thought of doing this. Personally, I’m not a fan of putting an advertising banner by the comment section. However, if you really want to, my favorites for this purpose are: 1) Banner Garden; Max Banner Ads; Ad Minister; Advertisement Management.

Admin Panel
All of our plugins can be edited in seconds through the WordPress admin panel.

Aesthetics
I was kind of surprised that they brought this up “plays nice with your theme, and integrates seamlessly.” Well, so does ours, as all we are doing is adding a few links, boxes and banners. Aesthetics couldn’t be sexier… check!

Tweetback URLs
Plenty of Twitter plugins to go around… I’ve searched for and found a few. For simplicity, I am using Tweetbacks by Yoast.com which allows all of the tweets that mention my posts to be listed as a new kind of trackback (a “tweetback”). Also, I’m going to combine this for maximum effect with the simple added form field for twitter usernames in my comment section with WP Twitip ID.

Money Back Guarantee
They offer a 100% money back guarantee for 30 days… I’ll offer you a 200% money back guarantee for 60 days! In all seriousness, pretty much every marketable product has a return policy, but don’t believe for a second that it means the product is priced effectively.

Introducing: Jimvesting’s Comment MIRACLE!

I’ve compiled my entire guide and all of the plugins in one place, and have made it available for you to download for free! I spent a few hours going through all this and testing to make sure it works… but yes indeed, it has every last feature of “Standout Comments” but you will save yourself the $67 price tag.

In case you didn’t pick up on it, this post is extremely sarcastic and I am only trying to poke fun at John Chow (a good friend of mine) & other bloggers who promoted it for him. While I am upset he didn’t gift me a free copy like those other lucky guys, Standout Comments is actually a damn good release. While I don’t agree with the price tag, it was the first plugin on the market to put everything in one spot for you — easy to install, use and implement. But yes, the Jimvesting Comment Miracle actually is 100% compatibility, real, free and devious!

Where’s the Proof!?
Below is a screenshot of the Jimvesting Comment Miracle plugin working on my test server, which you can access here. I’m not trying to hide anything, and every plugin that I have gathered is indeed 100% free and customizable… making MY package more flexible than Standout Comments if you know your way around.

Download Jimvesting’s Comment Miracle (JCM)
Like What You See? It is darn near identical to the actual plugin.

Download Jimvesting’s Comment Miracle
Jimvesting’s Comment Miracle (Version 1.0): DOWNLOAD HERE!

Promote The JCM Plugin Package
First of all, I’m not exactly sure why you WOULDN’T want to promote this! If you are in the blogging camp that believes these kinds of plugins should be free, than why not show your support by writing a blog article, tweeting about it, or trying to blow up Digg/SU/Facebook with spam for my new plugin. Anyone who helps me to promote this (use my banner if you’d like, link back to this blog post) can shoot me an email and get a free copy of my eBook “Thirty Day Blog.” Sweet!

I hope you enjoyed this feature (I know I did). I’ll be sure to update this post as improvements get added to the world of WordPress plugins (happens on a weekly basis). I’d use this myself if I hadn’t grabbed Optin Comments when it was free. Drop a comment if you use it and let me know what you think.

Stay Bullish on the Net!
-Jimvesting Dot Com

Normally, the tips we list here are examples of how you can improve your blog or marketing campaigns… new strategies, link optimization, business schemes and investment suggestions. However, every once and awhile we see people slip up, and it is important to point out mistakes.

How to Make Your Subscribers Mad, the BlogEngage Way

This afternoon, I got a virtual hazing email from my good buddy Brian, the owner of BlogEngage.com. Blog Engage is a semi-popular social media community that offers bloggers the ability to suggest their articles to a community of webmasters from around the world. It is an overdone idea that Brian so happen to execute very well, thus jumping Blog Engage to a decent position in the online market (though nowhere close to touching StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit, Mixx, etc.).

But enough background, let’s get back to that email:

“I wrote a post today that expresses my frustration with the recent lack of involvement from our members. I encourage you all to read it as it is very important this message gets across. We must stick together and vote for each other. http://www.blogengage.com/blogger/are-you-a-valuable-member-of-our-community/. Please read it with care in mind that we need to work together to make a difference in the blogosphere. 

Thanks,
Brian”

Really!? If people aren’t actively involved on your website/blog/etc., should you really send out a massive email telling people how it is their fault? No. The proper way to handle any drop off of traffic… is to do a better job grabbing traffic and encouraging your readers to get more involved. Run a promotion, increase advertising, change your platform, do something productive! Writing a flame post about how your community is falling apart because people aren’t trying their hardest to make you money is rediculous.

I expected some kind of promotion or message of encouragement, and what I saw was an angry blog post. Brian is one of my blogging buddies, so I want to say that he typically does a great job, but it is unacceptible to end any message to your readers by saying:  ”stop being a lamer” (no, I’m not making this up).

A Point of Confusion — The Site is Fine!

It is one thing to get frustrated because things aren’t going your way in terms of internet traffic, but at Blogengage.com, they have actually been doing a great job growing traffic. Take a look at this long-term traffic chart sponsored by Alexa.com:

As you can clearly see, traffic is on a big uptick from 2009 levels. Taking this, I would never have accepted a mass text from the owner telling me that the level of activity from his community ain’t good enough.

Maybe the Problem Ain’t So Obvious

Perhaps Brian was just talking about spammers, but even so… this is a problem with the model of his community, not the community! If I can log into Blogengage, submit my content, and walk away with exactly the same end result as if I was an active user, then why the heck would I waste my time being active? This is like if Twitter were to say “okay, everyone gets 2000 followers, and only 2000 followers, forever” — who would continue to care? After all, you are going to reach the same amount of people regardless of what you do. I suggest you think about what you are doing wrong rather than blaming people for taking advantage of the obvious hole in the system.

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This kind of public service announcement is more likely to put a bigger hole in your traffic than improve it, so why bother making your readers mad?

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Bottom Line: If you run a blog or a popular website of any kind, never ever ever ever send a mass email to your community belittling them for not trying harder. As a webmaster, it is your responsibility to make your community want to stay active. Brian is a great guy, and BlogEngage.com is a site you should check out and work with if you are looking for more traffic, but this kind of example is a great one to demonstrate an improper marketing tactic and how to avoid it.

-Jimvesting Dot Com

Come one come all… the Net Fool is now JIMVESTING!

We’re transitioning our old blog located at The Net Fool to our brand new website at Jimvesting.com! Why the sudden change? Well there were plenty of pressures pushing me toward re-branding, and I think there are going to be numerous benefits involved with making the switch. Sure, there will be an initial knee-jerk reaction to switching over cold turkey, but it is a move that needs to be made!

Major Advantages of Moving to Jimvesting Dot Com:

• “Jimvesting” is a more recognizable/brandable name than “The Net Fool”
• The added professionalism provided by the Jimvesting name will add to the overall credibility of the site’s content
• Our new theme will allow for more streamlined content, better monetization and a renewed focus on content quality over aesthetics
• A fresh new look should encourage a renewed surge in participation and interest. The old theme & brand had gotten a bit tired… and Jimvesting.com is a great solution to start things up again!

One of the biggest changes here is dropping the old theme and adding this new one. I think that I will be selling the rights to the old theme, as it seemed to be quite popular. However, I think that one of the disadvantages of that theme was that it took too long to load and see the actual content — the header was so large you could hardly see the first post when you loaded up the page!

Our new theme, based on a design from ProductiveDreams.com, lets you see the first post as SOON as you load up the page. There is plenty of advertising room to work with, and there is much more of a social media presence all across the site. As the web is evolving, we want to move with it… so while the old theme was certainly “fun,” Jimvesting’s new look will allow us to deliver a better experience and Search Engine Optimized performance. The advantages are real, and the design is still just as slick, sexy and original!

Welcome to the new website, let us know what you think below!
-Jimvesting Dot Com

Everyone knows that the economy is rough right now. While the worst may be behind us, there certainly won’t be any measurable amount of “recovery” for quite some time. As people search for more work in tough times, I remind you that blogging may provide that supplemental income to put you over the edge… and quite possibly make you very very successful down the road!

Want to Start a Blog, but Don’t Know How to “Get the Wheels in Motion?”
Introducing Jimvesting’s “Blogger Stimulus Package!!!”

I believe strongly in lending a helping hand to others who are interested in starting their own online ventures, but just don’t have the “know how” to do it all themselves… at least, not without burning a LOT of time on learning how. Therefore, I am reinstating my previous “Blog Domination” package, but I am UPPING THE ANTE and making the deal even sweeter. Now, not only will I design your blog for you… but I will personally go out and buy you any commercially available “premium” theme that you want… for free! Read the rest of this entry »

When you visit a website… what is the first thing you see?
The answer (to this “lay-up” question) is THE HEADER!

While it may be an overstatement to say that theNetFool.com is now sporting the greatest header that has ever been created for a weblog (and I do this simply for a great post topic ), I’ve made some more changes that I am sure you have noticed by now. By adding a clever opt-in newsletter subscription box, and in a very aesthetically pleasing manner, I will be boosting the amount of turnover this blog generates… and we all know that more subscribers = more POWER.

The Inspiration for Change?
My inspiration was actually a video I saw a week ago from one of the most famous MMO bloggers of all time, John Chow. Now, John takes a lot of heat from people who claim that all of his material is either 1) fluffy and unimportant; or 2) wrong or misleading. I feel that most of this is coming from the fact that he is a top dog, and people love to hate the champ. In summary, the video is about how he makes money blogging… and a lot of his success revolved around the fact that he used his blog as a machine to capture email addresses. I noticed that I wasn’t doing this currently, and I have Read the rest of this entry »