This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of TheInternetTimeMachine. All opinions are 100% mine.

As you probably know by now, one of the most difficult parts of making money online is determining what is “hot” and what is “not.” This is where The Internet Time Machine comes into play. With this tool you can find profitable niches before the competition. In turn, you can make your money before the market becomes saturated.

Who Developed The Internet Time Machine?

The Internet Time Machine was developed by NowRelevant – a search engine, unlike others, that offers “every written word about a subject for the past 14 days.”

Why Niche Marketing is Important

If you have ever gone through the niche research process, you know that it can be very time consuming. Not only do you have to spend time finding the right niche, but you then have to play the guessing game, wondering if you made a good decision. Subsequently, many new affiliate marketers give up before they ever really get started. And many of those who don’t give up make another poor decision: promoting products in the same niche as 99 percent of their competition.

With The Internet Time Machine this is no longer a problem that you have to worry about. How does it work? Simply put, the application does all the leg work for you. The end result is a list of topics that are increasing in demand, but have yet to hit the mainstream.

According to The Internet Time Machine website, the process for gathering information is as follows:

The Internet Time Machine is a series of high powered cloud computer networks that linked together to study internet keyword trends. At any one time this series of computers, what we call The Internet Time Machine, charts the search trends AND RESULTS of over 42,000,000 keywords. The Time Machine can chart what words are grabbing more search volume every month, every week, every day, and every hour.

What makes The Internet Time Machine different from similar programs? While others have just become involved with keyword research, the brains behind The Internet Time Machine have been charting trends for many years. This allows for more accurate results, and in turn a better chance of success for you – the user.

Finding Trends

There are three main components of the system:

1. Most Recent Mentions from the Last 24 Hours

Get the Latest Keyphrases used in PPC Ads, and mentioned on BLOGS, NEWS GROUPS, and MAILING LISTS across the GLOBE!

2. Potential Trends from the Last 24 Hours

Get the Latest Information about Keyphrases being searched for on Multiple Search Engines like Google, Yahoo, BING, Ask and others.

3. ITM Core Trend Analysis

The ITM uses proprietary, state-of the-art search analysis algorithms to identify hot new prodcut areas and niches that are developing worldwide. We monitor increase search volumes over time in topics and look to see where supply, organic or PPC, is not keeping up with demand. These are long term product development ideas.

The Internet Time Machine $20k Internet Marketing Contest

The Internet Time Machine is holding a contest in which $10k is awarded to the winner, and another $10k to the affiliate that refers him.

Visit The Internet Time Machine rules page for more information, or watch the video below.

In the olden days, when dinosaurs walked the Internet, starting a web log was a monumental undertaking. By the time Peter Merholz coined the term “blog,” the situation had improved considerably. In fact, there is a whole subset of hosting called blog hosting. A blogger no longer needs an advanced skill set in order to start a blog. However, he/she still has to decide upon blog platform.

WordPress is probably the best blog platform solution for most people. It is new-user tweaked with an embarrassment of riches when it comes to free plug-ins, themes, widgets and apps. Because of its ease of set-up and broad platform functionality, WordPress is also the choice of the top hosting companies. For this purpose, we’ll focus on WordPress hosting.

To choose top web hosting, there are a few questions the blogger needs to ask himself. Can you set-up your own script? Do you know how to customize it to run correctly? Do you know where to locate quality plug-ins to improve your blog performance? Do you know how to activate the plug-ins? Every wise choice you make now is a future headache you will be spared.

There are chiefly two choices when it comes to blog hosting.

1) You may opt for a “free WordPress host.”
“Free blog hosting” offers to the blogger a few pool themes that are provided to all the free blog host users. Most free blog hosts offer very few WordPress plug-ins and/or widgets. Most free hosts require “upgrades” for any advanced options. These upgrades quickly amount to a bigger bill than a paid blog host would have charged you in the first place. The paid host would also have given you better hosting. The “free host” rarely offers the degree of functionality that paid blog hosting will. A paid blog host typically has to have a better grasp of the script itself.

2) You may decide upon paid blog hosting.
There are nearly 10,000 WordPress plugins, from basic statistics counters to highly complicated multi-use ones. A paid blog host will allow you to use most, if not all, of them and thus extend the WordPress platform to its full strength. In a competitive blog situation, these plug-ins can be vital to search engine optimization. Plug-ins make easier the once-complicated task of running a successful blog.

A paid web host will often have an easy set-up requiring little technical expertise. If you’re a technically sophisticated netizen, you can also find a paid blog host that offers all the bells and whistles you might prefer. Is your blog the start of a business or a part of an existing enterprise? Is it a personal blog? Will you be embedding video? What widgets and/or apps will you require? The great thing about WordPress is you’ll have those questions easily addressed. You will also have a remarkably straightforward set-up, no matter how complicated your blog.

Other pertinent hosting questions are the obvious ones. What size account will you need? Most quality web hosts have scalable options for every blog level. Under almost all circumstances, the openly marketed account options will be enough. However, all professional hosts can assist you in scaling up from there.

Does your web host tech know his stuff in terms of security? In as solid a platform as WordPress, that is not as critical an issue. The blog software itself does most of the sentinel stuff for the blogger.

In fact, all you have to do is blog!
-Jimvesting Dot Com

Ladies and gentlemen, after much concern with where I have been for the past two months… we’re back in action with a new series of posts. I want to revitalize theNetFool.com now that I have rebooted from the close of a challenging semester and bring the blog back into the limelight. You know what that means! I’m going to need your help to spread the word that we are indeed back in action. I’m looking forward to the challenge .

With that in mind… I have a little “break in the action” planned for today!

I’ve long been a proponent of traditional pen-and-paper communication, but seeing as how technology has been evolving to the point where I can watch live television on my cellphone… the old school postal service (aka “snail mail”) just seems to be behind the times. Despite numerous attempts to improve one of the oldest American means of transportation, many companies have crashed and burned at the hands of traditionalists like myself. Just recently, however, I’ve discovered a fantastic service that I think can really be a game changer. Read the rest of this entry »

The following is a sponsored review of Direct Agent’s “Dream Getaway” contest. Nothing in this article has been modified by virtue of payment.

It’s contest madness around the affiliate scene, and when networks see a mutually-profitable opportunity… it’s tough not to offer your best earners a “dream getaway” of their own. While we’ve heard from the likes of Market Leverage, AZoogleAds and Motive Interactive, I really haven’t seen much from the folks down at Direct Agents, one of the freshest affiliate managers out there.

With the recent “dream getaway” promotion, affiliates will have the opportunity to partner up with Direct Agents and VistaPrint to rack up the big bucks and win a vacation to boot! There’s nothing more satisfying than earning $1000s with an affiliate network; that is, unless of course you are getting an exclusive beach vacation on top of it all! I’ve never recommended Direct Agents before as an affiliate network, but this is primarily due to the fact that they are new on the scene. With that being said, let’s have a closer look at the network and their latest promotion.

The Direct Agents Network

After being named America’s “fastest growing company” by Entrepreneur Inc. and USPACC, Direct Agents has really turned up the tempo by recruiting some all-star affiliates and quickly becoming one of the industry names. Working as an interactive advertising agency, they are experts in performance marketing and media-buying services. While professionals in brand name optimization and organic growth for interested businesses, they have also been delivering profitable results for their publishers (that’s you!) around the clock.

I have very much enjoyed my transactions with the company thus far, and they seem like a culture that just plain “gets it.” When you sign up with an affiliate company, something that I highly recommend you do at multiple networks, you will want to work with the team that has the most responsive agents on call… guys that think and operate just like you do. Best of all, they are entirely long-term focused, so you can rest assured that Direct Agents will be there for the long haul.

The Contest – Win a Trip to One of Five Fabulous Destinations!

Direct Agents has teamed up with VistaPrint to offer a vacation to the winner’s choice of five beautiful locations. How this works, is that through the month of March and April (ends April 15th), the affiliate that earns the most money through the Direct Agents network will win first prize, a choice of vacation. Even better, the second and third place winners will get themselves a great prize as well!

The “grand prize winner” will have their pick at five great destinations, and all of the travel expenses will be covered by VistaPrint and Direct Agents. But you won’t be alone, as the competition prize includes a stay for you and a friend! Here is the full list of locations that you can choose from if you take home the gold:

• Jamaica
• St. Lucia
• Cabo San Lucas
• The Dominican Republic
• Bahamas

Personally, I’ve never been to any of these resorts… but I have heard great things especially about Cabo San Lucas and St. Lucia, even though they might not be as well recognized as Jamaica, The Dominican Republic or the Bahamas. Certainly, you can’t go wrong here.

Second place and third place both win some great prizes as well… so you won’t be disappointed. If you are the runner-up, you’ll get your pick between a new Macbook Air or a Sony Vaio! These are two huge offers, and the prize is stated as being worth $2k, so you know you are getting one heck of a notebook!  Third place will even win a big $500 bonus in the form of an American Express gift card. Lots of prizes are up for grabs, so I highly encourage you to sign up if you are interested.

How to Enter

Just to repeat, the contest promotion will run from now until April 15th, and there are three prizes awarded for the three top affiliates for Vista Print offers in the Direct Agents network. Whoever brings in the most leads for VistaPrint will win the grand prize, a “dream vacation” from Direct Agents. Second place will win a Macbook Air or a Sony Vaio, and third place will get themselves a $500 AmEx gift card.

So how exactly do you enter? Anyone who is signed up with Direct Agents is already eligible, so all you will need to do is register a new account and you are on your way. There are currently three offers that you can promote for Vista Print, and the good news here is that they are all relatively high converting. I have advertised VistaPrint myself, and have actually used them in the past to print business cards, so it is definitely a company that is worth promoting. Better yet, because it is only VistaPrint offers that are eligible… you’ll have a huge advantage over your peers with this leveled playing field.

Got any other questions? Ask em here! Good luck to everyone that participates!
-Jimvesting

The following is a sponsored post, but has not been swayed by payment for the review.

As many of you know, I host all of my websites currently with Host Gator. Where you decide to host your website is one of the most important decisions you will ever make in owning web property. It sounds a bit strange, doesn’t it? I mean, really, it’s just a spot to put my files… it’s all about the content, isn’t it? Well, this is exactly how I thought about hosting until I started getting complaints about poor loading times with my old web-host (prior to my switch).

Once complaints started racking up, I knew that I had to make a change… even if it was a bit pricier. After all, if nobody can see your website, then you are out of luck regardless. I have had my fair share of problems with Host Gator, and I’d probably want to change services soon… the problem is that it is SUCH a hassle that it is almost not worth it. For this purpose, buying hosting is an essential step in starting your site, and I would recommend using Host Monster!

Ranking With The Best!

I’ve checked out all of the major web hosting ranking services, and without a doubt Host Monster is always a top competitor. With “grades” ranking anywhere from 92-to-99 out of 100, I think that they make a compelling story to use their services over competitors. Really, the only downgrades have come from “usability” or “control panel” (which we will assume are referring to the same things). However, when I tore apart their user system I found no problems… and actually liked it BETTER than Host Gator! Both use cPanel-based systems… which is the leading configuration panel software. You can check out their demo login system here. So I have no issues with that at all!

What I really appreciate on Host Monster is their support service. Unlike most of their peers, they do NOT outsource their call center. What does this mean? Essentially, you are getting a fast connection (they claim under 2 minutes) with a person who understands what you are talking about. Let’s face it, problems happen… but when they do, why not get a good support system to process your request in a speedy fashion, eh?

Enough Features to Feed a Family

It sounds a bit corny, but Host Monster really packs a punch on their feature list. What really jumps off the page is that they not only offer Unlimited Space (which we are seeing more and more these days), but they are offering Unlimited Bandwidth (a fancy word for site traffic and activity)! They support unlimited domain names on each account, and even have their own website builder, traffic statistics and shopping cart software included.

When you are looking for a new web hosting service, it is important to keep in mind what they do and don’t support as far as scripting services. You want to be able to run anything that you want (within reasonable limits) on your server, and Host Monster really steps up to the plate here offering CGI, Perl, MySQL, PHP, SSI, Javascript, Flash and more! One thing is for sure, these guys know what it takes to be a big provider… and they now have almost half a million customers as a result of this expertise.

Professional Reliability and Support

As I hinted at above, you can almost throw everything else away and just focus on reliability and support options. Clearly, their call centers are some of the best… and this is a great aspect of the company. However, there is really a lot more to consider in this picture. For starters, Host Monster won the 2006 hosting award for “Most Reliable Hosting Provider,” which should tell you a thing or two about how they run things. Why? I believe this is because of their backup system. Not only are systems guaranteed to see uptime of 99% across the board… but you get daily site backups! This sounds like something that is simply obvious, but you would be surprised how many companies either don’t offer this, or charge extra for the service. I know that Host Gator doesn’t do this well, so this is an interesting buying point for Host Monster over the rest.

Bottom Line: When looking across the range of web hosting providers there are to consider today, it can be quite a nerve-wrecking decision. I recommend, as always, that you stick to the big guns here. Host Monster is one of the biggest providers on the internet, and with a low $4.95/month price tag it is more than affordable to trust these guys with your website!

-Jimvesting