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

The following post is a sponsored listing of Eyepinch, but the content and opinion has not been swayed by the nature of payment

Many new business starters have problems tapping into the internet in an effective manner. Since not all businesses have a focus on information technology, it’s a bit tough to know who to trust with your design, hosting and online-based systems. Rather than default to these so-called “big ticket” companies like Template Monster… it is much more effective to take a look at boutique services.

With a smaller sized firm, you not only get a better serviced account… but you actually get better work by far! How can this be possible? In my experience, when dealing with bigger companies… they are too concerned with getting you in and out to work with you in a productive manner. Additionally, the “best” designers won’t work for these major firms because they understand that they will underpay employees to milk out the most corporate profit. The clear choice for me has and will continue to be boutique design shops, and one of my favorites is Eyepinch!

Brilliant Design and Brilliant Past Works

The first thing that you will notice when you visit Eyepinch Web Design is… well… their design! This sounds like something so obvious for a web design firm, but you would be surprised how many websites look downright “average” from so-called design specialists. The website at Eyepinch.com is one of the best I have seen, ever. They do a really creative job animating a flash-based template… and it is simply a cool looking website that you want to associate yourself with.

Eyepinch’s slogan is “the convergence of design and technology,” and they really do walk the walk! Looking across their portfolio yields hundreds of pages of past works, and all of them are of the highest quality. The convergence of design and technology really lends itself to their work… as everything is very “cutting edge” across the board. It would seem that these guys just don’t settle for anything less.

Too Many Services to Count!

As a part of reviewing their website and business, I figured that it would be useful to list through some of their services. However, this task becomes downright impossible when a company does seemingly everything under the sun. Their big hitting points are, in my opinion, with their brand development tools. Essentially, you can have Eyepinch take your business and create an entire identity!

In addition to the corporate identity service, Eyepinch has their own web hosting branch to get you online. With this, they can provide services in Search Engine Optimization, E-Commerce and even marketing! Perhaps you are a complete novice when it comes to web development? Eyepinch has a training service where they can take you through the steps to get you caught up in practically any aspect of the web so that you don’t have to come back over and over to a professional service. This speaks miles for the company, and says to me that they are really more concerned for client relationships than anything else.

Great Management and Transparency

If you are looking for a designer, and somebody that you can actually work with at that, I would definitely trust the guys over at Eyepinch Web Design. Perhaps I have a bit of a bias since they are based close to where I reside, but after having spoken with the team I can tell that they do good work. Additionally, their website is very telling… as they don’t seem to be hiding any scars. From what I have seen, they are entirely client-focused and will work with you until your project is carried out to perfection!

Bottom Line: I believe that if you are looking for a web designer or consultant, you want to stick with the smaller boutique companies, rather than the big dogs. Quality and Eyepinch.com really go hand in hand… and their portfolio brings quite a bit to the table. With this in mind, I do indeed recommend their services!

-Jimvesting

The following is a sponsored review of Offervault.com, and has not been affected by virtue of payment for the reviewed posting.

Chances are, if you are a website owner or an online marketer of any sort… you have stumbled across quite a few affiliate networks in your time. An affiliate network is essentially an online middleman between you, the publisher, and large advertisers looking to get their product out to interested people. By signing up with affiliate networks like Market Leverage and NeverBlueAds, you can rack in some serious cash; there are many people out there that I know personally making $100k+ annually from this alone!

Sounds great, eh? Well what’s the problem. As all of these services are free, the best of us will sign up to numerous networks. Because they all claim to have the “highest payouts in the industry,” it is necessary to register for multiple affiliate networks in order to find out who has the best deal for you on a per-offer basis. Believe me, when you are making 100s or 1000s of transactions monthly, the difference between $2.00 and $2.10 is HUGE in retrospect.

Logging in and out of multiple networks to find that sweet deal is very time-consuming… and just downright painful to have to go through over and over again. There really hasn’t been a service that can simplify it all for you… until now! The answer to your struggles is OfferVault.com, a constantly updating index of over 11 thousand affiliate and CPA offers that is fully searchable for your convenience. Let’s have a closer look!

A Look at the System:
In order to get a better feel for this website and exactly how it can help you make more money with affiliate offers, I have made this quick video run-through look at the system online. If you are thinking about signing up, why not check out this look into the system before you do to see if it is really worth your while, eh?

Clearly, there is a significant advantage to running the OfferVault system. With all of the offers in stock, you can quickly determine which network presents the most advantageous opportunity to you as an affiliate marketer. Heck, even if you aren’t a “super affiliate” you can still earn a pretty penny using OfferVault to your advantage.

The Pros and Cons of OfferVault.com
Let’s have a quick look at the upside benefits and downside issues with the system that we are looking through. I have a few things that I absolutely love about this website, but a few minor issues and things I would like to see improved.

Pros:
+ Contains a wide array of advertiser offers from dozens of networks
+ Easy to navigate and search for offers
+ FREE to sign up and use!

Cons:
- Design is not very aesthetically pleasing
- No way to search for “type” of offer
- Still a few major networks missing from the list

Bottom Line: Overall, I feel that OfferVault.com is a very interesting service that is definitely worth your while to sign up to and use. Any free service like this can be a valuable tool to use, and is simply too hard to pass up. With that, I do indeed think that OfferVault is worth your time, so check it out!

-Jimvesting