ReelinCash is a brand new get paid to (GPT) website on the rise. But don’t mistake these guys for your typical “one-and-done” work at home website, ReelinCash is devoted to making money for their clients. How do I know this? Well the first indicator is that they are advertising, the problem with many GPT start-ups is a lack of initiative, ReelinCash has it! These guys are devoted to customer service, dedicated to quality and have already put out a few great contests/incentives to start delivering the goods.

The Net Fool gives ReelinCash a 3.5-out-of-5 rating

The only real downsides to ReelinCash are that it is based in ShiftCode (which we never like) and it is relatively new. However, they are really breaking down boundaries by providing awesome incentives, great support and competitive offer payouts. What I really like about ReelinCash is that they are working for you. These guys try their best to bring you the best service in the business. They put out a new contest featuring a Sony PSP Entertainment Package and $50 cash, and even started a “payment proof” forum that pays you to post proof!

Looking to the visual appearance of ReelinCash.com, I have found that the design is very well put together and extremely easy to navigate. Beginning users in the work at home industry won’t have a problem getting accustomed to the layout, and the colors are quite aesthetically pleasing… something that I think is a must in any website. The header is pretty creative and the overall theme fits the website well…”reelin cash” is put into a “fishing for cash”-esque design, which I like a lot. They’ve even got a stock-hold of FAQs to guide you on your way!

Let’s move on to the “earning” section of the website. Not much to see here, really your typical ShiftCode look at the members section… or is it?! ReelinCash has fully implemented a “games” section where you can earn additional money by playing games. What’s more, the easy to understand credit system at ReelinCash offers “hooks” for offers that you complete. These hooks are essentially just credits/tickets that you can collect and redeem for some great prizes like dvd’s, books and gift cards of your choice. Finally, they have an automatically-crediting “daily survey” program that allows you to complete surveys and make some easy extra cash.

One of the most obvious questions: how will I get paid. Currently, ReelinCash.com offers cashouts at just $15 minimum, a relatively low bargain price! The only problem here, in my opinion, is the lack of “check” as a payment method. They do offer PayPal, Barnes & Noble Gift Cards and TigerDirect.com Gift Cards, so the options are not too bad.

You can earn a pretty good amount from ReelinCash in the form of referral memberships as well. Everyone that signs up under you needs to complete just one offer to be considered “active” and you get 15% of everything that they earn… right off the bat! I would like to see some more creative banners to use, but they are doing well for a new company.

Finally, I want to touch on their support forum because it is one of the best I have seen. Since they are now so dedicated to growing, you are going to get that hands-on experience that you just won’t get anywhere else. They are extremely active in answering your questions, and have been nothing but helpful to me. Sure, there aren’t many members… but they are doing a solid job in creating demand.

Overall, if you want to make a lot of money using get-paid-to programs… I continue to stress the use of the Tier I work-at-home websites SWATcash, Treasure Trooper and CashCrate (especially SWATcash ). However, ReelinCash is doing a tremendous job in boosting popularity around their website and encouraging user interaction. If you want an easy chance to win some great contests, great support and a personal touch, I recommend joining up with ReelinCash.com!

-The Net Fool

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

3 Foolish Comments » - Random Post

(3 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5)

 Loading ...

“Your blog, thenetfool.com, is worth $64,357.56.” After taking a look at several of the so-called “best” website value calculators online, I have come to realize just how awful these ranking metrics really are! Many people attempt to use these estimating services to justify higher appraisals for their websites and blogs, and I admit that some services are more accurate than others. But hey, if you can find someone to buy theNetFool.com off me for $65,000… let me know!

I mean to tell you, there is no service that works. I have gotten “appropriate” values ranging from $78 to $65,000… and I’m starting to feel that there is just no way to put a price tag on a website with a computer-generated system. By using rating metrics such as Technorati, Google Pagerank, Alexa and even Yahoo backlinks, these website value calculators are a hoax. Anybody trying to tell you their website is worth $X dollars is more than likely trying to rip you off!

Let’s take a look on some of the more popular services:

Business Opportunities Weblog - The Net Fool is Worth $64,357.56
The Business Opportunities website value estimator is, sadly enough, one of the more popular measuring services around the web. While I cannot narrow down the exact metrics, it is evidentially drawn from Technorati. My Technorati rating is generally high when compared to my overall popularity, I am just good at using the service to increase my rank. But this means that the door is open for anyone to do as I did and artificially inflate the price of their websites. The Business Opportunities service grossly overestimates the value of my website.

YourWebsiteValue.com - The Net Fool is Worth $4,200
The system used at YourWebsiteValue.com projected what I think to be the most realistic price of my blog site. I feel that it is about correct, but this is not to say that the value was just “luck of the draw” (as I believe it was). I think that there is a lot of room to fudge the results and get an over-priced valuation. They use metrics like “popularity” and “recognition” which I believe are essential, so I have to say this turned out the most accurate for me.

EstiBot - The Net Fool is Worth $2,900
EstiBot is a decently fair way to value both your website and your domain name. They start out by estimating the value of your domain name (mine is apparently $130), and then apply things like rankings from Alexa, traffic and keywords to work out the value of your website. Again, not terrible, but overly reliant on pre-recorded rankings that can be artificially enhanced, thus inflating your “value.” I feel that the service aims too low for my price reasoning, but may even turn out the opposite for you!

CyberWyre - The Net Fool is Worth $1,342
The measures used in the CyberWyre ranking system are nothing more than a combination of things like Alexa rankings, Google Pagerank, and average backlinks. Because of this, sites that spam their link will receive huge leverage over those that do not. The $1,342 price valuation isn’t too far-fetched, but definitely undervalues my website by a considerable amount just because Google hasn’t given me the value I feel that I deserve.

Smart Page Rank - The Net Fool is Worth $245
Just three factors come into play for the Smart Page Rank valuation service, your appearance in Yahoo or DMOZ directories, number of backlinks, and indexed pages. Knowing this, I think that too much of a weight is put on the directory appearance. The DMOZ directory is becoming more and more unreliable as a ranking tool, and getting a listing in the Yahoo directories entails a purchase upwards of $250! Unfair, and a gross under-estimate of most blogs, including mine.

Site Value Calculator - The Net Fool is Worth $225
Like the Smart Page Rank, the website value estimator at SiteValueCalculator.com involves just three metrics: Alexa ranking, domain age, and number of backlinks. Why they decided to use domain age is beyond me, as I feel this estimates the domain name, rather than the website itself. What’s more, Alexa rankings are only recorded if the users browsing your website have the program installed on their computers when visiting. With Google cracking down on paid and other unmerited backlinks, the Site Value Calculator is a poor understatement of the value.

Website Value Calculator - The Net Fool is Worth $78
This is pretty much the bottom of the pile as far as quality goes. The WebsiteValueCalculator.com measure of my website’s value was a virtual train wreck at a measly $78 dollars. Knowing that they identified more than 5.1 million backlinks to my website… to turn around and offer a double-digit value is a bit ridiculous in my opinion. They weight far too heavily on pagerank for their own good, so if yours is unjustifiably low (like mine), you are going to get a horrible calculated value.

As you can see, while some services work a bit better than others, they can all be manipulated to an extreme degree and do not take their own metrics into effect properly. The most common problem involved is a heavy reliance on pagerank, which means absolutely nothing in reality. My best bet was YourWebsiteValue.com’s value calculator, but even this was not too accurate.

The bottom line: if you see someone advertising a sale price using one of these services, they are probably trying to exaggerate their net worth. As a rule of thumb, you will need to use your own intuition combined with these figures in order to figure out what your are worth.

-The Net Fool

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

25 Foolish Comments » - Random Post

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

 Loading ...

I was brainstorming for a post this morning when it hit me, I had no idea what to blog about! So naturally, I headed over to Google looking for ideas, this is probably one of the best idea-generating machine around. After racking my brain for hours, about the only solid idea that I came up with was a bit too much of a link-baiting operation for my tastes… then it hit me… I’ll write about things to blog about when your mind completely shuts down! Wow. How clever am I, right?

This can be hard for most bloggers. There is always a mental plateau that we reach when we start to reach goals for the first time. Because of this, I have started to keep a notepad to jot down ideas as I come by them… a virtual arsenal of posts. But let’s discuss prevention later, eh? Right now, you are having a problem and you need help. Here are some tips to jump-start your thinking.

1. Make a List!
See what I am doing right now? That’s right, make a list! Not only do articles with lists of, for example, “top five ways to tie your shoes” or “the worst three blogs on the internet” drag a lot of attention, they are typically going to be self-sustaining posts that will be revisited over and over again. This is essentially one of the most important rules of blogging, write timeless information… things people will want to visit and search for again and again. This is your best bet if you run out of ideas, and will definitely look good to your readers.

2. Interview Your Peers
Blogging interviews can be very informative and you will typically be able to catch a popular blogger willing to share information on the fly. Make sure that you prepare some interesting questions ahead of time. The advantage here is that you will more than likely be posting a link to his/her website. With any luck, they will bring up your post and BAM! in comes some awesome traffic for your efforts. Not only that, but the way interviews are structured typically is easy on the eyes, and makes you look like a real professional.

3. Review a Service/Opportunity
When I first started blogging, I did a lot of review of different services that you can use to do things like manage a stock portfolio, track your visitors and even manage your favorite websites. There are ton’s of great topics that people are willing to dig for, and it’s always great to help people out. Chances are, you are using some kind of website or product that people want to hear about. Tell them how it is! You’d be surprised how many searches I get every day for my BetUS.com post (online sportsbook). I really just wrote this posting in a rush and didn’t expect anyone to read it. Turns out… there are lots of people interested, and a lot of potential traffic.

4. Bash A Service/Opportunity
There’s nothing like a good roast, is there? Just the opposite end of point #3, if you have a service that you have used in the past that frustrated you, let people know why it is bad. Not to be a negative Ne, but it seems that more search engine traffic rolls in from websites that point out flaws than those that shower praise. Be controversial and take a stand against a company that has done you wrong, people will listen! Now this is not an open license to wreak havoc on the web, always write responsible, well-researched and supported information; but as long as you have your proof… have at it!

5. Answer a Reader’s Question
I have a few posts floating around that answer common questions asked by my readers. This is a great way to connect with your viewer base and make sure that you are networking the right way. I have answered questions ranging from “how do I know x company will actually pay me?” to “how do I open a stock portfolio?” and both have been great ways to touch base with the people reading my blog. You need to always make sure that you aren’t going over anyone’s head when you are writing, so if you have a lot of questions… make sure you take the time to slow down and answer them!

6. Write a Tutorial Post
We’ve all been stuck on one thing or another. Writing a tutorial, or a walk-through of sorts, for something as simple as “how to start a blog” or “how to research a stock” is going to invite both discussion and interest. Everyone asks questions, and as a blogger, it can sometimes be your responsibility to answer them. If you are rushing for an idea in a pinch, I’d recommend writing (or starting a series of posts… hmm now we’re thinking) about something you are good at and you believe others would need help in. Fire up that article archive with some helpful information!

7. Add to a Blog Post or Conversation
This is a great method of making your own blog post out of someone else’s that requires little effort and is often well-traffic’ed. You will need first a successful blog post that people are legitimately interested in, but you have something you think is wrong or something you’d like to add. Let’s take a recent posting from retireat21.com titled “Top 30 Young Bloggers Under 21“… oh look I’m on the list… well anyways… one of my fellow bloggers Jason from theuniversitykid.com decided he didn’t want my name on the list apparently (just kidding Jason ) so he made his own spin-off version of the list on his website. Its controversial, its catchy, its popular, its a recipe for success!

8. Niche Ramblings
Consider first that people come to your blog because they want to learn about what you are talking about in that particular niche. Then consider that most of these people are going to be interested in what grinds your gears, or what you love (current events) that is going on at the moment. This could be anything from “there are way too many contests!” to “social networking is really coming alive!” and the public will listen. If you can create a demand for what you have to say, there will be interest. Being controversial can be the easy way out, but if you are crunched for time, why not take that low road? On the other side of things, a positive remarks post will help your readers along.. and your interactivity (comments and such) should increase as a result.

9. Write What Is Hot!
If people are searching for something, you should be picking up on this right away and trying to capitalize on their demand. What do I mean by this? Well most search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN) have things like the “top 100 searches” that basically tell you where the money is at. Think about the possibilities . If people are already searching for the terms, there is little hit-and-miss at work here. When you are stumped about what to write next, how about turning to a search engine and find out what people want to hear?

10. Go To Bed
Sometimes, we all get a bit flustered. Don’t ever fall into the trap that you need to post every day. If you really can’t come up with anything intelligent to write, just move away from the computer for a day and do other things you like to do. Seriously, give your mind a rest will yeh? Some of the best ideas out there have stemmed from dreams or just random “aha!” moments you can have when you are in class, playing basketball or even washing your car. Try not to think about it and ideas will flock to you. It’s much better to write good material than force out lame re-writes!

Hopefully, all of you struggling for ideas have used this post to your advantage in keeping up with your competitors. As important as it is to post, you should never feel that you need to post. Some of the most successful blogs in the world only post two or three times a week after all! That’s all from me this time, if you have any questions or comments… have at it!

-The Net Fool

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

19 Foolish Comments » - Random Post

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

 Loading ...

Hey Net Fools,

I’d like to slow down and wish you all a Happy Easter! In the spirit of the holiday, I’ll take today’s post to outline what I am going to be doing this week rather than post anything that is actually useful, haha.

In an attempt to build some traffic around the blogosphere, I am going to do hopefully 3-4 guest blogging posts on some other popular places. I feel that guest blogging is the single best way to network around and generate some real interest/buzz about your website… not to mention the free link back. If any of you readers are interested, and have a blog with 75+ subscribers, shoot me an email and I’ll be happy to provide some quality work for free on behalf of me being such a blip on the radar at the moment.

This week, I will try to put out that much anticipated “about me” post. Jim Cramer is coming to Penn State, and will be stopping by to hear a stock pitch in my Nittany Lion Fund, LLC. fund managers classroom (about 20 people), so hopefully I can snag a picture to use in my profile. I will also have a possible appearance on Wednesday’s show, so stay tuned for that!

Other than the “about me” post, I have another sponsored post in the queue, should be a good service review. I know you would prefer original posts, which is why I pledge to never do more than one a week. We can all handle that right? (I hope).

You guys have been doing an awesome job with commenting and everything. We even had a visit from a world-renowned gold commodity investor in my most recent stock market pitch! Definitely liking that publicity, and it shows the true power of blogging in my opinion. The Net Fool is really gaining ground around the net as an established blog site with some good content, so this one goes out to all of you that help make it what it is, and which it will become.

March Madness continues to dominate my life, and it has been one hack of a tournament so far. If you guys are in the United States and aren’t watching, I’d suggest keeping an eye on what is happening. You don’t have to love college basketball to feel the rush behind this huge annual tourney!

The big-ish March contest continues to roll on, those of you who have stumbled or dugg posts I want to thank especially… I have gotten some stellar traffic off of those pings. As previously stated, we are gearing up for a gi-normous April contest. If you subscribe now, as always, you will be eligible already. If you would like to sponsor a prize for this big competition, just contact me. Everyone that donates will get some great coverage, links, and a small review.

Stick with it!
- The Net Fool

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

4 Foolish Comments » - Random Post

(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

 Loading ...

There’s GOLD in them thar hills!

You’ve heard the news, gold is the hottest thing since sliced bread… especially in this devastating stock market environment. Gold has historically been one of the best flights to safety for investors in troubled times, and 2008 is no exception. With bullish analysts predicting prices from $1,600 (Jim Cramer) to $3,500 (Jim Rogers), current trading values at $919.60 are far too low and present one heck of an opportunity. It’s no surprise that Yamana Gold’s CEO Peter Marrone said there was a “good chance” gold goes over $1,500 in 2008.

Earlier in the week, gold was trading at over $1,003 an ounce. After the biggest dollar decline in 28 years on Thursday and a terrible week overall, gold lost just about $100 of its value. I call this selling on strength and taking profits off the table. I call this the best entry point of the year!

The Best Gold Stock of The Year - Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY)
If you want to capitalize on appreciation in the value of gold, you want to buy Yamana Gold! I’ve already owned and sold this stock in 2008, taking a quick 19.4% profit (bought at $15.28 January 17th, sold last week at $18.24), and with the latest drop in value… I’m gearing up to buy more. Risky? Yeah. Rewarding? You bet. I think gold will trade up to $1400 in 2008, making me the most conservative of Jim’s… but that is still a pretty impressive amount of upside.

Why Yamana? Ever since Yamana, Meridian and Northern Orion Resources became one in September of 2007, this mineral (70% gold) monster is in the best stock of all to make money on a rise in the commodity. Among the Tier II gold producers, Yamana is the most liquid and one of the “growthier” companies in the mix. They have historically traded at a premium, and I feel that they deserve this. There are a number of earlier-staged projects coming from Yamana that haven’t been factored into the stock’s outlook yet.. and I think these could be a huge catalyst for the year. Cash flow multiple’s were increased last week from 20x to 25x because of copper operations. Yamana is in the smartest places of the commodities party, and with their smaller relative size and growth capacity (management projects 120% production increase to 2012)… I expect good things.

Let’s talk briefly about valuations. Yamana’s target price was recently raised by RBC Capital Markets to $21, and they were trading above $20 just a few weeks ago! I got greedy and held them, I ended up attaching a trailing stop to my position in order to lock in 20% gains.. and its a good thing I did. This stock was trading too high for its own good, but now that it was pulled back under… I don’t see any reason you can’t buy into it at $15 and sell at $20 once again. Rinse and repeat.

Feeling Conservative? Safer Gold Stocks Offer Security
As much as I am married to Yamana, and don’t see much risk in buying at $15, I realize that many of you might be scared off by its Tier-II status and want a more established player. That’s fine, and I have two winning stocks for you in Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) and Goldcorp (NYSE: GG).

Starting with Barrick, these guys are a bit more secure than Yamana in the fact that they are 5 times bigger, and after dropping 7% on Friday they present an interesting buy point. There are, however, some problems at home. In a recent article from the Wall Street Journal, some tax-sharing problems were exposed in Barrick between Argentina and Chile. Most of Barrick’s mining is in Chile, but most of the processing is in Argentina… there are a few uncertain government taxation issues at hand that could hurt you in handling costs. But as a whole, Barrick is one of the best stocks to get growth on gold with a nice valuation.

Let’s move on to Goldcorp. The fourth quarter was great news for GG, and added revenues from their plants in Alumbrera and Red Lake were definitely helpful. This is one of the few established companies that actually increased guidance into 2008. They were able to produce 623,000 oz at total cash costs of $208/oz, versus an anticipated 617,000 oz at total cash costs of $175/oz for the quarter. Investors considering an investment in Goldcorp should consider the risks associated with development of the large scale Penasquito project, and the risk associated with expected improved performance of the recent startup of the Marlin mine. Overall, I give the green light on this mineral powerhouse.

“There is a good chance we will see it before the end of this year.” - Yamana CEO Peter Marrone on gold’s $1500+ future

There are a lot of mineral gold/silver companies out there, but the others are just too risky for my blood. Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM) issued very poor guidance and rising production costs, Agnico-Eagle (NYSE: AEM) is essentially at its target price with no upside, Harmony Gold Mining (NYSE: HMY) is just too speculative for my blood and Gold Fields (NYSE: GFI) is much too volatile. I would stick with Yamana at the current price. The gold producers as whole are a BUY for me with the recent fire-sale. Don’t be scared off when people move to secure gains, the time is approaching when you should put more money in.

-The Net Fool

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

4 Foolish Comments » - Random Post

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

 Loading ...