Hey Net Fools,

Time to spread some Sunday link love to some of the better blogs I have read this week. Despite people complaining that there’s nothing original online anymore, I beg to differ… and have dug up some great posts that I think make for an interesting read.

• Trainee Trader – “Danger, Will Robinson!” Stock Robot Scam
• Blog About Your Blog – 23 Things I’ve Learned About Blogging
• John Cow – Make Money Online With Free Stuff
• Zero and Up – Don’t Be Afraid to Be Assertive
• The Internet Entrepreneur – 8 Blogs That I read Every Day
• The Wild Investor – Something Different

In other news, don’t forget that our Big March Contest is wrapping up on the 15th (next Tuesday), so don’t forget to subscribe to my feed, blog about my contest and maybe even Stumble or Digg some posts to get your entries counting. I’m looking forward to seeing how this turns out, and can’t wait for the insane April contest that is in the works. Spread the word, and win some cash and prizes!

Hope all of you had a great weekend. This week I’m going to be giving either a stock pitch or another sub-industry review. I’ll also be writing up some interesting articles on blogging, and share some tricks and tips to make you mad money on the internet. Stay tuned for some awesome posts this week that should help you out!

-Jimvesting

The typical recession advice says not to buy steel companies in a bear market. But this group of companies has been among the strongest performers year to date! Explosive steel demand has entirely outdone global supply. Despite the U.S. recession lag, global steel demand is expected to rise 5% a year. Whether you turn to the Middle East, India or China, buildings are going up daily, everywhere you look.

The most interesting market in my view is China, where they are anticipating 2008 crude steel demand to rise 11% versus a supply increase of just 6.3% (China Daily). Fast Money analyst Guy Adami says “the steel story is real,” and I don’t blame him. Let’s take a look at four of the best steel stocks money can buy!

U.S. Steel Corp. (NYSE: X)
I recommended U.S. Steel at $96.29 a share back on January 21, 2008. Today, they are trading at $140.70. I don’t mean to brag, but that’s a 46.121% return on your investment. Just a friendly reminder to trust the Net Fool!

Business as usual down at U.S. Steel is stronger than expected, and they are at a 52-week high… but I see them going higher! Why is X so special? Most steel producers need to offset higher ore costs with higher prices, but U.S. Steel has a unique integrated business model that includes self-sourced ore operations. Less exposure to the global iron ore market means potential to outperform by taking advantage of price increases without taking a hit on input costs like most other producers.

Wait for a good buying point on X, and you might be able to work in some extra gains off the top. I recommend waiting for something around $130, but who am I to discount their higher highs? I still trust steel, and U.S. Steel is still my X-factor for 2008.

Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE)
The recent run up in scrap metal prices, primarily due to higher than anticipated domestic & global demand, lower supply and higher-priced alternatives, has fueled a recent buying frenzy of scrap processors for Nucor. This is not a bad thing. Most notably, Nucor acquired Metal Recycling Services Inc. and said the deal “provides additional growth in the scrap metal sector.” NUE makes steel from recycled materials.

Why am I talking about this consolidation? I think Nucor is one of the smarter companies, and they are making all the right moves to vertically integrate their business. Estimates from most major firms are on the up-and-up because a lot of these deals are adding insane value and security to Nucor’s business. JP Morgan feels that rising metal spreads “are likely to result in significant margin expansion” for NUE, and I agree. Also trading near their 52-week highs, keep Nucor on a short leash.

Steel Dynamics Inc. (NYSE: STLD)
STLD is a great steel company, but i have fears that their fundamentals may have already juiced up the stock price too much. I feel that they have taken off too fast out of the gates, and you need to wait a while before jumping back on board.

That being said, Steal Dynamics is a stellar company that has eeked out profit from every corner of the market. Scrap prices have increased gross margins, “flat rolled” product pricing has outpaced input costs and even resource operations are outpacing profit expectations as demand rises.

I don’t buy the “concerns” many analysts have about STLD. Rather, I think that Steel Dynamics is one of the best in its class… but it is just not attractive enough to push more money into. Can’t get too greedy, they have nearly doubled since mid-January. This is definitely a stock to track though, and if something were to trigger a selling frenzy, I wouldn’t second guess buying on the way down.

Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (NYSE: RS)
Reliance is in a pretty favorable environment for growth right now, and I think they could definitely outperform in the short and long term. Things like better carbon steel pricing environments, strength in end markets (energy, oil & gas, aerospace), strong non-residential construction numbers and minimal discretionary exposure has Reliance Steel & Aluminum jumping beyond expectations.

Historically, Reliance Steel has been able to turn out huge revenue growth from smart acquisitions, I think they continue on this path (just purchased Dynamic Metals on April 2nd). Management has a great focus on improving performance where they are market leaders. In a consolidating steel market, this is a very important strategy. Trading around $62, I expect them to reach a target over $70 in 12 months, but I wouldn’t want to own them until I can get them closer to $55. Regardless, this is another winner in my eyes.

Bottom Line: Hindsight is always 20-20, and I wouldn’t be shocked if we turn around at the end of the year and say “gosh, why didn’t I buy at the 52-week highs?” I am too scared off by this run up to buy right now, but I am asserting that this industry has catalysts and all of these stocks are on my watch lists… just waiting to get my value.

-Jimvesting

Alexa.com defines themselves as “the web information company,” but to webmasters and bloggers, they are so much more. Essentially, Alexa is a company that measures web traffic on almost every website on the internet through their increasingly popular toolbar plugin. This becomes an important element in leveraging your blog’s ranking as a sell point to advertisers, sponsors, buyers, readers and whoever else wants a piece of your material.

Why is this important? Alexa rankings can make or break your business.

Before you freak out, let me explain how this plays out. Essentially, the way Alexa.com is measuring your website’s traffic is one of the most unfair surveys around. Why? Well they only record hits on your blog if it passes through their systems… meaning that your visitors need either the Alexa.com toolbar installed or you need to have a widget displayed on your website.

Advantage internet/technology bloggers. As a whole, the tech readership crew is much more likely to have an Alexa toolbar installed than your typical user. What this means for non-tech focused websites is that they are going to be seen as having less traffic than others.

So I have less traffic according to some company… who cares!?
You need to start caring about your Alexa.com ranking if you aren’t already. As much as it pains me to say this, they have a monopoly over the sector. As advertisers move away from the unreliable “Google Pagerank” service, Alexa Ranking is the next logical sell point to move towards (and eventually destroy ).

Your Alexa ranking is used as a big factor in valuing the advertising space on your website by, I would say, about 85% of advertisers. A higher positioning means more money in your pocket. Alexa rankings are being used increasingly to leverage blogs, despite the fact that the numbers can be horrendously manipulated. More high paying reviews, better advertising offers, more press coverage, it is a must have.

What can you do to improve your ranking?
So you have a less-than-stellar rating, don’t worry… you can improve and manipulate this pretty easily. Here are the top three things you should be doing, anything else is water under the bridge… so when you read a post “the top x ways to improve your Alexa ranking,” they are making most of it up out of thin air.

1. Place an Alexa.com widget/plugin or chart on your website
2. Install the Alexa toolbar on your own computer and encourage your readers to do the same on their computers
3. Write popular content and get SEO optimized for traffic

Pretty self-explanatory, throw an Alexa widget up on your website. Why? This logs your visitors even if they don’t have a toolbar. Essentially, this can make up for visitors not having toolbars of their own (though not entirely). I have heard reports of HUGE gains after installing an Alexa chart or widget. They offer them to you on the website for free, so you should be taking advantage of their offer.

Other than that, you need to have the traffic to push your ranking up, so keep writing interesting content that is dense with information so you get the search engine positioning and page views that you need. Your ranking is based on your last three months of traffic average traffic, so while my weekly average is currently under 100,000, I am registering a 273,000 Alexa ranking. This will take some time, so be patient and keep writing.

Alexa.com ranking is important, so you definitely shouldn’t underestimate its influence on your earnings. Don’t get freaked out if your rating isn’t so hot, because there is more to life on the web than statistics alone. But if you simply don’t care, you need to start caring because you are missing out on potential income by having a poor rank.

-Jimvesting

This week, I want to have a look at a somewhat new website called Retire At 21. While this is a paid review, I have been friends with the owner (Michael) for a few weeks now, and can definitely attest to his overall knowledge of the business world. The key message? Despite how old you are, you can use the web to retire early if you play your cards right.

As the internet grows, there has been an increasingly large amount of what we call young entrepreneurs. Myself included, lots of people are finding ways to make a living off the internet. While I fully intend on working most of my life, and actually want it that way, the fact remains that most of us are looking for an early retirement, Retire at 21 give you the tools to make this dream a reality, for free.

Looking at the website, the first thing you might notice is that all of the information is free. Being so used to having to shell out monthly subscription money to view great content like this, it is definitely a great sight to see.

Perhaps the most interesting lure of this website is the fact that Michael has stored up massive amounts of quality interviews with some of the most well known internet moguls around. People like Aaron Wall (SEO Book), Paul Bourque (Azoogle Ads), Pete Cashmore (Mashable) and Graham Langdon (Entrecard) all make an appearance among many other top names. This is some thing that I love about the website. Who better to learn the tricks of the trade from then the people who have done it right, and gotten rich!

Retire At 21 not only has the information you need to get you thinking, but they have all of the tools and tutorials at your disposal. What am I talking about? Some great articles like their extensive “Creating a Website” resource as well as a full listing of monetization tools and different methods of making money online. If someone has dreamed up a way to profit of the net, you are sure to find it fully described here. What I am trying to say, is that RetireAt21.com can be a one-stop source for your researching and planning.

Being an active members of the forum board as well, I have come to find that a lot of the advice you can get on this community comes from people successfully doing what you are attempting. They have managed to increase their membership dramatically in such a short period of time, and there are plenty of users available to help you make money. The forums are not only a great way to network with “better” bloggers, but a solid means of researching what it takes to be successful online.

Another thing that I like about this website is their dedication to growth. Michael nagged me several times about publishing this post, which really goes to show how determined he is to maximize his readership at all costs. Proving my point is their subscriber count and traffic reports, which have been growing at consistently phenomenal rates since January. I would venture a bet that it won’t be long before this website is on top of the market, so get in now while everything is still free!

My criticism of this website mainly goes around the fact that it sometimes seems to be too flashy for my tastes. What do I mean by this? I am all for young entrepreneurs, but sometimes this website gives off an all too arrogant “know-it-all” charm that gets to me. Understandably, the publishers at Retire At 21 have spent most of their attention in internet marketing… but I’d much rather be talked to on the same level than talked down to. Regardless, they really know their stuff.

If you are a young entrepreneur and you want some tips on being the best of the best, you should definitely swing by Retireat21.com. The information contained on this dense website is very valuable, and I was honestly a bit surprised that there are no subscriptions necessary. This one definitely has a bright future in front of it.

-Jimvesting

I thought it would be creative to do this as a typical company earnings call, recounting the past periods performance and guiding estimates for the next period (in this case one month). No call-in line for this one… check out how our last month turned out!

After growing at a sluggish rate since birth in October 2007, March came roaring through with some spectacular results. With the new layout release on March 03, 2008, interest and readership shot up. I want to thank all you readers for making this rebirth such a success. Here are the relevant statistics for month to month performance.

March 01 Results

• RSS Subscriber Count: 7 Readers
• Average Unique Visitors: 68
• Average Returning Visitors: 9
• Average Page Loads: 135
• Alexa.com Ranking: N/A
• Google PageRank: 0

April 01 Results

• RSS Subscriber Count: 76 Readers (985.71%+)
• Average Unique Visitors: 215 (216.18%+)
• Average Returning Visitors:35 (288.89%+)
• Average Page Loads:375 (177.78%+)
• Alexa.com Ranking: 300,597
• Google PageRank: 0

Monthly Review and Growth Strategy
As you can see by our dramatic increases, we have had tremendous success this month expanding our RSS subscriber count by over 985% and visitor counts with three-digit percentage growth across the board. Our Alexa.com ranking has been strategically on the rise since the start of the month, and we intend to continue benefiting form increased search rank positioning and exposure.

Our main drivers this month were the new template launch, extensive networking and a strong reputation that established Jimvesting dot com as a reliable source of information for internet entrepreneurs and businessmen everywhere.

The geographic strategy for Jimvesting remains international expansion. We saw visits from 86 different countries this month, with roughly 60% exposure to the United States, 7.7% from Canada, and 4.3% from the United Kingdom. Our traffic sources continue to be heavily weighted from referring websites, comprising just about 62% of our viewers. In addition, we saw about 20% direct traffic and 18% from search engines.

Revenue Breakdown
In March, we sold off two monthly 125×125 sidebar ad slots at $15 apiece as well as four sponsored reviews at $15 apiece bringing our total revenue to approximately $90. This was partly offset by advertising spending at approximately $20 for the month. In all, this month was semi-profitable in selling ads and reviews, and we look to continue to grow our profits.

April 2008 Outlook
Next month, we will be throwing a major April contest which we expect to drive further growth upwards of 135 readers, 50 returning visitors and 450 page loads. In addition, we expect continued networking operations to yield an Alexa.com page ranking of 250,000+ over the next month.

That’s it for this month, hope you liked our earnings report. We had an amazing run this month and want to thank all of you readers for your continued support.

Stay bullish on the net!
-Jimvesting