It’s time, time for some Link Love!

We had a very busy week last go-round, and I had to get a rush of sponsored posts out the door in time. Despite this, we had a very productive showing of interested readers to the “how to” post I started on how to make your own GPT company. Part two is coming this week, so stay tuned for that, and in the meantime we have our contest sponsored by Motive Interactive to announce. The results of Jimvesting’s Fight to End Poverty are coming out this week, so stay on your toes if you entered! Before we get more into this, let’s talk about the best of last week:

• Pot Pie Girl – How to Squidoo
• Garry Conn – How to Make Money Online Selling Domain Names
• Winning The Web – Internet Marketing: Why You Need Quality over Quantity
  
• Enkay Blog – Seeing Your Blog as a Money Maker?
• Caroline Middlebrook – Article Re-Writing for Article Marketing

Pot Pie Girl starts us off with one of the biggest Squidoo resource posts that I have ever seen. If you’ve ever wanted to know about the service and how to improve the way you use it, this is the article for you! Garry Conn gives a great walk-through to selling domain names for profit on the internet, with an interesting case study in tact. Winning The Web discusses the need for quality traffic over sheer quantity, which is always an important thing to keep in mind. Enkay blog talks briefly about how you can see your blog as a money maker, without crossing that line of excess. Finally, Caroline Middlebrook rounds us out with a piece on article re-writing for boosting your traffic with article marketing.

Stock Market Update
Stocks sold off again this week… reaching new lows on practically a daily basis. Sure, more bad news has been coming out on a pretty consistent basis, but I am not convinced that this is why the markets are selling off. If that is true, then why exactly are markets around the globe crashing? Uncertainty.

While this is just my opinion, I believe that we really started to sell off on a news basis. For example, GDP comes out worse than expected and we sink the market 5% on the day. However, right now the markets are trading rather irrationally. To explain this, there are really just more people willing to sell then there are buyers. The reason for this is that there is no reason for confidence in the markets. If we could restore consumer confidence, this would greatly accelerate our nations GDP because consumer confidence is a huge indicator of consumption. President Obama discussed today some reasons for optimism in the system, and everyone is really trying their best to rally the markets. Unfortunately, investors aren’t buying… and instead are using the false calls for optimism as a weapon to derail the markets even further on speculation.

We are in a mess, but with stocks like GE trading at ridiculous sub $10 levels… I am almost ready to start pulling the trigger. This, of course, is directly against what everyone is telling you to do. However, I think that the contrarian theme will be huge in the next few months as we start to see things (hopefully) improve.

Blogosphere Update
Sorry for the delay, but yes, we have concluded Jimvesting’s Fight to End Poverty competition and will be releasing results this week. Thanks for everyone who participated, and best of luck for those in the blogger entry! A few developments happened in the blogging world this week, so let’s get into the good stuff!

I have joined up with an internet marketing training seminar called “PPC Classroom.” No joke, everyone loves this program so since they were giving it away for FREE… I just had to get in on it. If you want to learn how to make profits in affiliate marketing, I highly suggest that you join up and learn along with me. If you can make money online by marketing products (and even potentially a six figure income or more), I say take that opportunity. If you want to join in, I highly encourage you to use my affiliate link. Oh, and hurry because it is only available a few more days!

One of my best online buddies Ian Fernando released a brilliant product for twittering your way to success! I’m sure that many of you have heard of Twitter, the increasingly popular social media system. Well, you can apparently use this to your advantage and get ridiculous amounts of hits from the service. I grabbed a copy quick (bargain bin pricing!) of Ian Fernando’s Twitter Traffic Exposed and have already tried it out. I gotta tell you, I didn’t know what Twitter was capable of, and I am already getting huge traffic and increased comments (yes, more comments!) to Bullish Bankers today alone, my first day after purchase, as a result.

So there’s my due diligence, eh? For the week upcoming, I will be wrapping up my two part series on starting your own GPT website and compiling them in a nice eBook for your reference hopefully. Additionally, I am going to, starting Saturday, devote an entire week to getting more traffic to your websites. Heck, maybe I’ll take two weeks with a new tip each day… and not too much “fluff” material I promise!

-Jimvesting

Happy Monday!
Time for some Link Love!

We’ve got an interesting week planned here at theNetFool.com. First things first, our Fight to End Poverty is winding down and will conclude on next Saturday, the 28th. You can win some HUGE prizes generously donated by Motive Interactive… so take a look and move on the opportunity if you have the time. I’m going to do an interesting series of posts over the next week on building up your own “Get Paid To” GPT website. This is something that I know a lot of people have been asking about… as we would all rather be business owners than business customers. Let’s check on the week that was:

• Garry Conn – How Can I Attract More Visitors to My Website?
• Thou Shall Blog – Are You Making This Mistake in Building Trust?
• The University Kid – How to Make Money from Your Blog
• John Cow – Make Your Applications Work Together, to Work Better!
• The Germz – Top 50 Ajax Tools, Scripts & Solutions

Starting us off… it’s the man, the myth, the legend Garry Conn, showing everyone how to attract more visitors to your nice website in a Q&A type setting. Then, Thou Shall Blog brings a nice anecdotal piece on building trust in your business. The University Kid stays active with a post about how to make money from you blog… specifically through list building. John Cow puts together a nice article on how to make your applications all work together as one, increasing efficiency and ease of use. Finally, the Germz talks Ajax with the top 50 tools and solutions that use the service… definitely a cool list!

Stock Market Update

The markets were in free fall last week, and this has not really changed entering the new week. Over the past six trading days, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has been down about 10%… ouch. Equities are definitely scary at this point in time, as we have created new lows in the market and are starting to see things decay beyond points that we thought were possible.

At this point, there is wide speculation that America’s banking system will be nationalized. The first step in this would be to take 40% of Citigroup under federal control. While the number has been estimated between 25% and 40% (with America hoping for 25%), it is really uncertain. Essentially, the government here would dilute the common stock of Citi in order to get a control of one of the largest lenders in the world. Nationalization of the banking sector is something that the United Kingdom has really already done. While many think it would be a bad idea long term… it could prove necessary to keep our private sector from failing.

When will an investment in equities be worth yoru while again? It’s really tough to say… as a lot of investors are running to the bond market, or just staying with their cash under the mattress for the time being. At this point, we almost expect a bear market rally… but it still hasn’t come, which is a major concern to many. Hopefully we will see something pick up this week, but who’s to say!

Blogosphere Update

Alright, alright, I didn’t get any posts out last week (save the link love). The problem was essentially my sleeping patterns with THON. Dance Marathon (formally “THON”), as many of you know or have heard me talking about, is the largest student philanthropy in the world where we raise money for kids with cancer. The “big event” as it were was this weekend at Penn State University, so I spent all weekend (20+ hours at least) in our basketball stadium dancing for kids with cancer. While it was widely speculated that this would be the first year we wouldn’t top numbers from last year, THON raised almost $7.5 million for cancer treatment and research this year… which beat last years numbers by around a wide margin! I suppose that charity is recession resistant, eh?

Hopefully you readers can excuse my absence for the week. To make it up to all of you, this week we will be covering the exciting world of “Get Paid To” programs… and specifically how you can start your own GPT company. This is something that is highly requested throughout the internet, so hopefully we can all learn something new here. I have a multi-parter in the works, so expect that this week!

Stay bullish on the net!
-Jimvesting

We’re at the midpoint this week,
but that doesn’t mean we can skip LINK LOVE!

It’s been a pretty hectic week over here. I’m exploring job opportunities and am in the thick of it with presentations, meetings and exams. But now that most of that is out of the way, I’ll have some free time available to post here. Don’t forget about the Net Fool’s Fight to End Poverty, which runs till the end of the month! But enough of that, let’s get back to the best articles for the week:

• Search Engine Marketing Group – Why Does Digg.com Hate SEOs?
• Dean Hunt – The 5 Most Awkward Interviews of All Time
• Striking Up – Resume Tips for Tough Economic Times
• Hussein’s Blog – Top 5 Blogger-Friendly Make Money Online Tools
• The Melvin Blog – How to Get Sponsors for Your Contest

A few new names in this week’s lineup. The first comes form the Search Engine Marketing Group, and a very interesting piece on getting banned from Digg.com because of ties with “seo” content. Dean Hunt makes a debut in the lineup withthe top 5 most awkward interviews of all time, a subject that I thought was especially fitting in this current job market. Striking Up put forth a nice piece on resume tips for tough economic times (yes, there seems to be a theme with this link love, haha). Hussein gets us a quick list on “blogger friendly” MMO tools that you can use to harness the power of the internet. Finally, Melvin drums up a nice article on getting high-quality sponsors to your blog contests.

Stock Market Update

All the news this week has been equally bad as in weeks before. I have heard a good deal of “doomsday” forecasting in the air, and since the Dow Jones Industrial Average (the main benchmark for stocks) fell to around 7,500, investors are getting scared. Our previous low in November of 2008 is now being tested… if we break to the downside and create a new low, this could spell trouble in the equity markets. If you still want to invest, why not invest in a nice high-yielding ETF or corporate bonds?

The “big news” of the week was this stimulus plan finally being signed into action. This stimulus package is supposed to provide funding to all of the growth areas of the United States economy to strategically stimulate our growth going forward. The size of it is $787 billion, and President Barack Obama signed it into law yesterday. What does this mean for you? Well, it really depends how old you are to be honest. If you are middle aged, you might just love this bailout money that gives money to everything from water infrastructure to hollywood producers. However, if you are a young whipper-snapper like myself… you might just find yourself in a bind down the road as we are laden with debt. It will be interesting to see how this eventually turns out 10 years down the road when we can accurately reflect upon our choice.

Blogosphere Update

Hmm… looks like I haven’t been around for awhile, eh? I was out this weekend from Friday to Sunday night for charitable purposes, raising money for the Penn State Dance Marathon (or THON, commonly). If you would like to donate to help kids with cancer, check out the official website at THON.org and hit “donate!” (choose to donate through the “Nittany Lion Fund” THON group to help our team out!). In addition to THON, I have been interviewing and getting summer plans in order. I am not going to reveal any offers that I have received thus far until things are set in stone for safety’s sake… but feel free to talk with me if you are at all interested.

Last week, I put together a highly anticipated two-part series on how to start your own business. Be sure to check back on those posts if you are interested in making profitable on your business venture. Registering for a business is actually one of the easiest things you will every do, so don’t hesitate to read up on how exactly to do this step-by step. We’re moving through the recession with strength, so be sure to keep fighting to stay ahead… and stay BULLISH on the net!

-Jimvesting

It’s everyone’s favorite weekly run-down…
… the weekly recap from theNetFool.com

LINK LOVE!

I had another jam-packed week after traveling for a two-day business conference last week down to Washington D.C. Even with this in mind, we still had a productive week and got out a few posts to boot! We’ve got a lot on our plates for the week ahead, but before we get started… let’s have a look back on the week that was:

• Caroline Middlebrook – CMS Systems, Membership Software and PHP Code
• Affiliate Confession – Give It Away for Free and Earn Big Bucks
• Blogging Kid – 16 Most Essential WordPress Plugins
• On Money Making – Make Money Without Having a Special Talent
• Jonathan Volk – Getting Accepted Into A CPA Network Isn’t Hard

We start off with a look at alternatives to WordPress from Caroline Middlebrook… something that I think is very important to consider. Then, Affiliate Confession brings us a nice tip on how giving things away for free can boost your income. The Blogging Kid makes an appearance with a nice list of the 16 “essential” plugins to have on your WordPress installation. Then, OnMoneyMaking talks about how you can make money without specializing in something profitable. We wrap it up with a piece form Jon Volk talking about applying for CPA networks, daunting isn’t it?

Stock Market Update

This week upcoming should be a big one in terms of the US markets. With the government poised to release some brand new recovery packages for the financial sector and underlying economy… we could have big swings in the Dow Jones throughout the week. The broad markets rallied last week, looking toward these bailout/stimulus packages as a sign for hope, and rallied over 5% last week (with the financial sector up over 6%).

Unemployment came out a tad worse than expected at 7.6% unemployed… yet what most don’t realize is that we are actually trending closer to 14% unemployment. I haven’t seen this in ANY press release, and I think that it is something that needs to be addressed. The way that unemployment is measured leaves people that have stopped looking for work out of the equation entirely (called “discouraged workers”). Let’s factor them in:

Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers

Nov 08: 12.6% — Dec 08: 13.5% — Jan 09: 13.9%

Not too good, eh? I found this after digging deeper into the unemployment report, so it’s something to keep in mind. The news reporters don’t always give you the true story… so sometimes you need to figure things out for yourself.

Blogosphere Update

So what went down last week in the blogosphere? One of my good friends Normal Joe from IMWithJoe.com upgraded his blog’s template and got back to posting… something I always love to see. Jimvesting’s Fight to End Poverty is rolling on strong, though we don’t have many top contenders quite yet in the affiliate realm. Because of this, anyone can win… so if you are interested in fighting homelessness in America and would also like to start earning lots of cash with Motive Interactive affiliate network, this is for you! At the very least, check out the contest for a free shot at an iPod Nano!

Last week, I wrote about Cash Tactics and put out a protected post for a free stock market report. While I could have put out more, I was a bit constrained by time because of all of the meetings I have been having. However, this week might be quite a bit more productive as I am definitely going to look to get out my post about starting a business… as well as some useful blogging techniques and ways to make money in a down economy.

Stay tuned, and stay bullish on the net!
-Jimvesting