It’s Sunday, and time for another round of updates in the form of… Sunday Link Love!
This week was a bit sloppy, but I feel like I put out some decent material including some great ways to monetize your blog and techniques to build up that all important RSS subscriber base. You all probably know that I was really busy this time through, but I managed to get posts up 4 out of 6 days so things weren’t too bad. Before I get too far ahead of myself, let’s have a look at some of the best posts for the week ending August 30, 2008.
- Big Ben Patton – You NEED a 404 Error Page, So Let’s Make One
- Ian Fernando – Exit Pop-Ups: The Reason They Convert
- Jason Boom – The Future of Social Media Sites and Networks
- Blogging Tips – 3 Best Free Ways to Get Quick Visibility to Your Blog
- Desmond Blog – How I Make $20/Day Bum Marketing
Most of our blogs have built in 404 error pages, but you should make sure that this is true or even make a custom one ot add some humor… check out Ben Patton’s post for more on that. Ian Fernando explains the value behind exit pop-ups, a great analysis there. Jason Boom get’s into the future of social media bookmarking, an interesting concept post by all means; and Desmond blogs about a great way to make money in bum marketing with little work.
Stock Market Update
The big news for the weekend is centering on two things, the first of which being John McCain’s Vice President pick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the first woman on a Republican ticket. The other big theme is Hurricane Gustav, called “the mother of all storms” by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin after he issued a mandatory evacuation of the city. What does weather have to do with the stock market? Surprisingly, quite a lot. For a storm that has already caused 81 deaths and is picking up speed to levels beyond which we had originally forecast, our crude oil resources in the Gulf region could be ransacked. As the supply-demand equation tells us, the lowered supply is going to send prices of gasoline toward $5 in a jiffy unless the U.S. releases their emergency oil reserves. The balance in commodity trading b/t fear of the U.S. releasing reserves and fear of the storm’s impact have caused a volatile reaction in the markets.
So that’s the look forward, let’s take a step back and see how we did this week. On low volume, the market was surprisingly jumpy… ending the week down 0.7%. This week really had everything, capped off by a huge upside surprise in second-quarter GDP readings… which was at a whopping 3.3% from 1.9%. Take that in. I’ll wait. 3.3%… and they call this a recession? 
A gloomy report from Dell (NYSE: DELL), which was hit by overseas manufacturing issues, on top of a larger than expected fall in personal income really dismantled what would have been a huge week to the upside. Existing & new home sales, consumer confidence, durable goods and initial claims were all on the up and up. Really, I saw this as a pretty good week all things considering. GDP was huge, but I expect this week to be shaky and downward-spiraling because of Hurricane Gustav.
Blogosphere News and Ramblings
I like to tell you guys what I thought of the posts coming out on the week, good or bad, and I feel that this week put up some surprisingly helpful information. I spent one of my longer periods running through my RSS Reader to pick the top five posts I saw because there were a lot of interesting articles. Granted, I can’t mention them all, but I’d have a look back on your favorite blogs if you can because there was some good stuff. If nothing else, learn some grammar with my friend at Miss Write.
My friend Jason from The University Kid passed 1,000 RSS subscribers (finally!), so go congratulate him on that accomplishment. Also, apparently Normal Joe thinks that he can put up a post without a video on IMWithJoe.com, so go ahead and comment on his post telling him he needs a video.
A lot of contests just wrapped up this last week as it is the end of the month, so it’s going to be interesting to see what else pops up. I’m trying still to wrangle up some prizes and stuff, as I’m not really sure of the direction that I want to go with this one. I definitely need to start a contest though, as not doing one really is my personal mark of being lazy and losing ground as a result.
The Week In Focus
Second week of classes, now is when it gets serious, eh? Luckily, we have (in America at least) a nice three-day weekend to be as unproductive as possible! I still have projects to finish, and haven’t really done much in the way of work on the computer as I’ve been really busy with the whole college experience. Hopefully I can wrap up the web design project I am contracted to and finish the two speculative blogs that I was planning on launching.
Assuming that I get my work done, I’m going to try to make a post this week about the crude oil market and how it effects you (think gasoline prices among other things). I don’t like it when bloggers in the MMO niche (or others) try to convince you to stage a protest against buying oil to lower the price… because that’s just foolish. I’m going to give the facts on that one. Other than that, definitely expect some posts about the projects I have finished assuming those get done. If they don’t? Well… I’ll be writing about something money-related. It’s going to be a solid week, so stay tuned for more… and stay BULLISH on the net!
-Jimvesting
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Good stuff, fantastic week I have some posts to catch up on from you. Lol, I guess I can’t get away without videos anymore
keep it up Jim.
Normal Joes last blog post..Why Do You Read My Blog? I Really Want To Know.
Actually, it’s still Saturday, EST, lol
Either way, I liked the tips on how to get your blog noticed quickly for free by bloggingtips. It’s gonna help me out.
Ralphs last blog post..ForTheLose.org Downtime
Thanks for the link Jim and I look forward to your post about the oil.
Big Ben Pattons last blog post..You NEED A Custom 404 Error Page, So Lets Make One.
Great post man. I was going to write a Quick Links post on my blog, but with the exact same links you did with this one! Thanks to you, now I gotta find new ones.
Sly from SlyVisions dot Coms last blog post..Create a New SlyVisions Slogan – Deadline Extended
Awesome links man,
I love that you only have a few…not one million
This means I can have time to look through them all and not die of boredom from reading so much.
Keep up the good work and send some link love my way (I will be sending you some soon)…i think I might start a weekly link love also
Thanks for the links!
Desmond – DesmondBlog.coms last blog post..SEO Experts Wear Hats – Grey-Hat SEO Techniques
Thanks for the link love!
Jim,
Good post. I really like the Link Love picture of the hearts at the top. Sweet!
Yeah, what in the world is Normal Joe thinking? Does he actually believe that he can keep making post with no video and there won’t be a rebellion? I say let’s take his griddle cakes, then he will know how serious it is. LOL!
Other than that, I really need to get with the 404 error pages, so thanks for the link to Big Ben. I will check out the others.
I am bullish!
Freddies last blog post..Goal Setting Sundays: Week 1
Great! Thanks for the link love
basement floorings last blog post..Basement Flooring: Form and Patterns
Nice weekly catch up.
BlogSavvys last blog post..Friday Free-for-All 08/29/2008
Hi!
It was definitely a hard sunday for me and hope you got yours on an easy way. I haven’t been writing for 2 days but i still have 18 scheduled articles. Nice links…
charless last blog post..Blog Feature | 000 Web Host Review
Hmm… gets me thinking – I probably need a 404 error page
And congratz to TheUniKid
Otooos last blog post..Part 2: Getting Your Link Bait Noticed
Twitter: @enkayblog
September 1, 2008 at 8:59 am #
Great links as always and nice coverage about the selection of the Republican VP candidate as well as Gustav. I’m in Texas and that means that we’ll be watching the storm closely. Also, ImWithJoe.com, what the heck man? a post without video? Who you kiddin?
Enkay Blogs last blog post..Need Some Affiliate Tips?
Just reflecting on this week again and it has been such a good week. I am really looking forward to the first week of september
Nice great end of the month wrap up
I never get link love from Jim (well almost never), cause Jim’s a meanie (yeah I said it)
Moneybitess last blog post..Monthly Stats Report, August 2008
Nice weekly posts, Ben did a really great job on his.
Looking forward to the next week and next month as always, there should continuously be something ahead of you!
I liked Desmond’s post, but perhaps it could have been a bit more detailed.
Ganeshs last blog post..Goals for September