Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. I was unexpectedly called down to Connecticut, which is why you haven’t seen a post from me this weekend. Nevertheless, I’m not going to deprive you of some good reads from last week, so here is a later-than-expected list of some of the best articles/posts on blogs I read this week.

• Winning The Web - 1 Simple Word That Will Revitalize Your Marketing Strategy
• Internet Babel - Top 20 Internet Marketing Blogs
• Caroline Middlebrook - Does Your Blog Monetization Leave Something?
• Garry Conn - Garry Conn v. John Cow MMO Case Study
• John Cow - John Cow v. Garry Conn MMO Case Study

This week was a light one in terms of new material coming out from me. You saw a few great guest posts from some of my contributors, and I want to once again thank all of you that pitched in for your help. Now that exams (and the semester) are over, I’m going to be able to focus more on posting every day and interacting with you readers as much as possible. I am looking into summer employment, but this shouldn’t really affect my ability to write daily very much… so expect a lot of great material in the near future!

Let’s get a wrap up of what has happened this week:

Stock Market
Really a nerve-wracking week once again in the markets, as a lot of companies reported earnings among other things. Most recently, AIG announced a big unexpected write-down which sent n otherwise positive market into frenzy over renewed fear toward the credit markets. Another major company announcement came from FedEx, who reported lower-than-expected earnings citing oil prices as a reason for concern. FedEx is seen as an economic barometer of sorts, since they handle a lot of the deliveries that can reveal what other companies are doing in terms of productivity. I’m actually considering buying FedEx (NYSE: FDX) right now because of how they are valued… they have been a very strong company and should be back sooner or later.

Two of my favorite holdings, Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY) and NVidia (NYSE: NVDA) reported earnings last week… both receiving positive trading action after the release. Yamana absolutely dominated expectations and kept guidance in line. I think people have overreacted to a strengthening of the dollar, and it’s always good to have a rock-solid gold stock in your portfolio for hedging purposes. From NVidia, they had a record first-quarter, but it wasn’t good enough to beat the consensus estimate. Nevertheless, they managed to beat the Street’s whisper, so they were positive on the day (despite trading down 8.5% after-hours initially). I expect the trend toward high-end graphic cards to continue as video games among other devices continue to advance, so I like this as a long-term holding.

Blogosphere
Not a lot went down this week in the blogging world. Although, admittedly, I was a bit preoccupied with semester exams for the week, there wasn’t any noteworthy action after most websites reported their monthly-earnings last week. Despite this, there are plenty of great articles to look at so you can learn a thing or two.

One dispute that was interesting was a virtual war that broke out between two blogs, John Cow and Garry Conn. If you visit either of their blogs, you’ll know just what I’m talking about. Personally, I think it’s funny that these guys are beating themselves up over a non-issue. But hey, you can sign up for both of their newsletters to see how they are setting up new blogs for the competition they have started between themselves; the links are in the link-love list.

The Week In Focus & Contest Update
This week, I am going to put out a few articles and hope to move into a new tutorial for making money on the internet. I’d like to see a sub-industry stock market pitch come out… so hopefully I can get one of those bad boys together. I’m hoping to get closer to the 200-subscriber mark this week… possibly seeing another double in my numbers for the month.

The Net Fool’s Outrageous Contest continues to be a great catalyst for growth… so don’t forget to tell all of your friends about the opportunity. Remember that no matter how late you get in on the contest, you are guaranteed to win… so there’s no hurt in trying to win a bigger prize, eh? I’ve seen a lot of great posts about the contest which definitely helped in getting The Net Fool a Google PageRank of 4 in the latest update.

Keep reading up on the foolishness to turn your time into cash!
-The Net Fool

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It’s official.

In the most recent update of Google’s PageRank service, theNetFool.com was awarded one of the higher distinctions possible with a PageRank 4 rating. The jump from a PR 0 to a PR 4 is one of the bigger steps ever recorded on the internet, and is certainly something worth bragging about.

What the heck is Google Pagerank!?
This post was originally going to be intended to explain the pageranking service, but I feel that the details will bog down this post so I am going to make an entire post dedicated to the explanation sometime later this week. In a nutshell, Google Pagerank is a complex algorithm that literally “ranks” websites on a scale of 1-10 based on traffic, content and current standing (number of links, etc.). This service is updated at random intervals, usually somewhere from 3-5 times each year, so it causes a real commotion when webmasters begin to see things changing.

Why is Pagerank important?
People will tell you that PageRank is useless, but anyone that tells you that is either depressed they do not have a good ranking, or simply off their rocker. Truth be told, there are MUCH better services to rank the strength of a website than Pagerank. I side with those that say hey, PageRank shouldn’t be important… because typically it is not the best measure of traffic, readers, etc. However, it is also a fact that most people care about what Google PR website’s have when they compile “top website” rankings, and more importantly, advertise.

Advertising is probably the single most important function of Google’s PageRank. Advertisers look at a website with a high PR and justify buying sponsored reviews, text links and banner ads based on this. Higher ranking, more money. So basically, if you have a high PR for your blog/site, you are going to be seen as a superior website whether this is actually true or not.

How does The Net Fool stack up to the competition?
With a current PageRank of 4, the Net Fool is now in the top tier of bloggers. I know that saying 4/10 sounds like you have nothing, but it is actually one of the higher rankings available… as you will soon see. Basically, most blogs are lucky to get a 3 after much work… the jump from 3 to 4 is a massive milestone, and it is tough to even get a 1 (default is 0). But don’t take my word from it… let’s glance at my competitors to see how they stack up.

Most notably, we have the same rank as JohnChow.com, arguably the most popular money blog on the internet with over 25,000 RSS subscribers and over 200,000 unique visitors every money. We are also tied with Winning The Web (almost 900 subscribers). Websites that The Net Fool is currently beating include most of my direct competitors. John Cow, Tyler Cruz and Blog Trepreneur all have a PR 3 with about 1,500 subscribers a piece, and smaller scale blogs like Blog About Your Blog, Jonathan Volk, The University Kid, and Sly Visions have PR 3 rankings with RSS subscribers ranging from 250-1000 subscribers each.

Am I saying that The Net Fool dot com is better than these blogs now? Absolutely. Not necessarily. But a higher PageRank certainly reflects well on my content. I have asked around and it seems that well-written content has a huge factor now in rankings, so having quality information has definitely supported my growth (as it should).

I was a bit sheepish in writing this post, since I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw my blog has been awarded a powerful 4 rankings. Honestly, I expected a 2 (if anything), so I was absolutely floored when I saw the news. At this point, it seems locked in now that it is one week after the update, so I am pleased to announce this dramatic improvement. Even the little guy can accomplish great things by writing quality content, networking with other bloggers and staying bullish on the net!

-The Net Fool

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Lets get right down to it,

Another crazy week in the books! A lot has happened in a short period of time, and heck, with exams around the corner I have been a very busy man. But hey, before I get into the news…. lets get to reading some of my favorite articles and posts from the week ending May 3rd.

• Winning the Web - The Power of Social Proof - All the Cool Kids Are Using It
• Courtney Tuttle - Introduction to Lead Blogging
• The Blog Entrepreneur - Blogging is a BAD Way to Make Money Online
• Monkey Blogger - Consistency People!
• The Germz - Get more traffic to your site

Okay, lots of good stuff this week. There has been a lot of mindless rambling after the most recent Google PageRank. Apparently I now have a PR of 4, which I completely don’t believe for now. Though it may be correct, I have to be hesitant to believe I moved from a 0 to a 4 in a month…. a 4 would put me in the ranks of only the most elite bloggers, and definitely a few steps ahead of blogs that have even 20x the number of subscribers that I do. These articles posted are mainly about increasing traffic to your blog by writing good stuff, and how to do it well. Nothing out of the ordinarily, but definitely some nice material.

So what happened this week?

Blogosphere:
Things were pretty much on edge after the PageRank update that I mentioned. No, there weren’t any more blogging fights / major controversies, but pretty much all of the ‘make money online’ blogs released their earnings statements which is always interesting. I’d suggest going to some of the more popular ones to see how they are making their cash online. One of the funnier ones was from OneMansGoal.com, yes the blog that was bought out for $10,000 by some kid, which reported “Income $27″…hahaha . Other than that, quite a few bloggers posted more fantastic earnings, so its good to see things moving along.

Stock Market:
Pretty interesting week here, amid lots of talk about the supposed commodity bubble bursting and the weak US Dollar coming back from the dead. So many conflicting views here, but we definitely had a good week as the Federal Reserve cut the Federal Funds Rate down 25 basis points (that’s 0.25% if you are confused by the terminology) to 2.00%. This is probably the last cut in a long time, as we are down from 5.25% in September 2007.

Remember my pitch of Harsco (NYSE: HSC) in early April? Well, it would appear that once again… Jim Cramer is reading my blog and once again stealing my ideas! Enough is enough Jim! Okay, but all kidding aside, it’s good to see people taking notice of this company. We’re keeping an eye on gold (commodity), because it is essentially hanging in the balance around $850-$875… we’ll see what turns up.

The Net Fool’s Outrageous Blog Contest:
Right so finally, let’s talk about the contest that is underway here. Lots of entries so far, and things are definitely picking up. I have my finger on the trigger in purchasing some sponsored reviews on other popular blogs, and should see a nice spike in traffic following this move.

What… you want another way to enter you say?! Okay. Fine.

1 Entry For “Favoriting” My Blog on Technorati!
So how do you do this? Simply follow this link for the direct method. You will need a Technorati account, which I suggest that you do if you don’t have one already. Basically, Technorati is a huge social networking website, and having more people favorite my blog is a step in the right direction in taking over the world making new friends online!

This week, I am going to be posting some more guest bloggers’ posts because of exams. But other than that, I should be able to sneak in some great articles on blogging… and some good controversial smack-downs. I have a lot of ideas right now on my idea pad, so whenever I get enough time to sit down and write them out… its going to be some great new material!

… oh, and stay bullish on the net!
-The Net Fool

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Another month, another fantastic growth in traffic and readers! The Net Fool Dot Com has been fully established as a reliable business blog at this point, and I have enjoyed a great deal of success over the past two months. Once again, we saw our RSS subscribers double in numbers… and expect this trend to only increase as we progress through the month of May.

After a fantastic March, we followed things up with a killer April that saw about 80 new subscribers coming from all around. It seems that the Net Fool’s Outrageous Blog Contest is proving to be successful, and there have been a decent amount of blog posts on the contest already to help spread the word. Before I get into my plans for the blog’s future, let’s get right at the relevant statistics for the month of April!

March Results

• RSS Subscriber Count: 76 Readers
• Average Unique Visitors: 159
• Average Returning Visitors: 25
• Average Page Loads: 305
• Alexa.com Ranking: 300,597
• Google PageRank: 0

April Results

• RSS Subscriber Count: 153 Readers (101.32%+)
• Average Unique Visitors: 179 (12.58%+)
• Average Returning Visitors:32 (28.00%+)
• Average Page Loads:302 (-0.98%)
• Alexa.com Ranking: 250,089 (20.20%+)
• Google PageRank: 4?

Monthly Review and Growth Strategy
As you can see by the numbers, most of our growth this month came in the form of RSS Subscribers, which we more than doubled (101%+ growth), and finally passed that ever-elusive 100 subscribers mark. Right now, with around 150 subscribers, the Net Fool dot com has begun to be established as one of the more popular ‘make money online’ blogs, and I hope to pass more of the competition with new initiatives this month.

As far as traffic goes, we saw steady increases across the board. Sure, there was a slight decline in page loads… but I feel that the organic growth was great. Last month, the numbers seemed a bit inflated because I was visiting the site myself a lot more to do work on the design. So essentially, we grew a lot more than even the numbers suggest…. the Net Fool dot com is well on its way to success in 2008 and beyond.

We’ve come to see more and more growth from popular search engine placement, with organic search engine traffic comprising 28.8% of the traffic here. Basically, we have been hitting on some great terms in Google and Yahoo such as “best stock investments for 2008″ and “best gold stocks” to name a few. Traffic sources, geographically speaking, continue to trend toward the United States…. however there has been an increasing amount of visitors from Canada, Australia, India and England.

The biggest surprise this month has been PageRank. Apparently, Google has given the Net Fool dot com a PageRank of 4 in the latest update. I am going to blog about this if it holds, because all of the other popular ‘make money online’ blogs have been given a 3…. a 4 would be a rediculous advantage given our short time on the blogosphere. I’m going to reserve judgement on this for now, but if it holds, you will hear about it.

Revenue Breakdown
In April, I put out just one sponsored post, with a few more in the works. In addition, I have sold 3 ad spots for $15/month each. Other than this, SWATcash has continued to provide steady income with just over $30 coming from my referrals. I have a major web design project in the works that will bring in around $200 total, which I plan to invest fully back into the Net Fool. Expenses this month have been about $10 in Project Wonderful advertising, and that’s pretty much it. I don’t like to spend so much on advertising, but am going to move into a few sponsored reviews from some bigger blogs to increase growth… you will definitely hear more about those when the orders are placed.

May 2008 Outlook
This month, I am going to move into some advertising as the Net Fool’s Outrageous Blog Contest shifts into full gear. I feel like this contest can be a great opportunity to tack on an extra 100 RSS subscribers for the month if things play out as planned. 150 subscribers is nothing to scoff at, but I hope to push over 250 by the end of the month. We hit on most of our major targets this April, but hopefully we can surpass expectations for next month.

Since I am curerntly in exams, there is going to be a small amount of lag time in posting… but I am still going to attempt to post daily with some sponsored posts filling the gaps in time. Stay tuned for updates and more opportunities to get rich.

Stay bullish on the net!
-The Net Fool

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Have you ever wanted to get some great press time here on theNetFool.com for FREE!? Now’s your chance! Submit your best article to me in a .doc (or .txt, etc.) file to jim@thenetfool.com. If I like what you have to say, I’ll go ahead and publish the article live on The Net Fool and you can get two free backlinks to your site, targeted and everything.

So why am I doing this? I am absolutely loaded down with work because of final examinations coming up. Basically, all of the lovely teachers here at Penn State have decided to dump homework on me during the last week of classes leading into exam weekend, so naturally I am just bursting at the seams with free time.

My policy is, and will remain, business before blogging. Likewise, there is a lot of material that I need to cover in order to be prepared for classes, tests, end-of-semester papers and the like. Now’s your chance to capitalize on my procrastination!

The Requirements
All articles submitted must be 100% original! Don’t even try to scam me on this one, I will find out where the article is from, delete the post from this blog, and probably ban you permanently. I am striving to maintain a reputation here, so nothing but all original content will work. Also, this needs to be written in good standing English, I don’t want to have to correct for grammatical errors. Please try to make the posts over 500 words. I will format all of the information in the Net Fool style you know and love, including images and the like. Heck, I may even tack on a sentence or two to make it fit with the formatting, but its going to be your stuff.

The Advantages
I see guest blogging as a win-win situation. I get a nice article to put up with just about 30 mins of technical work on my end to beautify things, and you get some awesome publicity that will be permanently registered on our blog. People are going to visit this stuff time and time again, so the amount of publicity you will get should amaze you.

On top of the name recognition, you’ll get some help from the big dog (Google) with a targeted keyword backlink of your choice… make that two! My readers are active, and I’m sure that those of you reading this are going to be clicking back to the guest blogger’s blog if the article is any good. Juice up your traffic!

Okay, so just a recap. I’m in exams so I need quality guest blogging articles to put up in my stead. I’m looking for articles about anything from blogging, to SEO, to interesting plays in the stock market. Get involved, and you’ll get noticed.

-The Net Fool

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