• I want to start with Maki’s “How to Build a Successful News Blog: 10 Information Sources You Can Use“. He doesn’t post as much as he used to, but when he does, he delivers great content. This is no exception. Hint: Not only recommended for news-bloggers.
• At Search Engine Journal, Loren offers “Explosive Organic & Paid Link Building Tips“. And if Loren writes it, you know you want to read it. Don’t be afraid of the dirty p-word.
• Let’s lighten it up a little. I’ve always loved quote collections, so when I read Daniel’s “50 Thoughful, Funny and Polemic Blogging Quotes“, I just couldn’t resist to stumble it. There are some really nice ones in it.
• At Pure Blogging, Steven posted a list of “99 Ways to Improve Your Blog“, covering a lot of issues, from content to marketing and monetization. That should be enough to offer some useful tips for everyone.
• What? 99 is not enough for you? Uhm, okay. How about Khalid’s “152 Dos & Don’ts of Business Blogging“? Yeah, that’s what I thought. There’s some great advice, not only for the business blogger.

Okay, that’s it for this week’s SitW. If you stumble across a great post that you think should be included in next week’s installment, let me know. I’m always open for suggestions.

So, have a nice weekend, a good read, and don’t forget to give the posts you really like a thumb up.

What else is new? Oh, right. Today’s installment of SitW. Once again I give you a list of posts I liked so much, I had to give them a thumb up. Let’s get right to it.

• Skellie’s “Creating Sidebars That Work” gives some good tips on how to desgin the sidebar. Is yours too cluttered? Maybe it’s time to do something about it.
• Have you ever seen a Sitelink on Google and wondered about the mechanism behind them? I have, and let me tell you - Finding info about them at Google is next to impossible. So, if you’ve been in the same position, head over to SeoPedia and read “Google Sitelinks: The Ultimate FAQ“. It deserves its title.
• You’ve been blogging for a while, but don’t see any results? Lost your drive to write? Go read “10 Signs That Your Blog Is On The Right Track” on Daily BlogTips. Does any of the points sound familiar? Maybe you’re on the right track without even realizing it.
• Do you promote and push your blog posts? All of them? Do you think that’s wise? Even after reading Matt’s “Which Blog Posts Should You Publish And Not Promote?“. Don’t overdo it, or your efforts lose their effect.
• Steven gives you some “Practical Tips for Targeting Social Media Users AND Satisfying Your Readers“. You don’t have to choose between two targets - hit both of ‘em.
• My final Tip for today: Smashing Magazine has compiled a list of “35 (Really) Incredible Free Icon Sets“. The title says it all. Have a look at them. Some of them are just stunningly beautiful.

Okay, that’s it for today. I hope some of these links will be useful for you. If they are - give them a thumb up to show your appreciation. It doesn’t take a lot of time, and is a great motivation for the writers.

I wish all of you a good read and a nice weekend.

• As you might know, I’m always interested in the creative ways people useWordPress. So, the first post today is “48 Unique Ways To Use WordPress” over at Performancing. It’s a nice compilation that you shouldn’t miss.
• At ProBlogger, Alex Shalman’s “Ultimate Guide To Networking With Bloggers” gives you a couple of tips on how to approach and network with your fellow bloggers. Read it, it’s worth it. One of the best things about blogging are the people you’ll get to know.
• Today my list includes three “number-10-posts”, and the first is Andy MacDonald’s “Ten Web Publishing DONTs“. A must-read for these people who traded their common sense for a copy of MS Frontpage.
• For those who - like myself - are not native English speakers, Jarkko shares some of the lessons blogging has taught him in his “Ten Practical Tips for Writing in English“. One thing that really enhanced my English - comedians. In a way I used George Carlin, Denis Leary & Co as English teachers. Languages are so much easier to learn when you can laugh while doing it.
• My last link for today goes to Traffikd. While StumbleTraffic is always a nice thing to get, the people behind the traffic are often easily forgotten. So, read Steven’s “10 Ways to Be a Good StumbleUpon Friend” and next time one of your posts gets stumbled, remember that those stat numbers are actual people, and be nice.

Okay, that’s it for today. I hope you like this selection of posts, and if you do, don’t be shy - raise your thumb for them *g*.

I wish you all a good read and a nice weekend.

• Copyblogger’s “Keyword Research for Bloggers: A Comprehensive Guide” is not only a well-rounded guide, but also a surprisingly fun read. So, if you want to know about keyword research (and you should), don’t be afraid of the volume.
• If you rely on Adsense to monetize your blog, you should check out Josh Spaulding’s “10 Ways to Increase your Adsense Income“. Maybe you’ll want to test some of his tips.
• You want you blog to become one of the really big ones? Want to know what that includes? Read Skellie’s “What’s it Like to Run a Popular Blog?” If you are as good a writer as she is - just keep on posting, and you’ll eventually get there.
• I’m working on a new project (and letting the last one mature) that will include some PPC. Since I’m still putting together the framework, a lot of thought goes into SEO. When I read Aaron’s “Your Laziness: Why I Love SEO So Much More Than PPC“, I showed it to a friend and we got into an argument. He prefers PPC, I tend to think more about SEO. It’s like a chess game. PPC means playing against a kid that’s just learned the moves. The result is quick, sometimes you ask yourself what the hell that stupid imbecile is doing, and if you lose you’re contemplating suicide. SEO on the other hand is more like playing against a good chess program. It takes longer, your opponent learns from his mistakes and if you lose - revise your strategy and try again. Damn, way too much text *g*.
• One of first things I did for the new project: I printed out Carsten Cumbrowski’s “50 Questions to Evaluate the Quality of Your Website“. It’s brilliant checklist. Once I think the project’s done, I’ll go through it, and I’m sure that there will be some things I overlooked.
• Just in case you haven’t read about it yet: Blizzard IM has released a “SEO for WordPress Blogs White Paper” for free download.

That’s it for today. Have fun reading and if you like a post, be nice and show the author you appreciation.

Have a nice weekend.

So, let’s get to this week’s chosen few:

• Let’s start with Matt’s “Using Google Webmaster Tools To Increase Search Engine Ranking“. It’s a simple but pretty effective method to increase your ranking, and who couldn’t use a little G-love?
• Vandelay’s list of “20 Specialty WordPress Themes” showcases some of my favorite themes, paid and free ones. Just one small addition: My favorite free magazine-style theme is Justin Tadlock’s Structure theme. Give it a try - you’ll love it.
• If you want to become on of the big bloggers, Maki’s “How to Become an Authority in Your Niche: Eight Content Development Tactics” should be on you to-read list. Quick tip: Publishing only one post a week to list you favorite posts is not the way to go *g*.
• When your blog is big enough, you finally want to make some money, right? You don’t know how? Luckily for you Daniel has compiled an extensive list of “28 Ways to Make Money with Your Website” on Daily Blog Tips.
• You prefer affiliate marketing? Then you will sooner or later (probably sooner) have to deal with landing pages. Do yourself a favor - read Skellie’s “13 Sure Signs Your Landing Page is a Turn-Off” and take it to heart.

I hope you’ll enjoy these posts as much as I did. Have a good read and a nice weekend.

• It’s not a big secret that I am a fan of WordPress. One of the many reasons is its versatility. You can see a wonderful example on The Design Canopy: The WP Contact Manager. Yep, David has turned WordPress into a contact manager. Well done, and I’m curious to see how it evolves.
• RT has written a very nice “WordPress Guide to Pingbacks and Trackbacks“. If you’re new to WordPress this is a must-read.
• Mani’s “SEO friendly titles, a 359.5% degree perspective” might give you a few clues on how to use title tags wisely. If you’re not sure how to do it - read the post.
• Caroline’s “How Hard Do You Need to Work at Your Own Business?” deals with her schedule (or lack thereof). Since I’ve never been a friend of tight schedules (heck, I’m writing this at 3:10 am), I totally understand her point of view.
• Hands on: Chris Garrett’s “How to Get More Bookmarks and Better Links” is a brilliant post that you should not miss. Unless you don’t want people bookmarking your posts. Otherwise read it, bookmark it, stumble it.
• Now that you know how to get bookmarks, head over to Traffikd, where Steven’s “5 Ways to Fail With Social Media Marketing” tells you what Social Media mistakes to avoid. And I bet that most of us have - at one point or another - made at least one of these mistakes. I know I have.

That’s it for this installment of SitW. I wish you a good read and a nice weekend. And if you happen to read a post during the next week, that you think is extremely stumbleworthy, don’t be shy - drop me a line.

Oh, after last weeks post I received some nice mails about my father’s operation. Thank you for that. He’s back home and in 2-3 weeks he’ll be as good as new. Well, new with grey hair *g*.

Okay, enough smalltalk. Let’s get right to the links.

• Let’s start with Daniel’s “10 Things That Bloggers Tend to Forget, But Shouldn’t!“. I bet most of us are familiar with at least one of the listed habits. No need be ashamed *g*.
• On Sugarrae you can read “11 Experts on Link Development Speak Out“. It’s an interview with a special twist: The participants couldn’t see the other answers until their own is given. Bring some time - It’s quite long, but worth your time.
• You just want to get some links and be done with it? ThinkBlogger’s “Free Directory Submission List of January” might be what you are looking for.
• After getting some links you could check out Vandelay’s “Giving Your Website an SEO Check-Up“. Some nice tips and links to useful resources.
• What? You want more to read? Okay, why don’t you head over to QuitYourDayJob.com and download your copy of “High Performance Affiliate Marketing“? You can get it for free now.

Okay, that should keep you busy for a while. I wish you a good read and a nice weekend.

Oh, if you stumble across a (blogging related) post that you think deserves more attention - let me know. I’m always looking for good additions to my feed list.

• Quite a few of my readers loved Court’s “keyword sniping” posts, so you better make sure not to miss his “Keyword Sniping - Finding And Choosing Profitable Niches“. It’s worth your time.
• In “Understanding Affiliate Marketing From The Perspective Of A Blogger“, Yaro describes his first steps as an Affiliate Marketer and some of the lessons he has learned since then. It’s a good read - not only for the beginning marketer.
• How do you design a landing page? I know, it can be a big pita, but Mani’s “Landing page optimization - SEO tips” might help you with certains aspects of the process. Don’t underestimate the importance of landing page SEO.
• Since I’m already writing about it - Garry asks “Why Do SEO Blogs Have to Over Complicate Things?” Good question. I’m not an SEO expert, but I can tell you that most of the basic (and also some of the more advanced) SEO strategies are easy to learn. All you need is a bit of time and some common sense. Oh, and these weird rectangular paper thingies might help. Uhm, boogs or something like that *g*.
• Don’t neclect your content, though. If you want to write something that really stands out of the mass, Skellie’s “Top 10 Hallmarks of Outstanding Content” might give you the right idea for your next superpost. Since I’ve mentioned Skellie quite regular in my SitW-posts, I want to close this list with a link to the 2008 bloggies, where she is one of the five finalists for “Best Australian or New Zealand Weblog”. Voting doesn’t take a lot of time, so be nice.

Okay, those are my tips for your reading pleasure on this weekend. I hope you’ll enjoy them. Have good read and a nice weekend.

Oh, and I’m not gonna mention any PR-updates or the Pepperjam Affiliate Network. No need to thank me

Enough introduction, let’s go to the list.

• If you’re into Marketing, you know how important mailing lists & newsletters are. Now, I’m cheap, so I’m playing around with PHPList, but the most popular service seems to be Aweber. Darren has just made the switch to using Aweber and wrote a First Impression Review. Sounds tempting.
• Oh, looks like Skellie’s having a double feature here. First, on Daily Blog Tips, she wrote “10 Simple Productivity Tips for Bloggers“. Definitely worth a read (and don’t forget the comments. Some pretty good ones). Skellie’s second post is “31 Days to Becoming a Better Blogger” on North x East - Lots of great tips cut in nice sized chunks.
• What does your robots.txt look like? You have one, right? If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, just read Josh Spaulding’s “In-Depth robots.txt Guide“. Don’t neglect it.
• What’s the first thing people see of your site, when they visit it? Read Vandelay’s “Blog Design: What Should Be Above the Fold?” to find out why this is an important question.
• I’ll finish with a nice surprise from WPDesigner. Small Potato announced his “Five Dollar Themes Club“. That means that you will get at least 12 premium WordPress Themes for a yearly fee of $5. I really like his themes, so I’m suprised about the price, but hey - count me in.

Okay people, that’s it from me for this installment of SitW. I hope you like the selection. If you do, let the writers know. I’m sure they’d be happy to hear it.

Have a good read and a nice weekend.

• On the Invesp Blog, Ayat wrote “SEO articles 101: the secrets to writing quality articles readers love and search engines rank well“. Read it and please both your readers and the search engines.
• Maki’s “40+ Social News Websites: A List of General and Niche Social Media Communities” is a work in progress. At the time of writing it’s already including 45 Social Media Sites. Should be interesting to see how big it’ll grow.
• Do you want to write a howto or some other authority article? Be sure to have a look at Quan Quach’s “11 Essential Tips to Writing the Ultimate Tutorial” on Daily Blog Tips. It’ll help.
• Sara Christensen tells you “27 Ways to be a Smarter Writer in 2008” on Blogging Tips. As ususal, she’s good some pretty good tips in there.
• I’ve registered a new domain last week. It’s a pretty good one (I think), but unfortunately I’m sure it would never fetch as much as the ones in the “Top 100 Domain Sales of 2007“. Impressive numbers. And other than the commenters, I don’t think that the #1 ist overrated. The type-in traffic alone must be enormous.

That’s it from me for this SitW. I hope you’ll enjoy the links, and if you do, why not spread a little stumblelove? I’m sure the writers will be happy.