Another week has flown by so that means it’s time for Something for the Weekend. For the first time in six weeks this post is not completely dominated by content from fellow students on the Alex Jeffreys coaching program. There has been a significant reduction in the number of student posts over the past few weeks so I hope they are not running out of steam. However, seven of the 10 blog posts mentioned here are from students so come on guys, give me a reason to include you here!

On Tuesday night I, as well as many other students were priveliged to be on a live webinar with “Guru to the Guru’s” Rich Schefren. As you know, I am on Rich’s GPS coaching program and his guidance has helped me out a lot during the early stages of getting my new business up and running.

Unsurprisingly, there was a fair bit of content generated as a result of Rich’s webinar and I am going to write the first of a series of blog posts based around it myself next week.

Iain Buchanan wrote a huge post about Rich, the webinar and the recently launched Founders Club. I joined the FC as well but only at the lowest level of $47 a month. I will write about this another time. However, from what Iain wrote, he is going to join, or at least wants to join, at the highest tier of $397 per month! Let us know how that goes!

There were two other posts this week that were inspired by the webinar, the first being Josh Bartlett on How to Become a Master. Josh opened his post with the phrase “Jack of all trades, master of none”, exactly the same as how I described myself in my very first post on this blog. Josh argues you should try and tie anything you do online back to your core area of expertise which is some great advice.

Heidi Passey wrote about the constraints she faces on a daily basis. Personally, after going through Rich’s coaching, I would argue they are distractions rather than business constraints but the fact Heidi has identified them means she can now take steps to eliminate them and spend more time working on her business.

One man making great strides in his business is Joe Fier who this week released his ebook, Your Slick Startup. In what has to be the best looking ebook I have read for a long time, Joe goes into great detail on how to start your online business up the right way. A lot of the coaching content has gone into the guide so if you haven’t read it yet, make sure you download a copy because it is a great refresher.

After rushing to get my video entry for the competition completed, my mentor Alex Jeffreys has only given everyone a two week extension! One student who has a great chance of winning is Alan Harris, who has used every special effect trick in the book to produce his entry. Well done, Alan, this must have taken you days to finish.

One student who is really coming into his own with his blog posts is Mick Fallon. He made the list last week and he has done so again with yet another great post. This week, he asks whether internet marketing is just another bandwagon and draws comparison with his other business interest – property.

The final student to make this list this week is Rob Willis who revealed five powerful mind success strategies. A positive mindset is key to succeeding in business and Rob outlines five ways to prevent yourself from waking up exhilarated and going to bed exhausted and frustrated.

The first non-student contribution for several weeks is from Neil Patel who wrote a comprehensive piece on how to market your business for free. The student blog traffic competition may have ended but this is a great compilation of methods to drive traffic and worth reading if you are struggling to attract visitors.

One thing which annoys me about blogs is the number of crappy comments you receive on your posts. One liners such as “Great Post!” or “Thanks for this!” etc, are usually sent to the trash can as soon as I read them because they offer neither me nor other readers anything of value. Larry Brooks wrote about how to grow your blog through better commenting and it’s an article everyone should read if they plan to comment on other people’s blogs.

Finally, Darren Rowse revealed he earned around $60,000 in the past 12 months by promoting Amazon products as an affiliate. Having a hugely popular and powerful industry blog is of course a contributing factor to such success but it goes to show what can be achieved and he has written a series of blog posts on how he earned such an amount.

What do you think? A good selection this week or have I missed something more deserving out? Let me know via the comments below!

I am proud to present a special Something for the Weekend post this week. The reason it’s special is not only because it includes 10 great links rather than the usual five, but all the posts have been produced by my fellow students on the Alex Jeffreys coaching program. The standard of posts have  been nothing short of astounding, especially when you consider some of the people involved are completely new to blogging. Anyway, enough of me trying to steal their thunder, here are the posts which have really stood out for me this week. Enjoy.

A lot of the early coaching has centred around a solid foundation of planning so it is no surprise that a lot of blog content has reflected this so far. One post which caught my attention was by Alan Harris, who took this a step further and produced a video showing how he has used the wall in his hall as a gigantic planner board! It really is something else and I don’t think the missus would be too happy if I tried the same thing at my house!

A thought provoking post came from Karen Kalata who based an article around Alex’s quote: “an idiot with a plan will always beat a genius without one“. Unfortunately I have been that genius for way too long. I am happy to say that my days of flitting from one money making escapade to the next have come to an end!

Gil Dotan continued the planning theme with his #1 reason people fail online. It’s so easy to become a victim of information overload and you need to focus on what needs to be done rather than getting lost among the noise.

A lot of Alex’s coaching focuses on building a super responsive list and I enjoyed Andrew Vaughan’s nine things you need to create a list while Paul Hooper also produced a good video on list building.

Talking of videos, I cannot fail to be anything but impressed by Marcus Passey and his determination to succeed. He set a precident this week with not one but TWO introductory videos and I am looking forward to watching his on-screen presence grow in the coming weeks.

Neil Marsh weighed in with a rather hefty post on the art of blogging. His article includes 10 powerful tips on producing an effective blog and I particularly agree with his point on adding value to other people’s blogs. Since I have started commenting on other blogs, comments to mine have increased significantly!

Search engine optimisation is something all bloggers should consider because a lot of traffic will come via Google et al and Keith Purkiss outlined the importance behind ranking top for your name on the search engines.

Matt Wolfe, who has been blogging like a madman over the past two weeks, revealed some “sneaky” marketing tricks. Well, not so much sneaky, but ways you can add value to your customers in order to maximise your chances of earning affiliate commissions.

Finally, Roger Edwards wrote a great blog post about the first brainstorming session we had with Alex on Thursday night. Roger has proven himself to be a great story teller and I am looking forward to more of his writing.

Do you think I made the right choice with this week’s selection or do you think I missed out some great content by another student? Whatever your thoughts, please leave a comment below!