This week’s Something for the Weekend is a little late but I think the wait has been worth it. For the third week running, the content in this column is dedicated to the achievements of the students on the Alex Jeffreys coaching program and again it has been difficult to limit the content to just 10 examples of excellent work being done over the past seven days. This week’s edition has nearly all been about videos, as the students fired up their webcams and descended upon Youtube in numbers!

I have watched some great videos this week as the students recorded welcome messages for their blogs and also kept a video journal of their progress. Video is something I am not really used to myself and I know I have to climb out of my comfort zone and get one done.

Full credit to Mick Fallon, Paul Wilson, Robert Hughes and Sean Beardmore who all put welcome videos on their blogs this week and Neil Marsh who has recorded a series of video journals documenting his progress so far. Well done to you all, you have really put me to shame this week for not having done my video yet!

Doug Taylor made a great a point on his blog this week that you do not have to be a guru to be worth listening to. Everyone participating on the coaching program has the right to create a blog and their opinions on internet marketing are just as valid as a “big name guru”. I have read some amazing content over the past few weeks from people who have not had much previous experience in IM but they “get it” and are willing to learn. I am also honoured that Doug mentioned me in the post as someone worth listening to so thank you for that.

I have enjoyed reading Karen Kalata’s blog over the past few weeks. She has a great writing style and anyone who has perhaps not visited it yet should get themselves over there! This week Karen wrote about how Content is King and I think this is true now more than ever since we are entering a new “social internet” phase. People want high quality, informative and entertaining content… and they want it for free!

It’s great to see my fellow students make real progress and I was delighted to read JR Biasi is almost ready to release a new ebook.  JR is basing the book around his own experiences of getting more productive and as someone who is prone to distraction myself, I am really looking forward to its release.

I have to mention Josh Bartlett again because it seems that every day he publishes another nugget of information and I have learned so much from him over the past few weeks. This week, he introduced me to Amazon video hosting and a new product he has lined up to make the uploading and embedding of videos hosted on their tricky service has got me really excited. Keep me informed, Josh!

Finally, this post from Keith Purkiss should be a warning to anyone who is reliant on a third-party service to run their business, in this case, eBay. Keith wrote about the day disaster struck and his eBay account was suspended for seemingly no good reason. Fortunately he has not been banned completely but it just goes to show that by relying on such services your entire livelihood is at their mercy should they decided on a whim that your face doesn’t fit any more.

As always, I’d love to hear your feedback on this week’s list and if you think there was another deserving mention which I missed out then please feel free to link to it within your 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!