This post is part of a weekly series, Fetching Friday, featuring the resources mashup, great deals for bloggers on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and a video to get you in the mood for Black Friday craziness on kikolani.com.
The Resources Mashup
Here are some of the best articles I have stumbled upon, retweeted on @kikolani, and read in RSS subscriptions this week.
Blogging / Writing
- How to find yourself on a blog – five ways to develop a unique voice.
- 11 Tips for writing a 15 minute article – helpful for times when you’re having writer’s block, or just need to get an article going quickly.
- How my article on quitting Foursquare caused a blog traffic spike – a look at analytics and referrals when you get a post that goes viral.
- How to make your blog posts go viral – from research and headlines to promotion.
- Using blogging stats for inspiration – how to get blogging ideas outside of the box.
- The future of Facebook email and the social inbox – thoughts on a unified messaging system.
- 8 reasons Facebook page owners should avoid claiming a place – read this before agreeing to merge.
- New Facebook wall insights calculate your reach – for pages at least (would be nice for personal profiles).
- Google and the rise of Facebook – how Facebook could take over particular Google services.
- Valuing Facebook Ads – are marketers still trying to figure out just how much they are worth?
Infographics
- TSA Gone Wild – the history of airline security.
- Your Thanksgiving meal in calories – just how much did you consume yesterday? Find out!
- Cash connections – who invested in social media?
- What is data visualization? 3 infographics to explain infographics.
- Facts about struggling countries around the world – some downright distrurbing facts about struggling countries.
Keyword Research / Link Building
- Should we stop focusing on keyword driven anchors – should we change our approach to link building?
- 7 keyword suggest tools beyond Google – tools to help you come up with varied anchor text.
- The redeeming qualities of links with a bad reputation – the good side to link building via blog comments, directories, and non-keyword anchor text.
- Extract your competitor’s keyword strategy – a great trick for Excel that can be expanded into other data extraction like job titles, locations, and more.
- 4 link building success stories – the results of two different approaches in link building.
Making Money Online / Online Marketing
- Your landing page sucks – 10 examples of landing pages that don’t suck by one of the conversion experts speaking at the online only Landing Page Success Seminar starting November 30th.
- 6 tips for post conversion behavior – you’ve converted, now what?
- How to grow, manage, and optimize your Internet empire – a great guide to on day-to-day-operations, finances, security, privacy, and productivity secrets.
- 6 steps to more blog coverage – good ways to have your business, website, or product featured by bloggers.
- 9 marketing tips for Black Friday, small business Saturday, and Cyber Monday – want to make some sales? Check out these tips!
Personal Development / Productivity
- 7 awesome videos to remind you of gratitude this Thanksgiving – great inspiration for any time of the year.
- The subtle comfort of the discomfort zone – analyzing the areas of discomfort in your life and how to stretch yourself.
- 20 thankfulness and gratitude quotes for Thanksgiving – even though it’s a day later, it never hurts to feel thankful.
- 7 ways to look at money differently – how we are conditioned, how to avoid the emotional rollercoaster, and 7 ways to change your perception of your finances.
- Power tips for when travel plans go awry – what to do in 9 worst case scenarios.
Search Engines / SEO / Analytics
- 99 free and low cost tools to improve your website – tools to help you with analytics, conversions, SEO, and more.
- SEO advice for boostrapped startups – 8 tips and advice from the experts on how and what to rank for.
- What would google do? A look at the past 12 months of Google changes in local, mobile, and social search as well as integrated search results and search speed.
- Segmenting social traffic in Google Analytics – a guide to learning more about your social media referrers.
- Google Instant previews – how SERP will change with user click satisfaction based on previews.
Social Media / Social Networking
- 7 secrets of social media conversion – infographic plus all of the juicy details.
- Top 10 LinkedIn business marketing tips – how to bring sexy back to professional networking.
- 10 cures for your social media pains – 10 ways to solve some common social media issues.
- Revenge of the social media nerds – how social media users have your back, for better or worse.
- The true ROI of social media – what is the return on creating and strengthening a relationship and how to measure it.
- 10 reasons to have a social media response triage flowchart – why you should be prepared before you encounter any feedback online.
- 100 marketers you must follow on Twitter – huge list of great marketing experts to follow on Twitter!
- How to create a useful Twitter archive – a look at using Google Reader, TwapperKepper, and WordPress for tweet archiving.
- Grow your Twitter following through guest blogging – three ways to get more followers when guest posting.
- Twitter content that doesn’t suck – five tips for making a good impression with every tweet.
- Twitter’s plans – location based advertising, Ping integration, reputation scores, analytics, and filtering.
WordPress
- 7 WordPress plugins to interlink blog content with ease – internal linking is great for SEO and keeping visitors on your site, so consider these!
- 13 popular cloned themes for WordPress – want your site to look like Facebook, Twitter, or even the BBC? Check these out!
- WordPress 3.1 Beta 1 available for developers and testing.
- How to add comment ratings to your comments – empwer your readers and let them moderate comments for you.
- WPJobBoard – WordPress plugin to integrate a job board on your WordPress site.
Black Friday Sales, Deals, and Discounts
Who needs to go to the stores at 5am in the morning when some of the best deals for bloggers are online? Here are some of the great sales, deals, and discount codes, which I will update throughout the day if I find new ones.
Hosting
Note: This sale has expired. Check the Cyber Monday section below for a new offer.
Hostgator is offering a huge sale on their services. From 12AM – 5AM CST, they are offering 50% off. From 5AM to 9AM CST, they are offering 80% off of a select number of accounts. Then from 9AM to 11:59PM CST, they will continue the 50% off. Services include shared hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated server hosting accounts all term lengths (so you can get 80% off of one month or 50% off of 3 years of service). So if you were looking to start a new website or move to a new host, now is the time!
WordPress Themes
Lots of great deals on premium WordPress themes, including:
- StudioPress is offering 25% off of their themes with the discount code BLACK. StudioPress is home to the new Genesis framework used by Chris Brogan, Copyblogger, and ProBlogger. You have 30 days to request a refund if you are not satisfied with your purchase. This deal is good through November 29th, and will be the last discount code offered for their themes.
- Woo Themes is offering multiple discounts including 20% off a 5 for 1 theme package using the discount code BLACKPACKAGE and 40% off of the initial fee for theme club subscriptions (a savings of $50 for a standard subscription and $80 off of a developer subscription). The discount is valid until midnight November 29th.
- Note: This discount has expired.
Headway Themes is offering 50% off their framework with the discount code BLACKFRIDAY, a savings of $43! You have 30 days to request a refund if you are not satisfied with your purchase, as noted in the Terms of Service. - Solostream Themes is offering a 67% discount when you buy 3 or more themes with the discount code blackfriday, a minimum savings of $158. All sales are final, so be sure that you get what you want! The discount is valid until November 30th.
WordPress Plugins
Note: This sale has expired. I would still recommend the two plugins listed below to buy individually though!
MaxBlogPress is offering a Black Friday discount of 70% off their top five products, including:
- Ninja Affiliate – the must have plugin for anyone incorporating affiliate products in their blog. It makes turning ugly afifliate links to better looking domain links, automatically converts text in posts to affiliate links, and keeps track of the click through of each link. Regularly $97.
- Subscriber Magnet – An alternative to popup opt-in forms, this plugin allows you to add opt-in forms to your sidebar, beginning or end of posts, or as a checkbox on your comment form. Regularly $147.
The total Black Friday discounted price for all five of their products is $137, which includes the above recommended plugins plus WordPress Wizard (50 step by step tutorials on creating a profitable blog, regularly $97), $365K Blog Traffic Formula (regularly $37), and Daily Traffic Blueprint (regularly $97). So even if you want just the two plugins above, it’s still a savings of $107 plus you’ll get the extra goodies. And if you’re interested in all of their products, it’s a savings of $338! The sale ends 11:59PM EST – definitely don’t miss it!
On My List
So what am I getting this Black Friday? I have pretty much everything listed above, except for the Subscriber Magnet which is going into my shopping cart because I want the checkbox for opt-ins on my comment form. Also, I’ll be doing some Amazon shopping for…
- Kodak PlaySport HD Waterproof Pocket Video Camera, on sale for $40 off, so I can start shooting some video and take it with me to Australia next year!
- Microsoft Office 2010 , on sale for $50 off. I have been opting for Open Office for awhile, but now that I discovered Word has a nifty PDF conversion add-in that maintains document features (bookmark links being the main one), it’s a must have for the ebook that I’m working on.
Cyber Monday Sales, Deals, and Discounts
The fun doesn’t stop on Black Friday. Here are some deals for Cyber Monday only!
Education
The Income Blogging Guide is offering 50% off of their course for 24 hours, a total savings of $300. I have almost completed the course, and it has really helped me in the development of my own product which I will be launching soon. I highly recommend this course – you can read my review here. You get some great bonuses (like a free Headway or Flexx theme, or Thesis for only $40), and you have 60 days to try out the course – if it’s not right for you, you will get a full refund of the first two months. This promotion is Monday only, November 29th from 12:00AM – 11:59PM EST.
Hosting
Thanks to the huge success of the Black Friday promotion, Hostgator is offering 50% off hosting accounts using the discount code CYBERMONDAY2010. This will apply to the client’s first invoice (first term length they sign up for whether that be 1 month or for 3 years for shared and reseller hosting plans, and for the first month only on VPS and dedicated servers) including Shared Hosting, Reseller Hosting, VPS Hosting AND even Dedicated Servers! This promotion is Monday only, November 29th from 12:00AM – 11:59PM CST.
November Deal
Finally, not specific to Black Friday or Cyber Monday, Darren Rowse if offering 25% off of his ebooks – The Copywriting Scorecard for Bloggers (review) and 31 Days to Build a Better Blog (review) through the end of November using the discount code november25.
Black Friday at Mega Mart
Just a little something to get you “in the mood” for Black Friday, care of Saturday Night Live. Slide into savings!
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About Kristi Hines
Kikolani covers blog marketing and blogging tips for personal, professional, and business bloggers to succeed in search and social media marketing. Kristi Hines is a 
This is a great load of resources to take a look, learn lessons and adopt whatever is applicable. Yet, I was driven to revisit some wp plugins for consideration.
Thanks for sharing Kristi
dimaks recently posted Download Firefox 4 Beta For Mobile
Glad you found the WordPress section useful!
Great resources like usual! very interesting Black Friday deals, I’ve done some nice blogging shopping today!
Thank you Kristi for linking to WPJobBoard review, it’s really cool plugin, and job board started to get what I think is a decent job today
Happy Friday!
Hesham recently posted Bloggers Big Black Friday Shopping Day
Yes, there are some great deals happening. I ended up going to Best Buy at almost 5AM and secured Office 2010 for even less, and my hubby got a camera! That plugin does sound useful – will be good for bloggers in different niches to support job seekers in their industry!
Thank you Kristi for posting these great resources once again. I got lots of important information from your blog. I like your Fetching Friday post.
I hope i will learn more in the future from your blog. Thanks
Thanks
Yogesh Gautam
Yogesh Gautam recently posted Get 80 OFF on any Hosting Account at HostGator – Black Friday 2010
Thanks Yogesh!
I hope you will too!
Kristi, you do such an amazing job with your Fetching Friday posts. When I started to follow your blog, I didn’t pay attention to it. But later I realize how valuable the posts are – I can be away from my desktop all week, and then on Friday, I come to Kikolani, and I have everything laid out for me. Fantastic! Thank you for what you do!
Peter from Blogging Mechanics recently posted 3 Key Triggers in Your Marketing Message
I’m glad you’re enjoying them! It does take a good bit of work, but it’s always worth it. I have referred to my own posts many times when looking for an article from weeks or even months before.
Thanks for sharing. The infographic resources are great! I especially enjoyed the TSA gone wild one.
Again, great job on your Fetching Friday Posts.
-TIm
Thanks! Yeah, I had to throw in a reference to what seems to be the top news for travelers this holiday!
Hi Kristie, I see all kinds of deals that are really tempting. Thanks for sharing these. Do you think your MBA multiblog advertising network will have any holiday sales? I’d be really happy to see prices slashed on those 125×125 banner ads.
Ileane recently posted November News on Basic Blog Tips
I don’t know if MBA is doing any specials, but I forwarded your request to Andy to see.
Hostgator tweeted this morning already – - the 80% deal is already done. Everything is 50% off now.
Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing recently posted ONE DAY ONLY – NOW Is The Time for Hostgator Hosting!
Yes, the 80% off was only for 4 hours, and for a limited number of accounts. But 50% off is still a pretty good deal, especially if you buy a lengthier term. I have some sites on Hostgator, and they’ve been doing a great job!
Yep, they’re all I’ve ever used, and I don’t see myself switching anytime soon.
Excellent array of information and offers Kristi!
I much appreciate the mention of my article about blogging ideas with stats
How many offers for this Black Friday, I wonder who kicked this “shopping event”, need to research more in that.
I’d be great to have in my country these types of special events with that discounts.
Hope a great weekend ahead for you,
Cheers,
Gera
Gera@SweetsFoodsBlog recently posted Interviewed by Ileane of Basic Blog Tips!
You’re welcome. New offers seem to be popping up everywhere today, and I’m assuming Cyber Monday will be even more popular for online products! Hope you have a great weekend too!
Great resources for the Black Friday deal, I am heading for Hostgator, current host MT suxx big time.
Have a good weekend.
Robin Bal recently posted Paris Hilton Refuses To Have Her Rabid Pet Put Down
Yeah, I figure that a lot of people who are unsatisfied with their hosting are going to take advantage of this deal!
As always, there’s plenty of gems in Fetching Friday and this time is a little extra special. Thanks so much for including my post Kristim talk about frustrating for business owners!
Nice to see a few other articles that I read earlier this week in there as well, like Lewis Howes post on LinkedIn… HOME RUN!
Thank you as always Kristi.
Extreme John recently posted How My Small Business Takes Advantage of Black Friday
You’re welcome… I thought that was an important one for businesses. Great post!
I saw your comment on his site actually… Lewis is definitely a great resource. I was on one of his webinars before Blog World, and he gave up a tip that moved my LinkedIn profile in search from who knows where to within the top 3 spots for a pretty good phrase within minutes. Very impressive!
You’ve done it again Kristi! I spent awhile here, reading through your suggestions and going to the sources to read their posts. I’m working on my Holiday Gift Guide and many of the articles pertained to helping me write better posts and get them seen by more eyes. Thanks!
ConnieFoggles recently posted Black Friday on Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday Sales
You’re welcome Connie! I’m glad you found some helpful articles!
Wow, what a post! Lots of great resources, this should keep me busy for a while. I love the WP theme sales, i’ll probably be picking up a couple for future projects
Josiah @ Free iPad recently posted Apple Announced iPad Sale on Homepage
Yes, this is definitely the time to buy… especially since StudioPress is not offering any more discounts!
My web hosting is nearing its end, and I was considering switching to Hostgator. The deal just seems too good to be true, but I’ve read so many great reviews about them. My only concern is how difficult it would be to switch web hosts without encountering much downtime.
Tony recently posted Manage Your Code Like a Pro With Snippets
Downtime is always an issue. Usually you just have to put up a redirect to a page that explains to people that you’re changing hosts and will be back shortly to create a better user experience (ie. if your host is slow). People will generally appreciate that in the long run.
Kristi, it’s good to see Solostream Themes get some recognition! That’s a pretty good black Friday discount too.
I’ve been using the WP-Prosper theme from Solostream on a number of sites for the past three months or so. The theme works great and the support is very helpful too with their forum. For those who don’t have the patience to muck around with Thesis or just want something that looks better than Headway IMO, Solostream is a great option. Fast and easy to setup for even complete novices.
Jarret recently posted 10 Weight loss tips
Yeah, I was checking out all of the premium themes that had discounts, and that was definitely one of the good ones. Hadn’t actually heard of them until last night, but they are certainly nice. Thanks for the info!
Hey Kristi, I wish I had waited until today to purchase my Solostream premium theme. Basically, it’s a 3 for 1 deal and they have a pretty cool new theme using their Divinci theme framework. Solostream themes are great for those who want to run ads on their sites since they have a number of ad zones pre-configured.
Once again you’ve put together a great roundup of links Kristi. Honestly, once you got married I thought your husband would keep you too busy to maintain the quality of these posts.
Looks like I was wrong again.
Time to check out that plugin about letting users rate your comments.
Sire recently posted FlexSqueeze Latest Update Can Make Your Posts Rock
He’s actually quite supportive of my blogging, and makes it a point to give me blogging time.
We spend lots of time together once I’m done though – there’s a healthy balance!
I always said he looked like he was a smart bloke. You both are very lucky to have found each other.
WHOA Kristi! How long does it take you to rustle up one of these? Fantastic job. Cheers!
I collect the posts throughout the week, so by the time I put them together, it takes somewhere around 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Great resources again Kristi, liked the Bruce Clay article in particular. As for those deals, I went for StudioPress. Needed a new theme for another website I’m setting up. Good time to give it a go, Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving!
Awesome! I’m glad you got a good price on it during the sale! I have their themes as well for some other sites… definitely a great collection! Happy Thanksgiving weekend to you too!
Just browsing back through to see some posts I missed. More great reads. Don’t know how you find so many good resources.