This post is part of a weekly series, Fetching Friday, featuring the best posts of the week in blogging, making money online, SEO, and social media 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 measure your blog’s growth – from SEO, social to subscribers, everything you might want to keep track of to see if your blog is growing plus free tools and a spreadsheet to use.
- Is Livefyre destroying the value of blog comments – great discussion on the value of blog commenting and “inflation” due to the Livefyre comment system.
- Lowering bounce rate – 16 ways to make your blog sticky to help lower your bounce rate.
- 5 tips for using your blog as a branding tool – five tips to help guide people’s impression of you through your blog.
- 23 reasons your blog isn’t making money and what to do about it – if you want to earn income from your blog, you need to think about these major problems that affect the chain of conversion.
Business / Career
- Conversion psychology – why stealing grapes is good for your form conversions – a case study.
- 45 tips to make more money with affiliate marketing – if your affiliate profits aren’t what you would like them to be, try some of these great tips.
- 7 creative ways to get customer testimonials – between Facebook, LinkedIn, local search directories, and other sources, you’ve probably got a ton of them!
- 60 awesome inspirational workplace setups – want to get more productive? Then check out these workspaces ideas so you can love your work more!
- 4 niche website strategies reviewed – how to earn money using various types of niche websites.
Graphic Design / Web Design
- Tips on creating an effective online portfolio – a collection of posts with a total of 100+ tips for making sure your portfolio rocks!
- 25 must-have Chrome extensions for web designers and developers – great extensions to help you get the most out of your work environment.
- Ultimate guide to business cards – infographics and other resources to help you make the best business card!
- 3 Adsense twists that may triple your earnings – learn how to incorporate Adsense into your design to make it profitable.
- 45 beautiful letterhead designs for inspiration – create your own great letterhead using the inspiration from these lovely designs.
Personal Development / Productivity
- 12 things happy people do differently – things you can start doing today to feel the effect of more happiness in your life.
- 7 secrets of highly productive people – increase your productivity with these seven tips.
- Improve every moment – learn about busy and relaxed modes, and how to achieve the zen state.
- Understanding stress – 8 things to do to take it on and conquer it!
- 5 ways to quit the confusion and find your passion – how to ask the right questions, look back at your childhood, and find what you want the most out of life.
Search Engines / SEO
- Paid links – is it still a viable SEO strategy or a waste of money?
- 8 awesome SEO and online marketing infographics – the top SEO infographics plus a nice list of resources for creating and promoting infographics.
- 9 actionable tips for link prospecting – learn how advanced search queries, Twitter tools, blogrolls, and other sources can help you find new links.
- 12 SEO experts share how the Google +1 button can impact Google search results – how the experts think Google is responding to their own social signal.
- Does PageRank really matter – what it is, and if it is still important.
Social Media / Social Networking
- Top 50 social media blogs of 2011 – a great list of blogs to follow for your social media marketing needs!
- 12 of our best tips for getting attention on Twitter – detailed tips that should help your Twitter strategy more successful.
- The complete guide to customizing your Facebook fan page – whether you’re just getting started with yours or looking to make some upgrades, this post has some great tips!
- 10 social media cartoons guaranteed to make you smile – because you can learn something from all types of media.
- Google proves that not being on social media will kill your SEO – why your social media activity matters if you want to rank in search.
Photo of the Week
This week’s top photo is straight out of Australia. This lovely bird let me get up close and personal with this shot without pecking my camera. And for those who haven’t gotten a chance, yes you can hand feed them without behind harmed! 
Be sure to check out my photography blog for more photos (I post new pics Monday through Friday) and follow me @kristihines for my photography tweets or become a fan of Photostry on Facebook!
Grinding the Crack
I’m probably sharing this more for the fact that I love the music. But if you’re looking for a little adrenaline boost to get your weekend started, this video has that too!
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About Fetching Friday
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 
Kristi,
Great looking list of links! (as always). I have been pretty bad about getting around this week, so they are almost all ones I have not seen and look forward to check out now!
Thanks for including my post in such august company. Have a wonderful weekend.
-Steve
Steve@Internet Lifestyle recently posted Bad Internet Marketing Advice: 19 Recommendations Ruining your Online Efforts
Hi Kristie! I missed a few of these posts so thanks for featuring them in your Fetching Friday this week. I’m headed over to Brankica’s Facebook guide. My Facebook Page could use a face-lift. I gotta say that bird could use a little facial too.
Enjoy the long weekend!
Ileane recently posted Accepted as a Beta Tester for CommentLuv Premium
Hey Kristi, I have to admit that hand feeding the animals such as emus, kangaroos and even koalas in certain wildlife parks is something the tourists love. Heck, even us Aussies love getting close to these remarkable animals.
Absolutely love that photo. What lens did you use to take that photo?
Sire@lottery tickets online recently posted What I Would Do If I Won The $21 Million Superdraw Lottery
No way? I can’t believe that bird let you get that close. I mean.. that is just.. incredible. I really love animals and it’s awesome to me to think that this bird let you get all close like that. It’s as if it’s just inherently benevolent, and that is fascinating to me (and makes me feel good about the world)!
I have been hearing a lot about the Livefyre comment system thing lately. Some people seem to really like it, and other don’t as expected. I kind of like the default wp comment system myself. Maybe one of those popularity things going on for Livefyre.
Ray@dolphin tutorials recently posted How fast does Google index your posts?
Kristi,
Thanks for sharing another great quality Fetching Friday.
And thanks for including one of my posts
Rana @ Google + Addict recently posted 11 Google Plus Predictions from 11 Social Media Pros
I have this post open in a tab since you posted it (sorry for messing up your analytics data…) and thought it is the perfect time to say thanks for including me in the round up. I don’t have to tell you how much it means to me.
I also wanted to add that I actually read almost all of your round ups. I usually drop only 10% of the posts and that is only because they are on a topic I am not reading at the moment. But 90% of posts you recommend and I read are pure gold.
Brankica@Best book recently posted Complete Guide to Customizing your Facebook Fan page
Hey Kristi! Awesome resource list as always. Its amazing how you constantly manage to deliver such useful information regularly. Looking forward to reading more of your writing.
I was away the whole week and have loads on my RSS reader. Thanks for helping me to catch up some of the great posts of the week Kristi! The post about Livefyre and Bran’s Facebook tutorial immediately got my attention.
Jane@viral list building recently posted Thesis Product Skin Review: Beautiful High Conversion Landing Pages
Hello Kristi!
Thanks for the mention.
Some great links this week, particularly in the personal development section.
The pic is great too! Just how close were you to that ostrich? LOL!
Ana @ Internet Marketing Tools recently posted Thesis Theme Giveaway: SEO in a Box?
Kristi, I so very much appreciate that you included me in your incredible round up post. thanks for being amazing.
Marcus
Marcus Sheridan recently posted Is Livefyre Destroying the Value of a Blog Comment?
Kristi, this is my first time here through Ana’s site above. I’m floored at the shear volume and quality of information on this site! Your work looks outstanding so far and I can only hope to reach a level like this in the future.
I’m going through your list right now and enjoying the links – however, I did pause to watch Grinding the Crack. Think I’ll stay grounded behind my laptop!
Looking forward to reading much more of your work.
Don James, The Agile Marketer
Don James recently posted Powerful Niche Examples – Some Final Thoughts
Hi Kristi,
I was stunned when I saw the photo. It really looks alive.
Anyway, you never fail to give great information here. Keep it up. Just bookmarked this blog for future reference.
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