Despite being super busy, summer is going very well this year. I’ve been taking advantage of my flexible job schedule to get out and enjoy the weather more.
Also I’ve been happy to see steady progress with this blog. A lot of the stats continue to improve. The Alexa Ranking did stall around 44k, but I have absolutely no problem with that. I’m just satisfied it hasn’t jumped back above 50k yet. The next step will be to do more link building for my first important affiliate page about credit card offers. Anybody want to earn a big return favor? 
My 6 month blogging anniversary giveaway ended at the beginning of this week and I was rather impressed by the results. That page got almost 900 tweets and received a large number of entries. A big part of that was the fellow bloggers who provided prizes. So thanks again to the following bloggers:
- Michelle from Making Sense of Cents
- Jason from Work Save Live
- Sean from One Smart Dollar
- Barbara from Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance
- Allen from Funancials
- Brian & CF from The Outlier Model
- Crystal from Budgeting In The Fun Stuff
- Martin from Studenomics
- Edward from EdwardAntrobus.co.cc
All winners should have been contact via e-mail by now. Here is the official list of winners:
1st Prize $50 – Stacy Lynn Brunscheen Hancock
$25 Prize – Kanwal Sarai
$25 Prize – Amanda Sakovitz
$25 Prize – Alicia Keen
$25 Prize – Stephanie Hungerford
$25 Prize – Cherry Mischivous
$25 Prize – Tanya White
$10 Prize – Kelly King
How I Make Money Blogging ebook – Julie Hawkins & LaTisha Taylor
Start Freelancing Now ebook – Rob & Shelly Bradbury Swoveland
If You Can Read, You Can Cook ebook – Elena Istomina & Hal Jenner
Congrats everyone. If you are on this list but have not received an e-mail from me or one of the sponsors, please contact me.
Modest Money Around The Web
As I’ve come to expect, I’ve been spoiled with a lot of mentions from fellow bloggers this week. My blog probably doesn’t deserve this kind of exposure, but I do really appreciate it. Thank you everyone!
Return of the Link Love! on My Alternate Life
Weekend Business and Blog Roundup – Aug 10th on Freedom Thirty Five Blog
Why You Should Have A Credit Card on Young Adult Money
For the Love of Feet — A Blue Collar Roundup on The Blue Collar Workman
Friday’s Link Lovin’ on Bog Of Debt
The Round Table – August 10, 2012 Edition on Money Smart Guides
LinkLuv Friday #1 on Blue Pelican Loans
Weekend Wind Down 8/11/2012 – Bad Financing Offers on My Money Design
Weekly Favorites, Gratitude, and Giveaways #78 on Budgeting In The Fun Stuff
Sublime Saturday Assemblage #33 on Master The Art Of Saving
Carnivals, Mentions, & Weekend Reading #24 on Work Save Live
Friends of the Family: Fall Weekend Edition on The Family Finances
TFSA question on Shaking The Money Tree
Weekend Ramblings and PF Blog Love: Summer is Finally Here on Young and Thrifty
The Carnival of Financial Camaraderie #45 on My University Money
Updates: August 5 – 11 on The Outlier Model
Carnival of Moneypros on Aaron Hung
Weekly Wrap-Up, Mentions and Good Reads August 12, 2012 on iHeart Budgets
Saturday Links & Blogs I Love: Relaxation Edition on When Life Gives You Lemons
Personal Finance Week in Review for August 12 on One Smart Dollar
Places I’ve Been: Week Ending August 11 on Edward Antrobus
Carnival of Retirement – 32nd Edition on Young Family Finance
Festival of Frugality #349 on Cash Net USA
Masses vs Great Design and a Round Up on Wealth Artisan
Starting a Blog in the UK – Pt. 1 Choose Your Audience on Savvy Scot
Achieve Financial Freedom: Awesome Lessons to Spruce up Your Finances on Street Smart Finance
Fearless Men’s Weekly Round-Up | August 16, 2012 on Fearless Men
Why I Avoid Cash on Edward Antrobus
Weekend Reading – Giveaways, Bolt is lightning fast and great blogs on My Own Advisor
Carnival of Financial Planning – Money Management Edition #250 – August 17, 2012 on The Skilled Investor
Where Should A New Investor Put $1,000 To Work In The Market? on Money Q&A
On the downside, all these mentions means that I feel obligated to post this week’s favorite posts in a separate post tomorrow. Since I’ve got an afternoon date on Friday I think I’ll take care of writing that post now.
Is there anything you think I should be doing differently on my blog? Perhaps there is something you’d like to see more of?
Or is my blog just so awesome that I should just keep doing things the same way? 
THanks for the mention, man. You know, I’m not sure I”d change anything about yoru blog. I like the way you write and the things you post. It seems all good to me!
TB at BlueCollarWorkman recently posted..Justice is Served Up to a Restaurant
Good to hear. No change is easiest for me
Hmmm, change this blog? No way, I think it’s perfect the way it is.
Jordann recently posted..The Mysterious Money
Well I wouldn’t say it’s perfect, but as long as you guys are happy with it, I’ll keep it the way it is.
Maybe how you do time management. I am having a hard time finding time do keep up with everything. You also have a full time job, right?
Time management is incredibly tough for bloggers. The only way I manage it is by making sacrifices in other area. For example, I almost never watch tv anymore. Also I work at home which eliminates time wasted commuting. Having lots of guest writers sure helps too.
Thanks for the mention!
– In addition to Time management perhaps you should share your monetization stories – adsense earnings etc. 
or am I just nosey…
Savvy Scot recently posted..Savvy Scot’s Groupon Giveaway
Well it wouldn’t be a very modest blog if I was bragging about how much money I make. I don’t use any adsense, but I don’t really want to disclose how I do make money and how much. You are welcome to e-mail if you do want to be nosey
Sweet contest
Thanks for hosting it… next time you should pick me as a winner 
haha.
One thing, if you don’t mind me putting it forward, would be to not have too, too many guest posts all at the same time?
Anne @ Unique Gifter recently posted..Creative Cash Gift: Bring Home the Bacon
Thank you for the feedback Anne. I do admit that I have been accepting a lot of guest posts recently, but I’m not sure if I want to get away from that approach. When I first started this blog I had every intention of it eventually becoming a collaboration of several writers. I just didn’t think it would be so soon. Having other writers allows me to cover topics I don’t know as much about and it also frees up my time for marketing. It kinda snowballs over time too. Once you start accepting them it just keeps building up. Now I have a big backlog of guest posts, as well as a bunch of fellow bloggers who want to submit content sometime.
Dude, don’t go a changin’ on us! But seriously, I like your setup, writing style and schedule. The guest posts don’t bother me much, and I understand putting out 5 posts a week can cause burnout.
I would say your credit card offers page should have it’s own menu bar for easier navigation.
Jacob @ iHeartBudgets recently posted..Payday Loans
Jacob I replied to your post on Payday Loans. Sorry, every store has two sides.
Veronica @ Pelican on Money recently posted..Make Money on Craigslist: Sell like a Pro
Thanks Jake. I probably should try to find better balance between guest posts and my own writing though.
Great idea bout adding the credit card page to the header navigation. I’m going to do that right now.
Jeremy thanks for the mention! I like your blog the way it is, can’t think of anything that needs changing. You seem to be on top of everything to be honest.
Veronica @ Pelican on Money recently posted..SEO Thursday #1: Must-Have SEO Plugin
I like the general lack of complaints. Hopefully you’re all being sincere and not just being nice. Maybe there’s something you all really don’t like but don’t want to offend me.
Random question (not necessarily something I think you should improve). At one point, you were using the most active commenters plugin I think and I noticed recently that you weren’t using it anymore. Any particular reason why? I’m curious if there was some kind of SEO thing about it that worried you.
Earth and Money recently posted..How to Deal with a Bad Landlord
Nope I am still using it, but I’m going to edit out that plugin name lol. I am quite sure some spammers search google for that plugin name. It only appears on the homepage though. I do that because some of my posts have a high number of external links, such as this one.
You are doing great! Much better than my blog – and I’ve had it going for a couple of years.
Marie at FamilyMoneyValues recently posted..Dad’s Real Estate Investments
Thanks Marie. I recognize that logo from your staff writing at prairieecothrifter. I guess I didn’t realize you had your own blog though. Honestly I’ve put in a ton of work to get this far. It might be more hours than the average blogger puts in per year, or maybe even in 2 years for some bloggers.
Congrats on the Alexa rank, I would love to get down below the 50k mark. Seems like you have found some success with this blog, so I think you should just keep what you have been doing.
DC @ Young Adult Money recently posted..Getting a Property Ready For Rental
I am further along than I expected to be at this point. I figure it’s a good idea to check with readers once in a while to make sure I didn’t let things slip anywhere. I guess I’ll keep going as I’ve been, but I do have plans to step up the marketing soon. It probably won’t be anything that is noticeable for visitors though.
Don’t change a thing…keep on going as you are
Thanks for the mention!
Mark
My Own Advisor recently posted..Weekend Reading – Some stocks are suffering, more giveaways and great blogs
Will do sir. I’ve been getting in a pretty comfortable routine lately. So if I can maintain this and see the same kind of growth that totally works for me. I just have to periodically mix in some other stuff to step up the monetization.
Thanks for the mentions… of my mentions.
I’ve always liked the layout of your site. I’ve always been impressed with how far you were able to stretch the basic TwentyEleven theme
Thanks for mentioning the mentions of your mentions
I’m glad you like the layout, but I can’t take much credit for that. I had a designer friend who owed me a favor. I think I like how everything looks too.
Jeremy, you deserve these stats with your selfless desire to help other bloggers. A blog should always be about serving the need of its readers, and your blog does that amazingly well. Congrats, my friend. And, thank you for the mention.
Shilpan recently posted..Achieve Financial Freedom: Awesome Lessons to Spruce up Your Finances
Thanks Shilpan. I appreciate the kind words. I do try to keep readers a major priority with my blog. The tricky part will be deciding when is the right time to phase out the blogging related posts and focus more exclusively on finance.
Thanks for the mention, Jeremy! I like that prize idea you ran. I think that’s something we should look into as well.
John recently posted..What Not To Say To Your Girl – Get Out of the Dog House Today
I do recommend that you host some kind of contest. Not only does it give you a nice traffic boost that helps stats, but it also produces lots of extra links which help SEO.
I think you’re doing great with the blog. Those giveaway numbers are amazingly impressive. Well done dude. 900 tweets is INSANE!
How did the date on Friday go?
Jason @ WorkSaveLive recently posted..4 Ways to Build an Emergency Fund Faster
Yeah I was pretty stoked about that tweet total, even if it was padded by daily tweets from the hardcore contest folks. I was hoping to somehow reach 4 digits though.
The date Friday went pretty well, but not much long term potential with that chick. So I’m seeing someone else now instead.