I spend part of each day reading various industry blogs and I find this can be a really helpful way to not only keep up to speed, but also to get inspiration for new blog posts of my own.  Here are the best posts that I’ve come across this week.

The Blah Blah Blah Blogging Rules. F It. – Long time readers of this blog will know that I’m a fan of ProBlogger.  I particularly like his maverick style and this post really sums it up!

Without Backlinks, You Have Nothing. – Lynn Terry has a reputation for being one of the top affiliate marketers of today so I’m a regular reader of her blog.  This week she pre-launched a fantastic new service that aims to give you thousands of backlinks to your site.  Read the post to find out more…

The Oft-Confused Features And Benefits – One thing I can’t stand in a sales letter is when it sells nothing more than features!  This is not only irritating for the reader, it also kills conversions!  Learn from Michel Fortin, one of the Internet’s top copywriters, how to make sure you get your sales copy right and sell only benefits.

Dumb Excuses for Not Blogging – I’m sure everyone finds blogging a bit of a drag sometimes.  However, if we’re relying on it to support our families or to maintain our brand, then we have to make ourselves do it.  This post from Patsi Krakoff reminds us of the importance of our blogs and encourages us to give them the priority they deserve.

21 Outstanding WordPress Plugins – I love a good, effective WordPress plugin, don’t you?  This post describes 21 of the best – some of which I already use, and some that need some investigation.  If you use WordPress as your blogging platform, I’d encourage you to check this post out!

It’s All About Free, Baby! – You’ll hear a lot of successful Internet marketers talk about giving stuff away.  Some refer to it simply as ‘freebies’, others as ‘paying it forward’, and the fancy guys out there call it ‘moving the free line’.  In this post, Jessica Swanson (the Shoestring Marketer) gives us her take on the part that free products play in your marketing strategy.

Get More Subscribers: Seal the Deal with Incentives – I recently started using Aweber for all my new mailing lists.  This week, they posted as item on their blog dealing with how to incentivize people to sign up.  I figured that if I’m going to learn about sign-up rates and how to improve them, then Aweber is as good a place to start as any!

Finally, I wanted to share one more post with you.  This one is not something that will make you more money, but it’ll give you a good laugh:

Advice for Bloggers: Karate Kid Style

Enjoy!