Welcome to the August 20, 2007 edition of Carnival of the Capitalists. While blog carnivals have become all the rage lately, this one is the grand-daddy of them all, at least for business blogs. It’s one of the few that still travels from blog to blog each week (as a carnival should — that’s why they’re called carnivals, folks!), and I’m happy to be hosting it this week on my new blog, Revenue River. This site’s a little different than most of the sites that host CotC, but also a little different from most other sites covering the same topics. I hope you’ll poke around a few of the recent posts while you’re here.

Without any further adieu, here are this week’s entries:

Pick of the Week

Silicon Valley Blogger presents 8 Ways To Invest Internationally: How Much Foreign Exposure Should Your Portfolio Have?. This is incredibly detailed information that any investor should review. Great post.

Economy & Capital Markets

James Hamilton asks, “Where’s the Risk?” Lots of turmoil in the financial markets, but James thinks that the spread between corporate and Treasury yields is not reflecting the level of fears some analysts seem to be describing.

Super Saver presents A Stock Market Scenario - Going From Bad to Worse, saying, “Last week, I thought the Fed breathed new life into the bull market. I’ve changed mind. Here’s why the stock market situation is going to get worse in the short term.”

Babak presents Gold & Gold Stocks Gets Clobbered, saying, “If gold and gold stocks can’t rally in the face of a dollar meltdown, a stock market in the dumps, a panic in the bond market due to the subprime mess… when is it going to? Lets face it. The gold bull market is over.”

Free Money Finance asks, “Who’s to Blame for America’s Mortgage Mess?, as well as whose responsibility it is to fix it.

Kurt Brouwer says we may be able to gain from the subprime meltdown. He sees “a ray or two of light, hope and even historical perspective.”

Charles H. Green presents The Deeper Message of Financial Markets' Volatility, saying, “Markets operate on trust, something we all need to learn.”

Matt Wolfe asks, “What’s up with the Stock Market?“, analyzing three strategies for dealing with the current drop.

Personal Finance

Shannon Christman presents The Risks of Saving Money, saying, “While we often don’t think of it from this perspective, there are real risks when saving money as there are when investing money.” I suppose I always knew this intuitively, but never really thought about it in quite these terms.

Shivering Timbers tells how he found an $80 million fortune in stock certificates and then lost it the next day.

nickel says that buying stuff won’t make you happy, but spending it in other ways might.

FitBuff looks at the high cost of bottled water vs. filtration and asks if it’s really worth it, especially when much of the bottle water we buy is coming from the same source as our tap water.

Marketing

James Cherkoff discusses the decreasing effectiveness of advertising in How The Soap Box Beat The Loudhailer, saying, “Advertising folks are always banging on about the perfect idea and the genius insight that creates a powerful campaign. One that will change people’s behaviour and drive sales and vast shareholder value. But the world has changed. The tectonic plates that the marketing industry sits upon have shifted. What adfolk don’t get is however great their ideas - no one cares anymore. Let me explain why…”

Sue Kleiner compares Exhibit Booth Rental vs. Exhibit Booth Purchase & Trade Show Display Exhibits, asking the pointed question, “Why purchase a booth that will represent an unproductive asset over three years?”

Vahid Chaychi presents 21 Ways to Drive Free Traffic to Your Sites, saying, “Without traffic there will be no referring, selling and recruiting. Most successful webmasters, bloggers and internet marketers use the free methods to drive traffic to their websites. They really work and as they are free, all the money they will make is profit.” OK, well, they’re not all entirely free, but it’s still a great list of ideas.

SJ Yee presents an overview of FAQs on Marketing by Philip Kotler. While there wasn’t anything earth-shattering here, I am at least curious to see more now.

Scott Allen (that’s me) shares a technique on the fine art of turning spammers into prospects on social networking sites using the “DCR” technique: Deflect, Connect, Redirect.

Entrepreneurship

Ben Yoskovitz wants to know, Can you build a startup ecosystem outside the Valley?. He says, “Silicon Valley rules the day when it comes to providing an ecosystem for startups and success. Can it be done elsewhere?” We’ve got a pretty good track record here in Austin, Ben… Visa and Entrepreneur both say that Austin is the most entrepreneurial city in the U.S. Come check out the Silicon Hills.

Rob at Businesspundit tells about his new project: The Daily Idea, including “the problems we have experienced getting it launched, and the hope we have for the future.”

Millionaire Mommy Next Door presents Evaluation is Critical for Success. How to Measure Your Progress., saying, “I have learned from past experience with my other projects, goals and small businesses that it is crucial to monitor progress using analytical measures. Regular evaluations of any project are important for keeping it on track and in alignment with one’s vision. Today, on my one month blogiversary, I am illustrating this important evaluation process.”

Christopher J. Brunner presents Seeking a Dream, saying, “The ambition to be an entrepreneur is usually in the back of everyone’s mind. And though the numbers of entrepreneurs out there continue to grow, it is far too often that people have dreams and do nothing to pursue them.”

Celebpreneur has an interview with Rachel Elnaugh, saying, “Rachel Elnaugh is a former judge on The Dragons’ Den, the founder of Red Letter Days and a prolific business speaker and mentor. This is an exclusive interview from an entrepreneur who has seen it all.”

Personal Development / Attitude

Wally Bock says that there are three important things to know about yourself as a first step toward career success.

Maria Palma says that the one thing you can do right now to make money online is… nope, sorry… you’re gonna have to go read it to find out.

Don Lawson presents “Think” Your Way To Affiliate Marketing Riches, saying, “Having positive thoughts can mean the difference between success and failure in business. This article will get you on track to thinking your way to success.” I like Don’s balanced take on the Law of Attraction.

Corporate Behavior

Adam Pieniazek takes a long, hard look at The Rise of Corporate Fascism in America, asking, “Have corporations grown too powerful?”

Steven Silvers presents Mattel and Countrywide show the good, bad and ugly of crisis communications., saying, “The contrast in crisis response and communications style is a lesson for every executive.”

Barry Welford presents Cell Phone Telecoms Lock In Their Customers - For Now, saying, “The wireless telecoms like to lock in their customers with multiyear contracts and locked handsets. As the mobile Web becomes a reality with devices such as the iPhone, this may bring new competition that may upset their cosy status quo.” I can hardly wait. I’ve dealt with this mess more times than I care to remember (or admit).

Leon Gettler presents an interview with Professor Sydney Finkelstein, saying, “He talks about why companies screw up and explains why better corporate governance will not stop fraud or corporate failure.”

Miscellaneous

Moorea presents The Financial Benefits of Siesta, saying, “Siesta does great things for business… the US economy could benefit from nap time!” I love afternoon naps, but I’m not quite there yet…

Wayne Hurlbert presents Disaster management: When things go wrong, saying, “Disaster can strike a business at any time. Crises can range all the way from failed shipments and lost accounts to natural events like hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes. At any time, a severe problem can wreak havoc with your company. In many cases, the nightmare scenario can force a business into bankruptcy. A prudent company is prepared to handle any emergency.”

Joe Kristan looks at Congress’s plan to tax “carried interests” as ordinary income, saying, “Private equity fund carried interests: do we need to make the tax law more complicated?”

Brian Gongol’s daily thoughts include his comments on an recent NYT essay, saying “We should shift medical spending from treatment and cures to prevention, because we need to get more mileage out of our geniuses.”

Bob Vineyard asks, What kind of business has customers with both unlimited credit and not a penny to their names?” The answer… go read it. Great commentary on the importance of personal responsibility.

That concludes this week’s carnival — I hope you’ve enjoyed your visit.

On a less pleasant note, I received several submissions this week from blogs attempting to pass off articles from EzineArticles.com and elsewhere as their own. I’m outing you here — copyright violation is theft, pure and simple. I encourage those of you who are the legitimate copyright holders on these to pursue legal action. I’ll also be notifying EzineArticles, as I’m sure they’ll want to do something too. Future hosts, you may want to blacklist these blogs — at least be suspicious of anything coming from them. I’ve marked all the submissions as spam — hopefully that will help reduce them in the future.

Here’s the Hall of Shame:

Spam blog/blogger: Basic Accounting Blog / Mike Harmon
Spam URL: http://www.basicaccountingblog.com/2007/08/11/planning-an-business-trip
Original author: Christopher Anderson
Original article: Planning a Business Trip

Spam blog/blogger: Business Management Life / Sue Massey
Spam URL: http://www.businessmanagementlife.com/2007/08/11/are-you-a-good-facilitator Original author: Louise Manning
Original article: Are You a Good Facilitator?

Spam blog/blogger: Matt’s Creative Advertising Blog / Matt Hanson
Spam URL: http://www.creativeadvertisingblog.com/2007/08/12/custom-made-jingles-commercials-and-music-for-television-and-radio Original author: Tom Gauger
Original article: Custom Made Jingles, Commercials and Music for Television and Radio

Spam blog/blogger: Everyday Marketing Ideas / Eric Hudin
Spam URL: http://www.everydaymarketingideas.com/2007/08/11/from-iphone-to-youtube-the-viral-marketing-method Original author: Michael Ferrerya
Original article: From iPhone to YouTube - The Viral Marketing Method

Spam blog/blogger: Direct Marketing Newswire / Chris Tackett
Spam URL: http://www.directmarketingnewsline.com/2007/08/09/itv-ventures-review-honest-money-making-opportunity-or-scam Original author: Vern How Chan
Original article: ITV Ventures Review - Honest Money Making Opportunity Or Scam?

Spam blog/blogger: Free Franchise Information Blog / Tom Stanley
Spam URL: http://www.freefranchiseinformationblog.com/2007/08/09/do-you-really-want-to-buy-a-franchise Original author: Jim Monahan
Original article: Do You Really Want to Buy a Franchise?

Spam blog/blogger: Productivity Planner / Chris Russell
Spam URL: http://www.productivityplanner.com/2007/08/11/enhancing-human-performance
Original author: Brice Alvord
Original article: Enhancing Human Performance

Spam blog/blogger: Small Home Business Blog / Stacey Derbinshire
Spam URL: http://www.smallhomebusinessblog.com/2007/08/11/leveling-the-playing-fields
Original author: Crystal Cohen
Original article: Leveling the Playing Fields

Spam blog/blogger: Good Customer Service Blog / Jason Rakowski
Spam URL: http://www.goodcustomerserviceblog.com/2007/08/12/the-money-is-in-the-service/
Original author: Bridgette Boudreaux
Original article: The Money Is In The Service

Spam blog/blogger: The Credit & Credit Card Blog / Aaron Wakling
Spam URL: http://www.creditcardarticles.net/2007/08/19/american-express-helping-small-businesses
Original author: Shahid Khan
Original article: American Express Helping Small Business

UPDATE: With a little research, I found out who the spammer is. Any suggestions for how to take action against him are welcome.

By the way, a pretty good sign of one of these spam blogs (particularly important for future hosts of the carnival) is the large Google AdWords block before any posts. I started wondering what was going on when I noticed about the third blog with the same layout, all started about the same time. I don’t know if this is the work of one person, or worse, the work of one “guru” telling other people to do this, but I hope they all rot… you know where.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Carnival of the Capitalists using BlogCarnival’s carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the CotC blog carnival index page.

11 Comments so far

1. Millionaire Mommy Next Door on August 20, 2007 6:01 pm

   I appreciate your information re: spam submissions as I host my first carnival this week.

   Thanks for including my post. I’ll link back here in my weekly Million Dollar Blog Carnival Roundup.

2. hgstern on August 20, 2007 8:56 pm

   Awesome job…And Thank You!! for calling out the spammers!

3. Maria Palma on August 20, 2007 11:59 pm

   Thanks for hosting the Carnival and including my submission!

   Regarding the spam bloggers - It’s funny because I’m the organizer for the Customer Service Carnivale and have seen these same perpetrators submitting articles as well. Most of the time the submissions have nothing to do with the blog topic!!

   Anyhow, keep up the great work!

4. Louise Manning on August 21, 2007 2:19 am

   Many thanks for exposing these spam bloggers on your blog carnival. I am still researching how far reaching this activity is with regard to my own work, but I am stunned at the volume of blogs that appear to be involved, and how deeprooted this scam is with the number of blog carnivals that appear to have been affected.

   Some of the articles that have been “borrowed” actually contain quite personal stories and the people involved seem to have had no compunction in passing them off as their own ideas and thoughts!

5. Adam Pieniazek on August 21, 2007 6:58 am

   Hey Scott,

   It looks like something funky happened to the link to my post…here’s the link to the Rise of Corporate Fascism post.

6. Scott Allen on August 21, 2007 8:03 am

   @Adam — Fixed! — sorry about that.

7. Sue on August 21, 2007 3:55 pm

   Thanks for the include!

8. Ferdie Frederic on August 22, 2007 1:05 am

   Nice carnival, and inclusion of a list of spammers

9. Ben Yoskovitz on August 22, 2007 8:56 am

   Thank you for including my submission. I’m glad I didn’t find myself on the spammer list!

   I think that’s an interesting approaching - calling out the low quality content. I know from past experience running a Carnival how hard and time consuming it is to go through everything and pick out the best stuff.

10. CA on August 22, 2007 12:10 pm

    lol Ben.

    I now have to go through the process of removing them from my past carnivals. Thanks for list Allen.

11. Brice Alvord on August 25, 2007 3:20 pm

    Thanks for pointing out the use of my article by someone else, I don’t mind people using my articles, but it would be nice if they would just give the courtesy of giving credit. At least they did not change my web information enclosed in the article and maybe I’ll get a visitor or two out of it. Your blog is a fine service that I stubled upon while surfing today,