Stock Market Has a Small Gain!

Twenty odd point increase may not seem like much, but I gained back all I lost yesterday! I traded about 40% of GOLD postion for Natural Gas!

I love commodities.

Finally got a commision for some Web work, designing some web marketing materials for a "Sports Bar".

I am working on a "Twitter" page, Web page, slogans, advertising, etc. My creative juices are flowing again.

It is fun to get "back in the saddle"! It' almost feels like a "job"...........LOL

Obama Speaks, Market Falls!

The best thing that could happen for the stock market is for President Obama to never give another speech!

Every speech causes negative reaction on the stock market. Since Wednesday 10/2/09, my portfolio has fallen 10% on his "Job's Speech". Thanks Mr Obama!

Jobs data released today appears in error and subject to retraction. I think it should have been 140,000, not 14,000.

President Obama, pick and issue and complete it, move on to the next one........don't do a half-ass job on multiple issues at once!

One of my favorite commercials!

Happy Thanksgiving

Silver Bullion Compared To Gold Bullion

Many precious metal investors commonly compare silver bullion to gold bullion, especially since both safe-haven metals tend to follow each others movement when spot prices are fluctuating. Precious metals have increased in popularity considerably in the past few years, especially since many investors have seen both gold and silver bullion prices skyrocketing while everything from stocks to bonds and real estate suffered amidst a contracting economy. Below I have further explained both of these precious metals in order to give you a better sense of direction when comparing silver bullion to gold bullion:

Silver Bullion = Considered an industrial metal with safe-haven properties, silver bullion is sought after by many investors because of its undervalued price that has risen considerably in the past decade. In 2001, silver bullion was trading around $4.25 per ounce, and as of November 2009, the metal is trading around $17.30 per ounce.

Gold Bullion = Considered an investment-grade metal with safe-haven properties, gold bullion is sought after by many investors because it is known as the ultimate store of wealth that tends to thrive when other assets flounder. In 2001, gold bullion was trading around $260 per ounce, and as of November 2009, the metal is trading around $1105.

When purchasing gold and silver bullion, one of the best ways to ensure investment success is by fully researching the market, then making wise diversifications with reputable advisors by your side. Since 1992, the Certified Gold Exchange has set the standard for gold and silver bullion investing, offering investors the highest quality service and pricing backed by their PriceMatchPlus Guarantee. If you seek success with your investment, request your free “Insider’s Guide To Gold And Silver Investing” by visiting https://www.certifiedgoldexchange.com/goldrequest/article/Silver-Bullion-Gold-Bullion

MT4/Currenex Integration

by Michael Markarian


MetaTrader 4 (MT4), arguably one of the most popular retail Forex trading platforms, is now FIX compliant and being made available through DivisaFX for Straight Through Process (“STP”) trading to Currenex.


MT4, a favorite among traders since it offers an easy to use interface, comprehensive charting and most of all the ability to run automated trading systems (Expert Advisors or EA's). The system has not been as well liked by the brokers offering MT4 because of the systems shortcomings from an administrative standpoint specifically reporting and risk management. The MT4 system was originally designed as a stand alone system and cannot be easily interfaced with other systems which would allow brokers the ability to automate their risk management. Hence, MT4 has been primarily used by brokers that act as market makers for their client orders acting as the counterparty to their trades. This is commonly known as the "Dealing Desk" model as the firm acts as a dealer selling to the client when client buys and buying from the client when the client sells.

In the past, many third party companies have offered "bridge" solutions which basically pass the trade from the MT4 to a liquidity source. However, these so called solutions have limitations on the order capabilities that could limit some of MT4 functionality including the functionality of EA trading systems. Another issue with using this "bridge" technology, there can be dramatic increases in latency for trade execution which can be costly for the client. Lastly, there are the risks associated with dealing with a third-party software provider. These risks range from stability of their software (the bridge) to the integrity and safekeeping of customer information.

The MT4/Currenex integration offers to solve the problems associated with the current bridge technologies currently in use today. Currenex offers a comprehensive network infrastructure which provides for rapid execution speeds with low latency messaging. The speed of the network is constantly monitored with an SNMP [Simple Network Management Protocol]. Currenex is also constantly upgrading their infrastructure. Core servers are upgraded every 16 months and networks every 2 years.

Here are some of the important benefits of the MT4/Currenex integration:

Complete market transparency of prices and trade execution for the trader.

The ability for Expert Advisors (Automated Trading Systems) to work without interference on the part of the broker.

The use of the industry standard FIX (Financial Information Exchange) protocol messaging to execute transactions. Prior to this MT4/Currenex integration, MT4 was not FIX compliant.

Elimination of the risks associated with using a third-party software provider. The MT4/Currenex integration was developed by MetaQuotes specifically for Currenex.

From Logo to Legend - In 10 Simple Steps

by Karen Saunders


Think of any large company, and I'll bet you can picture its logo. It seems like they must have been born with it, but they weren't. Every logo had to start somewhere. And you can start building recognition right now that will continue for years when you create a strong visual brand.

A good logo will be visually captivating, and will tell people what your company does and what it stands for. And then you can carry that logo onto just about everything that leaves your office, from flyers, to business cards, stationary, shipping cartons, invoices…on anything that your customers see.

So how do you go about creating this masterpiece?

First of all, you don't want to overload the eye with too much “busy”. A smart combination of symbol, color, and positive and negative space are key. This is a case where “less is more”. Play around with a few designs, try different color schemes… before you know it, you'll have the right look.


Here are 10 tips to get you started:

1. You want to keep it simple, yet sophisticated.

2. Graphics should be bold and distinctive. Stay away from thin lines - they're hard to see!

3. Not too tall - and not too wide.

4. Don't go for a trendy look - or an old-fashioned look, either. You're going for timeless.

5. It needs to look balanced.

6. Remember, you're going to be putting this logo on every piece of your business. Make sure it will work for everything from an envelope to a banner.

7. Pick a logo that will transfer easily from color to black and white.

8. The graphic has to be in keeping with your type of business, and also has to work well with the name of your business. It's a whole look you're going for.

9. The logo also should tell people what your business does. Graphics are great, but not if they leave your target market guessing.

10. Choose an appropriate font for your business. There are thousands to pick from - just find the right fit.


And here's a bonus tip: When you are set on a color - or colors - make sure you keep note of the ink formula. That special blend of inks has its own PMS number, and that's what your printer will need. That way, all your print jobs have the same great color you love - and your logo will be consistently beautiful on every print job!

Designing your winning logo is only the first step in pulling together your visual brand. Now you need a good tag line. And a memorable tag line is just as important as the logo. It puts the finishing touch on your mini ad to anyone who sees it.

Article Source :
http://www.bestmanagementarticles.com
http://advertising-and-promotion.bestmanagementarticles.com

About the Author :
Karen Saunders is the owner of MacGraphics Services, a unique design firm for today's entrepreneur. Whether you outsource your promotional pieces or are a do-it-yourselfer, Karen takes the mystery out of marketing. Learn the Top 5 Mistakes that can cost you money by signing up for her FREE e-course, available for a limited time. To take advantage of this e-course and find out how easy it can be to attract more clients, go to http://www.macgraphics.net/FreeStuff.php

Moving Averages And Their Uses In Commodity Trading

Author: Dave Rivera


A key component of technical analysis and perhaps one of the oldest indicators around, moving averages are time-tested and affective indicators. There are many types of moving averages with varying indicators, but the primary purpose of all types of moving averages remains the same. Their purpose is to reduce or remove noise from the daily price movements and attracted trends of stocks, commodities or any thing you can plot or chart.

Moving Averages: How Do We Use them?

Moving averages identify trends and trend reversals, give a measure of a commodities’ strength, and help you arrive at support and resistance levels. Essentially, moving averages are indicators with lag, which is to say that they do not identify new trends but are useful in trend following. One of the most useful ways in which you can use moving averages as buy or sell indicators, is to have three moving averages running at the same time on the same chart. The idea is to have a short, an intermediate and a longer term time frame. When the first two move upwards and cross above the longer term one, it indicates an uptrend and one can buy. The reverse happens if the first two move below the third moving average. In that case, you can sell, as the commodity is in a downtrend. A good example of this would be a 10, 20, and a 30 day period moving average, plotted on a commodity chart.

Moving averages are also used by traders to determine support and resistance of a commodity. When the commodity reaches a moving average and struggles to move above it, you might have found resistance. If a commodity stops falling at a key moving average, it can be deemed to have found support. A prime example of this is a 200 day moving average, which is used to calculate long-term trend directions, and to find support and resistance in them.

Types of Moving Averages

There are different types of moving averages. The simplest one is the simple moving average (SMA), which is calculated by taking the normal arithmetic mean of a specified set of numbers. The exponential moving average (EMA) is calculated by giving weightage to more recent data. The EMA is regarded to be a better moving average compared to the SMA. Both of these moving average variants become very useful when used for trend following with moving average crossovers. Indicators such as the moving average convergence divergence (MACD) and Bollinger bands use moving averages as key components. The MACD shows the price divergence of two moving averages, by subtracting a 26 period EMA from the 12 period EMA. A third 9 period EMA is used to give us buy or sell signals when it moves above or below this MACD. Bollinger bands, so named after their creator, use two standard deviations plotted away from a 21 period SMA.

Whichever way you look at it, one cannot deny that using moving averages by themselves may not make you a millionaire in a hurry, but are brilliantly useful in helping you follow trends and plan your commodity trading strategy.

The Roller Coaster Economy

Up - down, up and down. The only reason the stock market is up is not essential actualup market forces, but rather "market manipulators"...the same scam artists that caused the recession in the first place. Unemployment continues to rise, with no end in sight, some saying recovery won't happen until 2016!

A similar prediction is made for the stunted housing market, with the commercial real estate bubble still to burst!

So recovery? Hardly. Optimism does not pay the bills.

10-30-09 24 hours after the "Recovery" all market indicators are down over 2%....DOW down 240+ points. Recovery my ass!

Top 10 Most Useful Websites for Small Businesses

by KAIZ KAREN



Here is a list of top 10 websites which any small business can use to its advantage and to conduct business in the post web 2.0 world.
Twitter: Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Twitter is an amazing tool that can expand your reach to customers and potential customers. It can allow you to stay in touch and connect with thousands of people instantly. It can help drive your brand and communicate with customers in a way that you’ve never been able to before, and so much more.

Google: Google offers a wide variety of products aimed at small business owners, and many of them are free or very low-cost. Google is the top most global website in the world which enables users to search the Web, Usenet, and images. Features include Page Rank, caching and translation of results, and an option to find similar pages. The company's focus is developing search technology.

AdsGlobe.com: Adsglobe is the popular free classifieds website around the globe. Adsglobe serves variety of users ranging from individuals to all types & sizes of business entities addressing their unique advertising needs. Adsglobe is featuring free online classified advertisement site with sections devoted to Real Estate/Rentals, Local Events, Yellow Pages, Jobs, Autos, Items for Sale, Dating/Personals, Services, Pets and Travel where users can search or post free ads.

Amazon: Amazon.com seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. The new e-tailer's all Business Center will be targeted at helping entrepreneurs find the products they need to service their small- and medium-sized businesses. Amazon's new offering will include quick and easy access to small- and medium-business products. Site has numerous personalization features and services including one-click buying, gift certificates, wish lists, travel, and photo processing.

Wikipedia: Wikipedia is a popular Web site that allows users to create entries in a massive online encyclopedia, can be collaboratively created and maintained by thousands of users worldwide. Any article contributed to Wikipedia becomes free content that may be used, edited, copied and redistributed by users. All materials contributed to Wikipedia must be verifiable by other users.

Facebook pages: Anyone with a Facebook profile has had the ability to add something called a Page to extend some content beyond the profile page. This was a smart thing for businesses to do as you could control the content and fans could subscribe to the content. The functionality, however, was pretty limited and these pages were more like static web page brochures than anything else.

Alibaba.com: Alibaba.com Limited is the global leader in business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce and the flagship company of Alibaba Group. Alibaba.com makes it easy for millions of buyers and suppliers around the world to do business online through three marketplaces: a global trade marketplace for importers and exporters, a Chinese marketplace for domestic trade in China, and, through an associated company, a Japanese marketplace facilitating trade to and from Japan.

DealsGlobe.com: Any small business can find cool deals and coupons on DealsGlobe.com and save lot of time and money. DealsGlobe.com allows to find hot online deals and coupons from top online merchants in many countries around the globe. DealsGlobe.com also presents latest sales that are going with various merchants.

EBay: EBay offers small businesses a way to buy or sell practically anything to anyone, anywhere. EBay is The World's Online Marketplace, enabling trade on a local, national and international basis. With a diverse and passionate community of individuals and small businesses, eBay offers an online platform where millions of items are traded each day. International person to person auction site, with products sorted into categories.

Craigslist: Craigslist is a prevailing tool featuring classified ads about almost anything and everything. Craigslist provides local classifieds and forums for jobs, housing, for sale, personals, services, local community, and events almost everything, whatever you can think of, not only this but also discussion on local current events. This is a website where you can advertise to buy and sell things.

This article is sponsored by ForumsGlobe.com

Affiliate Marketing......Not a Scam, Everytime

I have used Affiliate Marketing for over four years to no avail. Major retailers like Amazon, Dell Computers, Franklin Covey, etc. And yet never made 10 cents.

Now, I m pretty sure I know why...too many scams on the Internet. Even though "Clicking" does not involve giving out personal info, I believe folks think it will take them to a scam type link or download damaging malware!

I also used "Donations" and "Tweet-Tips", but to no avail. Again, I think people see this and think "scam alert" . It's unfortunate for honest people like myself, who are blogging and trying to create a small income stream. I would never scam anyone or put anything malicious out there. It is not in my character. Unfortunately for honest folks, the unscrupulous have ruined the internet marketing arena for us all!

Thinking of Buying Gold? - Gold Eagles

By Bill Haynes


If you are thinking of buying gold and end up with 1-oz American Eagle coins, it would be difficult for anyone to say that you could have done better. These U.S. Mint products have become the most popular one-ounce bullion coins in the world.

Gold Eagles, as they are commonly called, were introduced in 1986, and they were unique to the U.S. Mint, being the first 1-oz bullion coins ever minted by the Mint. Further, they were the first 22-karat (91.67% pure) precious metals coins ever minted by the Mint. Because of the copper added to make the coins 22-karat, the gross weight of the 1-oz Eagle is 1.0909 oz.

Today, 1-oz Eagles dominate the new gold bullion coin market in the U.S., claiming some 80% of the market. Since their introduction in 1986, nearly 12 million have been sold. In 2008, the Mint sold 710,000, but through the first nine months of 2009 the Mint sold right at 940,000.

Eagles are bullion coins, which sell for the value of their content plus a small premium over spot. Spot is the price at which large commercial quantities of the yellow metal changes hands in raw form for 48-hour settlement. Spot gold is the benchmark for the price of this most senior of the precious metals.

During normal times, the Mint turns out four sizes: 1-oz, ½-oz, ¼-oz and 1/10-oz. However, the Mint has yet to sell any of the fractional-ounce Eagles in 2009 and is not expected to sell them until December. Investors wanting fractional-ounce 22-karat bullion coins now will have to buy Krugerrands.

The one-ounce coin is, by far, the biggest seller in total ounces of all four sizes. Some years, more 1/10-oz Eagles were sold than 1-oz coins; but in total ounces of metal, the one-ounce coin is the biggest seller.

The 1-oz Eagle carries a $50 nominal face value, which means that it could be used as money at a value of $50. However, because the coin is sold at the spot price of gold plus a small premium, the cost of one coin greatly exceeds the nominal $50 face value.

Gold Eagles were given legal tender status to make them "legal tender coins." There is a much greater demand for legal tender coins than for straight bullion products, such as 1-oz bullion bars. The ½-oz Eagles has a face value of $25, the ¼-oz $10 and the 1/10oz $5.

They are packaged twenty coins to a tube, twenty-five tubes to a Mint box, which weighs right at forty pounds. Most investors buy 1-oz Eagles in multiple tubes. However, it is becoming increasingly common for large investors to take delivery of Mint boxes.

Bill Haynes heads CMI Gold & Silver Inc, one of America's oldest precious metals dealers. See CMIGS' website for more information about gold investments. This article may be reprinted provided this signature remains intact, including the direct links to CMI Gold & Silver Inc.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bill_Haynes

12 Ways To Do Social Media Marketing With Twitter

by: Ron Knight

Twitter is a wildly popular microblogging service. It involves writing Tweets, which are short updates of a maximum of 140 characters that tell your followers what you are up to. Although your Tweets are technically supposed to answer the question, “What are you doing?” Twitter has moved far beyond that. Tweets are used to share stories, link to photos, promote content, break news, and a whole lot more. Twitter has also become an incredibly important tool for social media marketing professionals. Here are 12 ways in which Twitter can be used in your social media marketing campaign.

1. Sharing Links to Items of Interest

As soon as you read something online that you think is interesting, it is easy to share it on Twitter with all of your followers. Twitter is highly effective in this manner because it is such a quick way to be able to reach a large group of people. You can also get a lot of great ideas for blog posts from Twitter since many new ideas and stories are floating around that haven’t even made it to the blogosphere and definitely not to mainstream media.

2. Building Your Network

Using Twitter is a great way to build your network because it allows you to find and follow people with similar interests. You can use Steeple to find people who live in your geographical area. You can also use other tools that help you find new people to follow based upon who your Twitter friends follow.

3. Build Relationships within Your Current Network

People in different networks often use Twitter to connect with their contacts instantly rather than using instant messaging for that purpose. Furthermore, many people use Twitter to connect with their network during events like conferences.

4. Re-Distributing Content from Your Blog or Website

Twitter can be used to redistribute content from your blog or website. However, you should take care to do this thoughtfully since many of your Twitter followers may already read your blog. For that reason, you may want to avoid using a blog plug-in that automatically Tweets your posts. Your best bet is to Tweet your content manually and customize each Tweet so it doesn’t get old.

5. Get Involved in Live Tweeting Events

Twitter launched at SXSW last year, catapulting microblogging conferences to fame. Live Tweeting events are great because they are a form of citizen journalism that allow you to connect with several new people in your niche while making active and valuable contributions to current discussions in your community.

6. Pitching Stories to Journalists on Twitter

You can send a direct message to a journalist who is following you on Twitter to pitch a story idea.

7. Communicating with Your Team

You can use Twitter as a company intranet that connects all of your employees. Twitter can be particularly useful in this regard if you have a virtual business with employees in different geographical locations. You can set your updates to private for security reasons. Anytime you are working on group projects, you can stay in touch with your team members using Twitter.

8. Brand Monitoring

Stay up to date with any mentions of your business on Twitter. If there is anything negative, you will be able to counter it quickly. You can also use Twitter as a way to receive feedback from your customers and improve your business. Just ask your followers to give their opinion on something. For example, if you designed a new website, ask your followers what they think about it and get their constructive criticisms so you can make your site design even better.

9. Acquire More Votes on Social Media Websites

If you have submitted a story to Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, or any other social voting website, tweet a link to that submission to try to score more votes from your followers. If your followers like what they see, they are sure to vote for your content.

10. Hiring People

Looking for a programmer, designer, or writer? Whatever type of professional you seek, try finding them on Twitter. Simply send your followers a tweet telling them you are looking for someone for a job. They can either recommend someone to you or offer themselves for the job. Using Twitter in this way is ideal for finding qualified freelancers. It is much more convenient than putting out a classified ad.

11. Build Your Personal Brand

When you use Twitter to talk about things as mundane as what you ate for breakfast or how you are going to sleep early tonight, you make your followers feel like you are casual and approachable. Even those with running a company that has a cold, corporate brand image could create more appeal and build a unique personal brand using Twitter.

12. Streamline Electronic Communications

When you use Twitter, you’re likely to find yourself using IM, email, and other electronic communication methods less. Twitter not only provides public chatting through Tweets, it also allows you to send direct messages. Twitter will help you streamline your electronic communications, allowing you to scale back online.



About The Author

Ron Knight is a India based Internet Solutions consultant with many years of experience helping people and businesses out in establishing a stronger presence on the web. Many Internet Marketing Services India companies have benefited immensely from his advice. (http://www.empoweredseo.com/)

The Recession is NOT Over!

Market tanks 200 points; 50,000+ looming layoffs at now closed Pontiac and Saturn plants, along with the domino effect of such massive plant closings.

Commercial real estate, the next bubble to burst, will have a huge surplus of massive factories, empty stores, malls, etc. for the next 10 years! A news piece last night said job recovery in the 20% range by 2016.....what are people to do in the mean time?

And yet the large layoffs from state and local governments are just now beginning...teachers. city workers, construction, all will increase in the next 12 months.

"It's not over till the fat lady sings"....and I think she has laryngitis!

A Great Investment......Me!

I have always worked, taken most any job to survive, feed my family, and pay bills on time. I have been a CEO of two small corporations, a college instructor, and a business analyst for a major software company (see profile). At age 45 I went back to Grad School to work on a M Ed in Instructional Design and a MBA in Management. At age 57 I was laid off from the software company (job went to India). I took a part time job in a bookstore to attempt to make ends meet. It didn't work.....and at age 59, I became homeless and unemployed for over a year, eating in soup kitchens and living in doorways. Even with a Master's Degree, help from vocational rehab, & a few non-profits, I have not had a job interview since 2006 (the book store), so in effect, I have not had a "professional job interview" since the software company in 1999!

Yet, I have not entirely given up. I have many creative skills occluding design, writing, educational software, and organizational research. I however, need a few things to make it all work together....hence the INVESTMENT.

I have a old Dell computer with a 15" monitor, donated by an ad in Craig's List! However, a few disabilities make it very difficult to design anything on a 15" CRT monitor. So if folks were able to invest in ME (even $1 helps), I would like to get the following:

1. a 20" - 23" LCD monitor
2. a graphics tablet and pen
3. a larger hard drive (current one is 8 GB)
4. additional software

I will use the new hardware to desing graphics, write educational courses, and perhaps on-line classes. With much luck, may even get paid for it.

Thank you for reading thisappeal, and any help you may be inclined to give. comments and suggestions also welcome!

Basic Marketing Skills

by Barry Anderson

So you’ve started a business, possibly with a few customers already on the books from a previous business or employment. You decide that you need to find some more customers, but you quickly realise that your skills and experience are focussed on delivering your products or services. How do you find the new customers that you need?



Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news. The bad news first – there are probably many businesses out there already offering the same products and services as yours. The good news however is that if you apply some basic marketing principles, and you do this consistently over a period of time, you will bring in new business opportunities.



A simple definition of marketing is communicating the right message to the right people at the right time, in a way that is right for your business. So let’s take those four points and have a closer look at each one in turn.



The right message



Much has been written about what to say to potential clients, as well as how to say it. The key point to keep in mind is that your potential customer must see the benefit to them in buying your product or service. Generally when businesses (and people) are buying, they either want to move away from an undesirable situation, or move toward a situation they would like to be in. Your messages therefore need to reflect this.



You should pay particular attention to your headline. This is the part that will either make people want to read on, or switch them off. Top advertising writers typically spend 75-80% of their time working on the headline for their message.



Your writing should use the words ‘you’ and ‘yours’ – and should talk about solving your prospect’s rather than about what your product or service is.



The right people



Whether you sell to other businesses or to consumers, you should be very clear on which businesses and individuals will want and be able to buy from you and on who will make the decision to buy. Consider these two very different examples.



A company that sells buildings maintenance services will want to target companies that own their own buildings. Larger buildings-maintenance companies will go after companies with multiple sites, and possibly also more complex maintenance requirements. Smaller companies will be better targeting single-site businesses where the needs are easier to meet. In many cases this company will try to get in touch with the facilities manager – or in smaller businesses the managing director or another senior person.



A retailer that sells luxury bathrooms and kitchens will want to target people in the kind of neighbourhoods with this type of residence. As this company offers a complete service from design, through materials selection and on to installation, they will be targeting people who may be very busy with other aspects of their lives.



The right time



People will buy your services if the time is right for them to buy – and these are perfect ‘leads’ for your business because the potential customer is ready to engage with you now. If they are not ready now, you should stay in contact and cultivate the opportunity until they are ready to buy. Being pushy when your prospect is simply not ready will just switch them off.



You need to think about how frequently your potential customers will buy the product or service you are offering. In the case of buildings maintenance contracts are often renewed annually, so you will need to be in touch with facilities managers in the two or three months running up to renewal. For luxury bathrooms and kitchens, the cycle is likely to be five years or more.



The right way for you



There are many ways in which you can contact your potential customers, and good marketing employs many of these methods in a combination. In deciding which methods are right for your business, you should consider the cost of each method alongside the likely returns from each. This will help you to understand the ‘return on investment’ of your marketing activities.



In conclusion



For many business owners, the world of marketing can appear to be a very confusing place. However, it is well-worth investing some time to understand the basics of how best to market your business. Once you become practiced at it you will be pleasantly surprised by the results you can get.

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com


ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Barry Anderson has a unique combination of experience covering both marketing training and the marketing of products and services. Working with The Marketers’ Forum, he delivers training and support to students taking the professional qualifications offered by the UK Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

What does the H1N1 Virus have in common with Your Business Internet Money Online Opportunity?

by Rodney Erb

You probably are wondering what could the H1N1 Virus (swine flu) have in common with your business internet money online opportunity. You shouldn’t be surprised to know that the synergy between them to help you help others and make money doing so is something you shouldn’t miss out on. This is especially true for those of you who are medically inclined or in the health services industry and trying to make affiliate marketing your side business for making internet money online.

Everyone is hearing more and more about the H1N1 virus as we start to move into the flu season. People are getting very nervous and I’ve already read that the number of infected students at our college campuses has risen to over 2000. So what does that have to do with Affiliate Marketing and your business internet money online opportunity? As a sales person you should always be looking for and thinking of opportunities. You’ve heard a lot about niche markets or markets that have great potential. Guess what? Anything to do with the H1N1 virus right now is very hot and presents a great opportunity for you as a marketer to not only make this advantageous for you but you could also help your community, society and friends. Apply your affiliate marketing skills to this niche market and a lot positive could happen!

Here are five things you can do to make this opportunity make you internet money online:

1. "Research this important societal issue” – don’t just sit back and accept everything you hear but really understand what the H1N1 virus is. By doing this you will be bombarded with issues you never imagined all of which could be online internet money making opportunities. The more you learn the better a resource you will be to draw people to you and your product links.


2. “Find out what impact it will have" – as the virus spreads, people will need more medicine, more thermometers, more masks, more water, more antibiotics, access to vaccines, more cleansers and cleaners. I could go on and on but think what you could do with a campaign centering on the H1N1 virus and all the many affiliate links you could bring together to platform a marvelous money making opportunity?


3. "Be a sincerely caring person" – you have friends and family, neighbors and business associates who all will be directly or indirectly affected by the H1N1 virus. During conversations you are having or are going to have with them, you can provide valuable information as a result of the research you’ve done. Also, you can hand them a business card with information where you have started a web site they can visit to get more information to calm their fears and organize their thoughts on how to deal with this issue!


4. “Link, backlink and blog” – find all the links, backlinks, blog sites and networks that are talking about the H1N1 virus and link them to your web site. You know that this will explode the opportunity for you to make affiliate money!


5. “Write articles about the virus” – remember that affiliate or article marketing provides a great platform for you to inform people about this disease and then provide them with responsible article reporting to guide them and prepare them for the swine flu virus and upcoming flu season.

The H1N1 vaccine shots start arriving next month. Will you and your business internet money online opportunity be ready? If you start to prepare now you can be one of the first to provide a resource to help people prepare for this season as well as make money doing so using your affiliate marketing skills. The H1N1 virus is not going to wait so neither should you. Start preparing your affiliate marketing campaign today and you can be prepared for the H1N1 (swine flu) virus opportunity!


If you want the best resource to teach you how to apply “Affiliate Marketing” to your business internet money online opportunity to help people address the H1N1 virus as a niche market go to 4-Day Money Making Blueprint OR go to SEM Business Blueprint.

Article Tags: Business Internet Money, Internet Money Online, H1n1 Virus, Business Internet, Internet Money, Money Online, Affiliate Marketing, Money Making

How you feel after Retirement Lifestyle Freedom

I liked being retired, even while homeless! Nothing is redeeming or proud about a minimum or survival job at 50% to 75% pay reduction from your last "Real" job. Some folks claim they will be bored when they retire, won't know what to do...uh huh! Well those are the "Type A Workaholics" that annoy the rest of us. My job doesn't define me. I don't live to work, I work to live! Work may actually interfere with your life. So when retirement greets you, take full advantage of it, even if you sleep in a doorway!



By the term Retirement Freedom, I mean a non-traditional retirement away from the work-a-day world. I call this "Fretirement" since it is a lifestyle that is free from all of the expectations that most of us have with retirement. In "Fretirement", you dont necessarily quit working, rather you quit having to work.

Why go through all of the traditional drudgery associated with a traditional job? Who really wants to spend an hour or more each day commuting to and from an office? Is there anybody who really enjoys office politics and ladder climbing? Or how about the words "outsource" and "downsize" and "layoff"? Can you really get excited about these things? Do you really want to spend a large portion of your earnings for fuel to get to work and for overpriced and unhealthy food during "lunch hour"?

It is possible, at almost any age, to effectively retire from the traditional workforce and to create your own economic machine. Thanks to the electronic age and the advent of the Internet, you can likely make this happen in that area of business wherein you enjoy a certain amount of experience, knowledge and passion. In fact, the more passionate you are about a niche, the more likely you are to be successful in making a good living in it.

In his current bestselling book, "The 4 Hour Work Week", author Timothy Ferris writes about how he managed to wean his company from its dependence on him being present 5 days each week. He did this by outsourcing many of the routine tasks that he did to a Virtual Assistant, or V.A. that he found on the Internet. In fact, he was able to do this so effectively that soon, he weaned his company from needing him at the office 2 days per week. Due to the company's inefficiencies, he and his V.A. were able to produce more results for the company during the 2 days each week that he was absent than he had been producing when he was present!

This went on and on and, over time, he showed up at the office very seldom, but his production was so great that his managers were thrilled and even gave him a raise and promotion! Now, at age 34, he has effectively "retired" from working, enjoys a lot of travel and has a staff of 3-5 V.A.s working for him across the globe! He quickly moved to his desired retirement lifestyle at the ripe old age of 34!

I'm not suggesting that you will be able to work miracles like Tim Ferris did, but, you can certainly explore the opportunities in the niche of your passion and expertise. You might elect to do something complementary to what you are currently doing or perhaps explore a whole new way to accomplish similar results by harnessing the power of the Internet and by outsourcing menial tasks to V.A.s so that you can focus on the really important tasks.

If you are nearing the traditional retirement age, you may be able to spring free of your job years ahead of schedule if you can get some Internet "Cash Machines" setup to provide a level of passive income for you and your family. You can establish many diverse streams of income from various Internet activities and each can be independent from one another. Once you have these in operation, you can have the retirement lifestyle that you desire!

For example, I have income from the sale of an electronic book, or e-book that I have written on the subject of retirement. I also do some affiliate marketing wherein I advertise products for several large companies such as Best Buy and Amazon.com. Additionally, I have a membership site on the Internet where retirees come to learn ways to earn income from Internet activities, and I provide advertising space for Google and other companies. All of these income streams are passive and the income just shows up in my bank account each day! Some days are great and others not so great, but, on average, I earn enough to support 2 sons in a large accredited University without using my Social Security check!

It took me a few months to learn these techniques and a few more months to put them into operation, but now all I do is tweak and tune my marketing programs and explore new ways to compound my streams! Fortunately, I am able to play golf several times a week and get to travel extensively to visit my grandchildren and to just have fun!


I love my retirement lifestyle! You can easily see why I call this freedom that I have my "Fretirement"!

Don Seibert is an Expert Author who writes timely articles and books on retirement including the Amazing Retirement Formula at http://www.Amazing-Retirement.com . Having retired twice, he now is the host of http://www.RetireToEasyStreet.com Visit the site for a complete discussion of Retirement Planning, early retirement, and Retirement Income Options

Student Loans Could Be Forgiven After 10 Years of Public Service

The government hopes a new loan forgiveness program will give students an incentive to consider a career in public service. In exchange for 10 years on the job in a field of public service such as public safety, education, or social work, the Department of Education will erase certain borrowers’ remaining federal student loan debt.

To be eligible for this initiative — the Loan Forgiveness for Public-Service Employees Program — you must have either taken out or consolidated your federal student loans through the federal Direct Loan Program, in which you receive your student loan directly from the government rather than through a third-party lender.

Breaking It Down: How the Loan Forgiveness Program Works
The loan forgiveness benefit is available for any federal consolidation loan or any federal parent or student loans you’ve taken out through the Department of Education’s Direct Loan Program. If you took out your federal college loans from a private lender through the Federal Family Education Loan Program (rather than directly from the government through the Direct Loan Program), you’ll have to consolidate your FFELP student loans into the Direct Loan Program in order for those student loans to be eligible to be forgiven.

In addition to holding a federal Direct loan, you’ll also have to meet certain borrower requirements in order to qualify for the loan forgiveness program:

Spend a decade in a public service career. You must remain in a qualifying public-service career, working full-time, for 10 years, during which you must be making payments on the student loans you’re looking to have forgiven. You must still be working in the public-service sector at the time your student loans are forgiven.

Hit the 120 mark. During your 10 years of full-time public service, you must make 120 monthly payments on the Direct college loans you want forgiven. Only payments made after Oct. 1, 2007, will count toward the payment requirement. If you have FFELP loans (college loans that you took out from a private lender and not from the federal government) that you’re consolidating into the Direct Loan Program, you’ll only be able to count the payments you make on your Direct Consolidation Loan after your FFELP student loans are consolidated. Any payments you’ve made prior to Oct. 1, 2007, or to any lender other than the federal government won’t count.

Sign up for a qualifying repayment plan. Your required 120 payments must be made under one (or a combination) of three repayment plans: standard repayment, income-contingent repayment, or income-based repayment, which becomes available July 1, 2009. If you’re enrolled in a different Direct Loan repayment plan, only those payments you make that are at least equal to the monthly payment amount you’d be required to make under the standard repayment plan will count toward your 120-payment requirement.

The Fine Print: How You End Up Paying Off Your Student Loans Yourself
If you’re considering applying for the loan forgiveness benefit, you may want to look into your eligibility for the income-contingent and income-based repayment plans, which allow low-income borrowers to qualify for lower payments and extend their repayment period to 25 years. Only borrowers who are making reduced monthly payments on an income-contingent or income-based repayment plan will likely have a remaining balance left to forgive after making 120 payments on their student loans.

If you’re in the standard repayment plan, which has a repayment term of 10 years, you may find that you don’t have any student loan debt left to forgive after meeting your 120-payment requirement, since your 10-year repayment term is the same amount of time that the government requires you to hold your public-service job before any of your student loans can be forgiven.

What Qualifies as Public Service?
Public-service fields eligible for the loan forgiveness program include:

Military
Emergency management
Fire departments
Law enforcement
Public library sciences
Public school education
Public child care
Public health
Public service for the elderly
Public service for individuals with disabilities
Nonprofit work with certain tax-exempt organization

Student Loan Forgiveness, A Stimulis?

We have bailed out banks, homeowners, auto companies, stock market and insurance companies. I have an idea that can help stimulate the economy...student loan forgiveness.

Many professions with advanced degrees such as doctors, lawyers, or MBA grads are burdened with student loan payments as high as $1000 - $2000 per month. Depending on their age, "students" may never have enough work life left to repay them. I know people whose balance has tripled or quadrupled while under forbearance or deferment due to the poor economy, unemployment, or underemployment. Freeing up those huge monthly payments would allow people to buy homes, a new car, or other consumer items to stimulate the economy.

Write your congressman or senator and tell them "Student Loan Forgiveness" should be a priority!

Can Twitter Help Your Business?

Author: Lauren Hobson

Although Twitter continues to gain acceptance in the business community as a business communication and marketing tool, I’m still amazed at the number of small businesses that don’t see the value of using this micro-blogging service as a marketing tool for business.

Just in case you need a refresher, Twitter (www.twitter.com) is a unique micro-blogging tool that lets users communicate with their “followers” in quick text messages of 140 characters or less called “tweets.”

Social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube are typically most effective when they are appropriately integrated with each other and with a company’s existing marketing efforts, since each one provides distinct benefits and advantages in an integrated social marketing plan. But Twitter – even when used as a stand-alone social networking strategy – can be a powerful tool in any small business marketing toolbox.

Some of the benefits of using Twitter in your marketing mix include:

• Highly targeted audience: The people who choose to “follow” you on Twitter are already interested in hearing what you have to say, or they would not have followed you to begin with. This provides you with an audience of folks who have specifically opted-in to receive your messages and want to listen to what you have to say.
  
  
• Instantly reach your “followers”: When you post something to your Twitter account (referred to as “tweets”), the message is instantly sent to your followers in the way they have chosen to be contacted. This could be a text message sent to their cell phone, posted to their Twitter page on the web, RSS-fed to a Facebook page or profile, etc. Regardless of the method your followers have selected, your tweets appear within a few seconds.
  
  
• Generate traffic to your web site: By adding links in your tweets, you provide followers with direct access to your web site, to other social networking profiles, to your blog, etc. Again, if your social marketing has been properly integrated, all of this will lead back to your web site, generating more traffic and new visitors.
  
  
• Improve your search engine rankings: By optimizing your Twitter profile (and integrating your social marketing efforts), you can build valuable inbound links to your web site, which is key in improving your site’s position in the search engine rankings.
  
  
• Increase brand awareness and online visibility: Being active on Twitter gets your business name in front of customers as well as the general public everyday, which in turn helps build name recognition and improves brand awareness for your business.
  
  
• Enhance customer service: Many businesses have found that by using Twitter, they can respond to customer needs (or complaints) very quickly and efficiently, allowing them to improve their level of service while publicly demonstrating their responsiveness and commitment to customers.
  
  
• Manage your online reputation in real time: By monitoring Twitter for mentions of your business name, key personnel, product names, etc., you can keep track of what people are saying about your business and to respond or intervene quickly if necessary. There are also free tools available to help you monitor your reputation in Twitter (like Twilerts and Tweetdeck), which can make it very easy to monitor your reputation online.

These are just some of the ways in which Twitter can benefit your business, and as social networking continues to grow in popularity, there will surely be even more features, new uses, and business benefits to be gained by using Twitter.

Whether you are just thinking about using social marketing or have already started to use it, Twitter can be a great tool to integrate into your social marketing strategy as you go forward. And for small businesses that are serious about marketing, the value of Twitter is pretty clear.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/social-marketing-articles/how-can-twitter-help-your-business-1156894.html

About the Author:

Lauren Hobson, President of Five Sparrows, LLC, has more than 16 years of experience in small business technology writing, marketing, and web site design and development. Five Sparrows provides professional website, marketing, and social networking services to small businesses and non-profits at affordable prices, giving clients access to customized services that meet both their needs and their budgets. More at www.fivesparrows.com

Keywords and Word Clouds

How To Maintain Your Market Share In Recession Times

by: Lynne Saarte

During times of economic crisis, what do most businesses cut back on to save on costs? If you are a business owner, you have probably answered marketing. True. Most companies look at marketing as more of an expense rather than a means to get back investments; hence, it can very well be taken off the list if you need to cut back on your budget. Printed posters – not this time. Color posters – cross it out. Brochure printing – another one off the list.

But this is where you are wrong. Especially during these trying times, there is a need for more marketing campaigns than ever. In order for you to gain profits, you need to spend first. And the only way you can get clients for your business is to market constantly.

What will happen if you lessen your marketing costs? What if you stopped producing printed posters or color posters altogether? You are just going to lose your customer, that is what; and your competition might just steal them from under your nose. Is that what you need right now? Right now, what you need is more clients; more clients to buy your products and services. Do well to remember that marketing can generate for you your client so you might as well give a large chunk of your budget to advertising.

Now is exactly the right time to allot a budget for your marketing activities. This is the appropriate time because if your competition thinks like you, they might also be of the idea to put on hold their marketing campaigns to save their money. You can then get their market share if you continue to promote your business while they are abandoning their marketing strategies for a while. With even smaller amount of marketing expenses, you might just end up with the whole lot.

Bear in mind that the marketplace is an area of competition. Even your most loyal customers are fair game for your competitors. By providing your clients and prospects with carefully planned marketing efforts, your business can very well get the most of the market share without your competition having any say about it.

The idea is this: while your competition is taking a rest from marketing their business, you can grab their market share from under their noses by pursuing an aggressive marketing strategy. Not only that, you are also positioning yourself at this time so that when things are well again economically, you have the most prominent place in the industry.

The Best And Most Inexpensive Business Advertising Ideas

It is trendy right now to cut back and try to spend less money in business. You have to have some sort of advertising. There are less expensive ways to do it than what you may be accustomed to. No big ad firm or flashy TV campaign for right now. You can come up with ways that will surprise people . When you do something just a little different then people pay attention. Isn't that the whole point?

You can get very creative with some promotional merchandise. You can design it to stand out and you can give it to people in a way that they will remember. Think about how people did things in the past. It was not unusual to have someone sing the companies praises out in front of the business. That worked when there was a lot of foot traffic and crowded cities. Now you could hire an actor/singer to walk through a crowded outdoor public area while someone follows behind handing out small promo items.

The sign that you have in front of your business should tell people what to expect on the inside. If it is grubby and unreadable, you will not be attracting too much new business. Clearly readable and informative is a good start. If you have space in front of your store, make it more welcoming. A few large potted plants, that could be placed on rollers to move inside nightly if you fear thievery, look great. You could install a bench too.

A more recent grass roots method of advertising is flyers or door hangers. You can easily find a bunch of high school kids that will hit the streets with you for cheap. Remember do not put anything inside of the mail box. That will get you in serious trouble. If you attach a rubber band to your homemade flyer, it can be stapled, you can then hang it. It will go on the front door, the mailbox flag or even the front gate.

Thinking outside the box is what makes a good business owner and a successful business. Keep the budget under control with these great advertising ideas guaranteed to impact your business in grand way with a very small investment.

Should I Buy Gold?

by: Brian Cheek


Investors often ask me, " Should I buy gold ?" The answer is simple, in my opinion: Gold should be a part of every investor's portfolio. Whether or not you believe gold is going to appreciate short term or not is a matter for speculators, but smart investors who want a diversified portfolio will want to own gold for its protective qualities. Gold is a wonderful diversifier, and it offers protection against many adverse events in the marketplace, as we will discuss below.

Why Should I Buy Gold?

Gold adds another layer to a portfolio filled with stocks and bonds. Gold is a completely different asset class than stocks are. Even the ETF that trades like a stock behaves like godl because it is tied to the price of bullion. When compared to the stock market, gold has behaved in a roughly inverse fashion to the stock market since 1971 when the gold standard was abandoned. For traditional buy and hold investors, gold can provide returns when the stock market underperforms.

Gold Offers Protection of Value

Gold protects against inflation. Inflation occurs when the money supply is increased, causing each unit of currency to be worth less. Then this happens, prices for goods and services will rise. This will cause the price of gold to rise as well, because it will take more of the dollars (which are each worth less due to inflation) to buy an ounce of gold. The stronger the inflation, the faster gold will rise. Many investors keep some gold in their portfolio for just this reason.

Gold Investors are Prepared for Disasters

Since the economy of every nation (and the worldwide economy) is based on trust, it can collapse when that trust is eroded. Think about this: the paper that money is printed on is not worth anything. It is worth value because of the trust that people have in the government and the economic system. As soon as a nation defaults on its debt, the money becomes worthless-it is literally not worth the paper on which it is printed. Gold, however, will always be worth something. In this way, it is currency. So, some people like to have gold around as a protection against a bank failure, a war, civil unrest, or severe political climate changes or any other disaster that might cause a currency decline or failure. Indeed, history shows that when a nation is facing war, economic or political uncertainty, or a financial crisis, the demand for gold rises sharply.

Know Your Investment Strategy

You have to decide what type of investor you are, so that you can determine how to work gold into your portfolio. For instance, if you are risk averse, and you do not want to store gold in your house, then you may want to get a gold account, gold certificate, or buy shares of the gold ETF. If you feel gold will appreciate in the long run, and you want to reap higher rewards, you can invest in mining stocks and the gold miners ETF, both of which are leveraged, meaning they multiply advances and declines in the gold price. For a buy and hold investor with average risk tolerance, 25-30% of a portfolio invested in gold is reasonable. A more speculative investor may choose to hold a higher percentage in gold, and use more leveraged instruments like gold stocks and futures. There is no right or wrong amount of gold to hold. There is only the amount that is right for you.

Knowing Where to Buy Gold

Owning gold has never been easier than it is today. Once you know your strategy, then you can start to pick out which investment vehicles make the most sense to you. There are many ways to own it, several of which can be done with clicks of a mouse. You can, of course, opt for gold bullion or gold coin ownership. If you want to own it but have someone else take possession of it, then gold accounts and/or gold certificates are for you. If you want to trade it like a stock, then the gold ETF will be your choice. For those who want a little more risk with the potential for higher rewards, there are gold mining stocks, the gold miner's ETF and leveraged ETF funds.

Spending Money Like It's 2012

Obama is now wanting to spend 2.5 $Billion for electric car subsidies, on top of another two $Billion in "Cash for Clunkers" money. Hundreds of billions here a few trillion there, but no tax increases everywhere. It's almost like Obama knows that after December 21, 2012 nothing needs to be paid back.....ever!

Fiscal conservatives and anyone with common sense can figure out with a pocket calculator, that increasing debt, continued lowering value of the dollar, and printing of valueless currency leads to a disaster that can never be overcome!

But suppose, just suppose all those Liberal, free thinking, over educated, yes men of Obama's know that the end is December, 2012. Than it all makes some sort of bizarre, "What the hell you can't take it with you!" sense. We'll see...we only have to wait three years, four months, and fifteen days to find out!

7 Rules of Successful Freelancer

Article by Aleksei Miheev


I've been a freelance programmer, web developer and system administrator for three years. Not that much, you'd probably say, you may be right. You may be wrong either. Anyway, when you're 21, three years don't seem to be a little time.

I started when I was 18. I had a part-time job in dental clinic (I'm terribly afraid of dentists since then, though I wasn't afraid of them before) and my salary could just cover my Internet bills (in a small town ISPs have very high prices while students can't get much money for work) and leave a little spare money to spend them later on my friends' and parents' birthdays and New Year. I'll tell you the full story some day, now I just want to note that I started from barely nothing and today I only get money from freelance. No full-time office work.

1. Work regularly. Don't depend on you mood.
You should choose time for you to work, and you must work every day from, eg. 6 pm to midnight, and you mustn't do anything but work during this time. Yes, it's very tempting to have a break, read forums, chat, play quake, make love, go skating, etc, and finish the work next morning. That's completely wrong attitude. You work at home, it gives you more freedom and more flexibility, but it's still work.

Of course, if you feel tired, you should rest. Make coffee, smoke a cigarette, clean your cat's toilet, but do not start doing anything time-consuming and interesting – you'll lose a working day.

If you don't want to do anything right now, force yourself to do. You want money? You want to finish this project? So work, you bastard! Start from simple things, do some routine stuff you didn't want to do the day before.

Also, it is very important to make your family understand, that this is work, too, and they should try to not to disturb you when you're working.

It's hard at the beginning, but soon you'll get used to working on schedule, and become as productive as never before.

2. Don't lie to your clients.
“Of course, I do not!” – you'd say. Lie! Terrible lie. There are three kinds of lie to client I know:


When you weren't working or didn't yet do something, but you say you were or you did.

Sure, you don't want to look lazy. But you aren't, are you? So what are you afraid of? Tell you client honestly, that you lost a couple days, tell him, why is it so. Don't make him distrust you. Tell him, what are you going to do to outweigh lost time.

When you have problems with some part of work, but you say that everything's okay or that there were some difficulties, but you overcame them.

Are you afraid to look not good enough? You aren't then. I'll tell you more about that a bit later. Remember, noone can know everything, no one can overcome each and every difficulty. You understand it, right? So why do you think, your client doesn't? Don't let him think you're a lier. Tell him, that you are not very familiar with 'XXX', but you can work it out, and say how much time do you need to do that.

When it was easy to do something, but you say it was a great achievement and you had to go through terrible difficulties to implement that feature.

Are you afraid to get less money than you could? If you want higher prices, take harder work. Any work should cost what it is worth. And do you really want to look that bad, so you are hard to do even simple things? Clients are not coders, but in most cases they realize what is easy and what is not.

3. Don't think you're smarter than your customer.
If you're that smart, where's you money then? You not smarter, and neither he is. You now how to code, he know to make money. Everyone is an expert in his own sphere, so cooperate. Ask him, why he needs the features he needs. Understand what are priorities. Tell him, why is 'XXX' bad in your opinion, and how could it be improved. Extreme programming adepts call it 'planning game'. Work together. You'll see the resuls.

4. Communicate.
Yes, it's obvious, but many people underestimate the importance of communication. At first, people like when you're open and communicative. Be a nice guy. Let them like working with you. Of course, you met to work, not to chat, but a couple lines in IM isn't a big deal. Just let client know what are you working at right now. Be alive. It is okay to say “Be right back, gonna make some coffee”, you're a coder, coders are known to drink litres of coffee every day. That's thought to be funny, use it. Be a geek and be a normal person at the same time. But do not chat too much, you should be working. And your client surely have things to do, too. Remember (or write somewhere) clients' names. Let them feel you remember them.

And the second, not that obvious, benefit of communication is that it helps you track the progress. When you tell someone what are you doing, you know better where you are now and what are you going to do. IM is optional, but weekly email reports are the must, even if client doesn't require them. It would be very good if it's your idea to file the reports. They are not only to let client know how much he has to pay you. they are for you, too. Without them you may have lost the feel of progress and start working slow and inefficiently. I recently made that mistake, and right now I'm finishing the project I would finish two months ago, if I had reported regularly.

5. Do what you can do and a little above it.
If you're afraid you aren't good enough, you aren't. We are programmers. We can do anything. If we don't know how to do something, we read manuals, look at the examples, and do it. But, on the other hand, you must clearly know, what you aren't good at. Never take the work you're sure you can't do. But don't be afraid if you have to deal with something new. Ask for more. Get experience. You can't get experience in any other way but working.

6. Love your work.
Obvious. Never deal with what you don't like. Be good at what you are interested in. Find your niche, but ensure it's not too narrow. Discover new areas of expertise for yourself, but always keep yourself interested. Enjoy your work, programming is almost like sex, didn't you know? If you don't get any pleasure from your work itself, maybe you should try to find someting more suitable and joyful for you?

7. No step back.
Never ask for less bucks/hour than on previous project. No, I don't mean asking more and more and more. You'll lose all your client then. But the work should be paid what it is worth. So don't take the work that is too cheap'n'nasty for you. Be professional.

Rationing Health Care

Health care is the topic of the day on every media outlet. People who have none, want some type of basic care. Many Republican and the wealthy who have it, don't want to pay for others care by increased taxes,etc.

Should health care be rationed? Many diseases and health problems are due to individual choices such as eating disorders, risky sexual behavior, smoking, etc. Should care for the obese, smokers, sexual diseases such as STD's and HIV be limited in some manner?

What about extreme care for convicts in prisons, drug and alcohol addiction, transplants & heart surgery, and numerous life extending techniques for the elderly over the age of 75? Some would estimate those groups account for over 50% of health costs!

While there is no simple answer to health reform, all options should be examined, including rationing.

Marketing America

Gone are the glory days of never ending prosperity, unlimited resources, free open lands, and unending possibilities of the future. “The Golden Age” lasted a short 100 years. From the age of “Robber Barons” such as Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, J. P. Morgan, and others to the modern, just plain robbers of Enron, GM, AIG, and the likes of Bernard Madoff.

The land of opportunity is now the land of foreclosure, bankrupt companies, unemployment and welfare. The American dream of a house with a picket fence, married with two children, a new car in every garage and the good life, is now attainable by only a few. The quote, “Give us your tired, your hungry, and your poor”, no longer applies.

The “Welcome “ sign on American shores has been replaced by signs that say “Do Not Disturb”, “No Vacancy”, and “For Sale”. How do we market failure? How do we change a myth into a possibility? Perhaps a reality check is in order.

Lifestyles based on immediate gratification and credit, were always bogus, but ignored.

Get rich quick, aggressive personalities, schemes and scams, cannot replace hard work and intelligence.

Money cannot buy happiness, but being a wage slave is not fun either.

As ye sew, so shall ye reap. What goes around comes around. Karma is a bitch.

The mega rich have always been unscrupulous, immoral, arrogant, and greedy. We have only begun to notice, cause they have been caught at it.

Rather than market America as a concept of unlimited potential for wealth, prosperity, and success, perhaps we should market America as “home”, a place of honor, stability, respect, love, beauty, morals, integrity, and self-reliance. A concept that men/women really are equal, not merely words on paper.

Imagine marketing America that way. Imagine being “Home”.

Blog Updates, Statistics and More

OK, now I've added statistics (analytics), blog rankings, RSS Feeds, updated search engines, updated directories, added new content, affiliates, links, etc. It seems to be slowly working, but I don't see any money yet..like not even one cent!

I peruse other blogs that claim to have thousand of hits. Some are better than mine, or older, but most are worse in both content and appearance. I don't get it.but am unwilling to PAY anyone for results they promise. So day by day, hopefully after five years of blogging, I'll make my first dime! Cool.

Blog Rankings

I've rebuilt my blog appearance, blog more often, updated affiliates, updated blog directories, added "statistics", social media links, and in general have increased promotion. Now, after four years...show me the money!

I don't use scams, misleading information, spam, junk leads, etc. I don't expect to have to "pay" for followers, promotion, or to increase traffic. After looking at "competitors", I see many of the exact same promotional videos, secrets, and general hoopla on every blog. This would appear to make mine "different".

I'll retain my own "Lone Wolf" methods of honesty, self promotion and scam free links and sites. It works or not, but my personal ethics remain intact.

Advertising, Sales, & Turnover

I have lived in several major market areas in the last 15 years: Detroit, Denver, and Portland, OR. They all have one basic thing in common, the number one advertiser's on TV are Mattress and Furniture stores, who run sales 24/7, 365 days per year! Obviously, no one ever pays full retail for a mattress or a sofa. But 20% off, all the time, is just a lower "everyday" price. Off hand, their Ad budgets must be 25% of sales, and what about profit? In these same markets, dozens of these same stores go out of business yearly. Whose left to buy from?

At the opposite extreme, many merchants seem to never advertise or have sales, or ever lower prices, as if that would demean the products and reputation of what is sold. Yet, they too are slowly going out of business. Both extremes are perhaps symptoms of poor or bad management.

When I was in retail management, back in the 1980's, sales were often a monthly event, clearance was to move slow or poor sellers, in another word, turnover! Most sales or clearance starts at 20% off and continues until the inventory is exhausted. Most retailers would probably be happy with 1.5 turns per month. Some others are more aggressive, basing replenishment and mark downs on as little as a weeks sales. I am in that category...if it's not selling, why keep it?

In summary advertising and "sales" should be part of a management plan wit a goal in mind over the long term. Managing inventory for maximum profits is just as important as human resource, marketing, or financial management.

Retirement Without Money...Better Than Working?

I remember when I worked, before my forced retirement in 2005, all the stories about how much money one needed to have stashed away for retirement!

Yes, you need millions if you want that $750,000 home in a gated golf course community with a $5000 mortgage payment, a new BMW and a Lexus for that trophy wife. But you don't need that to "live" or survive.

As I blog this, it has been almost two years since I have had any money, income or assets. I'm not old enough for SS and my SSDI was denied twice. I had a "survival job for one year, working for $7.49/hr, but with %525 rent, utilities, food, and bills was worse off than with nothing!

As previous blogs mention, I was living on the street in two different states for six months, than five months in homeless shelters. It's not great eating in soup kitchens or living in a dorm with 95 other guys. I thought of it as "Camp".

But it is better than being a wage slave, not knowing if your soon to be laid off, to lose you home and car, and be responsible for feeding two kids and a wife who blames you for all that is wrong! Suicide is better than that, which is why more folks take that route!

Am I happy? My counselor probably will say no. But I am surviving, until that first SS check arrives in October 2010. Life has given me lemons and I made Margaritas!

Scams, Shams, & The Internet

Scams and shams…the Internet is chuck full of them. I fell for a Twitter Follower scam, “Get 10,000 followers per day” for my Twitter account of this Blog. I signed up…and got dozens of African–American rapper, gangster, and crack hoe followers tweeting from the hood, following faster than I could delete them, finally I had to take the site “Private”. These “followers” had nothing to do with marketing, advertising or Internet affiliates, they were just annoying and junk spam! Readers know, I have even been scammed by Ebay & PayPal…my advice, don’t take the easy way, get your followers the old fashioned way…. earn them!

Micro Marketing Challenge

What would you do if your advertising budget was slashed to $100? Not one day or month...$100 for the entire year's budget! OK, so your not a Fortune 500 Company obviously, perhaps a shoe-string start-up(been there, done that) and unsure where to spend that $100 and get the most "bang-for-your-buck" in returns.

Much depends on the nature of your business. Why advertise a lawn mowing service on the Internet, or a 1/2 page phone book ad for an Internet business. Get my drift?

You have choices, some good, some not. Here are a few which require some research, networking with others to see what works for them, and a lot of elbow grease on your part...you can cut and past correct? In no weighted order:

Yellow Page Advertising (???)

Your Own Web Page (Affiliates, banner ads, networking)

Internet Advertising (blogs, banner ads, be an affiliate)

Email (don't cross the line and be "Spam")

Direct mail (aka "Junk Mail")

Flyer's (post in public places...i.e...nearest phone pole)

Business Cards (mini billboards)

Unless you do much of the design, layout, setup, etc (elbow grease, remember) that $100 won't make a dent. Try it, see what you can creatively do for that $100 Budget, you may be surprised!

Marketing #1 Rule

by S E Campbel

You can choose to read about all the marketing tactics you'd like, but the first step in a healthy business is the planning part of marketing. It's so easy to get caught up in the "marketing event of the week". But this isn't how effective marketing is carried out.

I used to work for an advertising company (imagine that!) who reacted to the latest marketing technique. One such technique at the time was email marketing. The results were spotty at best not necessary because of the technique but because of the this-is-going-to-get-us-all-the-business-we-want mentality.

You need a planned approach which involves goals, logical steps, a budget, and partners. Anything outside of this project management approach will be knee-jerk and over time, unsuccessful. The most effective companies manage each area of the business, and that includes marketing. For some reason, many owners feel as though marketing runs on itself. Perhaps this was true in days past where one could put a sign outside the office, take out a yellow page ad, and business would walk through the door.

But in today's world the competitive landscape is fierce. You must be good in all areas...quality, customer service, operations, accounting, management, and of course (and perhaps the most important area of all), marketing.

I would suggest the first step is to take out your business plan and develop a marketing plan that complements the vision (if you don't have either I would suggest that you start writing). Determine how you're doing first. This includes the business in addition to where you are in the industry as compared to others. This would involve some industry research. Then there are marketing planning steps that are essential.

First is to narrow and define the market you want to go for...in essence your target market. Starting with your ideal customer can help you to determine that. You must understand in order to be successful that you have to narrow your view down to those who value what you offer most. It's so easy to play into the helping-anybody syndrome, and it will pull your business down quickly. You've got to say 'no' and be disciplined about this. Next is to determine a core message that will appeal to that target market and to package your business in that way. You want everything boiled down to a simple and targeted message.

Finally, you need to determine the appropriate marketing tactics for you business (e.g. direct mail, seminars, signage, etc.). Once you have defined these, you'll need to set a budget and get help (ie. graphic designers, fulfillment house partner, etc.)

As you can see, an effective approach is a planned one...one that involves commitment and focus.

Source: Free Articles
Autor: secampbel

On-Line Marketing, Make Money for "Them"

I keep this blog on a wide range of search engines, blog directories, and promote it in "social media" like Twitter and Yuku. A few minutes ago, I found the "Top 50 Marketing Blogs". I wasn't listed, but found mine to be as "professional" looking an many.

One thing they all had in common though, was that to make money on the Internet, you had to "buy" their secret information to succeed. Selling or reselling their information is how they make money from you!

I was also surprised that many sites and even a poll suggested that they do not use or generally make money from "Affiliates". In Twitter, dozens, perhaps hundreds of marketers use the exact same video to increase traffic. OK, isn't anyone original? Does this ploy even work? Is there money in sheer volume?

My goal as a blogger is two fold. Yes, I want to make money, but I also want to convey opinions, off beat information, and make my blog "interesting". It is a work in progress.

How to Market During Recession

by Katie Marcus

The it' word nowadays is recession. There is also the downtimes, economic crunch, economic downturn, slowdown however you call it, this particular time is indeed very hard for everybody.

The people are feeling the difficulties associated with having an economy that is in depression, so much so, that people are mostly trying to keep whatever money they have. Hence, there is a reduction in the general spending of consumers, and even the companies are retrenching as fast as you can say recession'.

Recession is indeed here and this is not a good time mostly for businesses. Consumers are the ones keeping any business going and growing so how can one survive if the level of spending has gone down?

Nevertheless, the fact remains that consumers did not stop spending altogether even during the economic slowdown. They need to spend in order for them to live, although everybody has curbed their spending to a minimum and mostly to those things that are necessary. In addition, they definitely would be looking for those products that can give maximum value for their hard-earned money. In addition, if they can get more, then that would be excellent.

That is how your business can keep going even during these downtimes. If you can offer value for their money in your catalog printing for example, and even go for the extra mile when making an offer to your clients and prospects, there is definitely no reason for your business not to enjoy the profits. You can survive and you can grow your business to the level that you have expected from the very start.

The key is to give your target clients additional value in your offer in your custom catalog printing for example. By giving them maximum value for their money, you give them no reason to buy from you especially if you have the solution to their needs and wants.

Your marketing campaign therefore, needs to have a change if you want to get the most of the market. Your catalog printing for one can benefit greatly if you can offer more products and services that are efficient and effective in relation to the money they shelled out. That is why you need to think out a careful plan concerning your marketing strategies. You need to plan strategies that would still make your target clients buy your products and services. The bottom line is to provide them with an offer in your catalog printing that would give more value to their money than that being offered by your completion.

If you can do that, then there is really no reason for your business to go for broke. Rather, your business will definitely enjoy the benefits of having the biggest portion of the market.

Article Tags: Catalog Printing

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

The Obama Economy

Does anyone with a minor background in economics or at least 3rd grade mathematics, think that the Trillions of Dollars in bailouts, healthcare, military spending, etc. can actually be accomplished? The US has a $12 trillion deficit, and once it reaches $29 trillion, will represent 80% of our GDP. In other words, the US is bankrupt!

All this planning or hidden agenda seems to ignore world events such as pandemics, war in the Middle East, N Korea, a Taliban win in Pakistan, $150 barrel oil, and other major “wrenches” in the works events.

In this Obama rose colored glasses, my glass is half full optimistic view, and recovery will take place. In reality, it is all a disaster waiting to happen, on a Global scale!

Reality Marketing, Revision 13

Reality Marketing 13

Readers of my Blog, can probably tell that I am not one of the millions of “get rich quick” gurus that cover the spectrum of marketing media from Twitter, Spam emails, TV commercials, print, newspaper, or trendy bookstores. If you could “get rich quick”, everyone would be rich! Except for inheritance, it probably requires intelligence and hard work.

Here are some of my thoughts on marketing during the deep recession we are in and will be in for at least the next 10 years. Yes, you read that correctly, 10 years. Talking heads, economists, various Lords of Industry that deal with reality, concur that even after “recovery” it will take at least 5 years for the unemployment rate to get down to 5%. The unemployment rate has not even begun to peak. (My own peak…15%)

1. Stash the Cash: Many of the problems existing in the financial world today are a result of rapid growth, fueled by massive debt. Use cash wisely, don’t incur unnecessary debt; you cannot pay back easily. Why would you want others to own your business?

2. Don’t Stop Advertising: Advertising exists for multiple reasons beyond that of making the next sale. It keeps your brand out there. It is a communication tool that shows the new, improved, creative, unique, or value of your brand or product. Pick the media that works for you, and stick with it. Quality, rather than quantity.

3. Cull the Herd: A reality check is needed, face it, does that $300 month yellow page ad really work more than a simple phone listing? Did you make money on all those direct mail campaigns? Product determines only a portion of the advertising and marketing decision. A limited, but fixed budget should be put into the media that actually works for the long haul. A simple statement, but one often ignored.

4. Learn New Stuff: Not everyone in business has an MBA. Don’t be afraid to learn something new. Take some classes at a local college or on-line. Read several of the hundreds of related periodicals or journals. Join a group like the American Marketing Association or local equivalent. Scan the Internet for related Blogs, etc. Read a business book from your local bookstore, college bookstore, or library on the newest trends. Be informed.

5. Forget the Jones’s: Need the newest laptop, I-phone, Tweeter application, media gimmick? Think your ready to jump on the bandwagon of newest, bigger, better, faster, most popular? Trying to keep up with those “Jones’s”…again. Forget that. You assume they know better than you, about you and your business. Again, think long haul, not instant gratification, yet another future Blog. Make do with what you have, until you find that “cash cow” we all look for. Silas Marner can be a roll model.

While many will think these five items are a tongue-in-cheek look at marketing, I hope many can pull realistic advice and information from a very serious Blog. No, really, I mean every word!

Bootstrap Budget? How to Build Your Business Online With Little Cost

by: Yolanda Allen

Building a home business can be costly, especially when it comes to online advertising. Frustration easily sets in when you feel like you’re not getting ahead and you don’t have the funds to generate leads.

However, the truth is that it doesn’t always take money to make money. Just because you have a shoestring budget doesn’t mean you’re at a disadvantage. Even if you’re on a limited budget, it’s still possible to generate traffic and leads. You just have to learn alternative marketing strategies that are low cost or even free. This requires you to develop new skills.

The best skills and strategies are the ones that will leverage your time and efforts over and over again for a long period of time. You want to avoid strategies that are inefficient (like cold calling, sending post cards, and buying leads) because they can only be used once and the return on investment is very minimal.

Mike Dillard, of Magnetic Sponsoring fame, has developed the ultimate business building guide for bootstrap budgets, called “Building on a Budget.”

“Building on a Budget” is a low cost, step-by-step guide for generating dozens of online leads for little to zero cost. The guide describes 5 simple, online, low cost or no cost strategies for driving traffic and leads to your website. The strategies are easy to follow and simple to learn, and are designed for network marketers on a tight budget.

The strategies are based on these 3 basic online truths:

1. There are millions of people searching the Internet looking for ways to make money.
2. You can gain the attention of these potential leads by properly positioning yourself.
3. The best way to get the attention of these potential leads is through the 5 methods Mike explains in his guide.

Additionally, the leads you generate using these methods are high quality leads and, these methods will work today, tomorrow, next year, the year after, and into the future.

“Building on a Budget” delivers a solution and a system anyone can use to build their business, whether they’re a beginner or veteran internet marketer. You can get massive results and actually build your business, putting you one step closer to financial freedom.

To get a taste of what “Building on a Budget” provides, Mike is offering a free video series, where he shows you how to build any home business for $500 or less.

I have watched these videos and purchased his book. I’ve been applying the techniques he teaches and I’m now generating leads using these little to no cost methods.

If you’re serious about online marketing using inexpensive means for driving exclusive traffic to your website, check out Mike’s videos at http://budurl.com/BudgetBuilding and seriously consider getting the best guide for “Building on a Budget.”

Happy Business Building,

Yoli



About The Author

Yolanda Allen is a home based business expert specializing in a financial services and education product and marketing system, where you learn to be a master marketer. Learn how Yolanda’s business partner made over $140K in one month using this system. Yolanda’s on her way and now you can be too. http://YBAMarketing.com/?t=acbb.


Visit the author's web site at:
http://YBAMarketing.com






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The Post-Consumer Economy

Regardless of the temporary surges in the stock market, renewed consumer confidence, or drama in the news media, economies based on growth and eternal prosperity is over. The world is now in the “Post-Consumer” economy.

What defines this economy? I suggest it is defined by sustainability, green economics, mass transit, renewable energy, decentralization, population control, universal health care and education, demand based on needs vs. wants, and a leveling of wealth.

To the wealthy, greedy elite, and their “wantabies” this may sound like socialism, but I maintain it is the future reality. Some population experts expect a world population of 11 Billion by 2050, almost a doubling of current levels in 40 years…a generation. Many nations on Earth can’t sustain their current populations now, let alone a 50% increase. Resources like food, fresh water, strategic metals, energy, etc are not available for a population of 11 billion souls, at any price.

This unpopular, to some, position is one I have maintained since earning a BA in Political Science back in 1971. Then the “Military-Industrial Complex” was going strong. While changes have occurred since, the overall standard of living for the average human on this planet has decreased. It will continue to worsen, unless proper planning and acceptance of these issues takes place. Ignorance of basic needs like food, fresh water, and quality of life for all, rather than a select few will result in disaster. Global warming and all the associated perils are already beyond the ability of mankind to reverse. Recognition of the “Post-Consumer” economy is just a first step.

To quote a fictional person, “The rights of the many, outweigh the rights of a few!”

Creative Marketing Ideas

The following creative marketing ideas are specifically about finding new places and ways to advertise. This has always been an area ripe for new ideas. What prompted me to write this page is an article I recently read on a company called Show Media.

Show Media has advertising displays on top of 3,000 taxis in New York. They charge client (which include Levis, Nike and other big companies) $200 per month for each ad, and they pay $100 to the cab company. That leaves enough room for healthy profits. Founder Laurence Hallier says that a typical campaign, which would cost $40,000 per month for exposure on 200 taxis, is seen by 25% of the city's residents - each day.

That got me to thinking about what other creative marketing ideas and opportunities are out there in the area of advertising. The following is a short list I am coming up with as I write this. Some of these may already exist.

Street Signs - In these tough times, many cities are looking for additional revenue. Could placing advertising on street signs provide it? In addition to providing monthly revenue, the company that arranges this might have to make new signs for the city, saving it this cost.

Personal Car Ads - I know this is being done in some areas already. What is needed is a simple system. Have a place where a driver can pull in, have a sign attached to his or her car, and get a check for keeping it there for six months.

Kite Ads - In areas with consistent breezes it might be possible to have kites flying most of the day with large ads on them. Beaches are a natural location, but this may work in other places as well.

Sidewalk Audio Advertising - As people walk by certain locations an ad automatically plays. Advertisers could be charged by the number of times an ad plays (getting a good deal when more than one pedestrian happens to be there to hear it). Another angle here is to sell the units to specific businesses. A restaurant might have a recording that is triggered by each passer-by, saying something like, "Hello, come on in right now and you'll get a free drink with your sandwich."

Yard Sign Advertising - I'm not sure about the legality of this in most places, but many yards have signs supporting political candidates or announcing that some company just replaced the windows or did the landscaping, so why not have paid advertising? Residents get a monthly check for each sign, and advertisers pay twice that, leaving room for a profit for the company that does this.

Mural Advertising - This one might be an opportunity for a budding artist. He could find a building that is ugly and ask the owner how much he would want to have a nice advertising mural on it. Then he could find advertisers who will pay enough to leave him with a decent profit. The owner of the building might have to get final approval on the planned mural and agree to leave it there for a couple years.

Odor Advertising - Have the smell of fresh cooked food pumped onto busy sidewalks, alongside a sign or audio ad promoting a restaurant.

Advertising With Plants - Bushes could be trimmed into the shape of a company logo. Flower beds could be planted with logos or even in the shape of words for advertising. Cornfields near airports could have ads cut into them to be seen by plane passengers above.

Marketing Games - A company might get word-of-mouth advertising by making it into a contest or game. Participants sign up online and get a number which they give out with their recommendation. The person who has referred the most customers after a year wins a big prize.

DVD Ads - There is already advertising for other movies IN DVD movies, but what about on the box that the DVD comes in. I'm not referring to the one that it is sold in. Many movie rental stores have their own blank boxes that they send out all of their movies in. Could they sell advertising on those? It could be for local products or services (a restaurant, for example), or products available nationally.

Those are the ten creative marketing ideas that I could think of in the forty-five minutes it took to write this. You can probably add a few to the list with a bit of brainstorming.

About the author:
Copyright Steve Gillman. Learn more Ways To Make Money, and get the free Unusual Ways (To Make And Save Money) Newsletter, plus e-courses and ebooks, at: http://www.UnusualWaysToMakeMoney.com

Article Source: http://www.Free-Articles-Zone.com