Opportunity Knocks

A Little Reflection

2010-02-07T20:47:00.000Z

There's some mighty fine advice in these words, even if you're not superstitious. This Lotus Touts has been sent to you for good luck from the Anthony Robbins organization. It has been sent around the world ten times so far.

Do not keep this message.

The Lotus Touts must leave your hands in 6 MINUTES. Otherwise you will get a very unpleasant surprise. This is true, even if you are not superstitious, agnostic, or otherwise faith impaired.

ONE. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

TWO. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.

THREE. Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.

FOUR. When you say, 'I love you,' mean it..

FIVE. When you say, 'I'm sorry,' look the person in the eye.

SIX. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.

SEVEN. Believe in love at first sight.

EIGHT. Never laugh at anyone's dreams. People who don't have dreams don't have much.

NINE. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.

TEN.. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.

ELEVEN. Don't judge people by their relatives.

TWELVE. Talk slowly but think quickly.

THIRTEEN! .. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, 'Why do you want to know?'

FOURTEEN. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

FIFTEEN. Say 'bless you' when you hear someone sneeze.

SIXTEEN. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.

SEVENTEEN. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.

EIGHTEEN. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

NINETEEN. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it

TWENTY. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice

TWENTY- ONE. Spend some time alone.

Now, here's the FUN part!

Send this to at least 5 people and your life will improve.

1-4 people: Your life will improve slightly.

5-9 people: Your life will improve to your likin g.

9-14 people: You will have at least 5 surprises in the next 3 weeks

15 and above: Your life will improve drastically and everything you ever dreamed of will begin to take shape.

A true friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart. Do not keep this message.
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2010-02-07T07:39:00.002Z

Hubpages by boggledash

2009-11-18T13:51:00.001Z

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2009-11-14T09:31:00.001Z

Zimbio Top Stories

2009-11-13T12:59:00.001Z

FREE SEO Directory Listing

2009-11-13T05:14:00.000Z

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2009-11-10T11:45:00.001Z

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2009-10-30T14:29:00.000Z

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It's All in the List

2009-10-30T13:56:00.000Z

Perception vs Reality

Whether you are a beginner in internet marketing or especially affiliate marketing, which is a sub set of internet marketing, you need to know the truth as opposed to the truth according to hype. The first really important truth you need to be aware of, especially when first starting out in the field, is that the idea of generating a large monthly or weekly income, while it is possible in time, is rarely instantaneous. There are a few cases of really quick turnaround times, but even those can be deceptive. For example; Someone who has been around for awhile and already has the foundation of a marketing platform setup, that is, website or sites and blog or blogs, affiliate accounts setup (which don't take long if you're only working with one), if this is already setup and you get a hot inspirational idea, it may only take a short while to plug it into your marketing platform and run it. Then, when it pays off big you can set out to market that big idea as way to get wealthy fast like others do, or not.

But for the beginner who doesn't already have the marketing foundation setup, it may take so long to get it setup that the big idea is already burned out and old news on clickbank. These are the 'oh, by the ways' that are strategically left out of the pitch pages for these affiliate packages. It isn't that the system or package itself is of no value, it's just the way it is presented. Now, we are not going to go on any crusade and start making judgments on the industry in order to change things, after all, I too am an affiliate marketer. I just believe that a little bit of integrity might be appreciated from time to time. In the meantime, if you are a beginner, be aware that some important information is sometimes left out of product hype in order to create a particular general perception.

Reality Check

One of the elements of the above mentioned marketing platform or foundation, is an email list. This isn't the old direct marketing days when you could (if you had the working capital) just buy a list of whatever size, no, this is the new internet marketing channel, and email lists don't grow on trees, they take time to build, and make no mistake, they are extremely valuable. But if you are a beginner and don't have an email list of ten to fifteen thousand targeted known buyers, then, when you go on the clickbank marketplace and suddenly see an information product taking off, you can't just plug it into your email list and make a few thousand dollars in a week like others who have been working the business for awhile can. There are email lists for sale, but the quality of the buyers is always going to be questionable. Nothing takes the place of the slow development of a customer base built on trust and integrity.

While there are major differences between online businesses and brick and mortar businesses, it is also true that there are some similarities as well. In the so called real world, the brick and mortar world, when starting a business from scratch a general rule is that the business won't become profitable for at least one to two years. With affiliate marketing, the turnaround time is going to vary depending on a few variables. For example; if you are not computer literate, you will have to tack that onto your learning curve. If you don't have much time to work your new business, say you are still working at a regular job, this too will affect the time it will take. If concepts like web sites and web pages and blogs and webhosts are unfamiliar to you, they too must be added to the learning curve.

Now, don't get discouraged, it's doable and it only sounds more challenging than it actually is. Also, if you have deep pockets, you can farm out all this and just oversee things. If you have a friend who knows this stuff and will help you, that friend would be gold because they would help you avoid all the false information that many of us paid dearly for. Knowing what information is bad is almost as valuable as knowing the good information.

How Badly Do You Want It

Successfully achieving goals is always about how bad we want something. Putting it in perspective, how badly would you like to have an extra 2 to $5,000 a month or even a week coming in? Is it worth investing 6 months to a year of hard work? And these are relatively conservative estimates. Also, once you have your marketing platform in place, you can pretty much just plug things in and kick back. I recommend that you go for it and never look back!

Good luck out there

You can check out one of the better affiliate information packages here http://www.bizcents.org/GS_research.html
Robert Darby is a contributing writer and internet marketing consultant at http://www.bizcents.org a consumer advocate website

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

INVITATION

2009-10-20T11:10:00.003+01:00

All my readers are invited to join me on FaceBook:
http://facebook.com/paul.rafferty2

It's All in the List

2009-10-19T12:05:00.000+01:00

============================================
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It has been said that you can make $1 each and every
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All About Adsense

2009-10-18T20:32:00.001+01:00

Everyone is scrambling for news about the new kids on the net – AdWords and AdSense that is. You’ve got to hand it to Google. They’ve really outdone themselves this time.

AdWords is Google’s pay-per-click advertising program. AdWords is similar to other pay-per-click advertising programs, but the other side of the coin, AdSense, makes it an incredibly powerful advertising program. I’ll get to that in a moment, for now let’s take a look at AdWords and how it works.

With AdWords, you can create your very own advertisements or you can have Google’s team design the advertising campaign for you. When you create AdWords advertisements, they appear on the internet right away. You have complete control of your budget as you only pay when your ad is clicked on and you can set your very own daily limits for what you are willing to pay. There is no minimum budget or locked in time that you have to run your campaign. You choose the keywords you want to target, so you get targeted traffic from your ads – people who are looking for specifically what you have to offer.

You can rely on Google for quick, friendly and knowledgeable support when you need it. Additionally, you can access performance reports that keep you informed on how well your advertising is doing so you can make changes as needed.

I know all that sounds pretty similar to other pay-per-click programs, but now let’s take a look at the other side.

AdSense…

AdSense adds a powerful punch to the AdWords program as well as giving website operators the ability to make money from their websites by displaying Google Ads (those from the AdWords program). So, as an AdWords advertiser, you’ve got an advantage in that website operators are providing high quality content to browsers and because of the keywords, your ads appear on their websites in clear view of individuals who are looking for your products or services.

As a website operator, you can choose keywords for the AdSense program that are relevant to the content you provide. The keywords will draw in relative advertisements to be displayed on your website, things that your browsers are interested in, which adds value to the information provided to your visitors. When your website visitors click on a Google Ad, you gain revenue from that click. Providing high quality, relative content is key to making money with AdSense.

AdWords and AdSense are win-win propositions for advertisers and website operators. Advertisers get targeted traffic to their websites at minimal costs and website operators make money for having the ads displayed on their websites. AdWords and AdSense are welcomed additions to the world of e-business and internet marketing.

Did you find this article helpful? Visit http://www.effiliatecity.info/dont-join-affiloblueprint-until-you-have-read-this.php

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2009-10-18T20:26:00.000+01:00

Forex Autopilot

2009-10-18T19:20:00.003+01:00

Hey
, You just gotta check this out; I'm going to write a whole lotta stuff about the Forex AutoPilot - it's awesome; in the meantime take a look for yourself - Cheers, Paul aka boggledash.

Multiple Income Streams

2009-10-18T07:21:00.001+01:00

Receiving Multiple Streams of Income

Author: Lucien Bechard

In today's world it's important to receive multiple streams of income. Companies that might be great today might not be good tomorrow. Being involved with multiple network marketing companies is important just in case something happens to one of them down the road. Receiving multiple streams of income will provide you with the long term financial security that you are looking for.

Within the past few years this experience happened to a large group of entrepreneurs. Many of the top leaders gave years of their lives to this one company and achieved huge success. After years of giving their lives to helping people achieve success and dedication to the company they represented, they were kicked out of their businesses because of corporate politics. These leaders had to start their businesses over from scratch with another MLM company. The good news is that these leaders had large groups of distributors that followed them to their new network marketing company. So what happened to the people that were now left behind without their leaders and the people that didn't have large distributorships to move to another MLM company?

Unfortunately there isn't one single network marketing company that will ever give you everything that you're looking for. People need to make sure they have as much financial security as possible and take care of themselves. That's why it's so important to have multiple streams of income and income diversification.

When you're investing in your families financial future now, do you currently invest in only one company or do you have multiple investments with many different companies? Chances are you invest in multiple companies because you know that receiving multiple streams of income and diversification is so important. The tough part in today's world is peoples investments and 401K's are drying up very quickly, so it's become tough to create long term security with investments alone.

The home based business and MLM industries are a simple way to build multiple streams of income. When choosing MLM companies that you want to become involved with, make sure you take your time and choose the right ones. Don't join the first "get rich quick scheme" or 'pre-launch" business that comes across on the Internet. Make sure you choose currently successful companies that will train you how to build a network marketing business the right way.

Everyone, including the rich are being affected today in this struggling economy. People need to choose the right partnerships with reputable network marketing companies and be wise with their financial decisions. That's why receiving multiple streams of income and having income diversification is so important.

There's a lot of opportunity out there today if you are looking for it. Receiving multiple streams of income is not hard if you choose the right partnerships. If you choose your partnerships wisely you will will have long term success in the network marketing industry.

If you are looking for a way to receive multiple streams of income and need training on how to get started visit Receiving Multiple Streams of Income.

Watch this video on Multiple Streams of Income.

About the Author:

Lucien Bechard a.k.a The CopyCat Marketer and The CopyCat Multi-Preneur is an Internet Marketing expert that teaches people how to build a successful online business using proven marketing strategies and techniques.

To find out more about Lucien Bechard watch this video. Who is Lucien Bechard?.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Receiving Multiple Streams of Income

Headlines that Generate Response

2009-10-18T07:16:00.000+01:00

5 Proven Headlines That Generate Response

Author: Kellie D'Andrea

In the world of marketing, you have less than 3 seconds to grab the attention of the reader for them to take the next step towards your product. The same holds true in article marketing. A great headline can lead to sales success and a poor headline can lead to failure, therefore your headline is a critical.

Your headline is the first thing your readers will see, so make sure you make a great first impression by choosing a headline that is appealing and attractive to your potential readers. Visualize yourself standing in front of a magazine rack trying to select the right magazine to read. You first will go to your favorite name brands because you trust those sources and are familiar with them, but chances are you do not make the decision to purchase before checking out the headlines on the cover. Even after you review them, you glance at the other magazines and will gravitate towards the headlines that appeal to your interests at that very moment. Article marketing involves the same psychology. Even though you have subscribers to your articles, you need to entice them to click on your article to read further and your headline is the tool to do that.

There are several techniques out there, but here are 5 of my favorite (and proven) headlines:

1. The Question: "Does the recession have you worried for your future?"

The question appeals to your readers who are looking for answers and who isn't looking for answers these days? Find out what your audience searches for and create an article that provides them the answer.

2. The How To: "How to improve your golf swing in 10 days"

These work very well because people love to learn new things. The critical element in these types of headlines is to focus on the benefits your readers will achieve by learning your new technique, system or strategy.

3. The Command: "Social Media Explained"

Command headlines are a great way to attach to a current trend and can also be a wonderful way to position you as an expert. Look for your most important benefit of an emerging trend and turn into a commanding headline.

4. The List: "7 Early Warning Signs of Teenager Angst"

People love lists and they are the easiest to write. Turn your headline into a list message so your readers know they are going to be given tips in an easily digested format.

5. The Testimonial: "Kellie D'Andrea BLAST Secrets- Our Sales Grew by 40%"

Testimonials are great because your clients create the message including the headline. People relate to others they feel are independent and objective and a testimonial is a great way to provide that proof and demonstrate your successes.

Once your readers know that you are offering valuable information that they are interested in, they will want to read further. Your headline is like the shinny wrapping paper and the big bow on a wonderful present. Dress it up and excite your readers to open the package and be rewarded by your wonderful gift.

About the Author:

Kellie D'Andrea is the creator of the BLAST 9O Day Coaching Program and teaches biz owners how to build the business of their dreams for a life of freedom, profits and fulfillment. Interesting in growing your business, sign up for her FREE mini course "The Empowered Entrepreneur" and learn how to take the journey to freedom, profits and fulfillment at http://www.kelliedandrea.com

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - 5 Proven Headlines That Generate Response

Traffic Exchange

2009-10-18T07:09:00.001+01:00

The Best Links

2009-10-17T10:02:00.000+01:00

Monitor link

Biggest Single MLM Launch Ever!

2009-10-17T09:42:00.003+01:00

Yes folks! Countdown to the BIGGEST ever Online MLM Launch is in 3 days - watch this space: http://trafficg.com/supersurf.php?member=boggledash.

Steve Haworth MD, Cherry Red

2009-10-17T08:35:00.004+01:00

Killer Presentation

Steve Haworth, MD of Cherry Red, gives a killer presentation to CIMA

Call us: +44 (0)844 856 1007 +44 (0)844 856 1007

Make an enquiry

Saturday 27 June saw Steve Haworth, MD of Cherry Red, give a presentation to the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) Members in Practice Group at the Renaissance Hotel, Heathrow, London.

Entitled ‘Killer Websites’, the presentation focused on how CIMA members could make their web presence felt in 2009, given the rapid changes in web technology, the rise in influence of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, and how using these web technologies can help promote business on the Internet.

As one attendee put it:
“I found your CIMA presentation very inspirational. I had already identified the huge value of Facebook and Twitter but you really motivated me to get this right. The charity would also benefit from YouTube clips and videos too but I get very frustrated because I don’t know where to start. I eulogised about your presentation to my fellow Lion Aid trustee as soon as I got back last night!”

Eilidh Milnes, ‘The Confidence Coach’, also got value from the presentation, announcing “[client name] kindly gave me a super video testimonial - acting on timely advice from Steve at Cherry Red of course.”

Find out how Steve and Cherry Red can improve your business performance on the web by calling the above contact numbers.

Monitor link

Gold Daily Technical Outlook

2009-10-17T08:23:00.001+01:00

Crude Oil Weekly Technical Outlook
Sat, Oct 17 2009, 06:01 GMT
by Oil N' Gold Team

Oil N' Gold

Oil N' Gold
More Analysis and Technicals on Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Gold & Silver Nymex Crude Oil (CL)

Crude oil rose sharply to as high as 78.75 last week and closed strongly. The break of 75.0 resistance confirms that medium term rally has resumed. Initial bias remains on the upside this week and further rise should be seen to 100% projection of 58.32 to 75 from 65.05 at 81.72 next. On the downside, below 76.80 minor support will turn intraday bias neutral and bring retreat, probably to 4 hours 55 EMA (now at 73.98). But downside should be contained by 71.39 resistance turned support and bring another rise.

In the bigger picture, the strong break of 75.0 resistance confirms that medium term rebound from 33.2 has resumed and further rally should be seen. Note that crude oil is now in an important resistance zone of 76.77/90.24 (38.2% and 50% retracement of 147.27 to 33.2). As we're expecting rise from 33.2 to conclude in this zone, we'll look for sign of loss of momentum in the current rise, as well as reversal sign. Nevertheless, note that break of 65.05 is needed to indicate that crude oil has topped out. Otherwise, further rise is still in favor.

In the long term picture, there is no change in the view that fall from 147.27 is part of the correction to the five wave sequence from 98 low of 10.65. While there rebound from 33.2 is strong and might continue, there is no solid evidence that suggest fall 147.27 is completed and we're still preferring the case that rebound from 33.2 is merely a corrective rise only. Having said that strong resistance should be seen between 76.77/90.24 fibo resistance zone and bring reversal for another low below 33.2 before completing the whole correction from 147.27.

Nymex Crude Oil Continuous Contract Charts

Published on Sat, Oct 17 2009, 06:02 GMT

Action Forex Company Limited | Room 1707, 17/F Treasure Centre 42 Hung To Road Kwun Tong, Kowloon
http://www.oilngold.com/ | contact@oilngold.com
Legal disclaimer and risk disclosure
Oil N' Gold does not guarantee the accuracy of the reports and trading recommendations provided. Any market recommendations of, or information provided by Oil N' Gold do not constitute an offer to buy or sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any foreign exchange transaction.

FREE Traffic Exchange!

2009-10-15T18:57:00.001+01:00

Referring other people is a great way to get more traffic to your Website! You receive a percentage of the credits earned by your referrals, you also receive a percentage of the traffic on any upgrades or purchases made by them.
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2009-10-15T17:53:00.001+01:00

How to Make Money Online

2009-10-09T13:36:00.001+01:00

When you begin learning how to make money online you must first have goal. Without a clear goal in mind you will find it difficult to set targets, and without targets you will find it more difficult to make money. That is why all businesses have a gaol and set regular targets that are the subject of business plans.

It has often been said that a failure to plan is a plan to failure, and nothing could be truer. As a simple goal, decide how much money you want to make in your first year. You could be silly and decide on a million dollars, but you are unlikely to achieve that, so be realistic: say $75,000 in your first year.

You can then break that down into monthly amounts, starting small and increasing each month, which will give you the basis of your targets. You should then plan how to meet these monthly targets. That is a good sound basis of a strong business.

However, you now have the problem of how you are going to make that money. There is a large number of ways in which you can make money online, some of the most popular being|:

1. Creating your own product or service.

Perhaps you have a skill or specialized knowledge that others will pay for. You might be a children’s entertainer or a hypnotherapist. Perhaps you can write en eBook about breeding dogs, or make a video series on maintaining your own car.

I know of one person that made a fortune by making series of short videos of how to carry out simple household maintenance tasks, such as changing an electrical plug, changing a tap or faucet washer, and even putting in a new sink and laying a carpet. A simple idea, yet something that had a massive customer base. Think of all those women living alone, or even guys that don’t know why a screwdriver has a flat end.

Think of what you are good at, or what you have knowledge of, and work out a way of packaging that knowledge or these skills in a way that would sell. I am a good writer, and make money online writing articles to help others to promote their websites.

2. Sell somebody else’s product

If you are unable to produce a product of your own, then sell somebody else’s. Everybody trying to learn how to make money online has heard of affiliate marketing, even if they don’t recognise the word. Affiliate marketing is selling a product for somebody else in return for a commission.

If that product can be delivered electronically – by email or downloaded – then that commission could be 50% or higher, since there is no replacement cost. Unlike a tub of vitamins, an eBook or software application doesn’t have to be produced again once it has been sold, so the vast majority of the selling price is profit. You can therefore be paid more for selling it. 50% is about minimum for such items, and some go as high as 75% or even 80%.

3. Others

Among other ways of making money online are multi-level marketing (MLM), where you recruit others to sell products for you, you receiving a commission on their sales, buying on eBay, and selling the same items for more than you paid for them, buying items in bulk when they are in high supply, and selling at a high price when they are scarce (e.g. certain toys at Christmas time), and many others.

Each of these ways of making money online has one thing in common: you have to learn how to go about it and how to promote whatever it is that you are doing. Even your eBay business has to be promoted by means of your ‘product description’.

Most businesses need a web presence, either as a traditional website or some other presence on the web such as a Squidoo lens or participation in social networking. They might also need software, and knowledge of how to use it, and knowledge of how to attract traffic – potential customers. Without customers, your business will fail.

This is where most people begin to fail. In fact 99 people out of every 100 that try to earn a living online fail. They fail for one of 4 reasons:

1. Lack of Planning

They did not have a clear objective in mind and did not plan properly. The started their business on shaky ground and looked on it as a hobby. They fell into one of the main traps of working at home: worked part-time, and took time off whenever they felt like it rather than set out the daily tasks needed to meet their targets and work until they were completed.

2. Lack of focus: Information Overload

They did not focus, and jumped from one program to another. They had too much information, and were unable to give any one method of making money online the time to work for them. They tried too much at one time and so failed in everything.

3. Lack of Perseverance

They gave up to soon. It takes time to build up a successful online business. Except for a very fortunate few, there is no ‘get rich quick scheme’. Making money online is hard work, and those that persevere tend to succeed. Most don’t!

4. Lack of Knowledge

This is the least reason for failure. There is no need for lack of knowledge in the internet age – everything you need to know is out there, yet many people try to do it themselves without getting the information they need. Learn from the work of others: do not reinvent the wheel. Trite, I know, but true nevertheless.

Use whatever training courses are available out there. It could be expensive, I know, but there are ways to learn all you need to know without spending a lot of money.

It is important that you do not fail for any one of the above reasons because they are all avoidable. It is a shame that so many dreams are shattered for a lack of planning, focus, commitment and perseverance, and a lack of knowledge. All are avoidable.

Peter Nisbet – You can get all the knowledge you need to start making money online through Peter’s membership site. Check it out here – Marketing Membership - Don’t fail through a lack of knowledge or of the tools to succeed.

This article courtesy of SiteProNews.com

5 Factors That Influence Buying Decisions Online

2009-10-09T13:21:00.001+01:00

People who purchase products online aren’t much different than people who purchase off line. They may be a little more cautious with how they spend their money, due to security and privacy reasons, but for the most part they care about the same things, foremost among them being value. The following five factors that influence buying decisions are important considerations if you expect to close the sale on your website.

Factors That Influence Buying Decisions

Online consumers today are more sophisticated than they were ten years ago, or even five years ago. They’re not afraid to make a purchase online, but they will go out of their way to make sure they get value and are very concerned about privacy and security. If you expect to close the sale on your website then you need to consider the following five factors BEFORE you ever ask for the sale:

Security

Privacy

Value

Approach

Emotion

Customers Buy From Secure Websites

Online consumers are very concerned about security. They’re also educated. They have read up on cyber security and you should too. If you cannot convince your site visitors that your site is completely secure and that their financial information will be handled with care, they will go leave your site and go somewhere else. Security is one of the most important concerns for online consumers, especially today.

The Growing Concern Over Privacy

In addition to security, online consumers are concerned about privacy. They will guard their e-mail addresses and other personal information with great care. If you want to build trust for your brand then you should start with assurances. Make sure that you put your website visitors’ minds at ease with constant reassurances that their private information will not be sold or shared with third parties.

Regard for privacy online has been growing for the past couple of years. Some European countries have sued Google over privacy issues and Yahoo! announced last December that it will not store search information on searchers beyond 90 days. Privacy is important to online consumers. Having a well thought out and clear privacy policy on your website will go a long way to building trust and confidence in your business.

What Do You Offer Of Value?

Many consumers would still rather drive to pick up an item for purchase instead of making that purchase online for less money. In order to convince online consumers that purchasing your product online is safer and better for them, you’ve got to go out of your way to establish value in their minds.

Even then, providing a local retail outlet where consumers can order online and pick up their items later is a viable business model and could be the way to go for many online retailers. Still, value is in the forefront of consumers’ minds. In order to get them to purchase online you’ve got to ensure that you offer loads of value.

What Is Your Approach?

How you approach online consumers determines to a great degree how you build trust. I still see veteran Internet marketers make the mistake of talking down to their customers or making basic assumptions about behavior to that lead to dismissal or rune behavior. Just because a person has not made a purchase in the past does not mean that she won’t make a purchase in the future. But how you treat a consumer with your content may determine whether they do business with you at all – now or next year. Check your approach and ensure that you meet the emotional needs of your readers before you ask for the sale.

What About Emotion?

People buy for emotional reasons and defend their purchases logically. If you want to close the sale online then you’ve got to make the most basic emotional appeals and meet a real need in the minds of your readers. You have to connect with them on a gut level. Sometimes that takes more than one touch point. Pre-sales is just as important as closing the sale and savvy Internet marketers are learning how to set the stage for the sale down the road by spending a large amount of their time on pre-sales communication that builds trust and confidence.

Conclusion

Different people buy for different reasons, but at the heart of every consumer action is emotion. If people trust you they will buy from you. If you fail to earn their trust then it doesn’t matter how well you do everything else. These five factors all contribute to whether or not a consumer trusts you enough to exchange their hard-earned money for your product or service.

Allen Taylor is CEO/Operations Manager of Blog Content Provider and writes Taylor’s Internet Marketing Blog. He has managed more than 100 commercial blogs with his team of ghostwriters since 2006.

This article courtesy of SiteProNews.com

Making EBay Pay

2009-10-09T13:17:00.001+01:00

It is a simple fact that if you sell on eBay and receive only minimal views on your listings then the lower the bidding or amount of sales will be. It does not matter how detailed and professional your listings look, viewings are the key. And the key to increasing the number of viewings is research!

In order to research, you must first take a look at what other sellers, especially Powersellers of the same items, are doing. What keywords do they use? Which categories are they listing in? Do their listings trigger an emotional need so that the reader simply has to buy now? How many photographs do they have and what quality are these? Take a good hard look at how they sell on eBay to get ideas for your own listings.

When a potential buyer reads your listings, they are looking for good value. So, you must add value to your products. Adding value does not always mean giving something extra free or doing something to the actual product! You just need to achieve a perceived added value which will catch the reader’s attention when they look at your description. So added value could be something as simple as offering a no quibble 30 day money back guarantee. If your competitors who sell on eBay are not offering this then you have added value to your product. The same goes for your listing description – photographs add value, as do the benefits of the product.

Make sure that you write your description well and always include photographs – people like to see exactly what they are buying! It is important to remember when you to write your description in a friendly, informative manner, as though you are talking personally to the reader as this will encourage them to continue reading and arouse their interest.

If your product has lots of features and especially benefits, then make sure you include them in your listing. Do not drone on and on, but be clear and concise and tell the potential buyer exactly why they must buy your item right now.

To sell on eBay effectively, you need to invest some time into creating that added value as ultimately your listings will attract more views and sales. Bearing this in mind, there is nothing more off putting to a potential buyer than seeing a confusing listing before them! Not everyone is a technical whiz so where possible use simple layman’s terms in your description. Show all your Payment, Shipping and Dispatch Times so that they can be easily seen and understood so that buyers can work out total costs and approximate delivery dates at a glance.

If people feel at ease with your auction listing, then they are much more likely to bid or buy. So it is important when you sell on eBay that you are completely honest. If there happens to be a fault with a product, tell buyers what it is as this will show that you are not trying to mislead anyone. Really, the simple rule is to think about what you would like to know about the item if you were buying it, and then add all these thoughts to your description. Don’t miss bits out because if all the information is there in front of the potential bidder or buyer then they are more likely to bid or buy right now.

As your views and sales grow, you must encourage your bidders and buyers to look at your other listings because a big part of your eBay sales strategy is to get bidders to purchase more items from you. So, if you are selling a supplementary or complimentary item let your buyers know and highlight the fact that you offer combined postage if they purchase both items!

When you sell on eBay, your listings should be regarded as an opportunity to establish relationships with buyers. You then need to look after these buyers so that they come back to you time and again. Never think in one-off transactions, even if they do end up as a one-off, because your ebay income depends on customers to guarantee you success!

Amanda O’Brien is a successful eBay Powerseller and author of The 2,500 Per Week eBay Powerseller Secrets. Want to learn more about starting an eBay business or simply want to improve your eBay sales? Claim your free report and free sample chapter from The 2,500 Per Week eBay Powersellers Secrets at Profit With eBay Check out Amanda’s Blog at any time for tips, techniques and eBay updates.

This article courtesy of SiteProNews.com

The ClickBank Code finally cracked open!

2009-10-02T11:10:00.001+01:00

Click Here!

ustream

2009-08-22T16:32:00.001+01:00

CleanTech Innovation Forum

2009-06-20T10:38:00.000+01:00

CleanTech Innovation Forum
11 June 2009, Olympia Conference Centre, London

Technological innovation is essential in breaking the link between economic growth and environmental degradation. It is a key aspect in the move to a low carbon economy, reducing waste and the unsustainable use of resources, and satisfying the increasing demand for renewable energy and low carbon technologies.

The CleanTech Innovation Forum is a unique networking opportunity for all those involved in developing renewable energy and other environmental technologies to discuss innovations, fast-track technology transfer, find partners, offer capabilities and seek funding/licensing agreements.

The announcement from Government of a 15% energy target for renewables by 2020, now underlines the real urgency and the exciting opportunities that lie ahead in the UK market. Furthermore, with innovative engineering & design, expertise in research & development and the benefit from Europe's largest wind, wave and tidal resources, the scene is now set for the UK to become a natural centre for world-class renewable energy solutions.

Yet no business, investor, entrepreneur or research institute can work alone - innovation and successful commercialisation requires collaboration and partnerships. The CleanTech Innovation Forum aims to facilitate in this partnering process and so help maximise the speed in which new and enhanced products and technologies are brought to market.

Direct Matches

2009-06-20T09:25:00.000+01:00

ICC and Economic Nationalism

2009-06-20T09:15:00.003+01:00

ICC calls on G8 to avoid economic nationalism
Rome, 12 June 2009

ICC Honorary Chairman Marcus Wallenberg and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (with translator)

The G8 summit should resist pressures to resort to economic nationalism and should further strengthen international cooperation to meet the challenges posed by the global recession, climate change and product counterfeiting, ICC urged Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi today.

”We stressed to the Prime Minister the importance of resisting protectionist pressures, which would only lead to a deeper and longer world recession,” ICC Honorary Chairman Marcus Wallenberg said following the private session.

“With the world as economically integrated as it has become over recent decades, any lurch into economic nationalism would dislocate commercial activity even further,” Wallenberg added.

M eetings between the host of the annual G8 summit and the ICC leadership have become traditional and allow the views of the world business community to be presented at the highest levels. The business views were also detailed in a six page statement, which was given to Mr Berlusconi at the meeting.

In addition to Mr Wallenberg, the ICC delegation included ICC Vice Chairman Rajat Gupta and Andrea Tomat, Chairman of ICC Italy and CEO of Lotto Sport Italia.

The delegation also conveyed to Mr Berlusconi, who will host the G8 summit in L’Aquila on 8-10 July, the urgent need to increase trade finance on which international trade – the lifeblood of the international economy – heavily depends.

“ICC continues to urge official development banks and export guarantee agencies to significantly expand their trade finance facilities during the global recession,” Mr Wallenberg said.

ICC leaders again called on the G8 to finally summon the political will to complete the long-stalled Doha Round of trade negotiations, saying the current global crisis made it more urgent than ever to achieve that objective. ICC praised the recent promises by G20 leaders to refrain from raising trade barriers before the end of 2010.

The ICC delegation said that, while there were some hopeful signs that the recession may be bottoming out in some major economies, the immediate priority was to increase demand and credit. It also urged the world’s most industrialized countries to find more effective ways to reduce the growing imbalances in their external current accounts and warned against a mood of regulatory enthusiasm in business sectors where self-regulation is working well.

Tackling climate change

ICC encouraged the G8 to play a leadership role in fighting climate change and expressed strong support for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that will try to reach a new global agreement in Copenhagen this December to regulate green house gas emissions.

ICC said the new agreement must include all major green house gas emitters and provide business with a clear, stable, and predictable framework to stimulate investment and deploy technology on the necessary scale.

“Climate change is perhaps the best example of a global problem requiring a global solution,” Mr Gupta said after the meeting. “We are worried, however, by proposals in some countries to enact unilateral trade measures to address concerns arising from differences in climate policy among countries.”

Stopping counterfeiting and piracy

The ICC delegation said that while it was en couraged that product counterfeiting and copyright piracy have become a regular topic on the G8 summit agenda, the problem continues to grow and presents a rapidly increasing danger to society.

“The result is unfair competition for legitimate economic activity and the unchecked growth of an underground economy that deprives governments of revenues for vital public services, dislocates hundreds of thousands of legitimate jobs, and exposes consumers to dangerous and ineffective products, including medicines,” said Mr Tomat , Chairman of ICC Italy.

ICC called for concrete action in this vital area, including the swift conclusion of an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement that will set new and higher standards for national and international governmental action to deal with counterfeiting and piracy and the creation of an IPR Customs Taskforce – charging it with the responsibility to establish better operational cooperation amongst G8 customs authorities, support customs capacity-building in developing countries, and share best practices on security controls and free trade zones.

“Strengthening the fight against counterfeiting and piracy at the borders is critical”, said Mr Tomat. “Government efforts to strengthen IP enforcement regimes are investments that pay tangible dividends to economic development and society. Now is the time to increase, not decrease, the resources committed to stopping the illegal trade in counterfeits and piracy.”

ICC has a long-standing working relationship with many intergovernmental organizations, including the World Trade Organization and United Nations agencies. The core mission of ICC is to promote trade and investment across frontiers and help businesses meet the challenges and opportunities of globalization.

With Profits Plans ???

2009-06-20T09:09:00.000+01:00

With Profit Plans - Exiting with Profits!!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The with-profit market in the UK contains around £400 billion, roughly the same as the total in building societies. However there is one crucial difference: everyone understands how a building society works and what it offers. With-profits plans, on the other hand, come in all shapes and sizes and are often confusing and very difficult to understand. What you think you might have and what you actually have may be different.

I read this recently - does anyone have further information or guidance?

Morgan Stanley

2009-06-20T09:04:00.003+01:00

June 19, 2009 -- The Obama administration’s financial regulatory reform proposal might force Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to exit their commodities and commercial real estate holdings, says Brad Hintz, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein.

Two of the grandest names on Wall Street turned themselves into bank holding companies last fall after Lehman Brother’s bankruptcy. Under a bank holding company designation, the firms cannot own commercial businesses. But they’re allowed to circumvent the rule by declaring themselves financial holding companies, which lets them maintain merchant banking investments of up to 30 percent of Tier 1 capital, using an obscure amendment to the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.

Now Obama’s regulatory overhaul might close that loophole. “Obtaining special exceptions from bank holding company rules may prove more difficult,” Hintz writes in a report today. “It may be difficult for the two surviving brokers to argue for approval to grandfather their commercial real estate business and the crude and refined product storage, transportation, refining and power generation assets.” Hintz bases his assessment on language in the Obama proposal that “the long-standing federal policy of separating banking from commerce ... should be retained and strengthened.”

Morgan Stanley owns three power plants in the U.S., a fuel-distribution business and an oil-tanker company. Goldman Sachs owns more than 30 percent of Sugar Land, Texas-based oil refiner CVR Energy. Morgan Stanley bought real estate investment trust Crescent REIT in May 2007 for $6.5 billion.

H. Rodgin Cohen, the influential chairman of Sullivan & Cromwell, says it’s hard to imagine that firms have to divest certain businesses, however. “The proposal aims to strengthen the separation of banking activity and commerce, but merchant banking is considered financial activity, and owning commodity assets is permissible commodities businesses,” Cohen says. “It makes no sense because there’s no suggestions that (banks) being in the commodities business led to this crisis.”

Financing Your Business

2009-06-20T09:00:00.001+01:00

Getting Financing for Your Business
"Money is always there, but the pockets change." — Gertrude Stein
The perception that many small business owners have is that financing means taking whatever money you can get; the faster and easier you can get it, the better. Unfortunately, this approach doesn't take into account the fact that getting money for your business involves a variety of considerations, financial and nonfinancial, good and bad.

Finding "smart" money. Small businesses usually need more than just cash: they need "smart" money. By smart money we mean financing that helps your business in the way that you want it to, where the financier provides not only capital, but support and expertise to your business. Smart money could be an SBA guaranteed loan that allows you to keep your ownership interests intact until your business reaches the stage at which you want to sell shares of the business. On the other hand, money that comes from letting your brother, Stanley, become a partner in your business because you need his $10,000 before the end of the week might be far more costly than you ever imagined.

The problem in locating "smart" money is that the capital market for small businesses is imperfect and consists of a great variety of underpublicized and poorly organized financing sources. Whether you are trying to locate a bank that is willing to lend money to your small business or whether you are looking for a business "angel" who will contribute needed equity capital, your quest for financing will require that you devote the same attention to obtaining capital as you give to decisions involving the business's basic product or service.

The discussion in this module is designed to help you identify relevant traits about your business's financing profile and understand the various financing sources that may be available to you, with an emphasis on practical information on selecting the most suitable sources of funding for your business.

Competitive Failure

2009-06-20T08:48:00.002+01:00

Fund management

Illustration by Claudio MunozECONOMISTS tend to think that an industry divided between hundreds of players, each with a tiny market share, should be fiercely competitive, with prices cut to the bone. But economic theory struggles to explain the bizarre world of fund management, where the market is fragmented but fees stay stubbornly high.

The takeover of Barclays Global Investors (BGI) by BlackRock, finalised on June 16th, will create the world’s largest asset manager. More deals are likely in the coming months. In part that is because banks are keen to shed their fund-management arms, either because they need to raise capital or because they no longer see a business case for combining deposit-taking with portfolio management. In part it is because stockmarket falls in 2008 slashed fund managers’ revenues, leaving some groups with broken business models. But the industry remains massively diffuse and has defied past predictions of consolidation. Even the BGI/BlackRock deal will create a fund manager with only 3-5% of the global market. Perhaps the problem is that the industry has difficulty generating economies of scale. Might a few mergers be good news?

Bigger does not necessarily mean better when it comes to running other people’s money. True, a bigger group has more money to spend on marketing and can achieve economies of scale in areas such as back-office technology and administration. But there are also disadvantages of scale. Large funds are less flexible and tend to move prices against them when they trade; they also tend to be more bureaucratic and end up alienating talented managers, the ones clients want to look after their money. Luck also plays its part. Fund managers may grow for a while because of superior investment performance. But sooner or later they will be undone by a change in market fashion; their performance will deteriorate and hot money will move elsewhere.

The BGI/BlackRock deal may avoid some of these problems. BGI is one of the two biggest fund managers in the field of index-tracking, one area where having more funds under management does lead to lower costs, which in turn makes it easier for the manager to match a chosen benchmark. But that is something of a special case. The general rule of fund-management consolidations is that they may be a good deal for the companies, but they rarely bring much benefit to investors, for two reasons. First, retail fund managers compete on past performance rather than price. Alas, a good performance one year tends not to be repeated the next; but the fees carry on. Second, because of their inertia, retail investors tend not to buy funds; funds are sold to them. Fund managers must pay banks and brokers to distribute their products, and they claim back that money from investors. As a result the bestselling funds often have the highest charges; other things being equal, they represent the worst deal for investors.

The price is wrong
That second factor helps explain why there is a stark difference between America and Europe. In America, where retail investors are more willing to buy funds directly, the expense ratios of mutual funds have declined for four successive years, according to Lipper, a provider of financial information. But in Europe, where funds are largely sold through banks, annual management fees have steadily risen, from 1.3% in 1994 to 1.6% last year. Retail fund-managers have fed themselves well, but their investors have been left with the scraps.

Even institutional investors such as pension funds and insurance companies, which ought to have the clout to force down fees, are paying more. A survey by Watson Wyatt, a consulting firm, found that the cost of running a pension scheme increased by around half between 2003 and 2008. That was because schemes allocated more of their portfolios to hedge funds and private-equity managers, which charge much higher fees. Chasing performance by paying higher fees might work for individual investors, but in aggregate it is doomed to fail. The return to the average investor is the market return minus costs; if costs rise, returns must fall.

Retail investors, in particular, would do well to learn that lesson, and take responsibility for their own finances. Just as they shop around to find the best estate agent, they can seek out low-charging vehicles such as exchange-traded funds. If enough investors focus on cost, not performance, the fund-management industry will have to give them a better deal.

Chelsea a good bet

2009-05-15T10:07:00.002+01:00

Not being a fan of Chelsea myself, I do notice the London soccer club are worth a gamble. BUY

Treasury Takes on Turner

2009-05-15T09:33:00.003+01:00

In March I reported that Lord Adair Turner's review of regulatory reform was being criticised by the powers that be... Yesterday, 14 May 2009, the Treasury select committee went one step further by casting doubt over the competence of Sir David Walker and his leadership abilities, in particular the ability to lead a review of corporate governance in the banking sector.
The select committee of Members of Parliament concluded that the banking crisis had "exposed serious flaws and shortcomings in remuneration practices in the banking sector and, in particular, within investment banking".
In addition the MP's stated that the Turner review had downplayed the role that remuneration played in causing the crisis and called on the FSA to do more to address the issue.
Lord Adair Turner's allies leapt to his defence; British Bankers' Association chief executive, Angela Knight mentioned that his review "has been considered internationally one of the best". - Try telling that to the investors who have lost millions and even billions of pounds and dollars worldwide.
The FSA stated that the organisation was preparing to change its pay policies to make them "consistent with and promote effective risk management". I would suggest that if they had done this in the first place then they wouldn't need to come charging to Lord Turner's rescue!

Profits push Primark upwards

2009-05-11T17:05:00.002+01:00

When times are hard it's only natural that people will be on the lookout for bargains and inexpensive fashion items appear to be the saviour of the day for Primark. Profits were 10% up to a respectable first half of £122m.
With a planned seven new stores to open this year, things couldn't look better for the discount retailer with an expected 2,300 new jobs being created.
In April, owners Associated British Foods said they would pay shareholders an interim dividend of 6.9p.
It should be noted that ABF also own Kingsmill Bread, Twinings Tea and Silver Spoon Sugar. Following a solid performance from it sugars division coulpled with the retail success, ABF's group revenue rose to £4.4bn against a net debt of £1.14bn.

Caterpillar profits collapsing

2009-05-11T16:56:00.002+01:00

Hopes that the industrial economy may be on the road to recovery were dealt a serious blow in April when the world's largest manufacuturer of heavy duty engines and construction equipment halved its predicted profits declaring: "the most significant percentage decline in our sales since the early 1930's". Evidently the depression is showing little signs of abating.

Direct Matches business contacts

2009-05-08T13:06:00.000+01:00

In The Beginning...

2009-05-04T17:57:00.002+01:00

Before you can start up a business - any business - customers need to be able to find you. On the Internet, your address is your domain name; the part of an Internet address that comes after the www. With the unparalleled growth of the Internet, dot com domain names continue to sell like hotcakes. Currently, there are more than 20 million dot com domains, and over 34 million total domains registered worldwide. Industry experts forecast that more than 500 million domains will be registered in the next ten years. In fact, reliable sources from companies like Intel are predicting that every personal computer in the future will have its own domain name.

In 1998, the dot com craze was beginning to ramp up to unbelievable proportions. So many Internet companies sprouted up in Silicon Valley, and elsewhere, that companies not swept up in the hysteria were thought to be missing out. But, while most people were focused on things like Content, Banner Ads and Bandwidth, Michael Reed and Alan Ezeir, the CEO and President respectively of Global Domains International, Inc. (GDI), recognized another opportunity that was largely ignored; they wondered, "Besides dot com, are there other extensions that businesses could use as a domain name?"

Mike and Alan were aware that in the mid 1990's, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) assigned each nation a country code. These codes were designed to give each country an address to use for their own Internet needs. For instance, the United States was assigned .us, Australia .au, Ireland .ie. "We knew that a good, easy-to-remember country code could be marketable globally as a viable alternative to .com," said Alan. "And so," Mike added, "we ordered some pizza, locked ourselves in a room, and went through the entire list of countries to pinpoint the best possible code."

They ultimately focused on the domain:
http://rafferty.ws/boggledash

What goes down, must come up!

2009-04-19T17:20:00.002+01:00

With all the panic over falling stocks and shares, it should be noted that given the right indicators, the buying of certain shares at the moment is going to make somebody a small fortune.
Good buys: Ericsson US:ERIC $9.33; M.Wright Japan LSE:MWJ 40p; BP LSE:BP 439p; Meetic FP:MEET Euro 17.70; United Utilities LSE:UU 488p.
Other likely winners are: Shanks (SKS); Smiths News (NWS); Trading Emissions (TRE); Young & Co's Brewery (YNG).
Some of the best performers as of 15th April 2009: Barclays (BARC) 197p; Vendanta(VED) 932p; Lloyds Bank (LLOY)84p; Kazakhmys (KAZ) 487p;

2009-04-14T15:06:00.000+01:00

Collapse of Private Sector Financing

2009-04-12T13:46:00.002+01:00

In bidding for the Olympic Games, it looks as though the government may well have scored an 'own goal' judging by the amount of funding that is required to keep it alive.
Olympic Sports Minister Tessa Jowell reassures the public by stating: "This is precisely the time for this investment to be made. It (The Olympics) has the potential to be economic gold at a time of economic need."
Now don't be lulled into a false sense of security here. The investment she talks of is a £225m loan approved by the European Investment Bank; another £400m in direct government support should private funding not prove forthcoming.
The total funding required comes to £9.3bn with a shortfall of £1bn. Should the government accept the £225m loan, the interest rate would almost certainly be higher than borrowing from the Treasury.
At the end of last year, reports surfaced that Tessa Jowell, whilst attending a dinner for leisure industry chiefs commented that the government would not have bid for the Olympics had it known that a recession was on its way.
The government is reluctant to risk its £2bn Olympic contingency fund as the European Investment Bank expects the government to underwrite the loan. £461m of the fund has already been drawn down to assist with financing problems. The bulk of which is to be used for the building of the athletes' flats, the cost of which now looks set to cause the government a huge loss due to the collapse in the housing market and without private funding the government look hard pressed to find a way to recover their investment.

From Trillions to Zillions

2009-04-03T11:10:00.002+01:00

It's interesting that Messers Gordon Brown & Co., have managed to secure trillions of dollars in global financial aid at the G20 meeting in London's Docklands. The last time I was there I ended up giving a beggar a tenner... Wait a minute, I think that was Mr Brown, (Well, it was a sorry looking down and out!). I can't help wondering what will happen after the banks spend the cash fortuitously on Ferraris and non-existent stocks and hedge funds - I expect Mr Obama & Co., will splash out zillions next time - aha! That may well be the reason we have soldiers on foreign soil - a simple case of you scratch my back and I'll pay your debts; or something like that... And as for the starving prisoners of Zimbabwe, they can go whistle - at least whilst they still have the breath to do so!
OK, less of the sarcasm, but you see my point - no matter how much money the world leaders put into the global economy there will always be losers - just ask Bernard Madoff!
As far as the G20 debate went, markets rallied at the news of $1.1 trillion dollars being pumped into a collapsing worldwide economy. And a somewhat smug Mr Brown beamed, "This is the day that the world came together to fight back against the global recession."
The IMF were informed that there would be a tripling of resources available to them, amounting to $750bn; and in order to boost foreign exchange reserves around the world, the IMF are to create their own currency made up of Sterling, Yen, Euros and Dollars in the form of Special Drawing Rights. I should point out that much of what was said regarding IMF funding has only been agreed in principle.
Anyway, the FTSE closed 4.3% higher; New York's Dow finished trading 2.8% higher; Frankfurt's Dax leapt 6% at close of play and the Paris Cac 40 looked good after closing 5.4% higher.
Now this all looks fine and dandy but take a closer look and maybe you'll see a different picture emerge.
In Rome, during the G7 meeting (13-14 February), IMF big wig Dominique Strauss Khan stated that he hoped to double the fund's lendable resources to $500bn - this is money which supposedly was discussed yesterday and forms part of the G20 bailout.
In January, Japan made it known that they would be contributing $100bn to the fund.
So it came to pass that the people suddenly realised that much of what was determined to be ground breaking agreements had in fact been played out some months before. That is except for some good news from China who pledged some $40bn to the fund - didn't they used to be a developing nation?
It does appear that the politicians are just going over old ground.
A moment of caution bekons for the wise man can act the fool, but the fool cannot act the wise man... And the rest of us will be well advised to treat the debate with just a little pinch of salt.

Mortgage Secrets

2009-03-30T14:12:00.004+01:00

Investors Audio Course
Click Here!

Gamblers and speculators...

2009-03-28T16:18:00.004Z

When Britain was forced out of the Exchange Rate mechanism, George Soros was accredited with much of the blame for doing little more than speculating against Sterling in a very successful attempt to make loadsamoney. Georges says "It's as if you're a jungle animal, and you see another animal facing you. You have to make a decision; fight or flight? Your hair stands up and you growl and you decide: 'Am I going to attack because I'm stronger or am I going to run away because otherwise he's going to eat me? And that's the tension that gives you the backache."
Mr Soros believes that the possibilty of a depression is quite high and the chances are that it's going to be terminal...Well, he said that it was going to 'last forever'...
On that note, if the G20 leaders are having an East London bash, I think that we should all have our own East End knees up - just for old times sake!

Make or Break for Britain

2009-03-28T14:30:00.004Z

George Soros, the man who in 1992, made $1bn out of 'Black Wednesday' has said that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown might have to go begging for international aid to the tune of billions of pounds.
He stated that Britain was particularly vulnerable to the economic crisis. Mr Soros was prompted to speak out following the failure of a government bonds auction.
Soros warned that in order to avert a full-scale depression, the like not seen since the thirties, the G20 meeting of the world's most influential people would have to take immediate action.
He said "It's really a make or break situation." He further stated that Gordon Brown had underestimated the severity of the problem.
As it is, the world leaders have just four and a half hours at London's ExCel Centre to put right the world's banking system and solve a massive problem which has global implications of massive proportions.
The 20 member nations should remember that in 1944 at Bretton Woods, an agreement on a new global financial structure took 22 days to negotiate.
Can it be achieved in a matter of a few short hours? Hardly likely!

Visit my other sites!

2009-03-27T11:11:00.004Z

Don't forget to check out my other sites, including e-zines, featuring videos all about recent market trends:

www.zimbio.com/boggledash001.

www.zimbio.com/boggledash

I am going to update them this weekend and they're both worth a couple of minutes viewing - thanks!

Stop! I want to get off...

2009-03-27T10:31:00.002Z

Hi everyone!

sorry I haven't written for a bit but I got bogged down by heaps of students' papers - you know how it is!

Anyway, things are not looking so bad this side of the pond (if you can believe that!). I even got to see Her Majesty the Queen and HRH Prince Phillip this week, when they visited Britain's oldest manufacturer: The Bell Foundry, Whitechapel, London.

It just goes to show that some companies can more than stand the test of time - they've been going since the 1500's.

Back to business:- Bank workers have been told to wear casual clothes for Thursday's G20 summit, otherwise they may be targeted by demonstrators on the look-out for City workers.

More recently Sir Fred Goodwin's property was damaged by protesters in Edinburgh, Scotland after he refused to give up his RBS pension of some £700,000.

It's likely to be the start of worse vandalism to come in light of bankers' recent failings.

British police forces have launched a £7.2m covert operation with a view to minimising any major disruptions which are likely to kick off during the G20 summit. Even the British Chancellor, Alistair Darling is fearful that any anti-bank sentiment may seriously undermine attempts by the banks to regain public confidence in the industry.

Failure by the British government to achieve another fiscal stimulus has come as something of an embarrassment to Prime Minister, Gordon Brown who was criticised in New York for pushing the United Kingdom's current budget deficit to unprecedented heights. It's now widely thought that Brown & company will not be in a position to raise enough funds from the markets to stabilise the UK economy... It's going to get worse!

It's going to get worse!

2009-03-24T17:20:00.004Z

I hate to be the purveyor of doom and gloom, but according to Dominique Strauss-Khan, head of the International Monetary Fund, democracy may be threatened, unrest will come to the fore and millions will face poverty and war if the banks are not cleaned up!

Like we didn't already know!

http://www.zimbio.com/boggledash

London is set to hold the G20 summit and the member's should pay heed to Strauss-Khan's prophetic message:

"You can put in as much stimulus as you want. It will just melt in the sun as snow if, at the same time, you are not able to have a smaller, but healthy financial sector at work.

Profit from soccer

2009-03-20T11:51:00.003Z

In these trying financial times it still seems that we can afford to watch our favourite soccer teams and if you're looking to make a killing out of one of the teams, then look no further than Tottenham Hotspur PLC. Spurs have just announced profits for the last six months of almost £40m.
When you consider that the new Spurs ground (set to take 2 years to build) will hold more than 60,000 fans - nearly twice the present capacity, any shares bought now will likely rise following the completion of the ground.

Yanks Spank Banks!

2009-03-20T10:04:00.004Z

Following the massive row in the States over Merrill Lynch and AIG bonus payments, the House of Representatives speedily passed a Bill allowing the US government to tax bailed out firms bonuses to the tune of 90%. Sweet!

Although the legislation has yet to pass through the Senate, it does show America's resolve in clamping down on unethical payments to incompetent bankers.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has received information from AIG (who have cooperated with the courts) in relation to high earning employees and bonus payments made to them last December.

Cuomo is currrently investigating bonus payments made to Merrill Lynch executives.

Watch out, Turner's about!

2009-03-20T09:36:00.009Z

Lord Adair Turner's recently published review calls for a clampdown on offshore tax havens (see my article on Jersey); it also wants a concensus at next month's G20 summit as well as a separate body to coordinate financial regulation with the European Commission.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research said the review wrongly proposed regulation for financial institutions. The ThinkTank's Chief Executive Douglas McWilliams made it clear that any such proposals would lead to many banks leaving the City in favour of more flexible regulatory regimes. Such an exodus would result in the loss of some 50,000 jobs in the City.

50,000 jobs likely to go in the City of London's Financial sector

2009-03-20T09:10:00.002Z

The City is set to be rocked by the possibilty of massive job losses following a report by the Financial Services Authority. Proposals in Lord Adair Turner's review of UK financial regulation have been heavily criticised with many feeling that it could put the UK back some 10 years.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research report that there is likely to be an exodus of companies from London as banks look to do business with more flexible regulatory regimes.

Lord Turner's review calls for the EU to crack down on offshore tax havens (see my article on Jersey); and it also wants a sparate body to coordinate financial regulation with the European Commission. Any incoming regulator would impose restictions on hedge funds and "shadow banking" entities

Letting the train take the strain!

2009-03-16T15:31:00.003Z

OK, I suppose many travellers have at some time jumped on a train at the last minute and just caught it and found that at the other end there wasn't a barrier to pass through and so by chance happened not to pay their fare, but did you know that the consistent fare dodgers actually cost rail companies £270m a year. Stations that lose this much needed revenue due to passengers travelling without a valid ticket have been prompted into action by Lord Adonis. The rail minister has called for cash bids to be made by franchise owners in order that gates are put on stations without barriers so as to deter passengers travelling without a ticket.

A 50% growth in turnover was witnessed at Kings Cross following the introduction of gates at the Thameslink station.

Jersey in waiting...

2009-03-16T09:50:00.003Z

Almost 100,000 people inhabit Jersey's offshore banking island and they are awaiting possible reforms which could effectively destroy the livelihood's of some 20,000 white-collar workers within the local banking industry. Jersey has been labelled a "secrecy jurisdiction" by the IMF.

The 45 square mile island just off the coast of France albeit not part of the United Kingdom stills retains its British identity in much the same way as the Falkland Islands; is preparing to do battle with critics who argue that no legally binding agreements by any developing nation with regard to information sharing agreements with the States of Jersey exist.

Geoff Cook, Jersey's Finance Chief Executive sounding much like a football manager accused of taking a bung, stated "We are not a tax haven. We do not have banking secrecy. We are a cooperative, transparent, well-regulated centre. We are tested by outside organisations and we have been found not wanting. If anybody thinks otherwise let them name names, bring evidence and I will happily notify the authorities."

So, what's got him so riled..?

Angola's state owned oil rich company lost £1bn which found its way through Jersey's system.

A similar pattern emerged with the 'slush fund' from BAE's arms deal.

G20 leaders are hoping to put in place a worldwide multi-lateral information exchange treaty.

One lawyer was reported to have said that the goal in Jersey was to hide as much money as possible.

Jersey's capital, St Helier administers funds to the tune of some £241bn and as of December £206bn was deposited there.

If as suggested, widespread corruption and tax evasion remain undetected then the future for Jersey's finance and accountancy sector seem fragile to say the least and the island may very well lose its lucrative system of taxation.

More sites

2009-03-14T21:35:00.002Z

Check out my other sites:

http://zimbio.com/member/boggledash.

http://zimbio.com/member/boggledash001.

Testing Investing

2008-12-23T08:40:00.001Z

In this issue:
Save more than just tax with our ISA - save on ISA admin, inactivity fees and more.Find out more
European income goes defensive
Grow income over time
Reading the signals
Keeping faith in Marks & Spencer

European income goes defensive
As global stockmarkets start to settle down, this European income fund is eyeing defensive cash-generative stocks, says Rob Griffin. Read more...
« top
Portfolio Builder: Buy shares for just £1.50

Grow income over time
The Money Observer hypothetical income growth portfolio is in the hands of Daniel Lockyer of iimia. He gives Helen Pridham the reasons for his initial choice of holdings. Read more...
« top
Ready-made ISA selections: Top performing funds, independently assessed

Reading the signals
Deciding when is the best time to buy or sell shares is a difficult business and it can make or break a fund manager or investor's portfolio. Heather Connon gives a guide to share management in the bear market. Read more...
« top
Invest in funds from £20 per month: Funds Builder - the easy, flexible way to invest

Keeping faith in Marks & Spencer
The Analyst collects a hefty dividend from the Income Portfolio's gilt holding, but he's happy he trimmed it last time round and bought shares instead. Read more...
« top
Interactive Investor's Funds Centre Best performing funds
Fund Name
3-Yr Performance
FT Risk Rating
Fidelity China Focus
58.2%
Not Rated
Find out more
Gartmore China Opps
54.3%
High Risk
Find out more
M&G Intl Sov Bond
51.7%
Low Risk
Find out more
Threadneedle Gbl Bond
40.7%
Low Risk
Find out more
« top

Video Advertising

2008-12-20T10:42:00.001Z

Advertising your videos

Hi everybody,

Affiliate programs are marketing tools used by vendor sites such
as amazon.com. Basically, you need to sign-up for the program
and they will give you an affiliate ID number. You will receive
instructions on how to create links to their website from your
own website or written article. You can even create links to
specific products on their website. When a person clicks on the
link you made, the vendor site takes note of the reference
number and your ID number. If the customer buys from the vendor,
you are given a commission. In short, you promote their website
and products. Once you have it set up, you just wait for the
money to come in. Also, affiliates get discounts and bonuses
based in the quantity of traffic that they are able to direct to
the vendor site.

Autoresponders are the answering machines of the internet. Say,
you have a number of products on the internet up for sale. These
products are technologically challenging to most people so you
will need to provide detailed information on how to operate and
maintain the devices. If you do this on your website, chances
are you will have a design problem since this will require large
amounts of space on the webpage. With autoresponders, you can
place a link for all the nitty-gritty stuff and a pre-composed
email message will be sent to the one who requested it. You can
place a form where they can write down their email address and
place the link below it. You will need to do the
pre-composing of those automatic replies too.

Autoresponders can be used in many ways. Aside from answering
queries for detailed information requests, autoresponders can
also be used as correspondence trackers. Different websites
offer autoresponders with different functions. Some of these
sites offer autoresponder services for free.

If you happen to have an existing website, you can correspond
with another website to have your banner placed on their site.
In exchange, you will need to accommodate their banner on your
site. The same is true for links. You can place a link to
another site while the webmaster of that site can place a link
to your site. If you don’t have a banner, you can search for
free or paid banner maker utilities in the web.

Internet classified adds are an available option for promoting
your website. Some classified ads websites give away their
services for free.

If you want to become a big vendor site, the way to go about it
is through e-commerce. This entails setting up shopping carts
for your customers so they can note down their orders. You will
also need to analyze your payment system. Of course, you will
need to accept payments from major credit cards but you can
allow or deny payments made by check, paypal or money order.

Electronic magazine or E-zines are newsletters that get sent
regularly to a list of e-mail recipients. These recipients are
subscribed to the E-zine so spamming is not an issue. You need
to have an article about your product handy and several links
embedded within it just in case the subscriber decides he wants
your pocket knife.

With mailing lists, you send out a bunch of emails to a target
audience. This is where spam usually comes from. One form of
mailing list let’s the consumer decide whether he/she wants to
be in your mailing list. This is called the opt-in mailing list.
I like this list.

There are still a number of money making ideas and utilities
that have not been covered here. To tell you frankly, there are
just too many of them to mention. Why not browse around and take
a look for yourself. Researching and reading material can be a
tedious a process, but the knowledge that you gain it from it
might be just what you need to set-up or improve your own
internet business.

To your success,
Paul Rafferty

P.S. While there are many money makers out there, beware of
those that claim to be able to teach you how to earn yourself
thousands in a single week. For one thing, they charge you for
it before you can even try.

How to get your site listed

2008-12-12T13:12:00.000Z

Quick Site Indexing

Hi everybody,

Getting listed quickly in search engines is something every web
site owner wants to do. Lots of site owners don’t really know
how to do this, though. Fortunately for them, there are several
ways to getting listed quickly, all of which we will go over in
this article. These ways include submitting the URL, using
keywords, using links, and using blogs to get listed quick.

Tip #1: Submit your URL manually to search engines

Search engines like Google, Altavista and Yahoo all have options
for you to manually submit your site. Before submitting,
however, it is important to make sure of the following:

1. All pages on your site are complete. Search engine spiders
won’t touch incomplete sites.
2. Your site is not full of spam and/or excessive use of
keywords. Yet again, spiders won’t touch spam sites, which means
your site will be skipped over if it contains lots of spam.

When you submit the site, make sure to submit it only once to
each search engine. Submitting multiple times to the same search
engine will get you no where. In fact, they might keep your site
from ever having a chance at being listed on the search engine.

Tip #2: Use keywords to get spiders to come to your site

Search engine spiders absolutely love sites with good,
well-placed and well-used keywords and key phrases. In other
newsletters, we have covered the correct use of keywords and
key phrases, so you might already be familiar with it. If not,
we’ll briefly touch on it right now.

Keywords are words that are used frequently on a site that
search engines look for. The key to correct usage of keywords is
to make them fit naturally throughout a piece of content and not
look like spam. Before writing your content for your site, take
a second to decide what the content is about. Then make a list
of keywords or key phrases that seem to fit with the topic at
hand. Next, write the content and try to sprinkle in the
keywords or key phrases throughout the content in a natural,
non-distracting way. When you are done writing the content, you
should count the number of keywords or key phrases. Then divide
that by the total number of words in content. If the number you
get is between 1-3%, you’re good to go. If it’s below 1%, try to
naturally add in keywords or key phrases. If it’s above 5%, try
to take out keywords or key phrases. Aim for the perfect balance
of between 1 and 3%.

Tip #3: Use links

Having another site link to you will make spiders that visit the
first site come to your site as a result of the link. Many
owners of sites related to yours are happy to post a link to
your site on their links page. Some might require what is called
“reciprocal linking”. This basically means that if they place a
link to your site on their page, they want you to return the
favor by posting a link to their page on your site. Doing so
helps both sites better gain the attention of search engine
spiders and helps them both to get listed quickly.

Tip #4: Install a blog on your site

Blogs are extremely popular and quickly listed by search
engines. Places like Google are known to index(or list a
site/blog) far faster than they list regular web sites. Blogs
are listed by search engines like Google within days of being
created, whereas it can take weeks and months for search engines
to notice a site.

Installing a blog on your site is really easy. All you have to
do is install a program such as WordPress on your web site and
then use that to make blog postings. If you run a sports site,
for instance, you could try making twice a week posts on the
blog about sports news. Doing so will help your site as a whole
get noticed quicker by search engines.

If you apply just one of the tips above to your web site, you
will get listed quicker than expected.

To your success,
Paul Rafferty

P.S. Creating a blog on your web site is quicker than ever
before. Do it today and watch how quickly and effortlessly your
site gets listed on search engines!

Tight Squeeze

2008-04-08T10:16:00.000+01:00

Fasten your seatbelts - consumer spending is getting tighter by the hour. High interest rates and the cost of a pint and a packet ciggies is detering Joe Public from stretching the purse strings just that little bit more - well, let's face it, what you haven't got you can't spend.
Woolworths are expected to slash dividends - could it get any worse for WLW, probably not. Payment last year 1.8p - this year's expected payment only 1p.
Other losers in line for big reductions are DSG International. Expected half dividend total in June ... 4p. We rekon that DSG is on a target price of 53p which compared to the current price of 67.5 is set to drop by 21%. According to our Italian sources, the group's losses are expected to rise to £30,000,000.
Another retailer struggling to make ends meet is PC World.
But it's not all doom and gloom, on the up and up with a sustainable dividend yielding 5.7% are HMV. Carpetright (CPR) is doing even better at 6.6%

Big Brother's watching you!

2008-04-08T08:05:00.000+01:00

In times of investment and so-called money laundering, the government is always looking for ways to catch you out - the poster at the rear of one of London's theatres seems to really sum things up - a well presented piece of advertising, don't you think?

Look who's laughing now...

2008-04-06T20:15:00.000+01:00

Having trouble paying your mortgage - in danger of being evicted - I know, all I can afford is a rented room in a squalid damp excuse of a house.
Well, look who's laughing at you and me right now - the best paid chief executives in 2007.
Yes, here they are, the Building Societies finest:
1. Skipton's very own man of the moment John Goodfellow on a salary of some £642,000.
2. Trailing in second place is Yorkshire's Iain Cornish on £479,000.
2. In joint second is Ian Ward of the Leeds equally earning £479,000.
4. Slipping slightly behind is Peter Griffiths of Principality with £453,000.
5. And last but by no means least, Matthew Bullock on a paltry income of £452,000 courtesy of Norwich and Peterborough.
If you are a shareholder who voted to accept these fat cat's salaries, then let's hope they stay afloat - remember Northern Rock?

Borrowers Big It Up!

2008-04-06T19:39:00.000+01:00

Now here's an interesting little known fact: The most recent up-to-date rankings of the 'Hot 100'
fastest growing companies were set up by investors using loans in the form of second mortgages acquired on their own homes. These first time ever wheeler dealers never even went to university - don't tell anyone but neither did I!

Life's a Lottery...

2008-04-01T17:20:00.000+01:00

OK for all you sceptics out there, you may think that investing for a future is a mug's game and I by my own admission have not made any cash from investing - well, until now that is - so here it is, the sceptic link: http://virtualworlddirect.com/166564PR

Voice 4 U

2008-04-01T14:31:00.000+01:00

I came across this enterprising voice for your company's marketing:
http://voice123.com/paulrafferty

What's up, What's down?

2008-04-01T13:11:00.001+01:00

They say the ceiling is definitely up - but as ceilings go, they have to stop and not always at the top. Take for example Vodaphone, their shares fell almost 4 per cent after claims that regulators were preparing to take action that would cut European core earnings - Anyone hear alarm bells ringing? And after allegations of misconduct involving contracts, the United States has banned IBM from taking on any new Federal Government business - Ouch! Anyone connected with IBM is invited to leave a message - what really happened with that contract?
In a deal worth £142,000,000 Close Brothers Private Equity has purchased Energy Cranes; they provide the offshore gas and oil industry with cranes and mechanical services - shares should be set to rise here.
When I left school, I wanted to be a radio DJ and everyone laughed - they didn't laugh at Chris Evans though, did they? Incidentally, I met Chris in London a couple of months' back... yawn!!! Hey Chris, how did you make so much dough?
What's the connection I hear you ask - well, if shareholders agree then the UK's largest listed commercial radio company, GCap Media plan to go private - yesterday's recommendation a formal offer of 225p per share from Global Radio - If it's agreed then shares can be expected to rise - Let's wait and see.
Who had a Scalextric racing set when they were kids - yeah, me too. I just learnt that shares in Hornby are tumbling - closed at just over 187p - time to sell people. I'd like to hear from someone connected with Hornby so that we can get a clear picture as to what the problem is.

Checking out the investments

2008-04-01T12:21:00.000+01:00

OK so this is the deal; we are going to look at various ways, mean and ideas of creating cash.
Investment schemes, scams and the profitable ones - if you know what I mean.
This is my first message on Cash Splash and so I need all you investors to let us bloggers know of any rip-offs and insider trading.
Of course we also need advice on making money - so c'mon people join the blog - let's get started!

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Profit from soccer

Yanks Spank Banks!

Watch out, Turner's about!

50,000 jobs likely to go in the City of London's Financial sector

Letting the train take the strain!

Jersey in waiting...

More sites

Testing Investing

Video Advertising

How to get your site listed

Tight Squeeze

Big Brother's watching you!

Look who's laughing now...

Borrowers Big It Up!

Life's a Lottery...

Voice 4 U

What's up, What's down?

Checking out the investments