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Covering Online Business news topics in Home Business, Marketing, Web Design, Finance, PC Security / Spyware & Monetizing Web Traffic. Todays evolution in online business.

3 Steps To Home Business Success
If you own a home business, there are 3 things you absolutely, positively must… Read more

7 Facets in Viral Marketing
In the beginning, e-mail was the one way that viral marketing was started. Since… Read more

Accept Credit Cards Online – 2CO
2Checkout.com, Inc. (2CO) is the authorized reseller for over 1.6 million tangible… Read more

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March 17th, 2008 Posted by Administrator | Marketing, Money Finance, Home Business, Website Traffic | no comments

5 Minute Guide To Finding The Best Price Online

Finding the best price for the gifts you want can drive you crazy at the best of times – add a holiday deadline, limited budget and a list as long as Santa’s, and you’ve got major stress. Even if you shop online for the sake of convenience, the experience is often bewildering. Who can you trust? Which vendor has the best price? What about customer service?

And how can you find the answers to those questions, fast?

Online comparison shopping sites like Shopzilla.com, Pricegrabber.com and Shopping.Yahoo.com (all well-regarded services) were designed to solve those problems. Growing numbers of US consumers turn to these sites to help them quickly locate the best prices on a wide variety of products.

So how do online price comparison sites work, and how do you use them to find the best deal?

Most comparison pricing sites allow you to enter the specific item you want – an iPod Nano, let’s say – and then show you a list of retailers that carry it. Usually, you’ll see the price that stores are charging for the item and some rating (using stars, checkmarks or smiley faces) of the merchant’s reliability. If you know exactly what you want, this fast, basic search may be all you need.

The Search

But if you need to do some browsing to find what you want, or if you want to see results from more vendors, you’ll have to look further. Trying a different price comparison site may help. Some have more participating merchants; some focus on specific product categories.

For example, try AddAll.com for book price comparisons, AMusicArea.com for music CD comparisons and AMovieArea.com for movie DVD comparisons. Generally speaking, electronics, computers, appliances and techie “gadgets” are easiest to find at online shopping comparison sites.

Be sure to use the search tools sites offer, such as searching by price, zip code, shipping fees, product popularity, product rating, and so on.

The Stores

iPod Nanos are sold at hundreds of stores, so why don’t you see hundreds of merchants in your comparison shopping price results? That’s because only vendors that pay to be included will come up in your search. The fact that a site is listed (or listed first), does not mean that it is endorsed or that it has even been checked out.

This is one of the biggest downsides of using product price comparison sites. If your favorite online retailer(s) do not appear, you’ll need to do a separate search at their site.

Be sure to do your research before buying from stores you’ve never heard of, or paying a price that seems too good to be true.

The Scoop

One of the most useful features of online shopping price comparison sites is that consumers are usually given the option to rate and/or review merchants. Buyers grade vendors on delivery speed, customer service and quality of items.

Some sites also award certifications for track records of good customer service, such as “BizRate Certified” or “Trusted Merchant” status. (Stores cannot pay for these designations; they must be earned.)

Many of the better comparison shopping services also offer product reviews as well.

It pays to read the reviews, even if a store (or a product) is generally ranked favorably. You may learn something that helps you make your decision.

November 17th, 2006 Posted by Administrator | Tips & Bits, Money Finance | no comments

Don’t Pay Another Cent in Rent To Your Landlord

If you’re like most renters, you feel trapped within the walls of a house or apartment that doesn’t feel like yours .

It’s a dream we all have – to own our own home and stop paying rent. But if you’re like most renters, you feel trapped within the walls of a house or apartment that doesn’t feel like yours. How could it when you’re not even permitted to bang in a nail or two without a hassle. You feel like you’re stuck in the renter’s rut with no way of rising up out of it and owning your own home.

Don’t Feel Trapped Anymore

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been renting, or how insurmountable your financial situation may seem. The truth is, there are some little known facts that can help you get over the hump, and transfer your status from renter to homeowner. With this information, you will begin to see how you really can:

• save for a down payment
• stop lining your landlord’s pockets, and
• stop wasting thousands of dollars on rent.

6 Little Known Facts That Can Help You Buy Your First Home

The problem that most renters face isn’t your ability to meet a monthly payment. Goodness knows that you must meet this monthly obligation every 30 days already. The problem is accumulating enough capital to make a down payment on something more permanent.

But saving for this lump sum doesn’t have to be as difficult as you might think. Consider the following 6 important points:

1. You can buy a home with much less down than you think

There are some local or federal government programs (such as 1st time buyer programs) to help people get into the housing market. You can qualify as a first time buyer even if your spouse has owned a home before as long as your name was not registered. Ensure your real estate agent is informed and knowledgeable in this important area and can offer programs to help you with your options.

2. You may be able to get your lender to help you with your down payment and closing costs

Even if you do not have enough cash for a down-payment, if you are debt-free, and own an asset free and clear (such as a car for example), your lending institution may be able to lend you the down-payment for your home by securing it against this asset.

3. You may be able to find a seller to help you buy and finance your home

Some sellers may be willing to hold a second mortgage for you as a seller take-back. In this case, the seller becomes your lending institution. Instead of paying this seller a lump-sum full amount for his or her home, you would pay monthly mortgage installments.

4. You may be able to create a cash down payment without actually going into debt

By borrowing money for certain investments to a specified level, you may be able to generate a significant tax refund for yourself that you can use as a down-payment. While the money borrowed for these investments is technically a loan, the monthly amount paid can be small, and the money invested in both home and investment will be yours in the end.

5. You can buy a home even if you have problems with your credit rating

If you can come up with more than the minimum down-payment, or can secure the loan with other equity, many lend-ing institutions will consider you for a mortgage. Alternatively, a seller take-back mortgage could also help you in this situation.

6. You can, and should, get pre-approved for a home loan before you go looking for a home

Pre-approval is easy, and can give you complete peace-of-mind when shop-ping for your home. Mortgage experts can obtain written pre-approval for you at no cost and no obligation, and it can all be done quite easily over-the-phone. More than just a verbal approval from your lending institution, a written pre-approval is as good as money in the bank. It entails a completed credit application, and a certificate which guarantees you a mortgage to the specified level when you find the home you’re looking for. Consider dealing only with a professional who specializes in mortgages. Enlisting their services can make the difference between obtaining a mort-gage, and being stuck in the renter’s rut forever. Typically there is no cost or obligation to enquire.

T here are many important issues you should be aware of that affect you as a renter. Why on earth would you continue to lose thousands by throwing it away on rent when with your agent you could take a few minutes to discuss your specific needs so that you can stop renting and start owning.

This conversation costs you nothing. And, of course, you shouldn’t have to feel obligated to buy a home at the time you review this. But by taking the time to explore your options, and learn about the ways you can afford to buy a home, think how prepared and relaxed you’ll be when you are ready to make this important step.

June 19th, 2006 Posted by Administrator | Money Finance | no comments

Learn to Invest Money: Why Information Technology has Revolutionized Successful Investment Strategies

Do you want to know how to consistently earn double digit and triple digit returns from stocks? The answer lies in information technology. Yes. Information technology.

Most of the stocks I’ve owned that have earned more than 50% returns in less than a year are not even on the radar screens of the analysts of major investment firms. How do I know? Because I’ve worked at two Fortune 500 financial services firms as a Private Banker and Private Wealth Manager and never was able to find any research at these firms on the stocks that interested me the most. Why?

Because the way to make money in investing has changed dramatically and the big investment firms have not kept up. One of the reasons big investment firms have not kept up is because most have ulterior motives as pure marketing machines. Almost every manager at every large investment firm is compensated on how much fee income and profit their office makes for the firm, not how well their financial consultants have performed for their clients. There is a huge difference between these two goals. It’s the reason why former Merrill Lynch star internet analyst Henry Blodgett once stated in a comment that he never believed would be made public, that the stocks other Merrill analysts were praising on TV as top picks were “crap” and “junk” (Source: Fort Worth Star Telegram, May 26, 2002).

Even honest financial consultants at big investment firms find it difficult to find you great opportunities among the pool of stocks that their firm tracks. Why? Because many firms mandate older age and lots of experience as prerequisites for their star analysts. They believe that a head industry analyst with a couple of grey hairs is far more credible when appearing in front of their top clients and in front of the American public on television. Personally, if I ran an investment firm, every one of my analysts would probably be under 30 years of age. Why?

Well, information technology has revolutionized the ability of analysts to find stocks with spectacular growth prospects before the general public becomes aware of these stocks. Leads can be found through internet search engines by searching the right keywords, and also through other creative methods, including the utilization of blogs. Many times, the best stock opportunities can be uncovered through non-traditional sources of information, meaning NOT Reuters, NOT Bloomberg, and NOT any of the other financial information clearinghouses that big wall street firms pay thousands of dollars for every month. Many times, the best information is free and online, but the key is knowing how to uncover it.

Typically, when you have a problem you wish to solve related to the internet, whether it is a web design problem, a problem with obtaining better search engine rankings for your website, setting up a blog, being able to understand how to search online databases, and so on, would you turn to a fresh faced kid or someone with grey hair for help? A fresh faced kid, right? Because typically the younger generation is much more up-to-date on newer technology, including knowing how to manipulate and find data. See where I’m going with all this now?

The reason you’ll never hear about the companies that in five years will be the new Microsofts and the new Dells from the portfolio managers and financial consultants at large financial services firms is because huge financial institutions have yet to realize that understanding how to source information utilizing information technology is what has enabled the best stock pickers to be right so many times about stocks nobody else has ever heard of. And don’t be impressed if your financial consultant recommended IPO plays like Google that skyrocketed because the whole world knew about Google. Your financial consultant should be uncovering the tens and tens of other Googles out there that nobody else has ever heard of.

Frankly, I could care less about how many times the top portfolio managers of big investment houses visit the companies of stocks they recommend. I could care less if these top portfolio managers have “access” to the CEOs and CFOs of these companies because of their “reputation”. I could care less about the “global reach” of these investment firms that enables them to research overseas companies. None of this impresses me as a client.

I could care less because the majority of time, the big financial services firms are not researching the right companies. By this, I mean the small and micro cap stocks that nobody has ever heard of. The big firms will spend tens of thousands of dollars to set up these conferences at fancy hotels for their biggest clients and parade their impressive access to big time company CEOs, but still, I’d rather spend almost nothing continuing to discover stocks that will give me 50% returns in less than a year versus wasting my time listening to excessive information about a huge company that will never grow more than 8% a year. But then again, that’s just my opinion.

June 19th, 2006 Posted by Administrator | Money Finance | no comments