Students Of Success

A well-oiled pay-per-click search engine campaign can land
hundreds of highly targeted visitors on practically any website within a matter of days. That isn’t new information. Most experienced online business owners already know it.

But pay-per-click advertising is also one of the quickest ways to lose money, if it isn’t done right. At the surface level, the process appears to be as simple as writing an advertisement, bidding for keywords, and waiting for traffic and sales to come rolling in. Nothing could be further from the truth, especially in the midst of today’s heated competition for top keywords.

So, for a few minutes, let us play the role of devil’s advocate, as we explore some of the common downfalls encountered by hopeful but inexperienced pay-per-click advertisers.

1. - Making Advertising Decisions Based on Emotion

The excitement of tapping into a new market, and the much
anticipated thrill of watching click counters working overtime, can and often does lead to a hasty decision making process. Add to this a pressing need for a cash infusion, plus a bit of the gambler spirit, and a framework for failure will emerge.

2. - Overly Generalized Keyword Selection

Keywords that are too broad in scope can inevitably lead to an excess of non-profitable clicks, driving an otherwise profitable campaign into the red.

For example, a website selling athletic shoes should omit the simple term “shoes” from the keyword list. That term alone may generate a massive number of click-throughs. However, a good portion of the resulting traffic will likely be looking for sandals,dress shoes, or some type of shoe other than athletic designs.

3. - Poorly Worded Advertisements

Pay-per-click ads are notorious for restrictions on allowed word count. While the headline and ad body should contain as many prime keywords as possible, every single word in the ad should be weighed and measured for effect. A vague or loosely related advertisement may pull throngs of curious visitors, but the ultimate value of each of those visitors must also be considered. The point of a great ad is to attract only those who have a purchase already in mind.

4. - Failure to Calculate Bid Value

An untested ad leaves much of this process to theory, but even a theoretical profit model is better than none at all. Otherwise, the urge to bid simply for top positioning may ultimately spell an overall loss of profit.

Three critical points to consider are:

- product pricing
- an acceptable profit margin per sale
- a realistic clicks to sales ratio (CSR)

Let’s say a modest CSR of 1% may be expected, meaning one out of each one-hundred visitors will order immediately. The product is priced at $69 and a 50% profit margin per sale is acceptable. Given these factors, up to 50% of the product price ($34.50) can be spent to achieve the sale and deliver the product.

For the sake of this example, consider that delivery costs are nil. Therefore, $34.50 divided by 100 clicks = $0.345 as an absolute maximum bid per click. There are only three ways to increase the bid above $0.345 while maintaining the integrity of the campaign:

- raise the product price above $69
- increase the CSR above 1%
- accept a lower profit margin per sale

5. - Failure to Track Results and Manage the Campaign

Once the advertising campaign is set in motion, results should be tracked and analyzed on a daily basis. Many pay-per-click search engines now provide in-depth analysis and reporting tools that greatly simplify this process. In addition, specialized pay-per-click tracking software is widely available, and in the absence of a workable alternative, will prove to be a wise investment.

However, based on this writer’s own experience, no two selling days are alike, even on the Internet. We suggest that no fundamental changes be made to the campaign until at least five-hundred click-throughs have been gathered, or until the campaign has been live for several days.

Those suggestions are, of course, only rules of thumb. Any
campaign found to be creating a cash hemorrhage should be
discontinued immediately and thoroughly reevaluated.

6. - Failure to Enable Follow-up Marketing

An inexperienced pay-per-click advertiser might expect to begin turning a profit immediately after the ad goes live online. However sweet a dream that may be, it is often not the case.

Without follow-up capability, the profit potential of any
pay-per-click campaign is severely reduced. A majority of prospects will not buy on their first visit, and may not return to buy later. As a result, the entire campaign may register a net loss on the initial run.

However, even a money-losing initial campaign can be turned into a winner over time, if the campaign is focused not only toward making immediate sales, but also toward producing a mailing list of interested prospects for later follow-up.

The mechanics of the follow-up tactic are beyond the scope of this writing. We invite the reader to visit the link below and investigate a series of articles on follow-up email marketing and the effective use of autoresponder systems.

Dan B. Cauthron is a 30 year direct marketing veteran and has been successful on the Net since 2000.

Subscribe to his 100% original content *Revenew Quick Tips* NEWSLetter and receive Dan’s Hand Picked eMarketing Success Library free of charge -
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Garden and household pests - unwanted insects, including flies,
mosquitoes, fleas, cockroaches, termites, and moths, and
intruders like mice and rats - are annoying, destructive, and
potentially harmful to the health of humans and pets. But the
use of chemical toxins to control these pests is a problem - who
knows what some of these chemicals themselves can do to the
health of our family members?

Luckily, there are ways to combat these invaders without
resorting to potentially poisonous chemicals. Essentially, there
are four approaches to pest control; used in combination they
can go a long way to eliminating insects and rodents from one’s
home and outdoor environment.

First, make sure you’re not creating the conditions that invite
these pests onto your property. Standing water attracts
mosquitoes; take a walk through your property and make sure you
don’t have bowls of water, discarded tires, and other
receptacles that can contain rain water. If you find them, get
rid of them. Poorly stored food and stray crumbs can attract
ants, roaches, and mice. Keep your food stored in airtight
containers, wipe down counters, tables, etc., and sweep the
floor frequently, discarding the refuse and removing in from the
house.

Secondly, provide barriers, either physical or biological, to
repel insects and rodents. Properly maintained and installed
screens on windows and doors will help block flies and
mosquitoes from the home. Simple to use, nontoxic home remedies
can repel insects; for instance a brew of catnip tea, sprayed in
a solution around cupboards, baseboards, and other areas,
particularly in the kitchen and bathroom, can repel cockroaches.

Third, you can add beneficial insects and other organisms to
your environment. Adding ladybugs to gardens has been a natural
remedy for years: ladybugs just love aphids, and will eat them
before the tiny insects can ruin your growing plants. (Some
people go so far as to add a gecko or two to their homes; geckos
eat cockroaches, and will help keep an infestation under
control; you’d have to make up your mind if you really want to
live in the same house or apartment with a couple free ranging
lizards. If you have small boys, chances are they’ll be
thrilled!)

Finally, if all else fails, there are compounds, safe to humans
with normal use, but deadly to pests, that will eliminate some
insects for good. To rid your home of cockroaches, for instance,
put containers of boric acid behind counters, in the backs of
cupboards, in shelves, and other areas that cockroaches
frequent; they’ll eat the boric acid and return to their nests,
carrying more boric acid with them; the boric acid will kill
them and the other inhabitants of their nests. (Make sure you
keep the boric acids away from children and pets.)

There are also nontoxic, natural preparations sold commercially
which can be used to repel or eliminate pests without adversely
impacting your home environment. In short, there are many natural, safe
options for eliminating pests that you can use to make sure
your home is a comfortable, enjoyable environment for your
family, not for unwanted guests.

Who would have thought that a small water garden could be anything but safe? However, a couple of measures of precaution can help ensure that your magical water garden stays safe for everyone, including your goldfish! Remember, that if your water garden is deep enough for goldfish or koi, then its more than deep enough to be dangerous for toddlers.

Here are a couple of things to consider:

Depth of Your Pond:

The ponds edges provide you an opportunity to increase safety around the water pond. Put a shelf or ledge around the sides of your pond that is at least 1 foot deep to provide an easier escape for a child that has fallen in. You may also want to consider placing boulders around the side, which will provide some added leverage for the child to pull themselves out.

Watch Your Children:

Just like you wouldnt let your children swim without a lifeguard or adult supervision, never leave young children unattended around your water garden pond. While the fish will provide enough curiosity, remember that same curiosity may tempt them to get too close to the edge to get a closer look, raising the risk of them falling in, hitting their heads on the edge of the pond, or even drown. A child can drown in less than 6inches of water.

Reduce The Slippage Factor

Just like your local pool takes preventative action (such as enforcing a no running rule), you can also take action to ensure pond safety. Consider using a slip resistant material to ensure that smooth edges around your water pond are not a hazzard. You may also want to look at creating railings along walk ways. Ask your local building authority on suggestions on how to lower the risk of someone slipping on the edge of your water garden.

Local Building Codes

During the planning stages of building your water pond, you should have contacted your municipal building authority to ensure that your plans abide by the local building codes. Do you have to build a fence around your water pond (ponds built with a certain depth require fences). How large of an area can your water garden pond be, and what other legal considerations should you make?

Safety is something that normally doesn’t immediately pop into your mind when building a water garden pond, however, it should. Its impossible to ensure that your water garden will be completely safe, however, will that be any consolation for your inaction if something were to happen? Plan ahead and you’ll ensure that your water garden is accessible and a joy for friends and family alike.

We can help you with your water garden ponds supply needs.

While the National Association of Realtors anticipates a near-record year in real estate sales for 2006, following five years of record-breaking sales, rising interest rates may have an effect, but are higher rates really so bad?

Mortgage banker, author and humorist David Reed, is steamed about so-called experts trying to scare people by making them think rising interest rates are going to keep them from buying homes, or put them out of the homes they’re in.

During a radio interview with a Los Angeles station, Reed was paired with another guest, a financial planner. The host of the show asked, “So, rates are at some of the highest levels we’ve seen for a couple of years … what will that do to the housing market?”

“Now, me being a Texan,” drawls Reed. “I minded my manners and let the other gentleman speak first. ‘Well,’ he began. ‘It doesn’t look good at all. Rates are up nearly .5 percent since earlier this year and that means thousands of additional dollars the homebuyer will have to pay. On a typical $500,000 loan (this is California, remember) an extra .5 percent means another $160 more each month in payments. Over 30 years, that means another $57,000 over the life of the loan. Home prices are high enough without this.’”

Hmmm … guess there’s reason to be worried — if homes don’t increase any in value for the next 30 years, which nearly 100 years of 3 percent averages say are unlikely. Plus, the borrower has to keep the home for the life of the loan which is extremely unlikely in the day-trading 21st century. And does the financial planner think interest rates are going to improve any time soon?

“What a nerd,” laughs Reed. “Yeah, rates have gone up, but gone up from what? From record lows, that’s what. Let’s not get too spoiled here. Thirty-year fixed rates used to be in the high sevens and low eights way, way back in what — September 2000? Give me a break! Just take any historical mortgage rate chart and you’ll see that compared to rates going all the way back to the Paleolithic period, we’re still in pretty good shape. And I think it’s irresponsible for so-called “pundits” to tell people how screwed they’ll be if they buy a house right now.”

He warns, “The “housing bubble” we’ve been reading about could also be a self-fulfilling prophecy if we’re not careful. An interest rate goes from 6.00 to 6.50 percent and the sky is falling? Yeah, yeah I know. “But David, that knocks a lot of people out of homeownership.” Fair enough, but buy a smaller house, I say. Instead of a $300,000 loan, get a $285,000 one. That’s the typical qualifying difference between 6.00 and 6.50 percent.”

“Well, David, much of the market now is for investment homes … we can’t kill that.” Okay. But nobody’s killing anything, the market’s simply adjusting. If people want to buy investment properties they’re going to have to buy fewer or smaller ones or negotiate a better deal. Heck, any good Realtor can do that one for you.”

He says he gets steamed when an “expert” predicts disaster and encourages people not to buy something because of an interest rate move — and a small one at that. Will there be fewer homes sold in 2006? Probably. But fewer than what? 2005? 2004? 2003?”

(Each of those years were record-breaking years for both new and existing home sales.)

“I suggest we all kick back a little bit and understand that often when consumers read an article or listen to a radio show — that just sometimes they might actually be paying attention. “Gosh honey, maybe we shouldn’t buy that home after all. That guy just said we’d lose $57,000.”

Fair debate and honest discussions are one thing. Scaring consumers is quite another, he fumes. Yet, the bubbleistas are out in force predicting that “the piper is about to be paid.”

“In the past few years, nearly a third of all mortgage loans have been in the form of adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs),” blared CNN in November 2005.

And they are about to adjust, which means those who borrowed hybrid versions of ARMs, are about to see their low-fixed-rate period end, and the loan will reset to an adjustable rate that can fluctuate for the term of the loan.

The Mortgage Bankers Association estimates that some $330 billion worth of ARMs will adjust in 2006 and $1 trillion worth will reset by the end of 2007. This could impact as many as three million homeowners (average ARM loan is about $300,000) who will pay larger mortgage payments for the duration of their loan’s term.

“If you took out an 3/1 ARM for $300,000 back in late 2002, your initial interest rate was probably around 5 percent and your monthly payment has been about $1,610,” supposes journalist Les Christie. The new payment, at a rate of about 7.1 percent will adjust more than two percentage points to $1,995 per month, a difference of more than $385 monthly or $4,600 annually.

“One-year ARM holders, whose initial rates last year were just over 4 percent, will also see their payment increase a lot, but because of caps, they still won’t be paying as much as 3/1 ARM holders, at least until they reset again,” he explains. “Holders of 5/1 ARMs coming due later in 2006 and in early 2007, should not have to undergo increases as big. Their rates were higher to begin with, about 6.6 percent in early 2002; going to 7.1 percent would only add about $100 to their monthly payments.”

ARM holders have the option of refinancing into a fixed rate — providing they have enough equity in the home and can qualify for the new rate.

“A 30-year fixed rate at 6.43 percent will still add about $260 a month to the borrower who had a 3/1 ARM. And the borrower will either have to pay about $3,000 to $5,000 in closing costs out of pocket or add that sum to the mortgage principle, sending monthly bills higher,” warns Christie.

However, the rest of the country doesn’t need to shake in their boots just yet. According to a joint study by the Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 40 percent of all residential properties in the U.S., both owner-occupied and rental units, are owned free and clear with no mortgage.

Borrowers should watch how the Fed continues to handicap lending rates, particularly if the critical yield curve gets close to inverting or does invert. When there is an unusually small difference between short-term rates and long-term bond market rates, there is a risk that the yield curve will invert, which means that “interest rates on the Treasury’s two-year note will go above the rates available on the benchmark 10-year issue,” wrote Dr. Irwin Kellner, Marketwatch, November, 2005, when only six basis points separated the two from the ten. “That’s the narrowest spread since early 2001, just before the U.S. economy tumbled into its 10th postwar recession.” The curve inverted Christmas week 2005.

Dr. Kellner points out that every time the yield curve inverts, the economy goes into recession. Banks simply won’t loan money when they pay more for deposits (which key off short-term rates) than they can make lending these funds, he says.

This dries up liquidity and shrinks money for lending. The good news is that inflation would be kept at bay, which could keep interest rates comfortable for homebuyers for some time to come. If they can hang on to their jobs.

Written for http://www.e-realestatelicense.com
By James Christensen
Real Estate Expert and educator. Our training site http://www.e-realestatelicense.com offers a valuable service to individuals looking to get into the Real Estate industry.

Many wonder what admiralty and maritime laws deal with. The fact is, these laws were designed to deal with the way in which waterborne crafts interact with each other. Maritime laws are designed to settle disputes, encourage commerce and help injured seamen and sailors.

Maritime law in the United States is compiled by a list of statutes which cover all waterborne activities taking place in United States waters. In the past, maritime laws only covered specific incidents such as victims of maritime air disasters and specific areas such as inland water workers. Modern day maritime law now encompasses a much larger field of occupations, accidents and conditions.

There are currently many law firms that represent the sailors, longshoremen and seamen who have been injured while working offshore. The maritime and admiralty laws were designed by the United States government and have dozens of levels of federal, state and local rules that apply to different situations. Because of this, maritime litigation is often very comprehensive.

Some of the types of maritime accidents that can occur include accidents on barges, ferries, casino ships, cruise ships, shipping vessels, tankers and tugboats. There are literally thousands of types of these boats, but those are the major ones. In addition, there are many types of workers who are covered by these maritime and admiralty laws. Some of the jobs include seamen, engine utility men, deck engineers, harbor pilots, longshoremen, dock workers, fishermen, ferry workers and barge hands.

If you are a sailor, seamen or any other type of offshore worker, and have been involved in a maritime accident, then you have the right to take legal action. Please visit our website for an updated list of dedicated and experienced maritime lawyers. They will help you with your maritime lawsuit and guide you towards receiving the legal compensation you are entitled to.

For more information on maritime lawyers and admiralty laws, please visit our website at http://www.resource4admiraltylaw.com This article may be freely reprinted as long as this resource box is included and all links stay intact as hyperlinks.

Baby Soap

Aren’t all soap the same, especially baby soap? Do you really need to look at which baby soap you use with your new born baby? Bath time can be worrisome enough for new parents with a new baby. Is the water too hot or too cold? How do I hold the baby specially when they are all wet and slippery? Am I doing things right? With all these things to worry about, we should be completely sure that the baby soap we use is completely safe and gentle for your baby’s skin.

Finding the Right Baby Soap

Keeping your baby’s skin clean is one of the most important things you can do to help your baby stay healthy, and baby soap plays a very important role in keeping your baby’s skin clean. So we need to make sure that we are using:

• baby soap that is gentle
• baby soap that is hypoallergenic
• baby soap that is non-toxic
• baby soap that sls free

You need to make sure that your baby soap is gentle because otherwise it could be irritating your baby’s skin during or after bath time, and this would actually be opposite to what bath time is supposed to do. The baby soap that you use should be hypoallergenic since you do not know what your baby may be allergic to, and they are more susceptible at this very young age. Baby soap also needs be non-toxic since young babies like to put their hands in their mouth, and you want to know that if your baby swallows some of the baby soap, they will be safe. Finally, your baby soap should be Sodium Laurel Sulfate (SLS) free. SLS is a harsh chemical that is used as the chief foaming agent in soaps, including some baby soaps. The Journal of the American College of Toxicology said, “SLS can damage the immune system, causing separation of skin layers and inflamation of skin.” Is this something you would like to expose your baby’s skin to by using harsh baby soap?

Consider using natural baby soap that is made from only natural ingredients insuring that it is safe and gentle on your baby’s skin. Many times natural baby soap even helps protect and soothe your baby’s skin.

During the first few weeks and months of your babies life, your baby’s skin will develop spots, rashes, and some dots. This is normal. They will come and go naturally, but if you are concerned, then do not hesitate to contact your doctor or pediatrician. Even though your baby’s skin will go through a few rough times, if you are using the right baby soap, then you know that you are caring for your baby’s skin as best as you can.

Erwin Venegas is a father who runs an e-commerce site for Natural Baby Products with his wife.

With rising interest rates and a softening housing market in states such as California and Florida, the number of foreclosures and notice of defaults has risen steadily over the past 12 months. Facing a foreclosure on your home can be a scary and unsettling prospect for a borrower. There are steps that homeowners can take to protect their most important asset from foreclosure proceedings. One note: if you are a homeowner and are in serious financial difficulty, you need to find a professional attorney to help you keep your home.

The most important step is to act - don’t put your head in the sand and expect it to all go away. Be ready to discuss your financial situation honestly and open.

A great first step is to get in touch with your mortgage lender. Borrowers often assume that the person or institution that is funding their loan wants them to default on their loan so that they may repossess the home. Banks and other lending institutions are typically large corporations that based their businesses and revenue projections on specific income levels each month. Foreclosures disrupt this process and may be seen as more of a headache than anything for these lending institutions that simply want to recoup their initial investment.

Prepare a series of questions for the lender that shows that you care about the situation and want to resolve it as easily as possible. A great source for this information is entitled, “Getting Out of Debt, Virginia Cooperative Extension publication 354-027″ and can be found online at www.vt.edu. This paper can help you formulate the right questions to ask and also has useful suggestions for how to handle your financial difficulties.

A foreclosure loan or emergency loan is simply one that helps you avoid foreclosure. It may be structured to help you reduce your debt down to a manageable level. Talk to your lender to find out the most appropriate loan to help you avoid foreclosure proceedings.

Corey Senn is a Senior Partner with Bad Credit Lender, a California based private lender that specializes in hard money loans and bad credit loans. Located in La Jolla, California, Bad Credit Lender provides competitive private California hard money loans, bad credit home loans, and bridge loans. In addition, Corey is one of the main contributors to the California Home Mortgage Loan web blog.

Passwords to access computer systems are usually stored, in some form, in a database in order for the system to perform password verification. To enhance the privacy of passwords, the stored password verification data is generally produced by applying a one-way function to the password, possibly in combination with other available data. For simplicity of this discussion, when the one-way function does not incorporate a secret key, other than the password, we refer to the one way function employed as a hash and its output as a hashed password. Even though functions that create hashed passwords may be cryptographically secure, possession of a hashed password provides a quick way to verify guesses for the password by applying the function to each guess, and comparing the result to the verification data. The most commonly used hash functions can be computed rapidly and the attacker can do this repeatedly with different guesses until a valid match is found, meaning the plaintext password has been recovered.

The term password cracking is typically limited to recovery of one or more plaintext passwords from hashed passwords. Password cracking requires that an attacker can gain access to a hashed password, either by reading the password verification database or intercepting a hashed password sent over an open network, or has some other way to rapidly and without limit test if a guessed password is correct. Without the hashed password, the attacker can still attempt access to the computer system in question with guessed passwords. However well designed systems limit the number of failed access attempts and can alert administrators to trace the source of the attack if that quota is exceeded. With the hashed password, the attacker can work undetected, and if the attacker has obtained several hashed passwords, the chances for cracking at least one is quite high. There are also many other ways of obtaining passwords illicitly, such as social engineering, wiretapping, keystroke logging, login spoofing, dumpster diving, timing attack, etc.. However, cracking usually designates a guessing attack.

Cracking may be combined with other techniques. For example, use of a hash-based challenge-response authentication method for password verification may provide a hashed password to an eavesdropper, who can then crack the password. A number of stronger cryptographic protocols exist that do not expose hashed-passwords during verification over a network, either by protecting them in transmission using a high-grade key, or by using a zero-knowledge password proof.

David and his team developed Article Post Robot, www.articlepostrobot.com, the software which can post articles to hundreds of article sites and mail lists automatically. Demo is available upon request at help(at)articlepostrobot.com