Guaranteed Extra Cash Online

For college students and other people who feel burned out trying to balance paying the bills and living at the same time, ads like these can prove to be irresistible. Many of them make perfect sense and easily hook you based on good concepts. Unfortunately, many times the product or service does not match the brilliance of a great idea for making money from home or through the Internet. As I?ve learned myself, the further you go down this road, the more excited you get. You basically get hooked, and if you aren?t careful, you will end up working hard and falling further into debt than you can imagine. Much like gambling, the lure of easy money and independence can make just about anyone fall prey to work at home scams that feed off your dreams to get to your wallet so they can go on to the next victim.

Hopefully, you will never fall victim to these scam artists. However, the fact of the matter is that these scammers would not be wasting their time if they were not making any money. And as long as people continue to get mixed up in this business, these scammers are going to stick around to trick more and more people.

The best way to keep a scammer?s claws away from your credit card is to do thorough research on each opportunity that you are considering. This means doing much more than simply reading a bit about it online. In my personal experience, I have been taken by companies who were savvy enough to pollute the Internet with staged testimonials, guarantees, questionable references to big name endorsements, and even appearances in the Better Business Bureau.

A colleague of mine who invested in vending machine placement services even went so far as to physically go to the manufacturing plant to tour the warehouse as well as contact the Better Business Bureau of that state. What he received, in return, were twenty malfunctioning candy machines with a list of local businesses who had apparently agreed to receive them. Not only did none of these businesses know what he was talking about, many of them were hostile when he showed up to place them.

What you want to do is check message boards such as the ASK section of Yahoo.com. Another simple method of weeding out the scams from the genuine opportunities is to go to a search engine and simply type in the company name followed by the word ?scam?. If you do this, and you are barraged by an endless list of complaints, you my friend have found a nugget of gold in a sea of mud.

In terms of the Better Business Bureau, it is best to contact them directly to ask about any complaints, and also find out how long a company has been listed. The Better Business Bureau operates state by state. They will be able to tell you if they have any complaints on file. If they do, you will want to avoid the opportunity at all costs. But if it appears that a company is doing business the right way, you can continue your own research.

Being in the Business Bureau is not necessarily that hard to accomplish. Many scammers can use their money and connections to set up a front to initially qualify for the Better Business Bureau just long enough for them to collect their cash from unsuspecting victims, close shop, create a new identity and start again.

Before you decide to do anything, attempt to get in touch with the company that you are interested in. Can you get a human being on the phone? Do they have an actually physical address? How long does it take them to respond to your e-mails, if at all? If you cannot even talk to the company before you start, there is not chance that they will be around when you really need them. I once made quite a bit of money selling vacation vouchers on auction sites. The marketing plan was sound, and the money saving vouchers was a hit. Only problem was, I could never get in touch with their customer service department to handle my customer inquiries and complaints once I realized that the promises that existed in writing on the vouchers were misleading at best. This proved to be such a problem that it took me over a year to recover from the negative publicity on my auction site.

Of course, there are legitimate home based businesses out there. With the Internet and all the low cost, web producing tools available, there seems to be a renaissance in entrepreneurship. Basically, just find a product or service you can market online, and do your research. Sell on EBay if you don?t want to build your own website. You can have a website their and all search engine marketing is already done by EBay. The Small Business Association has an office in downtown Tacoma and contains invaluable information on their website http://www.sba.com. Since small business is the backbone of our country economically, sources such as these are eager to help you create a plan with realistic expectations.

However, like anything else worthwhile, you have to do your homework and work hard at it. The problem is that too many people make you think you can practically go online and make money just clicking on a mouse. You want to steer clear of any business that asks to you to pay for their ?Top Secret? e-book that will teach you how to make an automated income.?

Think about it, if you are in dire need of cash, can you imagine any other situation in which you would not only work for free, but pay for the privilege to work. There are no magic formals or secrets worth paying for. All of the information in these e-books can be found for free through your own research if you have common internet skills.

If you don?t want to work hard and just make a few easy extra bucks without donating your blood or volunteering to be a guinea pig, it is possible to make some good extra money filling out online surveys or through mystery shopping. There are real opportunities out there which require no fee to get started. Not only that, several of them will even give you a $5 bonus just for signing up. If a company such as this is legitimate, they would be making lots of money through the success of its members. Companies that require that $49.97 start up fee only make money through the fee and only want to teach you how to get other people to do the same. The products are all useless lists and general information that anyone with a functioning mind could figure out on their own, or get for free by doing their own research.

In 12 years of trying to make a living on the Internet, the following are the best companies I have ever encountered for making a few extra bucks filling out surveys, playing games and mystery shopping. They probably won?t pay the rent, but if you?re interested in making an extra $400 or $500 a month or eating out at nice restaurants and going to movies for free, you may want to check these out:

Mystery Shopping Providers Association: ." target=new>http://www.mysteryshop.org/shoppers/">.

This site contains all the information you will ever need on starting up as a mystery shopper. It is also a portal for the best sites to go to for mystery shopping jobs online, and they don?t require that you invest a penny.

InboxDollars.com. (you can sign up for free and get $5 just for signing up. You can make a few hundred dollars in one day, theoretically, if you are willing to use a credit card to sign up for free or paid trials. Just make sure you have the patience to fill out the long surveys and keep detailed records so you can remember to cancel your free trials before you get charged. Also, you can fill out surveys to make a dollar or two which are completely free. I?ve made about $400 with this site.

http://www..sendearnings.com.(almost identical to InboxDollars.com)

http://www.treasuretrooper.com. (a lot of free surveys and cool games).

http://www.tiktikcash.com. By far the best of the survey sites. The free surveys are tremendous. You can make a dollar or two in one minute. This site has the shortest, most painless surveys. I made over thirty bucks in less than after signing up.

Ezines And Content Nurturance

Did you know that of the 25 million people in the United States that consider themselves writers only 5% of them will ever be published?

If that seems an astonishing figure it should also point to an opportunity for those who create business or industry related ezines.

How is this an opportunity?

If you are like most business owners you may have trouble locating fresh content. You may borrow from industry publications (with permission of course), you may try your hand at writing content yourself from time to time or you might use a free-article directory to make your ezine sparkle. However, you can also work to foster an atmosphere where struggling writers can add to their portfolio while providing fresh content for your ezine.

How can you do this?

Well, this can be accomplished through multiple avenues. Let?s take a look at a few.

1) Posting a classified notice within your ezine. Let your subscribers know you?re open to receiving reader content. If they are reading your ezine they probably already have an interest in the subject matter you address. You may have one of those multiplied millions of writers just looking for an opportunity reading your online publication.

2) Visiting a writer?s forum. In many of these forums you can post a freelance opportunity alerting writers to the fact that you have a need for material. You can determine what you can pay and either state it in the body of your need or let the writer know when they contact you. If you are not able to pay the writer then you should consider providing a byline and website link as a way of thanking them for their contribution.

3) Go on an intentional search for a writer. Many writers? websites will feature writing samples from members. Look for a style you?re interested in and a writer who may have some understanding of your industry.

It?s possible to nurture writers from these three sources as you seek to grow and diversify your ezine. Many of these volunteer writers may have creative ideas to make your ezine better.

You might even suggest a writing contest as part of the ezine. This can be enhanced with the offer of free gifts and or business products. Many individuals respond very well to contests and, as evidenced by the opening statistic, there are a lot of aspiring writers looking for the type of opportunity you can provide.

Ezines can be both informative as well as a spiffy looking tool for marketing your business. Why not use the development of an ezine to help you fulfill your dream of an upwardly mobile business while offering an aspiring writer the opportunity to fulfill a few dreams of his or her own. The result can be mutually beneficial.

Inviting others to share in your dream can benefit your business and help lighten the production load. The diversity in the content can allow you the opportunity to improve readership and instill a greater sense of interest in your ezine.

Nurture the inner desire most writers have and provide an avenue of publishing that can help them reach their goals.

Expired Domains Mean Opportunities

If you have a website, you want traffic; lots and lots of traffic, as a matter of fact. You are well aware of the fact that there are now millions of Internet users out there, and among those millions, there may be at least one or two thousand web surfers every day looking for the exact services or products that you?re selling. But there?s a problem. How do you reach out to those potential customers and make them come to your site?

You probably have been very busy already with your Internet marketing. I would assume that you have submitted your site to the search engines, bought a few ads in a variety of e-zines, and perhaps even put up a couple of banners. So are you satisfied with the results you are getting from your efforts? You may have tried all that you know about promoting your site and your products, but are you getting the traffic that you wanted? If not, then maybe you need to look in other directions.

But don?t worry; you won?t have to resort to illegitimate methods just to get the traffic you need. There is a perfectly ethical and legitimate way to get traffic to your site, and it?s very effective, too. But what makes this method even better is that over 95% of the people on the World Wide Web have absolutely no clue about it at all. So, have I got your attention? Let me explain it to you a bit more in detail.

Have you ever considered using expired domains for pulling in traffic to your site? Probably not yet, but let me tell you, this is a great (but oftentimes overlooked) opportunity for you. Expired domains have a lot of wasted traffic coming to their site, and this traffic could be put to better use for you instead. If you?re lucky, you may even find a domain name that?s related to your business in Yahoo. This could save you an instant $200 off the Yahoo listing charge.

Think of the possibilities here. For the cost of a single domain name, there could be loads of traffic just waiting for you! It costs less than $10 to register a domain name nowadays, and coupled with the potential immediate traffic, you cannot find a better deal than this. It?s estimated that over 3 million visitors are hitting an expired domain every day. That is mostly targeted traffic, and I?m willing to bet that you?d like to get a piece of that action. If so, then it?s time to start working and get those wasted traffic to your site.

But why did these domains expire in the first place? There could be several reasons. Sometimes webmasters just get weary of all the work involved in developing and maintaining the site. Perhaps they become too busy with work or with their personal lives. Others may have carelessly let their domains expire without knowing it, and several may have met with financial problems, so they just stopped maintaining the site.

One good thing about this whole situation, though, is that the traffic that these expired domains have generated since the time they were active just keeps on coming. If you?re a virtual realtor in cyberspace, this could make for some very attractive real estate indeed. Registering expired domains need some careful research on your part, though. Most important of all, you have to be certain that the domain?s traffic isn?t coming from websites that you?d want to avoid at all costs, like porn sites or such.

Now, if you have done your job and made sure that the traffic is satisfactory, you have two options for taking advantage of your new domain. First option is to redirect the traffic from the previously expired domain to your own site. Second option is to sell off the domain, which could be very profitable for you, depending on how heavy the traffic is.

ETFs Funds And Shares What Are They And What Are Their Benefits

Exchange Traded Funds, better known by many investors as iShares, the brand owned by Barclays Global Investors ('BGI') have been around in the UK since April 2000, with the launch of the iFTSE100 on the London Stock Exchange. From a slow start, by the end of 2005 (the latest figures available), some 125 billion was held in assets under management. Generally, when you look for your share price information, you'll find them grouped in the extra MARK section, where you'll now find some 45 different ETFs on offer. Although they have been around for sometime, let's just remind ourselves how ETFs work. They are listed on the stock exchange, providing the flexibility and trade ability of a share, including the fact that the price is continuously quoted, but that one share can provide instant exposure to an entire Index, giving you the diversification benefits of a fund. ETFs are also a flexible way of achieving cost-effective market exposure. Because the funds are registered in Ireland, there is no stamp duty to be paid on purchases. Management costs are taken from dividends that are accrued by the fund, and any excess income is then distributed to shareholders: unlike unit trusts, there are no initial fees to pay on the original purchase. The price of the fund is always close to the 'Net Asset Value' (NAV) of the underlying investments and will usually have tight spreads, unlike some unit trusts and some investment trusts. Also ETFs will disclose their holdings everyday, whereas traditional funds usually disclose their holdings twice a year.

What can I invest in?

ETFs offer a wide range of opportunities for investment with varying levels of risk: as at mid-December there were 45 different markets/indices to invest in, ranging from corporate bonds to the Taiwanese market. Starting at the lower end of the risk spectrum there are several corporate bond ETFs, as well as some Gilt-based investments. Moving on to the medium risk level, you can choose from global funds to ones that are more specific to individual regions, such as the US or Asia. There's also the option of investing in individual indices: 'index trackers' are available for the UK's FTSE100 and 250 Indexes, the US S&P 500, or Europe's Euro first 100 & 80, spanning the top European companies. For those wanting a higher level of risk, there are also ETFs which will give you exposure to emerging markets, such as Turkey, Korea, Taiwan and Eastern Europe. ETFs don't offer the same wide variety as unit trusts, but for investing in the countries and sectors they do cover, their charging structure and trade ability make up for this. As such, they provide a good, low cost, easily-traded route into the market, with the flexibility to move up the risk ladder as your experience and capital grows.

Finally, if you've an appetite for an even spicier approach, the London Stock Exchange also enables you to invest in commodities, through ETCs (Exchange Traded Commodities). Although like ETFs they are traded in the same way as shares, and are eligible to be held in a PEP or ISA, they do work in a completely different way. Whereas ETFs actually buy the underlying investments, ETC managers don't buy and store tons of wheat and copper, stack-up barrels of oil, or herd livestock into pens. Rather, they buy options on these commodities. As a result, ETCs are classed as more 'complex' investments by the FSA and you'll need to complete a special 'risk notice' confirming you understand the additional risks of investing in them. So take a fresh look at ETFs - you might just find they offer you more than you thought!

Funds: take your pick of the best

Unit Trusts and Open Ended Investment Companies (OEICs) are investments that let you pool your money with lots of other 'retail' investors. This money is invested on your behalf by a wide range of specialist fund managers, investing in, for example, Government gilts and bonds, commercial property and equities. Investing in funds gives you access to a highly-diversified range of investments at a reasonable cost. You will also have easy access to asset classes and international markets that would otherwise be difficult and expensive to invest in and benefit from the Fund Manager's contacts, knowledge, experience and expertise. Funds come in many shapes and sizes from 'trackers' to specialist or 'themed' funds.

An index-tracking fund (often referred to as a 'passively managed fund') aims to match or 'track' the performance of a given market index, such as the FTSE All Share or the FTSE 100. They do this using computer programs to work out how much of each individual company they need to buy and sell to mimic the performance of the Index as a whole. But not all 'tracker funds' match the Index they are tracking that well - so be sure to check their record. An 'actively managed fund' on the other hand employs researchers to study and engage with companies in which they plan to invest, and to keep abreast of the prospects for companies in which they already invest. They'll compare their performance to a 'benchmark' index related to the investment objectives of their fund, with the expectation that the extra work they put into tracking down the 'best' investments will literally pay dividends through higher growth than that of their benchmark.

Choosing your funds

When you pick your funds, be sure to rate them against other funds that fish in the same waters. Don't expect a 'value' fund and a 'growth' fund to have similar track records. Only by comparing funds with their true peers will you make a good choice. Whilst past performance should not be seen as an indication of future performance, past performance does matter when comparing like with like. Chasing winners however, is as dangerous as day-trading. Not surprisingly, all five of the top-performing funds at the end of 1999 were technology sector funds. Sector funds have a place in many a portfolio, but for the majority of investors they belong at its edges, not at its heart. An individual fund will give you a wider spread of underlying investments: by investing across a number of funds you're better able to smooth out the ups and downs of the market overall. But that won't work if it turns out that your funds hold virtually the same investments. So have a look at each fund report to see their top holdings and make sure you've got a good spread overall.

Individual Company shares

When it comes to the individual shares part of the investment model, the lowest risk entry point has always been recognised as companies in the FTSE 100. However, you should always bear in mind that the Index evolves over a period of time, changing its overall make-up. Consider, for example, that over the last 6 years technology shares have fallen out of the Index, while mining companies, on the back of booming commodity prices, have dramatically increased their presence. Yet, because of the volatility and cyclical nature of the sector, individual mining groups can't be classed as low risk. Other 'big names' have gone from the Index due to take-over activity - companies like P&O, Abbey National & BAA - all of which have to be replaced.

Today, some 80% of the make-up of the overall value of the FTSE100 comes from just 5 sectors - Banking, Mining, Oil & Gas, Pharmaceuticals, and Telecoms (fixed and mobile). So, if you're looking to the Footsie to form the bedrock of your investment in individual shares, where should you start? Companies involved in essential, everyday products and services, such as the water and electricity utilities and broad-based retailers often provide a solid backbone to any share portfolio. You could argue, however, that the classic 'defensive' nature of utilities has recently been undermined by the number of take-overs within the sector. The share prices of the remaining companies have climbed to all-time highs, potentially increasing the level of risk.

There is without doubt an appetite for the assured cash flow that utilities provide, and it's fair to say that a growing number of analysts agree it's hard to justify the current prices. Despite this, get your timing right, buying at the right price, and these sectors should still provide a strong base on which to build your individual holdings. To extend your scope, whilst still staying within a lower risk profile, your next ports of call should be into the banks, pharmaceuticals, tobacco and beverages sectors.

Move on up to the intermediate, 'medium risk' level, and you've an increasing choice, including the remaining FTSE100 companies, dominated by the mining sector. The majority of shares in the FTSE250 would also fit into this 'medium risk' category. Still relatively large companies, it is these shares that have seen some of the biggest gains over the last 3 years, helping push the 250 Index to record levels in 2006. One noticeable difference between the FTSE250 compared to the FTSE100, is that companies here generally have less international exposure. When it comes to the consideration of risk, you can play this one of two ways: some argue that having the majority of profits coming from the UK provides for less risk, while others (including us) favour having fingers in as many regions as possible.

Finally, at the higher end of the risk scale you find smaller companies and AIM quoted shares. These tend to be more volatile and less liquid than their larger cousins, factors that generally lead to wider bid/offer spreads. The AIM market has seen considerable growth over the last 10 years, partly because companies don't have to comply with the same stringent requirements of the main market.

Often, private investors don't get a look-in as part of the flotation, having to wait until the shares start trading, so do pick your time and use stop-loss limits - that early flush of success isn't always carried through. One of the fastest growing sub-sectors within AIM is small mining and exploration groups, many of which are based abroad but have chosen to list in the UK. Because their prospects include a significant amount of 'hope' value, such companies will represent the very highest level of risk. Equally classified as higher-risk, though as a result of different factors, are shares in overseas companies.

Household names like Volvo, Coca Cola and Johnson & Johnson are big names and big companies. The additional risk they bring for investors comes from the fact that the majority of their earnings are from overseas. So you face the added risk of changes in exchange rates. Over recent months, for example, the fall in the US$ would have had a big impact on the sterling value of dividends from US shares And when the companies you invest in are smaller ones, it's often harder to find reliable research and analysis, harder to track and compare performance, and harder to follow the news that affects the share price. True, most big UK names also trade globally, but as 'home market' companies they are well-researched, much commented upon and regularly feature in the UK business finance pages. That's not to say you shouldn't venture outside these shores - far from it - but you need to do so with your eyes open. That's why we see overseas shares as being more appropriate for investors asthey move up the experience ladder and once they've built a balanced portfolio. And it's also why, in general, we'd advise investing in market trackers and funds before moving into individual overseas shares.

Different Methods To Promote Online

Most People who Blog and Ping only use 1 Method to promote there online Home Based Business. Many of my coaching clients are coaches themselves, and quite a few of them have asked me how to promote their business online. There are a number of great ways to promote your online business.

Internet is the biggest benefits to promote your business. Whether you want to promote a new book, your services, or a website, an online press release can introduce the web-based world to you and what you have to offer. What product do you have to promote - This is the finished goods or product you have on hand to promote or market.

In an attempt to be able to meet the ever growing demand for prompt delivery of goods and products, it is then important for you as an online marketer to know the best online marketing and promotional skills in doing business on the internet. Blog and ping is probably the most popular way that people use Blogs to Market their online Business.

An online media kit is a must for book authors. To make money online, You must get traffic to your site. Once you do get that traffic to your site, here?s a few ideas to keep them there and to encourage them to visit again and again.

One of the first things you need to do is look at who your ideal customer or client is and who you want to attract to your site. Once the contest is ready, it is time to promote the contest to everyone you know. Finally, it is time to put the contest to work by designing the necessary web pages and forms (if applicable).

By trying to attract opportunity seekers to your business, what you are most likely doing is attracting people who are looking for a ?JOB?. There is a phenomenal amount of different ways to promote your business offline that I haven`t covered.

Once you find a business you would like to cross promote with simply e-mail them your proposal. You can find businesses to cross promote all over the Internet. Another effective way to promote your website is to write articles or free reports for ezine publishers and webmasters to use.

Remember in promoting your best online affiliate program that the currency of the net is information and most of this information comes in the form of articles. The best, most powerful and effective way of promoting any online affiliate program is with the use of free articles carrying your affiliate link in the resource box.

Some magazines and newspapers will accept articles from the public, and in exchange they will give you an ad space for either free or at a discounted rate. Printed Balloons- Everyone loves balloons, young and old alike, get a thousand printed up with your web site address on, give them out at party?s, send them as gifts in with your packages, put them on your car if you want to.

If you don't start your Internet Marketing plan, you could be this time next year with the same disappointing level of sales. Tsuyoshi E. Suzuki helps small business owners take action to grow their business. If you want to find out free online marketing method, make sure you click resource box below.