Would you buy a used car–with cash–from someone you just met in the bar, and who walked you down a dark alley to show you the car? Not likely. How about from a well-dressed, friendly, middle-aged man or woman, who placed a classified ad in your local newspaper, and who meets you midday at a restaurant of your choice?
Oops! You may be more likely to be cheated by seller number two. That’s the story of Jennifer Warwa, who bought a minivan and had her mechanic examine it. The mechanic later said how shocked he was that Jennifer had been scammed:
“Because I met the gentleman who was selling the vehicle. Very clean cut. In his fifties. Very soft spoken…. And he went with her to get it inspected. There was just no sign that was the kind of person he was” the mechanic told CBC’s Marketplace.
A few months later, Jennifer got a phone call from the police. They said she had purchased a stolen minivan, and they were coming to seize it. She was so upset, she tried to hide the van from the police. Eventually they caught up with her and she ended up paying for a year and a half for a $5,000 bank loan on a van she could not drive. Ouch!
Jennifer was just one victim in the chain that included the original owner, the insurance company, other consumers whose insurance rates keep rising, and the police, who spend thousands of hours tracking thefts. According to the FBI, a vehicle is stolen about every 25 seconds in the USA, amounting to an $8 billion yearly problem.
Here’s how these scams often work. Thieves target particular cars: for their value, their ease of resale as a whole or in parts, or because they are easier to steal. Years ago, most cars were stripped for parts, including unusual parts such as airbags. But today some thieves are so brash they sell cars through newspapers.
This newer scam is called “VIN cloning”, because the Vehicle Identification Number is stolen from another car. Criminals obtain VINs by copying them from the dash of cars in parking lots–even at dealerships. Some even physically remove the VIN plate from vehicles in auto salvage yards that allow customers to “pick your own parts.” (They do not mean that literally!) The number is used to falsely obtain new ownership documents, or documents are forged. Either way, a cloned VIN allows them to transform stolen cars into pseudo-legal vehicles that can be officially titled and sold. Many thieves work across state lines: cars may be stolen in the East, registered in the Mid-West, then sold in California. Scary!
Here’s what you can do to avoid buying a stolen car:
** Check the VIN on the dash against the VIN in the driver’s door jamb, under the hood, and on the paperwork
** Use the VIN to get the car’s history at carfax.com for about $20
** Ensure title and registration documents match the name and address of the seller
** Is the car from out of state?
** Be suspicious if you must meet a private seller in a parking lot. Better to see that they live at the address where the car is registered
** Has the vehicle recently been transferred?
** Does the seller use a home or work phone number, or just a cell?
** Is the selling price oddly low?
** Be warned that some used car dealers are getting scammed, too
** Pay by certified cheque or money order, not cash.
Keep in mind that most private sellers are not thieves, but rather honest, regular folks like you. And prices do tend to be lower with private sales. So if you follow my advice, you can greatly improve your chances of driving away with a “genuine” used car.
Will YOU get scammed on your next car purchase? Michael Trusthold teaches people how to save money when they buy a used car or sell a car or used truck, and has done so for profit for many years. For more scam prevention TIPS and handy checklists for used car buying and selling, visit UsedCars.biz.
In the early period of the 1900’s, F1 Racing went ahead with unsteady motor vehicles and older gentleman drivers, nevertheless the main Formula One Motor Racing competition didn?t start until the nineteen fifties. Whilst the years went by & the contest got extended, it hurriedly became clear that Formula One Motor Racing was the greatest championship for motorsport. The motor cars were the fastest, the expertise was the most sophisticated & the racing drivers were at the finest of their strength coming from nations all across the planet.
With the allowance of sponsorship, Formula 1 took on it’s more business structure & is nowadays be taken seriously as huge business ? with venture reaching millions and even billions with little effort. With huge success arrives politic interest and occasionally it?s who you are friends with and how much funds you have that obtains you what you aspire to. Formula 1 Racing is entwined with conspiracy theorists ? I will confess to being one of them ? but depending on how immersed you would like to get in the Formula 1 Motor Racing world, that side of things is painlessly not catered for. What really matters is what crops up on the grand prix track.
Journeying from country to country across the planet for just about eight months of the year, Formula One Motor Racing rolls into countries large and small, wealthy & poor, with bright landscapes, glamorous residences & loads of indigenous knowledge to be soaked up. A race weekend covers Friday, Saturday & Sunday, a Formula One Motor Racing weekend is a demanding ride, from early testing, to the closing laps of the grand prix. For all the latest Formula One Merchandise, visit F1Tribute.com today!
The central organisation incorporates a Formula 1 race every few weeks. From time to time the Formula 1 calendar is altered with a little bit and there are F1 motor races on one after another weekends, or from time to time you have to go lots of weeks before even seeing the known F1 racing drivers again. When it is time for the next motor race, you can study the news for your favourite Formula 1 team as they arrive at the destination. Friday involves practice meetings, Saturday is for qualifying and Sunday is for the racing event.
This article was published in the Nov. 2003 edition of Hamilton, Ontario’s BIZ Magazine under the title “Leadership’s Triple Crown” LM
What does it take to be the head of a small business, a department manager, or even a corporate CEO? The effective director isn’t one persona but three: a Visionary, a Manager, and a Mentor/Coach. A leader must be capable in all three roles and must have the proper perspective of their relative importance for him, in his position, at this time and place in his career. A tall order, complicated further by those roles never being static, shifting with circumstance, the business climate, organizational needs and with the individual’s preferences and abilities.
The Leader as Visionary
The visionary is the one who handles the creation or inspiring of goal-directed action. This leader is the man, or woman, with the plan.
The senior manager, CEO, president, general manager or owner has a fundamental responsibility to “Create the Vision.” The illusory definition of who, as a company, we are, what we do and why, where we are, where we’re going and how we get there from here. Once that vision is defined — and that’s no easy task — the leader must articulate it in terms the will enable, even compel, others to buy in and dedicate themselves to it. In other words, agree to follow. To quote author John C. Maxwell, “If you think you are a leader but have no followers, you’re not leading, you’re just going for a walk.”
The visionary, however, is not just a dreamer. The plan must translate into action. The leader is the one who must outline a clear, specific, and effective strategy for bringing the vision to life. This “plan” isn’t just a simple timeline. You can’t say you intend to land on the moon next year without considering how to build the rocket required for getting there. The vision will fail without a reasonable estimate of the necessary resources, including capital, facilities, equipment, people and talents essential to a successful implementation. Determining what is needed, how to acquire it, and where best to deploy assets is fundamental to making a vision reality. Any map includes milestones along the road and a method for tracking results so that everyone involved knows at all times what progress is being made. You would run out of gas on the highway without a fuel gage. Don’t expect your people to complete a journey without an idea of how far they have to go and what resources they have to get there.
A leader’s ability not only to be a visionary but to convey that message powerfully enough so employees want to strive for that goal has a direct impact on the company’s bottom line. The clearest example I know of this is two well-known Hamilton, Ontario companies located just down the street from each other but miles apart in direction, focus, and profitability. I’m talking of course about Canada’s two largest steelmakers Dofasco and Stelco.
Dofasco, with a clear vision, and a history of strong leadership, is seeing major returns even during tough economic times for the steel industry as a whole. The story is completely different a few blocks away. At Stelco, there seems to be a focus on the bricks, mortar, and machinery as the corporate essence without a real sense of where the company is going and why. The absence of apparent vision and feeling of corporate destiny breeds apathy in the workforce and leads to no feeling of accomplishment or pride in their work. It’s just a place to earn a living and to get away from as soon as possible. In a recent meeting with a Vice President I was told that in one mill, “wrench time” (the time that maintenance people actually charge to specific jobs) was down to 90 minutes per shift compared to the industry average of 4 hours, and no one can see a way to improve it.
While the absence of vision and poor atmosphere are not the sole factors in the company’s decline, it’s hard to argue with their lack of success. Stelco again reported a net loss of $82 million in second quarter 2003, more bad news after a first quarter net loss of $44 million.
Stelco is now trying to stop the hemorrhaging with a change in leadership. Jim Alfano stepped down as President and CEO in July, replaced on an interim basis with Fred Telmer, Stelco’s Chairman of the Board. While Telmer heads the transition team, the search is on for a new CEO. “Has vision” should be at the top of the qualification checklist.
Results rest on the shoulders of the visionary, no effective leader acts alone. The senior leader may only create an initial “rough draft” of the company plan and must flesh it out through team input. But unless the leader has a clear vision of where he is going, the rough draft is likely to remain just that. He must guide the polishing process.
As the vision is disseminated deeper into the organization, internal leaders — for example, the middle management, department heads — are presented with an already defined goal but the process of articulating that vision and of directing the rest of the process through his or her level of responsibility is much the same as the view from the top. After all, leadership exists at every level in a company. Even when the plan reaches the “shop floor”, every employee can learn to take responsibility for self direction in accepting personal responsibility for his or her actions, results and focus on the corporate goal.
The Leader as Manager
A manager, by definition, manages. In other words, the manager must plan the processes, create the rules, assign responsibilities, direct activity, provide training, focus efforts, control costs, measure progress and report on results. The “leader as manager” is the one with the “hard skills” — the planning and organizing, the number crunching, the industry, equipment and process knowledge. This is the foundation of leadership on which true leaders build their soft skill development.
The key to being a successful manager-leader is the ability to troubleshoot. That is, to find solutions to problems and make effective decisions that will keep them from reoccurring. The manager shouldn’t be just putting out fires; he should be preventing them. The ratio of prevented crisis to reactive problem solving is the main indicator of the effective manager-leader. If the leader is always running around with a bucket of water, sooner or later someone is going to figure out if he’s always putting out the same type of fires. Either he lacks the necessary planning, organization, influence, and resourcing skills to manage or he has failed to build on his hard skill foundation to bring his leadership to the next growth level. If the leader brings nothing more to the role than the ability to problem solve, the company doesn’t have a firefighter, it potentially has an arsonist — someone who consciously or unconsciously creates the conditions that require his skill set. If the operation runs from one inferno to the next, when does anyone have time to grow the business? The company suffers. No matter how addictive the rush of being the “go-to” person can be, nobody can run on high octane forever. The leader, his performance, as well as his quality of life outside of work, all deteriorate. What the arsonist has done thinking it will make him essential will eventually burn him out of a career.
Time spent on the managerial role is on a continuum. The more junior the leader, the more time — as much as 80 per spent — is spent on the management functions. The senior executive dedicates less than 20 per cent of his time to “managing”. While the CEO must always pay attention and be aware of what is going on, managerial tasks are an effective subordinate developing tool and are among the first to be delegated.
If a leader can not delegate, he creates a development and succession bottleneck. Essentially, he is limiting his own potential for advancement by not cultivating talent to take over. He becomes locked (at best) in his current position or (worse) shifted to even more managerial-heavy (and thus, lower on the leadership continuum) responsibilities. Moving forward requires the soft skills of leadership. Vision and courage are absolutely essential for delegation as well as the ability to trust others and to get of the way, allowing people to make their own mistakes.
As the leader grows, he must not only delegate his managerial tasks, but also transition from being “hands on” to “hands off”. No one, particularly those higher on the corporate food chain, likes to be micromanaged. Being able to affectively assess the level of one’s involvement and required degree of tracking in delegated assignments is the main skill leap between the leader as manager and the leader as mentor/coach.
Steve Thompson of Brantford, Ontario-based Stellarc Precision Bar is one executive mastering this tricky delegation balancing act in his leadership style. Thompson wasn’t really sure where his skills needed development, he had only an uneasy feeling that he was spending a lot of time “spinning his wheels.” So, he came to The Leadership Centre for support. When he began to recognize how much of a “hands on” manager he was, he resolved to make immediate changes. He reorganized offices, added responsibilities to all of his departmental managers and provided personal productivity, leadership and time management training.
His new focus on giving his managers the responsibility and authority to get things done — rather than doing them himself — has given him time and freedom to focus on new visions and new directions for the company as well as on some important personal goals. In the past three years he has more than doubled the size of the plant, added a million dollar state of the art bar processing line and brought in a new, dynamic plant manager all while reducing his own work week to about fifty hours from a grueling seventy hour schedule.
The Leader as Mentor/Coach
Some 80 per cent of people say they are not “engaged” at work. They don’t like, respect or care about their company, their managers, their fellow workers or their customers. What’s truly scary about this scenario is that the overwhelming number of these employees have no immediate plans to change jobs. They don’t believe things are any better someplace else. Is there a measure of personal responsibility for this situation? Definitely. But whose job is it, ultimately, to help change the situation? The leader as mentor/coach.
Of the three fundamental roles of the executive, this is the one that most affects the continuing growth of both people and the organization. It is also the face of leadership requiring the highest level of soft skills. The mentor/coach must have the self confidence to not see growing the potential of others as personally threatening. The mentor focuses outward on results — not inward on actions; on strengths and on what can be — not on weakness and what is impossible.
The mentor maintains focus on the goal, the vision, and the “quest for the grail” that drives ordinary people to extraordinary performance. It has been said that everyone has it in him or her to be a superstar in some field, in some role. The mentor helps a person define his or her strengths to build on them, to strengthen them, to find or create a role where these strengths can be utilized to their fullest potential. With proper mentoring, a person’s weaknesses — and we all have them — do not matter. People are driving their careers on a road that leverages their superstar qualities.
The mentor-leader grows individuals, departments, and the entire organization by helping to set SMART — specific, measurable, attainable, results-oriented, and timely — goals. SMART goals at each level must reflect and support the overall corporate vision. By forging that link between individual performance and how it directly impacts on the bottom line, the mentor-leader is engaging the employee, making him or her part of the plan, not a victim of it. Influencing others through consensus building and buy-in strategies is a key mentor-leader skill.
Effective mentoring/coaching skills are at the root of a striking turn-around story at Hamilton’s ailing National Steel Car. The company, founded in 1912, designs and manufactures railroad freight equipment. But the company was on a bumpy track a few years back until it brought in Dan Elliott, the former President of Wabco Freight Car products in Stoney Creek, as chief operating officer to help turn things. The previous owner/management seems to have been rather autocratic with little responsibility vested in even senior managers — not at all in line with Dan’s way of thinking — and the company had slipped from its position as one of North America’s leading rail car manufacturers. Employment had dropped from nearly 3000 to a mere 300 workers and the company’s economic prospects looked grim.
With a senior management team of about a dozen vice presidents, many of them in their early to mid thirties, Elliott began the process of rebuilding the company’s vitality. The mixture of youth and experience would succeed only if everyone believed in the future and proactively worked to make the corporate vision a reality. To achieve this, Elliott took on the task of mentoring his VPs in setting departmental and individual SMART goals and then monitoring progress.
The new focus on the vision, with everyone knowing where they want to go and committing themselves to getting it done, is working like magic. Not the process has been an entirely smooth one. The long term people found it difficult at first to accept and believe in the new responsibilities entrusted to them but now, just over a year into the transition, the VPs are emulating Elliott’s style and their people, in turn, are emulating them.
Elliot supports his VPs on a daily basis, mentoring and coaching individually and collectively, while ensuring they know he believes in them, trusts their decision making abilities and is prepared to back them up. The result so far — National Steel Car is regaining its top industry position, employee levels are back up around the 1500 mark and the company, despite overall market slumps, is making steady progress towards real profitability. Vision, mentoring and delegation of managerial responsibilities are combining here to make a huge difference.
Three leaders in one
To be truly great, a leader must comfortably and effectively wear all three “faces”. Strong managers may not have a clear picture of where they are headed, dreamers may not get the job done and mentors will find it difficult to grow others if they are not first secure in both their own hard and soft competencies. Defining the fundamental skills required is the first step in developing one’s leadership potential. The leader must then be willing to recognize his limitations and weakness and be committed to continuous learning and development. This sort of honest self-evaluation, willingness to build on strengths and address development areas is fundamental on the road to the top. That journey can span a career but the pay-off is a successful, prosperous and growing organization with you at the helm.
Len McNally is President and founder (in 1996) of The Leadership Centre, dedicated to leadership development, management team building and change management through executive and corporate coaching - from the top floor to the shop floor. With more than thirty years experience in sales, marketing and business development Len has for many years been an avid student of psychology, behavior and motivation. He still reads three to four books a month and has writen several book reviews for Amazon.com. He can be reached at (519) 759-1127 or email: the.leadership.centre@sympatico.ca. Other articles may be seen at: http://www.tlc-leadership.com
No doubt you’ve seen the late night commercials extolling the virtues of trading commodity futures. People have made millions with small investments almost overnight. Read the fine print: Results are not typical. Trading commodity futures can result in enormous profits but it is a tricky business. Only those with money they can afford to lose should consider dallying in this market. That said, trading futures is a fascinating and high profit endeavor which those with a high risk tolerance may find to their liking.
The term futures actually refers to a futures contract. Buying a future means entering into a contract to buy or sell a commodity for a specific price at a specified time in the future.
Futures emanated from the 1800s when farmers began selling their crops before they had actually been brought to market. A future was essentially just an agreement between the farmer and the buyer as to the price that would be paid when the crop came in. Obviously, depending upon weather conditions while the crop was in the field the value of the crop might go up or down. If a hail storm destroyed most of a certain crop then the value of the future might go up because there would be less of the commodity to go around. On the other hand, a bumper crop might cause the value of the future to fall. Over time people who owned these agreements or contracts began to sell them prior to the harvesting of the crop. Thus, a market in futures was born.
The modern futures market has become much more complex and deals not just in crops but in all sorts of sorts of precious metals as well as crude oil, gasoline and even electricity. Futures are sold throughout the day on a variety of exchanges including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). Trading commodity futures would be complicated even if only actual farmers and those interested in using their crops were involved. Today’s commodity markets, however, encompass an enormous variety of traders.
Many large institutions trade options and speculators are also rampant. Speculators are in the commodities market only to make money and often buy and hold positions for just hours or even minutes. They trade on scraps of information and hints gleaned from the news. Sometimes they make trades on the basis of volume alone. Both institutions and speculators also hedge options which simply means they try to protect their positions by “hedging their bets”. Hedging in the simplest terms refers to the practice of taking a futures position that is in opposition to a position taken in the stock market. By doing this a person is covering himself/herself no matter which way the market moves. In truth, hedging can result in enormous losses. Hedging is only once of many devices which are used in trading commodity futures. So called futures derivatives can become so complicated that not even traders with years of experience are entirely sure what is being sold.
If you are considering trading commodity futures it is imperative that you read and study extensively before making any investment. After a period of study you should investigate the commodity options brokerage houses. Commodities cannot be traded on the exchanges directly by individuals. They have to be traded through people and firms who are registered with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. Carefully read through the disclosure information which is provided by the brokerages you are considering.
Once you have decided to trade commodity futures, think again. Part of the reason futures trading can be so profitable is because trading is done with a leverage account. Leverage means you are only putting up a portion of the money and borrowing the rest on margin. If the futures go up your account pays the leverage costs out of the profits. If the futures you have bought go down you will have to pay the difference out of your own pocket. When futures fall precipitously you may be called upon to pay the money you owe immediately sometimes within an hour. It bears repeating that trading commodity futures is only for those who have capital they can afford to risk and lose.
Bear the following in mind.
Do not deal with anyone who will not provide disclosure documents. Do not allow anyone to pressure you or intimidate you into opening account. Do not use money you cannot afford to use to trade commodity futures. Do not borrow money to trade commodity futures. Do not be lured into opening an account by promises of quick, easy profits.
Trading commodity futures can be lucrative and exciting. Conversely, it can cause the loss of every penny invested and liability for any money borrowed on margin. Therefore, for anyone considering trading commodity futures the motto is truly, “Buyer beware.”
Christopher M. Luck has an extensive background in working exclusively with the commodity trading and is now offering his free trading tips to the public. If you are at all interested in Christopher’s trading advice, tips, or secrets, you can visit his commodity blog
Wrongful death law refers to the law that aims to protect victims who are harmed by the action or inaction of another entity or person. A claim can be filed for injury acquired by an individual either physically or mentally. Wrongful death lawyers seek to win compensation for their clients. If you feel you are a victim and are uncertain what your legal options are, the best thing to do is to speak with wrongful death lawyers who will guide you through the process.
Basically, there are three reasons why you must hire wrongful death lawyers. First, you will need professional help to win against an individual or a large corporation. Second, you must not have to worry about your violated personal injury rights. Lastly, you must concentrate on getting better and not have to spend your time at the court house or with wrongful death lawyers. You must contact a wrongful death lawyer even if you only have a small concern. Whether big or small, you need to file your personal claim immediately and see what your legal rights are.
With the unmatched function of the Internet as the number 1 source of information for whatever purposes that it may be, even law firms have decided to advertise their firms and their services in the web. So, when you know someone who has been involved in a wrongful death accident, you’ll definitely need a wrongful death lawyer to represent the families of victims who have died wrongfully. Most states allow a relative or the spouse of the victim to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the negligent party.
When you search for wrongful death lawyers online, you’ll get lots of them in the search result finds. More specifically, you can search for the attorneys in your area, too. The Internet really has all of the information that you may need about wrongful death lawyers to form a better case. Since it can be difficult to understand the complexity of the legal system, it will be wise to find a lawyer to protect your rights through the web.
Truly, the Internet has made finding wrongful death lawyers and everything about the law simpler. There are several websites available that can provide you with the legal help that you are seeking. Knowing your legal rights does not have to be difficult, especially now that the Internet continues to expand its role in bringing everything to its users.
About the Author
Looking for tips and suggestions about legal matters, visit http://www.personalinjurylawyersinc.com
‘A cigarette is a pipe with a fire at one end and a fool at the other’ said Dr. Johnson in his sarcastic comment on cigarettes and smoking.
Smoking is in fact a pernicious craving for tobacco products, especially cigarettes and cigars.
An organic compound, nicotine, which is richly found in tobacco smoke, is very detrimental to your health. It is linked with various health risks. It can cause diseases of the cardiovascular system, myocardial infarction (heart attack), stroke, diseases of the respiratory tract such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) chronic bronchitis and emphysema, cancer (particularly lung cancer and cancers of the larynx and tongue), peripheral vascular disease, birth defects of pregnant smokers’ offspring, Buerger’s disease (thromboangiitis obliterans), impotence, and in some cases it may develop cataracts that may cause blindness.
The statement ‘One thousand Americans stop smoking every day - by dying’ ironically expresses the risks of smoking.
“Sooner or later, everyone stops smoking.” Major health risks can be minimized by cessation smoking. Smoking cessation means to quit smoking, but the cardinal point is how to quit smoking.
Smoking can be quitted by using nicotine-containing tobacco substitutes. Nicotine replacement therapy has been quite an effective treatment. It uses various other nicotine delivery methods to replace nicotine obtained from smoking or other tobacco usage. The nicotine patch, inhaler, nasal spray, gum, gel, and lozenge are some effective tools of NTR. Nicotine gum is a chewing gum, which delivers nicotine to the body.
Nicotine patches are also used to quit smoking. Nicotine patches are transdermal patches that release nicotine into the skin. The patch therapy has been considerably successful in helping many people quit.
Hypnosis Stop-Smoking programs are another alternative that can help people who seriously want to quit.
Quit smoking help with hypnosis involves consultations and sittings with a hypnotherapist, who generally squeezes out the reasons for one’s smoking and the reasons for wanting to quit. Various hypnotherapy techniques, positive affirmations, and suggestions, are used to help the patient undertake a change of mindset and therefore quit smoking. Tools like stop smoking tapes or CDs are provided to the patient. Quit smoking hypnosis therapy is also proving to be a great quit smoking support.
The best way to quit smoking is to develop a strong will power to want to quit smoking. People who have weak will power cannot quit smoking. Weak will power can make even the effective therapies useless.
James I of England expressed his hate for smoking while he quoth, “A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black, stinking fume thereof nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless.”
Smoking is not only injurious to health but rather to society also. It should be eradicated as early as possible.
Paul MacIver writes articles on a variety of topics. For further information on successful stop smoking methods visit How to Quit Smoking You may freely reprint this article as long as nothing is changed, this resource box is included and all links are intact.
Pay per click advertising is an on-going and growing arsenal for all entrepreneurs world wide. Whether your have a small business or a large business, buying a search engine placement is definitely the way to go.
Why fight a never ending battle against some of the worlds best webmasters who have years of experience and are deticated to search engine placement 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?
Don’t fight the battle, win the battle by utilizing pay per click search engine marketing!
1st Thing 1st: Testing Your Market Place…
If you’ve never attempted a pay per click campaign, a good idea is to start with a small budget in order to test your market place.
The key is to find what your potential customers are searching for. There’s no better place to test that out by going to Google. Google allows you to pay for a small ad off to the right within a small green box.
Huh? If you’ve never seen these small ads within Google, go to: http://www.google.com
If you type in “web design” in google’s search engine, you will no doubt get the regular results on the left, as well as a list of small ads off to the right within small green boxes.
Underneath the small green boxes, you will see a link that says; “Place your ad here”. Another route is by going here: http://adwords.google.com
Please do yourself a favor and deticate yourself to a small ad within Google in order to learn the ropes and utilize an inexpensive way to some fabulous research information.
You’ll want to determine how much you are willing to pay for 1 month. It could be as low as $20, but I recommend starting out with $50.00 to start your 1st campaign.
Try coming up with an ad that’s catchy and to the point!
Ex. Legal Services
Get A FREE Consultation!
Legal Services in Ontario
legalservices.com
After that you need to predetermine the “Key Phrases” you think that your potential clients are typing in Google when it comes to your product or service.
EX. “Legal Services”.
When Google asks you to enter your key words or phrases, you might want to try entering something like this….
- Legal Services
- Lawyers in Ontario
- Law Services
- Lawyer Services
- Lawyer Services in Ontario
Try using as many as you can think of… Google will later show you the most popular key phrases compared to the key phrases that don’t work at all.
Please Note: I am using Google’s Adwords as an example because of how easy it is to log into your account at any time and check to see how many people have seen your ad and how many people have actually clicked on your ad to visit your site.
Once you’ve entered your “Key Words & Phrases” now you’re going to be asked to enter the maximum amount of money you want to pay every time someone clicks on your ad.
Ex. If someone searches “Legal Services”, you enter that you will pay a maximum of 0.07cts per click.
This will give you a pre-qualified potential client for 0.07cts.
Let’s move on a little now..
Assuming that your ad is all set up and already on the way. Now you can return to Google, log into your account and see how your “Key Words & Key Phrases” are performing with your campaign.
It might read something like this….
- Legal Services — Ad was viewed 2000 times — Clicked on 100 times.
- Lawyers in Ontario — Ad was viewed 4560 times — Clicked on 9 times.
Now you will get a much better understanding at what your potential clients are searching for and what they are actually clicking on.
KEY NOTE: Try to experiment with this as much as possible and as quickly as possible so you can really begin your Pay Per Click Search Engine Marketing.
Are you ready???
Now that you have your predetermined key words of phrases you want to use, you can now start looking into pay per click campaigns. Per per click search engines are a little different compared to the Google Adwords because instead of getting a small ad off to the right you are now going to bid on actual search engine placements.
1st thing you want to do is to visit a pay per click search engine. For instance, you might want to visit: www.goto.com or www.lycos.com or any other pay per click search engine online and test your new key words to determine what the top placements are paying for those spots.
Ex. Let’s use “Lawyer Services” again, type in that phrase in any ppc search engine and look at the top placements! It should read something like this…
5) Legal Services.com
Our firm is dedicated to helping you win your case each and every time.
Cost: $0.10
The key is to look at the cost. The cost is what “Legal Services.com” was willing to pay for the 5th search engine placement.
And there you go, you now have the basic knowledge to plan out a pay per click campaign. Always remember to lay out how much you are willing to commit to your search engine campaign and keep yourself to it.
I recommend to all my clients to atleast master the Google Adword program. Google’s search engine is the #1 hotspot on the internet for potential clients, why not get a slice of the pie!
Good Luck To All!
About The Author
Martin Lemieux
Smartads - President
http://www.smartads.info
Affordable web site design & Web Site Marketing Tips
http://www.flyinggelatingames.com
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I sincerely believe that there has never been a better time in
history for we (or is it us?) writers to making a comfortable
living on the internet.
The World Wide Web offers you an opportunity, unique in history,
to speak directly to millions of potential customers. Some
commentators advise that if you want to be listened to, speak to
them “in their language”. I only partially agree (but then, I’m
always breaking the rules!)…
When I write articles for “the international market” of the net,
I don’t target particular countries and try to adapt my writing
style. I’ve found that people around the world don’t seem to
mind the fact that I may use “funny” words or spelling - small
details, like “s’s” instead of “z’s”, color or colour…as long
as the grammar is reasonably correct. I just try to write in my
“natural style” - one in which I feel comfortable (seeing I was
brought upin South Africa with British English) and suggest you
“foreign” writers do the same.
Incidentally, I put this short note at the end of some of my
articles…
“PS: Dear Americans, please excuse my”strange” British English
spelling. Very Colonial! I just write and use my own style and
spelling - one that I’m accustomed to (sounds funny that ending
]sentence n a “preppie”). I am quite happy for these articles to
be used and distributed by other electronic and other magazines.
If they help others out there in any way, then I’m happy.”
To sum up… My advice is just find your “natural style” by
writing as you speak- as practice writing in your “natural
style” breeds confidence. Then submit your articles to ezines
and announcement lists, like Article Announce, Free Content, The
Write Articles, ArticleXpress (Making Profit.com), Publisher
Network and Article Publish. I find this marketing method by far
the most effective means of getting traffic to our various sites
(and one thing then leads to another)…and best of all it costs
nothing, but a little time and effort!
Lately, all our marketing has been done through writing articles
(on internet marketing, writing, money and self help) and
submitting them to the article announcement lists mentioned
before. Often from there they get picked up by ezines with large
readerships - from 10000 …to even ones with hundreds of
thousands of subscribers. True! These big ezine publishers are
continually looking for new and quality content, particularly
ORIGINAL material that can help others “out there in cyberspace”.
My advice is… Write about what you KNOW - your areas of
knowledge and expertise, based on your experiences. We find this
strategy of SHARING relevant and practical information most
effective of all in drawing traffic to our various web sites…
and best of all, it helps others “out there in the vast
void/realm of cyberspace”. That is why I write my articles.
Here is my “dime’s worth” (see learning “American English” , or
at least your expressions already) on the subject of writing for
an international audience on the world wide web. The Web offers
you an opportunity, unique in history, to speak directly to
millions of potential customers. Some commentators advise that
if you want to be listened to, speak to them “in their
language”.I only partially agree (but then, I’m always breaking
the rules - story of my life!).
Here are some other points in writing articles for the www:
Firstly,
Identify your target audience.
Keep your title reasonably short.
Keep your paragraphs short.
Get to the point quickly (enough waffle with maple syrup,
Craig!).
Target your article to your audience with “focussed information”.
Never use a big word, when a dimunitive will do.
Use the occasional exclamation mark (!) to get your readers
attention!
Make sure your article flows properly. Re-read and re-read to
get it flowing as best you can - with correct spelling, grammar
and punctuation.
Try to be concise.
Be credible (big word, eh?) at all times. I try to write my
articles in a “conversational style”.
Put some thought and effort into your heading (title) - again to
get your reader’s immediate attention.
Use bullets in your lay-out - easy to read in point form…but
be extremely security conscious, when “checking in” your
articles. Bang bang! (oops, er sorry - bad taste). Conclude with
a strong message. A message that summarises your article or gets
your reader to take further action
Offer a free report with your article - you can collect a list
of adresses for marketing your products.
Finally, make sure your layout is good (not one of my strong
points!), as this greatly enhances your prospects of getting
published Some prominent article writers say one should write
differently to one’s natural style , when writing for the web .
I say , DON’T . Just write what comes naturally…and BE
YOURSELF. Though you may have to be briefer than usual, if you
are a “waffler”, like this writer. People want immediate
information online and have limited time usually - it’s the
instant coffee, sorry generation.
The internet is such an amazing medium for communication. I’ve
just submitted this article and it’s been published almost
instaneously (big word!) in a few places. So YOU TOO can write
articles on your chosen subject in your internet marketing
efforts.
MORE TRAFFIC = INCREASED SALES
Writers and internet marketers - Grab this moment in history
well.
“Carpe diem” (seize the moment!).
Happy writing and…
Just GO FOR IT
Craig Lock
P.S:
On re-reading this short piece, found I used a lot of “eyes”.
Very “ego-centric” (big word). Sorry, but didn’t know how to
write it any other way based on my experiences!
Hope this may help you readers “out there in cyberspace”.
We all want our homes to look great and be worth more, however not all of us have the money to invest in our homes the way we would like. Fortunately, there are many things you can do to increase the value and look of your home that is not so expensive and things you can do all on your own. That is right, there are a lot of do it yourself projects that can make a huge difference in the way your home appears from the outside as well as in that will also increase the value. Consider the following five weekend project ideas to add value to your home!
Project #1 Paint
Painting inside your home can be a really great project that will freshen up the look of your home and make it look brand new, not to mention increase the property value. Consider using colors to complement the room and furniture like taupes, reds, yellows, blues, even pinks and browns. Adding color makes your home look more fashionable and is really a great way to improve the value as well. So, pick out some colors, buy some paint brushes, and start painting!
Project #2 Landscape
When you landscape you brighten up your home considerably and a landscaped yard adds value to a home, too! If you don’t know how to landscape then simply look online for some guides that will show you exactly what to do as well as what plants, flowers, and shrubs to buy! After a weekend of hard work tilling and planting you will have a beautifully landscaped yard that will welcome you home each day and make your home look like a million bucks, almost!
Project #3 New Linoleum
Linoleum has a way of looking old and dirty after a few years so if you are looking for a way to improve the value of your home and make it look better as well then you should simply replace the linoleum. Of course, you can hire someone to do this, but doing it yourself will save money and is not too difficult. You just need to do some measurements, pick out a linoleum flooring you like, and install! You can find instructions where you buy the linoleum as well as online.
Project #4 Add a Deck
Every home needs a deck to really set off the house and add a place for the family to cookout and socialize. A deck is really not hard to build if you have basic woodworking skills and it is really not too expensive either if you do the work yourself or with a friend or family member. In addition, when you add a deck the value of your home will go up!
Project #5 New Knobs and Door handles
Buy new knobs and door handles for all doors, drawers, and cabinets. This might seem like an unnoticed part of your home, but when you change all of these your entire home will have a shine and look brand new! In addition, when you add the new knobs and handles you increase the value of your home, so it is definitely worth it.
There are many ways you can add value to your home, but these five weekend project ideas to add value to your home are easy and do not take too much work or expertise. Give them a try and you will be surprised how they turn your home around!
SearchArticles.net features hundreds of home improvement tips for weekend warriors. For additional home improvement tips and articles, visit http://www.searcharticles.net/home-improvement.cfm
Disabled individuals are often the most disadvantaged group in
the society. Although there are laws that requires
establishments to apply the necessary adjustment to accommodate
these disabled individuals there are still some who neglect to
provide the appropriate modification. Nevertheless, throughout
the years disabled people have come to adjust to their
surroundings and have been given better opportunity.
Most disabled individuals especially those who have paralyzed
legs or spinal cord uses wheelchair. A wheelchair has many
different parts and functions. For one, the armrest is used as a
resting place of the arm and used for support and stability.
Oftentimes the armrest is one of the taken for granted parts of
a wheelchair. But one cannot deny the fact that the armrest
functions more than a support for the arm. It helps restrain a
person in the wheelchair, it helps stabilize a person in sudden
stops and help in stabilizing a person when picking up something
from the floor. When the weight of your arm is resting on the
armrest, chances are you might be able to straighten your spine
and sit more comfortably.
It’s true that armrests can interfere with your wheeling
especially to those persons who have shorter arms. It can hinder
you from reaching something on the floor or on the table.
Nevertheless, armrests are usually removable so you do not need
to use them all the time. In fact many users of wheelchair buy
armrests and use them only when necessary. Additionally, armrest
can protect you if you have limited upper body balance. It could
also help you shift your weight in the chair to prevent sores.
And as falls could also happen even if you have someone pushing
you, having an armrest could mean the difference between staying
in the wheelchair and getting slammed at the pavement.
The wheelchair industry has produced different types of
armrests. Remember that your choice of armrest should be based
in your activities, environment, special needs, level of
function and preference. Hence, the decision to use armrest is
up to you and what makes you comfortable and not on the
perception of how tough you are or anyone else’s attitude.
For comments and suggestions kindly visit Wheelchair Parts
