Basics of security and privacy in high yield investing
So far we have covered the risk of being scammed and steps you can take to minimize the risk. We have also covered the risk of bad trading results and how to identify the likelihood of them happening for programs in general. But what about the basics security & privacy? Don't worry, I am not going to bore you with an article about firewalls, anti-virus etc etc, there's plenty of that elsewhere. But I remembered something that happened to me a few months ago.
The program I was looking into was MCAJ, which is now closed to new investors. I had never invested in the program because the returns were, well, really not that good, but I was considering it for diversification purposes. What finally put me off however were not the poor returns, but security issues. I discovered them through trial-and-error.
As it happened to be, I registered utilitizing yet another randomly generated password by my trusty KeePass, 25 characters in length. Somehow the textbox did not have a maximum number of characters, but the system truncated the password to 15 characters. Obviously this meant that I could no longer login, but it was not immediately clear to me why, which is how I ended up contacting customer support.
Customer support was helpful, unfortunately a bit too much. They reset my password and notified me with the new password by e-mail, not the safest practise in the world. So I threw another randomly generated password at it and ended up with the same problem. But this time I spotted the problem. The customer support representative was able to confirm the truncated bit of my password. Does that ring a bell? It should.
Most poorly programmed websites will at least put some effort into securing member information and especially account username & password. One has to wonder though what the point is of putting in a lot of effort into encryption and other security measures at the website, while at the same time confirming the new password by e-mail...in MCAJ, not only did they e-mail you your password, clearly the support representative had access to the password, meaning it was not saved with any encryption at all on the server either. Basically a hacker would only need to hack the database password and once through, he would instantly be able to login to every account and do whatever he liked.
I have a background in web development, so I threw in a few pieces of advise and gave helpful tips on how to improve security and why it was necessary. The once so friendly representative ignored all forms of communication from that point forward. I had simultaneously reached the conclusion that this was just not worth it for me and dropped the program from my list.
What I got from this was a new trick up my sleeve. I now suffer from amnesia the moment I have made the decision to join a program and sign up... I feel it is important not only to test customer support, but also to get an idea on security measures in place. Some programs really don't have a clue on security, which can compromise your personal details and thus your privacy. Not to mention your investments.
Which brings me to another point: the dreaded secret questions. Even the websites you'd consider to be pretty tight in security can't help themselves and offer you the secret question. Twenty years ago, there was just one secret question: "What's your mother's maiden name?" Today, there are more: "What street did you grow up on?" "What's the name of your first pet?" "What's your favorite color?" And so on.
The point of all these questions is the same: a backup password. If you forget your password, the secret question can verify your identity so you can choose another password or have the site e-mail your current password to you. It's a great idea from a customer support perspective -- a user is less likely to forget his first pet's name than some random password -- but terrible for security. The answer to the secret question is much easier to guess than a good password, and the information is much more public. Security goes out the window and we fall back to the illusion of security. Much worse than no security at all.
Here's a few (hopefully) helpful tips:
- You'd hate to pass up a great opportunity, but consider the security measures put in place to protect your personal information and not to mention your account with full access to your investments. Does the website use SSL, a secured connection? If not, this is not immediately a disaster but definitely a starting point for more checking. Does the program e-mail you your password after creating your account and can you have yours e-mailed to you with a click on 'I forgot my password'? Is there a secret question mechanism? Pretend you are an idiot and contact customer support, get them to tell you your password, check how hard it is. All this will help you make up your mind whether or not the program has a clue about security.
- Obviously you use a hard to guess and long password, preferably one randomly generated for you. When asked for a secret question, hit your keyboard a few dozen times and fill both the question and answer with utter rubbish. You can never use this method to gain access to your account again... but neither can anyone else!
- Just because they ask for your personal details, doesn't mean that you have to give them. In most cases a working e-mail address and payment processor information will do the trick. No one is going to check your address or ring you. If you feel uncomfortable, then add your real name. You can always make up an excuse right?
All Inclusive Vacations - Travel Planning Guides specializing in All Inclusive Vacation and resorts worldwide.
DIY Computers - How to Build a PC - Learn how to build your own computer in no time. Computer terminology explained. DIY Computer will save you money. Computer secrets shared!
Naples Gift Baskets - Gift Baskets and balloons for any occasion or event. Local hand delivery and natiowide shipping
Ft Lauderdale Condos - South Florida professional real estate services from Jacky Goff for Ft. Lauderdale Miami Miami Beach South Beach and all surrounding areas. My specialties include Oceanfront and Waterfront Properties - Condos Townhomes Residential
Link Trade Program Links Exchange Software - Link trade program that offers to its members a new way to link exchange free with one another in order to the increase link popularity and traffic of their web sites. Web Marketing Software provides links exchange program for free link trade.
Advertising Marketing and Promoting online - Neil-Bennett.com Marketing and Building Downlines Online since 1998. Links and reports to FREE Advertising Marketing and Online Promotion.
A1 Phentermine - No one has lower prices - A1 Phentermine works hard to deliver to you the lowest possible prices available online for the prescription medication phentermine. Youll be glad you visited because the prices are rock bottom for this incredibly popular weight loss medication!
Kinky Toys - Fun Adult Sex Toys & Gifts - Put a bit of spice back into your relationahip by choosing one of our 5000 adult toy products to indulge yourself with.
Sexleksaker & Dildo Sexshop - Swedish erotic store with alot of toys and clothes. Fast deliveries and easy payment
Online Dating - Totally free online dating service for singles looking for love and romance.
Cell Phones and Accessories Nokia Motorola Sony - Cheap cell phones and cell phone accessories online store. We carry bluetooth chargers, batteries, cases for wireless phones, Motorola, Nokia, Sony, Eriksson, Samsung, Nextel, LG, Treo, Kyocera, Sanyo, Audiovox and many more.
Learn How to Play Guitar & Bass Guitar on DVD - Ever considered playing electric or acoustic guitar? Learn guitar & bass guitar on DVD video. Guitar lessons on DVD video are much cheaper then a private guitar or bass guitar teacher. Best price for beginner guitar lessons online!
Cochise Coffee LLC - Cochise Coffee LLC sells the freshest roast coffee available. Roasted to order always fresh. We only roast after the coffee is ordered by the customer. Wholesale to coffee shops retailers grocers and restaurants. We also sell to individuals.
Great Steals on Travel Deals - The pirate provides travel deals a travel forum travel classifieds travel website reviews and is very popular with the travel industry.
As all long-time subscribers of Internet ScamBusters know, we are very strongly opposed to using bulk email ("spam") for any reason whatsoever. We've also warned subscribers not to buy or take action on any bulk email offer. For information on why, see Internet ScamBusters issues:
UCE: Unsolicited Commercial Email Spam Mail 12 Spamming Issues
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is offering the same advice. The FTC had asked people to forward bulk email to the agency so they could take an inside look at the kind of offers that arrive via bulk email.
"FTC staff found that more often than not, bulk email offers appeared to be fraudulent, and if pursued, could have ripped off unsuspecting consumers to the tune of billions of dollars."
Last month, the FTC identified its "Dirty Dozen," the twelve scams most likely to arrive via bulk email in consumers' email boxes.
Here is the "dirty dozen" and a brief explanation of why each is a scam:
1. Business opportunities scams: These offers make it sound like it is very easy to start a business that will earn piles of money without much work, selling or cash. Many of these "opportunities" are actually illegal pyramid schemes that are masquerading as legitimate opportunities to earn money.
2. Make money by sending bulk email. These solicitations offer to sell you bulk email lists (consisting of millions of email addresses), spam software (usually very poor in quality), or services to send spam on your behalf. Don't do this.
3. Chain letters. No list of scams would be complete without this old "favorite" - email style. Here you're asked to send a small amount of money (or some item) to each of four or five names at the top of the list, and then forward the message including your name at the bottom, via bulk email. Many of these letters claim they are legal - they are not. Further, nearly everyone who participates in these chain letters loses money. Even if there is a "product" such as a report on how to make money, it does not make these schemes legal.
4. Work-at-home-schemes. The most common work-at-home scam promises that you'll earn money for stuffing envelopes. For example, you're promised you'll earn $2.00 for every envelope you stuff. In fact, there never is any real envelope stuffing employment available. Instead, you pay to register and then you're instructed to send the same envelope-stuffing ad via bulk email to others. The only money you can earn would come from others who fall for the scam and pay to register. Finally, if you did actually do work for one of these outfits (for example, some promise to pay you for craft work), they'd refuse to pay you and say your work didn't measure up to their "quality standards."
5. Health and diet scams. These are similar to the miracle cures offered off-line: ways to lose weight without eating less or exercising, "scientific breakthroughs," "secret formulas" which provide cures for hair loss, and herbal formulas that liquify fat cells so that they are absorbed by your body. These scams often include testimonials from "famous" medical experts you haven't heard of. Of course, these gimmicks don't work.
6. Effortless income. The newest version offers get-rich-quick schemes to make unlimited profits exchanging money on the world currency markets. There are lots of variants, but they all promise vast riches with no work. Beware of these scams.
7. Free goods. These offers promise expensive items such as computers... for free. They ask you to pay a fee to join, and then you have to bring in a certain number of other members. Many of these scams are just disguised pyramid schemes.
8. Investment opportunities. These scams promise outrageously high returns... and of course, there is "no risk." Many of these scams are illegal Ponzi schemes, in which early investors are paid with the money from later investors. This gives the early investors the illusion that the system works and they are then encouraged to invest more money (which they eventually lose). The sales pitches for these offers include claims of high-level financial connections, that the promoters are privy to inside information, or promises that they'll guarantee the investment. The promoters are long gone if you try to take advantage of their "guarantees."
9. Cable descrambler kits. These scams offer kits or information on how to receive cable transmissions without paying any subscription fees. There are two problems with these offers: 1) the kits and information don't work; and 2) even if they did work, it is illegal to steal service from cable television companies. Further, many cable companies have aggressively been prosecuting cable service theft.
10. Guaranteed loans or credit, or easy terms scams. There are lots of variants of this scam: home equity loans that don't require any equity in your home, loans regardless of your credit history, offshore bank loans, credit cards regardless of your credit history, etc. Sometimes these offers are combined with pyramid schemes that offer to pay you for attracting other participants to the scheme. However, they are scams - the loans don't come through, you are turned down unless you meet stringent requirements, or the credit cards simply don't arrive.
11. Credit repair scams. These scams promise to erase accurate negative information from your credit file so that you can now qualify for loans, mortgages, or credit cards. The promoters of these scams cannot deliver. Further, if you follow their advice and lie on a loan or credit application, misrepresent your Social Security number, or get an Employer Identification number from the Internal Revenue Service under false pretenses, you will be committing fraud and violating federal laws. Don't fall for this scam.
12. Vacation prize promotions. Last, but not least, is a scam in which you receive electronic verification congratulating you because you've "won" a fabulous vacation, or you've been "specially selected" for this opportunity. The "deluxe cruise ship" may well be more like a tugboat, upgrades can be very expensive, and hotel accommodations are likely to be very shabby.
More about the FTC's Dirty Dozen can be found at: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/doznalrt.htm
The punch line (which you've heard from us many times before): If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Further, don't buy anything via bulk email (spam). Your chances of being scammed are astronomical. And follow the advice from other past issues of Internet ScamBusters when buying items... both on and off the Net.
If you've ever wanted to resell web hosting, but weren't exactly certain how to get started - this article is for you! We'll outline the five basic steps necessary to create a web hosting business through reselling accounts that are provisioned in a reseller web hosting data center. While there are many details that are required to be successful in any business, these five steps should get you started, and with some diligence and persistence - you may become a sizable web hosting venture.
Reselling Web Hosting - Step 1: Get an Exceptional Domain Name. It may be obvious to you, but having the proper domain for your web hosting venture is critical to your success. Why? There are two basic reasons: branding (recall) and search engine optimization. In order to sell web hosting to your prospects, they first have to be able to find you. That is, they have to know that you offer web hosting accounts for sale.
The most common form of online research is the ubiquitous search engine. There are really only 2 that matter: Google and Yahoo! In order to come up on the first few pages of any relevant search for web hosting related keywords, it is imperative that your domain name contain some form of that keyword phrase. You can prove this to yourself by conducting a search for the keyword, 'hosting' at www.google.com. You will notice that many of the top results contain the word 'host' or 'hosting' in the domain name. It simply gives you an advantage in search rankings.
So where to get such a name? You can go to a good domain search site like, www.whois.sc (use the domain explorer tab) and see if there is a name that has not yet been registered. The chances of a great, short, memorable name being available is low (but not zero) - so you can increase the odds of getting a great name in two ways: get a domain that is expiring or buy a name from the current owner.
There are many great names that are expiring each day - that is, the current owner has not renewed the domain by paying the yearly registration fees. In fact, around 20,000 expired domains come back into circulation each day. Sometimes the owner forgets, sometimes they lose interest - in any event, you can snag a great name if you are willing to do some research. For instance, click here to see a free list of daily expiring domain names.
Alternatively you can simply buy a domain name from the current owner. Sites such as www.sedo.com can assist you in finding eager sellers for a wide variety of domain names. Okay - now you've got a great domain name - let's move to step 2.
Reselling Web Hosting - Step 2: Finding and Setting up a Great Web Hosting Reseller Account. Unless you want to set up your own domain registration process, get connectivity from major bandwidth providers, and have a warehouse full of high end computers - you'll want to get a reseller account from an established supplier. A good reseller account will offer tools (control panel) to manage multiple domains and accounts from one central location. That way, you can log in once and check the billing and provisioning status of all of your customer accounts. Click here to view and compare web hosting reseller providers.
According to Brent Oxley, founder of web hosting reseller HostGator.com, here's what to look for in your reseller account. ''The most important thing to look for is a provider that provides an uptime guarantee and a proven track record of upholding that guarantee. If the provider you go with has frequent downtime you are destined to fail before getting started. Do not let the resources in the plan or the price cloud your judgment when looking for a stable provider to launch your new company.''
Mr. Oxley added, ''Here are a couple of very useful add-ons many reseller companies include for free:
Domain Reseller Account - You are selling hosting which means many people will also want to purchase domain names from you.
Billing Manager - A billing manager allows you to offer automated account creation, keep track of payments, as well as all of your clients' account information. Just because you're purchasing a reseller account do not assume it comes with a billing manager. The majority of reseller hosting companies use the control panel called, "cpanel/whm." This control panel does not come with a billing manager so depending on the reseller company you go with they may or may not include a billing manager.
Multi-language Control Panel Support - If you speak more than one language it would make sense for your customer's control panel to support the languages you will be marketing to.
Fantastico - Is a tool that has over 50 scripts that can be installed with a click of the mouse. This would empower your customers to create blogs, forums, shopping carts, portals, and much more without any scripting knowledge. This is a huge marketing seller.''
Now that you've gotten a reseller account set up, it's time for step 3.
Reselling Web Hosting - Step 3: Set up a Great Website and Order Form. You have to look professional in order to convince customers to sign up with you as a web host. That means a website designed by a professional. You can either hire a designer (expensive) or use a template (inexpensive) like those found at: www.templatemonster.com. The benefits of hiring a designer is that you get a unique website that looks exactly the way you want. It may cost you quite a bit, though. In contrast, a template will be somewhat cookie-cutter, but will look professional and help you save some money during your startup process.
Whichever way you decide to go, make sure that you pay close attention to the sign up process. Make the order form as simple and easy to fill out as possible. If you can have something default checked to save time, by all means do so. Be sure to include a summary page of the order so that your customers can review their order before purchase.
Now it's on to Step 4.
Reselling Web Hosting - Step 4: Driving Qualified Traffic to Your Website. You can't get customers with out having some traffic to your new website. There are complete textbooks written on how to market and gain website traffic. I will focus you on only one possible traffic-driving solution, but one which has proven to work for many small online businesses - Google's AdWords advertising.
You can see a complete and detailed step-by-step tutorial on using google AdWords here: www.sitepoint.com/article/adwords-select-parts-1-4.
Below is a quick-start guide to getting your Google traffic flowing in a few hours:
Setting Up a Google AdWords Account Step-by-Step
Okay, take a deep breath. Settle into the chair in front of your computer and get ready to go. Follow these steps exactly:
1. Navigate your browser to: https://adwords.google.com/select and click on the 'Sign Up Now' area.
2. Select the appropriate language and geographical targeting – 'Regions and cities' if you are a local business, 'Global or nationwide' if you serve all regions (we'll use this setting for our example). Click the 'Save and Continue' button.
3. Next you choose your countries. If you are a North American business, I highly recommend selecting 'United States' only. To do this - go to the right hand box entitled 'Selected Countries' and highlight 'All Countries' with your mouse. Then click the 'Remove' button. The 'Selected Countries' box will now be empty. Go to the left column and highlight 'United States' - then click the 'Add' button. Click the 'Save and Continue' button.
4. Now you name your ad group and create your first online ad. Don't worry - you can always go back and edit your ad at anytime. Just have fun with it for now! To get started, think up a name that you want to call your first group of ads. Type this name into the box labeled: 'Name this Ad Group'.
Now go to section A: 'Create Ads' just below. You simply fill in the boxes and Google does this cool 'automatic update' that shows you what your ad will look like as you are filling in the boxes. When you have an ad that you like - click the 'Save and Continue' button.
5. Choose the keywords that will trigger your ad. If you sell 'Unix Web Hosting' then start with that keyword. If you sell ASP.NET Hosting' then start with that. Once you have typed in a search term, you can always use the 'Keyword Suggestion Tool' link on the same page to expand your list. Google will automatically suggest words that may expand your traffic. Be sure to do a reality check against this list - it's automated and some terms may not be appropriate for your business. Once you have a list of keywords, click the 'Save Keywords' button to continue.
6. Choose your maximum bid. I always set this to $.05 (five cents) to start. This is Google's minimum bid amount. You can always change it later if you need more traffic. Type in .05 and click the 'Calculate Estimates' button. Ignore the resulting estimates - they are almost always wrong. Simply click the 'Save and Continue' button. At this step Google will ask if you want to create another ad group - simply bypass this step by clicking the 'Continue to Step 3' button.
7. Now you specify you daily budget. I suggest being conservative here as well. You can always increase this later. For now - figure out how much you can spend each month for traffic and divide by 30. Put in an amount that is this number or even lower. I usually start with $5 per day as a maximum. When you've decided, simply click the 'Save and Continue' button.
8. Entering your contact information and password. This step requires you to give Google a valid email address that you can check - in order to send you to the final confirmation and billing step. Fill in your email and pick a password that you can remember - preferably one that has at least 1 numeral and is difficult to duplicate easily.
When you've filled in your information, click the 'I agree - Create my AdWords account' button.
At this point you should see the following message: ''Thank you for signing up with AdWords. Please check your email (you@youremail.com) for a message from Google containing a link to our verification program.'' Follow the link in that message to confirm that we have your correct email address.
9. Check your email and finish setting up your account. Go to your email and retrieve the Google email. Follow the link inside - this will verify that your email is valid. Then simply login to your AdWords account using the email address and password that you supplied in the last step.
10. Once you log in you will see the following message: ''Note: Your account hasn't been activated. Payment information is required in order to run your ads. Please provide your payment information on the Billing Preferences page in the "My Account" section. Typically, your ads will begin running almost immediately after you submit this information.'' Simply follow the 'Billing Preferences' link and enter your credit card information. When complete click the 'Save Changes' button.
11. Your AdWords account is now live! You will see traffic from your ads coming to your site almost immediately if you have selected popular keywords.
Then entire process described above can easily be completed in less than 2 hours. I did it myself in less than an hour. Good luck and remember if you ever have any problems with the account running through too much cash - you can simply 'pause' the account giving you time to reduce your bids, or delete keywords. While you won't become an AdWords expert from this start up guide, you will begin to see highly targeted web traffic come to your site in less than one day!
Okay - traffic is now coming to your site - time for the final step.
Reselling Web Hosting - Step 5: Differentiate Your Offering! You can't expect to sell your web hosting to anyone of you adopt a 'me-to' attitude. Make certain that you are different in some significant way from other web hosting offerings out there. You can differentiate by creating a unique special offer, by having an exceptional promotion or giveaway, or by bundling services that other companies don't offer together - it doesn't matter exactly what is different about your web hosting offer - just make sure it's different.
One last thing - remember to give a high level of customer service, or your new found customers will flee to a more attentive competitor.
Good luck in reselling web hosting. If you follow the five steps outlined above, you'll be on your way to a great new business venture!
Hosting Your Company On A Shared Web Hosting Platform
If you're seeking to promote your business through the Internet, one of the most crucial decisions you will make is your choice of a website host.
For the majority of small businesses and webmasters a paid-for, shared web hosting program makes the most sense, rather than free hosting or a dedicated server. Most free hosting platforms are flexible enough to allow the kind of ''brochureware' site that straightforward promotions require, but the chances are you would have to put up with external advertising on your site - which is hardly going to do your brand a lot of good. At the high end of the price range, a dedicated server for a small promotional site would be needlessly extravagant.
So a shared service - in which your website sits on a server along with the sites of dozen or hundreds of other enterprises - is usually the most cost-effective compromise. It can have its drawbacks, the classic case being when a problem with a single site crashes the whole server. But for most website owners who simply wish to promote an offline business - or even run small to medium scale ecommerce operation - shared hosting remains the most efficient and economical option.
So what should you look for in a shared host? Most companies that offer shared hosting plans have to make delicate trade-offs between security and flexibility. You should look for one that seems to have the two in balance and also offers a good price - these days 'good' usually means just a few dollars a month for 50-100Mb of space.
The first thing about a shared hosting provider you should check out is the level of access they offer to your server space. This boils down to whether or not you will be permitted to install your own ‘backend’ programs like databases and shopping carts. If they offer you unrestricted remote access to tinker around with what you want, that’s excellent from a flexibility point of view - you or your web designer can upload files and processes easily - but this is less desirable from the point of view of security.
Why? Because it means other businesses who are sharing your server could install unstable, badly-written software or, even worse, viruses or spyware. This is where the trade-off comes: you want the flexibility to install programs on the server - or even if you don’t right now, you may wish to expand into ecommerce in the future. But you don’t want your site hosted on a shared server where access is a complete free-for-all.
That's why most shared hosts offer 'packages' - add-ons to your site that range from simple mail forms to fully-featured shopping carts. The shared host’s staff installs these, or at the very least carefully supervises and checks their installation. Many shared hosts allow you to shop for features. For example, if you want a simple brochureware site you only buy the website space. If you want surfers to be able to check out your products, you can add a database. If you want them to be able to actually buy online, you can add a shopping cart.
This flexible approach, combined with great-value pricing, is the sign of a good shared host. It allows you the flexibility to develop your site according to the needs of your business, while offering peace of mind that the chances of major downtime will be greatly reduced.
What a loaded question! Let's narrow that down a bit and take it from the perspective of someone who wants to work from home and make money online in a home business. That will make it an easier question to answer. Let's assume you've never had a website, don't know how to get a merchant account, don't know html, and are pretty much stuck with being an expert on sending and receiving email.
What's there for you to do online to make money? Lots, in fact! These days are not at all like a couple of years ago or even six months ago. If I only had all the opportunities to make money online when I started marketing!
Here is a list of things you can do with just a website and a hosting account today:
Sell affiliate products (products like reports, ebooks, hard goods of every conceivable make, model, size, shape and function, and much, much more). Sell services (do you know how big a business being a Virtual Assistant is these days? It's quite amazing what you can do for people without ever meeting them face-to-face, anywhere in the world!) Online auctions (Ebay has made thousands and thousands of people full-time incomes from auctioning collectibles, antiques, and even brand new equipment and gadgets of all imaginable types. You name it, it has been sold on Ebay!) Membership sites: Know of any groups of people that would love to get insider information on virtually any topic? You could make money online with a membership site!
The list is a long one and one I am not prepared to detail here. You have found your way onto the net and if you have been surfing for very long at all you know it is a gigantic super shopping mall. Who to you think is making the most money online? Aside from big corporations, most of the web is made up of sites put up by little businesses people work from home.
I sell information and I love it. Most of the products I sell are other merchants' products. I just drive traffic to my site, provide information, and point to relevant products related to the information I provide people looking for a way to make money online. I love helping people make their first few sales.
After that, they are always hooked and cannot do enough to learn everything there is to know about how to make money online. Many people I have worked with now have a couple to several websites selling everything from reports to hard goods that can be shipped direct to their customers. Most people start out to make money online as affiliates of certain products or authors. This is a great way to get your feet wet and learn what making money online is all about. People then either work to create their own products (which they get 100% of the profits from) or expand their website into other related niches.
The Producer Price Index (PPI) is a measure of price changes in the manufacturing sector. It measures average changes in selling prices received by domestic producers in the manufacturing, mining, agriculture, and electric utility industries for their output.
The Producer Price Index (PPI) measures prices of goods at the wholesale level. There are three broad subcategories within PPI: crude, intermediate, and finished. The market tracks the finished goods index most closely, as it represents prices for goods that are ready for sale to the end user. Goods prices at the crude and intermediate stages of production often provide an indication of incoming inflationary pressures.
The PPI is often used as a leading indicator of consumer inflation in the future, as additional costs of producing goods are often passed on to the consumer in due course. The consumer price index (CPI) is a related index, but differs in that the CPI measures the price paid by the end users. Other price indexes are sometimes used, for example a labor price index.
The PPI measures price changes in the manufacturing sector. Inflation at this production level often gets passed through to the consumer price index (CPI). By tracking price pressures in the pipeline, investors can anticipate inflationary consequences in coming months. Investors need tomonitor inflation closely. Just knowing what inflation is and how it influences the markets can put an individual investor head and shoulders above the crowd.
As the rate of inflation changes and as expectations on inflation change, the markets adjust interest rates accordingly. By tracking the trends in inflation, whether high or low, rising or falling, investors can anticipate how different types of investments will perform.
CPI (CONSUMER PRICE INDEX)
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the rate of inflation experienced by consumers. The reading represents the monthly change in the average price of a fixed basket of goods and services purchased by consumers. Higher inflation generally leads to higher interest rates, which tend to strengthen the country's currency.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average price level paid by urban consumers (80% of population) for a fixed basket of goods and services; it also measures the rate of inflation experienced by consumers. CPI reports price changes in over 200 categories and also includes various user fees and taxes directly associated with the prices of specific goods and services.
The CPI is a fixed quantity price index and a sort of cost-of-living index. It has been criticized for overstating inflation, because it does not adjust for substitution effects and because the fixed basket does not reflect price changes in new technology goods which are often declining in price. Despite these criticisms, it remains the main inflation index.
CPI EXCLUDING FOOD AND ENERGY
"Core rate" of inflation representing movement in volatile food and energy prices have been introduced. It represents CPI excluding food and energy, however including some other volatile components as apparel, tobacco, airfares, and new cars. User fees (such as water and sewer service) and sales and excise taxes paid by the consumer are also included; income taxes and investment items (like stocks, bonds, life insurance, and homes) are not included.
By tracking the trends in inflation, whether high or low, rising or falling,investors can anticipate how different types of investments will perform.
LEADING INDICATORS
The Leading Indicators report is a composite index of ten economic indicators that typically lead overall economic activity: - Average workweek of production workers in manufacturing. -Average weekly claims for state unemployment. - New orders for consumer goods and materials - Vendor performance (companies receiving slower deliveries from suppliers) - Contracts and orders for plant and equipment - New building permits issued - Change in manufacturers unfilled orders, durable goods - Change in sensitive materials prices - Index of stock prices - Money supply - Index of consumer expectations.
The leading indicators series was previously published by The Commerce Department, however, the collection and publishing of these data is from 1996 done by the non-profit Conference Board, which also produces the Consumer Confidence Index. That increased usefulness of the leading index. Conference Board researchers quickly scrapped two of the old components - the change in sensitive materials prices and unfilled orders for durable goods - and added the interest-rate spread that appears in our list above.
The index of Leading Indicators is designed to predict turning points in the economy such as recessions and recoveries. Of course, even a strong trend like that does not guarantee that a recession will not form over the coming six to nine months. But we can get additional help from looking at the leading index with the coincident index, which is also published by The Conference Board, and alongside a couple of other leading indices.
CONSUMER CONFIDENCE
Like the index of Leading Indicator, Consumer Confidence is a survey conducted by The Conference Board in five thousand households across the country. It pictures consumer attitudes; concerning both the present situation as well as expectations regarding economic conditions. The level of consumer confidence is directly related to the strength of consumer spending.
The index consists of two sub indices - consumers' appraisal of current conditions and their expectations for the future. Expectations make up 60% of the total index, with current conditions accounting for the other 40%. The expectations index is typically seen as having better leading indicator qualities than the current conditions index.
If you have a blog, or are thinking about starting a blog, then you are definitely going to want to read this article. It's all about how to line your pockets with money that's just waiting to be made without working much harder than you already are.
No only are blogs the hottest thing on the 'net right now, but they are custom-made for Google's AdSense program. Why? It's simple. Blogs represent constantly changing and fresh content to Google's search engine spiders. Feeding fresh content to those little spiders is just like tossing raw meat to a tiger. They just gobble it up. The more pages of your blog that get indexed, the more traffic you get. And the more traffic you get, the more exposure your AdSense ads get. Are you beginning to see where I'm heading here?
It's not just Google that loves new content, all of the major engines do. In fact, some web-savvy bloggers are testing Google ads on one page and Overture ads on the other. It doesn't take too long to see which ads are doing the best when you have nearly side-by-side comparison statistics to look at. Just don't make the mistake of putting Google and Overture ads on the same page together. While they won't kill each other like a pair of Siamese fighting fish in the same bowel will, you will be violating both sites' Terms of Service, and it isn't worth killing the goose (geese) that laid the golden egg.
It's a snap to set up Google AdSense ads on your blog. Everything you need to know is right inside of the Google control panel. What's not so easy is figuring out what ads are going to appear on each page. Since Google targets your key words, and your blog articles could possible wander towards any subject, you never know what you’re going to get.
Well, "never' is a strong word because there actually IS a way to pre-test your blog's ads before you post your newest edition. Here’s what you do:
- Write your blog article like you normally would
-Plug in your AdSense code and then post your newest page to a sub directory that's not part of your blog.
-Click refresh a few times until Google wakes up and starts sending ads.
-If you don't like what you see then fine-tune the article until you see the types of ads that you're looking for.
With some ads paying as much as $5 per click or more, I'd certainly spend an extra 30 minutes or so tweaking my blog. That's for sure.
If you're working hard to get your blog in front of visiting eyeballs, then it doesn't make any sense at NOT to be using Google AdSense to draw every penny out of your site that's possible. OK, that's the end of the article. Now get busy tweaking your blog and checking your ads. You've got money waiting to be made!
AdSense is an ad serving program run by Google. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text, image and, more recently, video advertisements on their sites. These ads are administered by Google and generate revenue on either a per-click or per-thousand-ads-displayed basis. Google utilizes its search technology to serve ads based on website content, the user's geographical location, and other factors. Those wanting to advertise with Google's targeted ad system may sign up through AdWords. AdSense has become a popular method of placing advertising on a website because the ads are less intrusive than most banners, and the content of the ads is often relevant to the website.
It currently uses JavaScript code to incorporate the advertisements into a participating site. If it is included on a site which has not yet been crawled by the Mediabot, it will temporarily display advertisements for charitable causes known as public service announcements (PSAs). (Note that the Mediabot is a separate crawler from the Googlebot that maintains Google's search index.)
10 Great Things Not To Do With Google Adsense
There is no question that you can make some good money with Google AdSense, but you're setting yourself up for disaster if you make any of these Top 10 mistakes!
1. Do not use fake information when opening your Google AdSense account.
Google says that's a no-no and they will cut your account off and keep all the money you may have earned. Besides, trying to hide your true identity can cause serious problems with the I.R.S. or whoever your tax authority is.
2. Do not hack or modify Google AdSense code other than to change the parameters that Google authorizes you to change.
Any attempt to bypass Google's built-in algorithms not only poses a danger to the integrity of the network, but it threatens the financial modle that Google operates under. You're not dealing with some Mom-and-Pop company here, and Google has the legal muscle and deep enough pockets to drag you through every court in the land if you damage their business with your hacking antics.
3. Keep AdSense ads off of your registration, confirmation, and all "thank you" pages.
Don't ask me why you can't put your ads there. It makes sense to me that those would be wonderful locations. Google thinks otherwise, however, and doing so is a hanging offense according to their Terms of Service.
4. Do not display AdSense ads and a competitor's ads (like Overture's) on the same page at the same time.
That just makes plain good sense. Google doesn't demand 100% SITE loyalty from you, but they do insist that their own ads not be cluttered up by offerings from their competitors.
5. Don't "beg for clicks" or provide any incentive for clicking on your Google AdSense ads.
This is a biggie and you see this rule violated all the time. Any of the "get paid to do stuff" sites that put Google ads in the member's control panels are walking the plank and they don't even realize it. Even those sites with the polite little messages asking you to "help keep my site running by clicking on our sponsor's ads" are asking to be cut off if those happen to be Google ads.
6. Never click on the ads running on your own site, even if you are genuinely interested in the product or service and are thinking of buying it!
Nothing screams FRAUD louder than a webmaster running up his or her own click counts by happily clicking on ads fromtheir own site. The Google Gods can track this activity and it won't be long until you find yourself getting a goodbye note from their fraud team.
7. No misleading labeling
Google is very specific about what text can be placed around their ads. Their Terms of Service state:"Publishers may not label the ads with text other than 'sponsored links' or 'advertisements.' This includes any text directly above our ads that could be confused with, or attempt to be associated with Google ads."
This is to keep visitors from becoming confused and barking up Google's tree when they clicked on an ad that led to a porn site instead of the recipe site they were expecting to visit.
8. Avoid keyword spamming and other divisive tricks
You may be tempted to buy one of those "generates thousands of key-word rich pages in seconds" programs that are so popular these days but I'l tell you this: Their days are numbered. Google is wise to such shenanigans and they will be hot on your trail. Other prohibited gimmicks include:
"Sneaky"page redirects that send a visitor off to a different site then they were expecting to visit.
Multiple sites, domains, pages, etc. which have substantially duplicate content.
Hidden text or links of any type.
Excessive outbound links on any page. Google recommends no more than 100. I'd keep it way below that.
And here is a nugget of wisdom straight from Google's mouth: "Do not participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web as your website may be affected adversely by those links.
9. Don't advertise anything on Google's prohibited items list.
It's a lot shorter lists than PayPal's or eBay's, but it includes a lot of the same stuff like hacking/cracking content, porn, illegal drugs, gambling sites, beer or hard alcohol (I guess wine is OK), weapons, and the other usual stuff.
10. And the 10th dumbest thing NOT to do with Google AdSense is to let the other nine thingsstop you from running an honest site that's designed to make the most out of this very profitable opportunity that Google offers!
Due diligence (also known as due care) is the effort made by an ordinarily prudent or reasonable party to avoid harm to another party. Failure to make this effort is considered negligence. Quite often a contract will specify that a party is required to provide due diligence.
A (US) example of a "due diligence report" is a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA), which is performed to determine potential environmental conditions that may cause harm to the surrounding environment.
In finance, due diligence may refer to the process of research and analysis that takes place in advance of an investment, takeover, or business partnership. The potential investor generally uses in-house resources or hires a consulting firm that specializes in due diligence and corporate investigations to investigate the background of the company and principals of the target company.
A due diligence assignment generally includes reviewing press and SEC filings, checking for regulatory and licensing problems, identifying liens and judgments, and uncovering civil and criminal litigation matters. Sophisticated investigators will also search for conflicts of interest, insider trading and press and public records that identify problems that may have occurred under the principal's "watch."
The investigative results may be prepared in a "due diligence report" that the investor uses to understand risks involved in the investment. For example, if negative information is uncovered on a principal of the target company, the investor may put pressure on the target firm to replace that individual.
In addition to identifying risks and implications of an investment, due diligence may include data on a company's solvency and assets.
Due diligence can also refer to the ongoing activities of pension or investment fund managers in keeping track of the operations, solvency, and trustworthiness of the managers of a [corporation] in which their fund is invested, or those of the managers of an acquiring corporation toward a target corporation.
In lay terms, due diligence is the responsibility you have to investigate and identify issues, and due care is doing something about the findings from due diligence.
Duves.net investigating or DD some program to help investor make the decision. The dimension are :
Reliability : Delivering on promises Of the five dimension, reliability has been consistently shown to be the most important determinant of perception of service quality among customers. Reliability is defines as the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. DD on Reliablity in this case is paying history and history of trading performance
Responsiveness : Being Willing to Help Responsiveness is the willingness to help customers and to provide prompt service. This dimension emphasizes attentiveness and promptness in dealing with customer request, question, complains and problems. DD on Responsiveness areThe present of customer support and speed on customer question.
Assurance : Inspiring Trust and Confidence Assurance is defined as employee's knowledge and courtesy and the ability of the firm and its employees to inspire trust and confodence. This dimension is likely to be particularly important for services that the customer perceives as involving high risk and/or about which they feel uncertain about their ability to evaluate outcomes. DD on Assurance are the present of key employee, the ability of administrator to perform and trader performance, secure site, and domain registration (whois checking)
Empathy : Treating Customers as Individual Empathy is defined as the caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers. The essence of empathy is conveying, through personalized or customized serviced, that customer are unique and special. DD on Empathy are the services of the program, and uniqueness of customer services/support
Tangibles : Representing the service physically Tangible are defined as the appearance of facilities. DD on Tangibility are appearance of the website
Kohn Says Central Bank Can Cut Odds of Disruptive Current-Account Change
Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairman Donald Kohn said the central bank must keep inflation expectations contained to help reduce the chance of a disruptive narrowing in the U.S. current-account deficit.
"As long as inflation expectations remain contained, relatively faster growth of the prices of imported goods for a time would be associated with only a temporary bulge in inflation and would result in a needed change in relative prices," Kohn said in the text of a speech in London.
Kohn didn't comment on the near-term outlook for the U.S. economy or interest rates in his prepared remarks, instead focusing on longer-term issues. The deficit, the broadest measure of trade, shrank in the first quarter to $208.7 billion from a record $223.1 billion in the previous three months. The U.S. needs to attract about $2.3 billion a day to fund the gap, and any shortfall would undermine the value of the dollar.
"Although private and government demands for dollar assets have allowed the U.S. current account deficit and foreign surpluses to persist, these imbalances are not sustainable indefinitely," Kohn said in his first public remarks since he was sworn in last month as vice chairman, succeeding Roger Ferguson, who resigned in April after more than six years in the position.
"The transition to a more sustainable configuration is not likely to be disruptive," Kohn said." "But we cannot be sure," he said. "The world economy is in uncharted territory with regard to the size of the imbalances."
Kohn said Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will discuss the "immediate outlook for activity and prices in the United States and the global economy more generally, and the recent conduct of monetary policy," when Bernanke testifies before Congress on July 19 and 20.
Last week, the Fed raised the benchmark U.S. interest rate to 5.25 percent, the 17th straight increase, to counter rising inflation. The central bank said further increases depend on future information about the prospects for growth and inflation.
President George W. Bush named Kohn, 63, who has worked in the Fed system since 1970, as a Fed governor in 2002. He had served as the Fed's chief monetary strategist from 1987 to 2001, advising then-chairman Alan Greenspan. Bush nominated Kohn as vice chairman in May.
Last month, Kohn said in a speech that globalization has helped restrain price increases in the U.S. through lower import prices and some "dampening" of unit labor prices as the supply of low-skilled labor becomes more abundant.
