Fortunate Contest

Knowing the correct time to list and end an auction will ultimately depend on your targeted buyers. Your goal is to focus on the largest number of bidders within a defined group, that would be online toward the end of the auction.Choosing these targeted buyers correctly will generate the greatest number of possible bidders.

The most common practice is listing items for seven days and ending at 7pm Pacific time. The reasoning being, for the majority of people this is their non-working hours and the time most people are surfing the web. Most auctions will benefit from this strategy but others may require a different approach. You will have to consider who the likely bidders would be, and when they are more probable to be online. Example: you are selling copy paper by the case. Your likely bidders would be businesses. Would these companies have an employee placing bids for them from there home or would they have a purchasing manager in charge of such orders during regular business hours.

Knowing who your targeted audience is beforehand and posting accordingly will maximize the number of potential bidders. Putting in some simple strategies like these will maximize your profits.Good luck in all your auctions.

Rod King is the owner of Income Strategies Plus, a website for Home Business and Marketing Programs. Rod’s goal is to help entrepreneurs by providing strategies and solutions for starting and marketing their home based business. For more information and to sign up for his newsletter please visit http://www.incomestrategiesplus.com.

I am sure that most people who have a website are looking into ways to help them to attract more people to read their site. There are many differing opinions on the best way to go about doing this but one thing that most people agree on is that it is essential to build up the number of backward links that point to your site. The question is how do we obtain these links?

It is always best to try to get other websites from the same industry as your own to add a link to your site on their site (on the homepage if possible). This is not as easy as it might seem as most of these people will be reluctant to do so. I have, in the past, spent hours phoning and e-mailing the webmasters from different sites which are in a similar field to my own site. Even when only one person agreed to my request after phoning up thirty people, I was happy. Hopefully this link will be permanent and over time could prove very valuable to me.

People who visit this persons site are now potential visitors to my own site as they may see my link and of course hopefully will click on it. In general the more links I am able to obtain the better, and in time I may well see an increase in my websites page rank. This in turn should move me up a few places in the search engines for my keywords, which of course should then result in more traffic.

This is the value of any backward link. If the page where my link has been added is a high traffic page or has a high page rank value then I am even more fortunate. As an example the link would be of far greater value to my site if it was placed on a page with a page rank five rather than a page with a page rank two.

How many backward links should I be aiming to obtain?

In my humble opinion you have to be careful not to build up the number of these backward links too quickly. It should be an ongoing project throughout the life of the website. If as an example you are able to obtain ten every week for five years, this would be superb. Where it can go wrong is if you obtain:

ten in week one

none in weeks two, three and four

three hundred in week five

none in weeks six, seven and eight

two hundred in week nine

This is very irregular and weeks five and nine suggests you have purchased a whole bundle of links. This could quite easily raise a red flag with the search engines.

There is no quick fix, hard work pays off and we all need to have patience. I always look to the long term and believe in time the work I put in today will be of great benefit to me tomorrow.

Other ways of obtaining links is by:

Writing articles

Purchasing a text link ad

Out of these two options I prefer the writing articles option. It can be quite boring to write these articles in some peoples opinion and in a way I agree. As I have already stated however, hard work pays off and this is a simple way of gaining one-way backward links. I try to ensure that each article that I write is informative and offers the reader some hopefully good advice. On average I probably write seven articles per week promoting different websites.

Stephen Hill promotes different websites including:

stutter therapy

business start up advice

beer brewing tips

Do you think adaptation to the realities of the market is the most important thing?

Many times in the past I’ve written about the need to adapt, the need to be able to change your behavior relative to the market because the markets are ever changing.
I’ve stated that mechanical systems may be workable, but for only a short time relative to the life of markets. You must learn to trade what you see and to understand what you see on a chart.

When I first began trading there was no such things as futures contracts for foreign currencies. Why didn’t they exist? Because there was no need for them! In the 1970’s all that changed when the US dollar went off the gold standard and began to float against other currencies. Following that, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange began to create currency futures to provide a place where currency traders could hedge the risks associated with dealing in foreign currencies. Some of these risks are direct and some are indirect. Direct risk is involved for those who deal directly in foreign exchange. Indirect risk involves companies who export or import and receive payments or make payments in the currency of another country.
Ever since currency futures were created, they have been in a state of flux. More recently, for purposes of futures trading, currency gyrations have centered on a massive move away from currency futures to more direct trading in the forex markets. Currency futures, while maintaining their volume and open interest figures, are actually less liquid than they had been previously. Volume and open interest do not reveal the picture of what is happening in the currency futures pits. Volume and open interest levels are being maintained by fewer and fewer futures traders.

In the period from 1992 to the present, we’ve witnessed currency futures moving from “red-hot” to “cool” and now hot again insofar as speculators are concerned. Foreign exchange, which in 1992 was one of the hottest plays, first turned dull and then back again to exciting.
That this has happened can be seen in areas of which most futures traders are ignorant. Five years ago foreign currency traders were being paid huge salaries and anyone with a track record could virtually name his price. Following that, currency traders were no longer in great demand. Now, again, there is a huge demand for successful currency traders.
Currency futures are but a small representation of the $1.5 trillion dollar foreign exchange market. Professional currency traders use forex, forwarding contracts, derivatives of all kinds, and the futures pits, to deploy their various trading and hedging strategies. Looking at only the futures is like the blind man trying to tell what an elephant is like by feeling only the tusks.

In past years, foreign exchange desks at banks, insurance companies, brokers, and other institutions were seen closing down and firing hundreds of employees. Today, they are again looking for currency traders.
In the 1990s, Midland Bank closed its foreign New York office laying off dozens of people. Frankfurt Bank had pulled out of New York and Tokyo closed down its foreign exchange desk. At that time, the world’s largest foreign exchange trader was Citicorp. In the D-Mark alone, they shrank from 39 traders working at 17 different locations around the world to 4 D-Mark traders all working in one room. Keep in mind that these were traders who had been to a greater or lesser extent using the currency futures. The result at that time was that there were fewer big fluctuations in the currency futures than there once were and therefore much less profit.

However, today, just the opposite is happening. Central banks are presently making much greater interventions in the currency markets. They have stopped publishing targeted exchange rates. Such action by the central banks leaves currency speculators at a loss for what to do, and the result has been a huge surge in forex trading.
Because today forex brokers abound and are actively marketing the idea of currency speculation, it is having a profound effect on the foreign exchange planning of individuals, companies, and nations.

If some day the major currencies would be the US dollar, the J-Yen and the euro, who would need thousands of traders to trade them? There would be far fewer currency misalignments to provide a basis for trading. But that is not the way the world is moving. The picture I just presented ignores the rise of China as a major economic force on the world scene. Almost certainly, the Chinese currency will become a major trading vehicle. The same is true for other emerging countries. Some of them will no doubt have important currencies from the point of view of world trade. But will these currencies be traded in the futures markets or in forex?

The changes in just this one area - currency trading - are an example of how things rapidly change and point out the need for traders to adapt. There have of course, been many other changes in recent years. The advent of all-electronic markets has produced markets of a completely different kind. Computers have brought about the ability to trade in various time frames. New exchanges have created new markets and new contracts - so many, in fact, that it is difficult to know exactly where to direct ones trading efforts. It is now possible to trade virtually around the clock. It seems that somewhere, some market is trading.

All the best in your trading,

Joe Ross
Trading Educators Inc

Joe Ross has been trading for more than 47 years, and is a well known Master Trader. He has survived all the up and downs of the markets because of his adaptable trading style, using a low-risk approach that produces consistent profits.

Joe is the creator of the Ross hook, and has set new standards for low-risk trading with his concept of “The Law of Charts.” Joe was a private trader for most of his life. In the mid 80’s he shift his focus and decided to share his knowledge. After his recovery, he founded Trading Educators in 1988 to teach aspiring traders how to make profits using his trading approach.
He has written 12 major books on trading. All of them have become classics and have been translated into many different languages.

Joe holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of California at Los Angeles. He did his Masters work in Computer Sciences at the George Washington University extension in Norfolk, VA.
Joe still tutors, teaches, writes, and trades regularly. Joe is still an active and integral part of Trading Educators.

When talking about positive and negative spaces it is important to first understand the term “space” in itself. In interior design any volume which is being contained within masonry walls and are habitable is normally termed as space.

The volume that gets enclosed in an architectural structure is just a tiny fraction of the vast amount of “universal space”. By universal space I mean the cosmos or the gigantic vastness in which our planet and all other planets, starts etc.. survive.

The volume, which gets contained in a building, varies according to the use of the building. A cinema theatre and a bedroom will surely have different purposes and hence volume. Volume gets defined by three factors, length, breadth and height of the habitable room.

But irrespective of the volume both types of buildings mentioned above have “spaces” enclosed within. Lets consider the bedroom for the sake of this article.

A typical bedroom will have certain architectural elements attached to it at the time of construction of the building and certain “imposed” later for the sake of proper function. Also it is important to note that no one builds bedrooms in isolation. A bedroom is always a part of the entire home plan.

The architectural elements already present in a bedroom would be attached toilet and its entrance door, attached terrace or backyard entry, attached study room. All these spaces have work like supplementary role in a bedroom. Now the “imposed” elements are the furniture in the room, other accessories that will occupy the space in a bedroom.

A typical bedroom will have a double bed, wardrobe, dressing table, side tables, study table, book shelf etc.. All these are necessary to use the room in a comfortable way. When these furniture are arranged in a room what remains is termed as the “circulation space”. Now most people think that the volume of the furniture and the remaining empty space must have a balance
between them. Because it is not the occupied volume, but the empty volume, that decides the comfort levels inside a room.

If you visit a store room on the basement of a house which is normally used to dump useless things, you will notice that the empty space remained is very less and hence the comfort levels there, are poor. So in interior design the “empty space” is equally important. Now here comes the concept of positive and negative spaces. Normally a negative space is considered a
space which can not be used for a specific human activity.

But this is not true. As said above the over all comfort levels in a room is determined by both the occupied as well as non-occupied spaces. So any smallest piece of floor area that is not being occupied is going to contribute to the comfort levels.

That’s why the terminology of being positive and negative as far as usability is considered becomes a personal matter. What you think as a useless and non functional space can become a good place for your kid and his friends when they play hide and seek. It’s just the viewpoint to look at thing that matters.

Also a little creativity can alter a non-functional space into a functional one. But remember what I said earlier, in interior design empty space matters. It is not just beautiful furniture, costly paints/wallpapers/paintings that are going to decorate your rooms. Finally it boils down to only one thing, YOU and
YOUR mental as well as physical health in that space.

I hope this article was helpful to everyone.

Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya

Shrinivas Vaidya discusses some excellent tips on home renovation at his website. You will also find some great concept level thinking on bedrooms and decorating ideas.

Any author who is driving their own PR campaign knows that often times marketing and media can be an uphill battle. Many times authors are pitching and promoting themselves with minimal results. It can be tedious and frustrating and sometimes lead them to make fatal PR mistakes that can cost them their campaign.

One of the first, and potentially most fatal, is thinking that one or two media appearances are going to wing your book into the bestseller spotlight. Media works when it’s done consistently and often it takes months, and in some cases years, for you to reach your own “PR payoff.” The most important part of a campaign is the author’s ability to stick with it. Most of the interviews you see nationally on shows like Good Morning America and Oprah, started with a regional buzz. Build your base (or buzz) in your own back yard first and then start getting your message out on a national level. And this leads us to our second PR mistake: ignoring regional or trade media. Sometimes when you’re promoting yourself it’s easy to get caught up in going after the big fish, but don’t ignore the smaller regional and niche publications, they can be a gold mine of PR and really help to get the buzz going.

Next on our list of fatal PR mistakes is the technique with which authors pitch themselves. First and foremost you want to make sure you’re pitching the right people, don’t just go after a “producer,” find the producer that’s right for the story. And be cautious of when you pitch, before you start calling the media, turn on your TV or radio and see if there’s a breaking news story. There’s no quicker way to offend your media target then pitching them a story when they’re scrambling to cover a plane crash or some other major disaster.

As you’re navigating through your PR campaign you’ll also want to make sure your pitches are focused and relevant. It’s much easier to get the attention of the media when you’re pitching them something that’s already on their radar screen. For example remember when you’re putting together your campaign to keep an eye out for seasonal or news spins to your topic. If, let’s say, you are discussing the topic of depression, you might want to pitch it around a nationally designated “depression awareness day” or, perhaps, given all the buzz around college kids and depression, you might want to tackle this as a back-to-school issue. Targeted, focused pitches are the best way to get the media to notice you, so open that calendar or read your local newspaper to find out what’s hot and top of mind. Also, respect their time when you’re pitching. Get to the point, don’t ramble and remember that this is not about you, it’s about the benefits to their readers, viewers, or listeners and mo! st of all, never, ever, ever sell your book. You should always sell yourself and your expertise. Producers and editors will be looking for the WIIFM factor behind your pitch (what’s in it for me) not how they can showcase your book.

Finally there’s no quicker way to end your campaign than to over promise, stretching the truth, or not being reliable. If you miss an interview or over promise on a commitment one time, you can kiss any further media goodbye. Word travels fast in the industry and bad news travels even faster. Remember be patient, be persistent, and be professional and you’re bound to get the media you deserve and keep your campaign alive and well!

About the author:

Penny C. Sansevieri
The Cliffhanger was published in June of 2000. After a strategic marketing campaign it quickly climbed
the ranks at Amazon.com to the ##1 best selling book in San Diego. Her most recent book: From Book to Bestseller was released in 2005 to rave reviews and is being called the “roadmap to publishing success.” Penny is a book marketing and media relations specialist. She also coaches authors on projects, manuscripts and marketing plans and instructs a variety of coursing on publishing and promotion. To learn more about her books or her promotional services, you can visit her web site at www.amarketingexpert.comTo subscribe to her free ezine, send a blank email to: mailto:subscribe@booksbypen.com
Copyright 2005 Penny C. Sansevieri

A: They make sure that their links pop up, on the first page of the search engine’s search results. They are gunning for the top 10, search engine results, on all of the popular search engines. They know the tricks, they know how to pick the keywords, and they know that the easiest way to make money on the internet is to let the search engines do the hard work for them.

Don’t buy anyone’s how I got rich program, because they won’t really tell you how they got rich. If they’re rich it is because have the web site that can be easily found using he search engines. It is as simple as that!

Most marketers will send out thousands of emails, and post their ads in ezines, solo ads, they write blogs, ect… These people spend a great deal of time on the internet trying to push their affiliate’s products. If they concentrated 1/3 of their efforts on what the gurus concentrated on, they would be spending more of their time at the beach on some exotic island, than on their computer at home.

Q: How do you get a guru to run?

A: You tell them that you just did a search on yahoo using their keywords, and they weren’t on the first page any more. Waaaahhff

Get your web site ranked higher. Get it on the first page of the search engines. Do this and you can start selling your secrets to the marketing dummies. Just like the big dogs do! Here is how you can do it. Download this free trial software and get
your website ranked higher. Let the search engines do the hard work for you. Take this software for a test drive. Download IBP free!! Read the guide before you get started.

http://www.axandra-web-site-promotion-software-tool.com/

If you do not have a product or a web page to promote. Get started here
At http://www.internet5kincome.com/pips.html. This is a great way to get your feet wet. Just make sure that you get ranked well on the search engines

I always wanted to make money on the internet. The only thing that I needed was a place to start. Then there was a link that I tripped over one day. That link has, led me to making good money on the internet. I promote companies products and receive a commission from poducts that get sold from my promotions. Now for me the sky is the limit.. My home page can be used as a resource to find affiliate programs, and to find advertising sites. www.internet5kincome.com

“Educate, Energize, Entertain, and provide an experience for your audience”

1. Use the “Rule of 3.” The most successful speakers limit their remarks to three major points. Here is where you use your signature stories (your own personal stories) to support your points and help people visualize what you are saying.

2. Every five to seven minutes, back up your facts with signature stories (about you or others). Stories are out there everywhere. Find them in stores, at restaurants, on the airplane, at home. People retain information better when they hear a story.

3. How quickly do you get to the core of your audience’s problems and challenges? Skip what is between their ears and go straight to their hearts.

4. Practice pausing before and after important points. Don’t be afraid to leave open space. The use of silence is a key requirement to becoming an effective speaker.

5. People delineate their thoughts visually. Speakers are to words as an artist is to a painting.

6. A good storyteller memorizes his experience, not his words. Tell your story and then involve the audience by reliving your experience with them. Then they are only a step away from their own experience. That’s connection!

7. For those of you who are more theatrical, open with some role-playing that relates to a specific message. Get your ideas from your own life or TV sitcoms.

8. Use analogies. They help your audience understand new ideas and situations by showing how these things are similar to something in their own lives. For instance, our lives will never be the same again because of September 11. The message: Life is impermanent and change is constant.

9. Be there fully for your audience. Although you have prepared your script, be in the moment. When you do this, you can adjust your presentation to meet the mood and energy of the group.

10. Risk being fully who you are. Be genuine. Display your enthusiasm for your audience. Have the courage to talk about uncomfortable things.

11. Demonstrate candor. Tell your truth. Be vulnerable. Be ethical. Share your mishaps.

12. Involve your audience. Speakers often get their best lines from the audience. Research shows that people retain more when they are involved. Have them work in pairs or small groups and share their stories and experiences.

13. Refer to people by their first names, if possible.

About The Author

Sandra Schrift 13 year speaker bureau owner and now career coach to emerging and veteran public speakers who want to “grow” a profitable speaking business. I also work with business professionals and organizations who want to master their presentations.

To find out HOW TO MAKE IT AS A PROFESSIONAL SPEAKER, go to http://www.schrift.com/success_resources.htm

Join my free bi-weekly Monday Morning Mindfulness ezine http://www.schrift.com/monday.htm

So we’ve had weight loss surgery and are happily losing weight with a restricted diet and the improved ability to exercise. But you know, we didn’t have taste bud surgery! We still have taste buds that crave delicious foods - we just want the foods we eat to be satiating and good for us.

Let me tell you a culinary secret - it’s in the wine! I’m not talking about wine in the glass, I’m talking about wine in a recipe. Wine reductions are wonderfully simply to make, rich in flavor and can be low in fat. Most recipes for wine reductions call for added fat (butter) but should be adjusted to use about 1/3 the fat called for.

We know that most gravies are fat laden, heavy with starch and lacking nutritional value. Simply put gravy is empty fat calories we do not need in our LivingAfterWLS diet. Anyone watching their weight is wise to avoid gravies (particularly mass-produced gravies served in restaurants).

For a better flavor and health select or make a wine reduction. A reduction contains the wine’s antioxidants, called flavonoids which are proven to reduce the production of LDL (bad) cholesterol and boost the HDL (good) cholesterol. Scientists now believe these flavonoids may also inhibit tumor development in some cancers and may also be helpful in the treatment of neurological diseases.

Not an alcohol drinker? Not to worry, the alcohol cooks out of the reduction leaving nothing but the good stuff behind. If you are not familiar with wine ask your wine merchant to recommend a good bottle of reasonably priced cooking wine (don’t buy the kind on the supermarket shelf - it has too much sodium). Your wine steward can also offer suggestions for re-corking the wine as seldom will you use a full bottle for any single recipe.

For five delicious wine reduction recipes visit LivingAfterWLS Recipe Blog.

Cornish Game Hen with Raspberry Red Wine Sauce

I’ve personally tried and adapted these recipes to have lower fat while preserving the delicious flavor and texture of a reduction. I hope you will incorporate a wine reduction recipe in your lifestyle. Also - these are all very quick to fix - you’ll be surprised how much flavor you get for so little effort! Cheers!

Kaye Bailey © 2005 - All Rights Reserved

For more terrific WLS Friendly Recipes Link to LivingAfterWLS Recipes
LivingAfterWLS

There are countless satisfied customers who are really happy to call themselves proud owners of little giant ladders. From experienced contractors to aged grandpa, people all over the world are thrilled with their Little Giant Ladders. It is a special asset to the housewives who feel they are somewhat indebted to the little giant ladder company.

It is morning time- husband and children are out and housewives are alone to complete the day’s chores. You find the light does not work. - Either it is the fuse or you have to replace the bulb. Get in your little giant ladder. The giant little ladder is a source of strength to every housewife. You don’t need anyone to hold the ladder while you are climbing up. It has a solid footing and you are safe as long as you maintain the giant ladder’s rules and regulations.

You need to climb upto the loft and search for something important? Your husband is not in yet? Never worry. The little giant ladder system will provide you with all the help so that you can reach out to the required height. The little giant folding ladders are easier to carry and doesn’t require a masculine strength.

Here is an interesting excerpt from the conversation between two ladies at the bus station:

Mary: “Hi Anna where are you upto?

Anna: Going downtown to get a ladder for my husband. He needs to paint the back part of our house. Do you have any idea where to find a suitable one?”

Mary: Hey you can try the little giant ladder. May be I can also give you a coupon for discount on little giant ladders. My husband has now got the little giant ladder for his painting/remodeling project. He has wanted this specific type of ladder since 20 years, but could not find one. If he did find something similar the cost was beyond his budget. It was me who spotted the little giant ladder and I gave him a surprise birthday gift! The giant little ladder is simply a miracle and my husband is so possessive about it. It even saved his life. I was stunned when it broke down and made a scaffold by adding a plank thus saving my husband’s life. It takes hardly any space to store. Money well spent indeed.

Anna: Great idea. Next week is Sam’s birthday. He too will get a little giant ladder as a present from his beloved wife.”

We have made the most comprehensive research on little giant ladders and other ladders. Find the results only on the little giant ladder review - sales and info. All about ladders on LeanderNet - http://www.leandernet.com

Mamma was a strong believer in heredity, and she believed our family’s German heritage predisposed us to two things: hard work and stubbornness. The gene for hard work lay pretty low in us kids while we were growing up, but stubbornness kicked in fast.

So one might say that what happened one summer evening in the late 1940s was all our ancestors’ doing.

Daddy was getting ready to go to a church board meeting. Four-year-old Davie wanted to go to the board meeting too. (Right from the start, Davie liked to go places, while Mamma, Daddy, and I liked to stay places.) We explained that board meetings were for grownups only. He still wanted to go. We explained that board meetings were for board members only. He still wanted to go. We all stood around the bedroom, while Daddy knotted his tie and combed his hair, and we took turns explaining what a miserable time Davie would have at a board meeting. By that time the conversation was getting heated and tears were beginning to flow, but also by that time Daddy was ready to leave and it was time to leave, so he left.

I watched the cloud of dust as the little black Chevy coupe sped up the hill next to our Montana farmhouse. And then I noticed at the rear of the dust cloud a tiny figure. Davie on his tricycle was bravely pedaling after. Clearly he intended to tricycle the five miles to the board meeting.

I watched him for several minutes. He got up some pretty good speed on the slope down toward the creek. But then the hill began, and the lower part of the hill was almost vertical. The tricycle wheels moved slower and slower, but Davie’s legs were still pushing. Davie wasn’t giving up.

About that time I thought to tell Mamma, and she realized what I had not: if a car should come swooping down that hill, it would mash Davie and his tricycle flat before the driver even saw them. Mamma was off like a shot, and I was able to observe the result of two objects with the same trajectory traveling at different rates of speed.

Davie was surprisingly docile once Mamma landed on him, and it appeared he had been defeated, but he had not. His views were unchanged. He still thought going was better than staying and going places on wheels was better than anything else.

About the Author

Go STEAMIN’ DOWN THE TRACKS WITH VIOLA HOCKENBERRY, a storytelling cookbook — and find Montana country cooking, nostalgic stories, and gift ideas — at Janette Blackwell’s Food and Fiction, http://foodandfiction.com/Entrance.html — or visit her Delightful Food Directory, http://delightfulfood.com/main.html