Is It Okay To Use Your Business Slogan In An Adwords Ad?

Is It Okay To Use Your Business Slogan In An Adwords Ad?

Is It Okay To Use Your Business Slogan In An Adwords Ad

 

Sure, using slogans in your Adwords ad sounds like a good idea. Slogans, by design, are short, catchy, and memorable, intended to creep into a prospect’s mind as a constant reminder of your product’s unique selling proposition. Makes sense, then, that if you insert it into an Adwords ad, it should do its job of stealing the prospect’s attention and leading them to click on your placement, wouldn’t it?

While the logic does seem sound in theory, practice has shown this to be a less than precise assessment. In fact, it’s often a large ways off the mark. Split-tested next to a well-crafted ad that focuses on offering specific benefits, demonstrating value, or addressing a prospect’s concerns, it will almost always fall short. Why is this so?

Slogans Can Be Cryptic

Imagine Wendy’s running an Adwords ad with nothing but their brand and tagline “Where’s the beef?”

Doesn’t exactly provide any information that’s likely to help your shopping decisions, does it? What about Panasonic and their slogan “Ideas for life” coming out when I’m searching for 50-inch TVs? Nothing about that tells me they have the product I am looking for. How about searching for the newest Lebrons and seeing an ad for Nike and “Just do it?” Again, nothing of enough substance to makes you want to follow the link.

[4 Of The Best Ad Networks for Publishers]

Good slogans are intended to be memorable and easy to repeat, all while leaving the consumer with a positive image of the brand. This is all well and good for positioning the brand and capturing mind share. When trying to convince searchers to hit a link and buy your product, however, they don’t exactly make for the most compelling argument, especially when questions the prospect has about the offer remain unaddressed.

People Aren’t Searching For Slogans

Say, a customer who has previously bought from you before sees a slogan-centered ad you’re running. The person sees the brand name, the slogan, and a brief mention of the specific product being searched for. Chances are, this individual who already knows your brand has already seen and heard your slogan. What they’re unable to find is more information about the offer in your ad as it relates to their specific search query. In this scenario, the slogan doesn’t really do anything to add clarity to what the prospect is looking for, leading them to look somewhere else that provides just a little more in the way of information.

Things are likely to get even worse with someone who is completely unfamiliar with neither the brand nor the product.

They see the brand, the slogan, and a call to action, but nothing in the way of answering any lingering questions about what a product is, what a store offers, and what kind of advantage they’ll get choosing this offer instead of the one on the link right below it. Slogans may give insight into some of those concerns, although in many common scenarios, they simply don’t.

It’s Worthwhile To Test

Will business slogans ever work in PPC? In some cases, yes. With the right search keywords and the right slogan, it could very well turn out as your best-performing ad. If you think your slogan has the potential to do this for your Adwords campaign, then test it by all means. Do not, however, rest your faith on that catchy tagline blindly. No matter how much you adore that clever slogan you’ve been using in the last five years of your business, it’s just one potential tool in your Adwords copywriting arsenal — one that you should be testing side-by-side with ads that do without it.

The Popularity of YouTube in India

The Popularity of YouTube in India

 

The popularity of YouTube in India

The most popular YouTube videos in India get hundreds of thousands of views every week, attesting to the popularity of the video sharing service in India. Like in the Hollywood-dominated West the popular YouTube videos in India are the latest trailers of new Bollywood releases or the hottest songs from Indian rock stars or musicians.

Tamil actor/singer Dhanush’s “Why this Kolaveri” was perhaps one of the most popular YouTube videos in India and had an impact similar to the one created by the incredibly famous and record breaking YouTube sensation, Gangnam Style by South Korean pop start PSY.

Browsing through YouTube, along with Facebook, is what a majority of Indians do on their mobile phones. India is the fastest growing smartphone market in the world, and most Indian buyers use their ultra-cheap smartphones to watch videos on YouTube.

The Importance of Mobile

Indeed, mobile is the most important part of YouTube’s India strategy, as the company owned by Google focuses on non-PC devices in countries with relatively lower PC and internet penetration such as India. Worldwide, mobile accounts for 25% of YouTube’s daily views, 1 billion in all, and this percentage is much higher in lower income countries such as India, or for that matter, in Africa.

Udemy- Online Courses

India is one of YouTube’s top five markets in the world and hence quite significant. YouTube’s primary focus is to keep growing alongside, as the penetration of smartphones, internet and “smart” DTH television grows in India. The primary focus, as discussed earlier, is on mobile penetration. YouTube plans to take advantage of the rising popularity of YouTube videos in India by integrating YouTube videos with direct-to-home (DTH) television subscriptions provided by Indian companies such as with Airtel, Tata Sky and Dish TV.

Not Just A Bollywood Thing

While the most popular YouTube videos in India have related to Bollywood, it is not necessarily the case that all top content providers in India for YouTube have links to movies to India’s “City of Dreams”.

Harsh Agrawal, of ShoutMeLoud, offers SEO lesson:

There are a plenty of content providers for YouTube in the country who have done remarkably well with their educational videos – such as, “how to change your hard drive”, product review videos – “New Google Nexus 6 Review” or “iPhone 6 Review” or some thrilling videos such as the video of stuntmen in Mumbai performing dangerous acrobatics on a moving train, which became viral, and eventually created a huge political storm, leading to stricter monitoring of Indian trains.

Point is, there is a great hunger in India for new and original videos, interesting videos, and they may have nothing whatsoever to do with Bollywood.

Video Tutorial in Hindi:

YouTube Popularity For Politics

Even politicians in India have taken to YouTube in a big way for their campaigning, none more so than India’s popular prime minister, Narendra Modi. Mr. Modi made YouTube and other social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook the corner stones of his campaigning in the recently concluded election, which he won by a landslide victory. Mr. Modi has been a pioneer in Indian politics and very good with technology – which makes him very popular among India’s young voters. Any YouTube video of the new Indian prime minister’s speeches, was likely to get hundreds of thousands of views. Indeed, fans of the Indian prime minister have a dedicated YouTube channel where his speeches were broadcasted. Hence, it’s not outlandish to suggest that YouTube could claim a small but significant role in Mr. Modi being the prime minister of India today!

YouTube-India Partnerships

Some of the most popular YouTube videos in India have been partnerships. YouTube has had highly successful partnerships with content creators such as the India Comedy Week a few years back, during which over 400 hours of comedy content were hosted by YouTube that featured originals and some all-time favorite TV comedy shows such as Mamman Bhai, Dilli Ki Billi and Shit People Say.

YouTube’s Diverse Language Options

Another important thing done by YouTube is not to cater to India’s most popular languages – Hindi and English – alone. YouTube has made a concerted effort to target speakers of other major Indian languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Kannada, Bengali, Malyalam, Gujarati, Punjabi as well as various dialects of Hindi such as Bhojpuri and Rajasthani.

Moving Forward

While doing business in India, YouTube has been smarter than many other multinational companies. The big reason for YouTube’s great success in India is how well the US based company has “Indianized” itself and adapted to Indian tastes and sensibilities. And the best part is that, we have seen nothing yet – YouTube will only get stronger and more popular in India over the next few years.

The Evolution of Korean Drama Online

The Evolution of Korean Drama OnlineKorean Drama Online

 

In a previous post, it spoke of how the technologies of today are challenging cable bills. And now, we’re getting quite specific with Korean drama online by way of Viki TV (YouTube page).

What is Viki TV?

Viki TV is a fantastic global television site that has allowed millions of viewers to watch, discover, and even add subtitles to prime time television movies and shows in as many as 200 different languages.

Viki aims to do away with the cultural and language barriers that have stood between the different nations and their media.  It has, through recent years, even reached a global audience of almost 1 billion users!

An Example Of A South Korean Drama

That’s significant, because that’s a large percentage of the entire world’s population of people.  It has a primary focus on Asian media, but also features media from many other countries from around the globe.

Features of Viki TV

Viki allows you to watch, via streaming, premium licensed content in a similar, albeit much more convenient way than other video streaming services.  Viki was actually the first platform that allowed users to add subtitles to videos in real-time, which is what gave it such a great reputation among the global audience.

The subtitling system even allows for multiple languages, boasting subtitles currently in up to 160 different languages.

If you’re interested in free viewing, you can watch many shows and movies on Viki for free, with no charge.   But if you want a more premium membership so that you don’t have to see advertisements, they offer a great price of membership.

Once you subscribe, you’ll never see another advertisement, which streamlines your viewing pleasures.  Its well worth it to many, and it helps to support the bustling movement of globalizing media culture.

What Is Another Example of a Show on Viki?

 

One prevalent show that is getting a lot of attention is Strong Woman Do Bong Soon, played by Park Bo-Young.  It’s an intriguing and hilarious drama/comedy about a young woman named Bong-Soon.  She was born with super human strength, which turns out to be hereditary.

[DramaFever: 6 Reasons Strong Woman Do Bong Soon will hook you until the finale]

Bong-Soon helps a bus driver that is being attacked by some thugs, and a small group of thugs wind up attacking her.  She is very easily able to vanquish them.  During that time, Ahn Min-Hyuk (real name Park Hyung Sik) arrives on the scene and sees Bong-Soon in action.  Since Min-Hyuk is the CEO of a large scale video gaming company, and loves this type of thing, he thinks that Bong-Soon would be an outstanding body guard for himself and his company.

He also decides to offer her a position in the planning department if things turn out well with her as a bodyguard.   The story continues as crimes continue to take place around the neighborhood, and Bong-Soon, along with Min-Hyuk, wind up teaming together to fight crime and solve cases.  Its a really intriguing, hilarious, and fantastic show, and really displays the creativity of Korean dramas and comedies.  Its highly recommended.

A Brief, Recent History of Korean Media

The popularity of Korean dramas has soared over the recent years as a broad global interest in Korean food, music, film, pop stars, and other cultural exports has had a widespread rise.  The Asian media has actually given a name to this, calling it “Hallyu“.

The spread of Korean pop and dramas throughout South, Southeast, and Eastern Asia was at the fore-front of the rise in Korean media popularity since the early 1990’s.

The liberalization of the media in Asia and the importation of Korean programs by the Chinese CCTV was what first showed how successful Korean entertainment could be.  It sparked a huge boom for K-Drama across China.  Since then, the Korean Wave, as they call it, has evolved from simply being a regional development into an entire global phenomenon, which has since been boosted by social media and the internet as a whole.  Korean music videos have even aided in the popularization of K-Media.

In the last 1990s, just before the turn of the century, there was a major financial crisis around Asia.  This led many media lovers to begin dabbling in Korean programming, because at the time it was a cheaper alternative.  They discovered that even though it was less expensive, at less than half of the price of Hong Kong programming, it was not lacking in quality, but was actually in many ways better than what they were used to.

Ever since the early 2000’s, South Korea has steadily climbed its way to the top as a significant exporter of pop culture and tourism, which has actually become a large part of its economic boom.

The increase in popularity of Korean popular culture world-wide has even caused the government of South Korea to support the media industry with funding and subsidies for budding start-up businesses.   A great deal of the Korean Wave’s success can be attributed to social media and social networking sites which gave rise to the Korean entertainment industry’s drama-hungry over seas audiences.

[FinancialPost: How Korea became the world’s coolest brand]

Over the years, the Korean film industry has had such a large interest in becoming a world-wide cultural phenomenon that it even went so far as to start learning from Hollywood, and even used that as a slogan for a while.  They began promoting the media companies as a commercial market, which helped to spark interest from investors and really set things in motion to change the perception of such media to be a very real economic avenue.

Korean drama online 2
The popularity of Korean drama speaks for themselves. Click image to view Viki TV’s “Viki Pass” free trial No Ads page.

Today, much in the case like Bollywood, it’s a thriving industry and something that users from around the globe are using to enhance their daily lives and find joy through incredible shows and movies.

Conclusion

If you are just now learning about Viki TV, or Korean dramas in general, you would definitely benefit from at least taking a trial of their premium services.   No matter where you live, you’ll be able to find something that you will like on Viki TV, and it will probably already have the subtitles available for you to be able to understand the language of the show.

Compared to other media sites, it has far more content for you to enjoy, and you’ll wind up learning about other cultures in the process.  You might even find something that hasn’t been subtitled in your language, and be able to contribute to the growing wealth of knowledge in media and help other uses to be able to enjoy the shows.

Its a wonderful community that crosses the borders between country and culture, and in this day-and-age, anything that brings people closer together is a positive thing.  You can feel good about supporting Viki TV, knowing that you’re helping the world become a much better place to live in.

Head on over to Viki TV now and take a look as you won’t be disappointed.  View their website link at Viki Pass for a free trail.

10 Top Day Trading Tips

10 Top Day Trading Tips

Day Trading Tips

 

If you’re looking for some day trading tips, we’ve come up with some great ideas. While it has it’s fair share of risks, there’s certainly a lot of potential.

Day trading has become more popular as a way to make money by stock trading, especially after Timothy Sykes’ story hit the media.  Many people got the idea that trading was an easy way to make money working at home in their pajamas.

This idea turned out to be a misconception.  Day trading takes a little time to learn, and it can be lucrative from where ever you’re located, but you need to learn the basics before you start.

[Wall Street Laptop: The Future For Investing Online]

The first lesson is to understand that investment trading comes with risks and it’s important that you do your homework before committing.

First, What is Day Trading?

Day trading is the process of buying and selling securities, or a financial instrument, during the same day or more than once over the course of a day.   Because many brokerages have moved to online trading, you can conduct your business from your location.

Basically, a person involved in day trading is looking to make money by taking advantage of little price movements in individual assets (stocks) or indexes.  Day traders look for three different things in a stock: volatility, liquidity, and trading volume.  To explain these terms:

  • Volatility is the measure of expected daily price ranges, such as stocks from a corporation that experiences a higher rate of variance in its cash flow.  These situations can be capitalized on by a day trader.  The higher the volatility can mean higher profits or greater losses.
  • Liquidity in the financial market refers to the ease and price in which a security can be obtained.  Liquidity allows for easy entrance and exit from a stock at a good price.  The more liquid a stock is, the more easily it is for day trading.  Liquid stocks also tend to be cheaper than other stocks.  Stocks from a higher market capitalization corporation are generally more liquid because it’s easier to locate buyers and sellers.
  • Trading volume is an excellent indicator to a day trader to the stock’s volatility and liquidity because of the volume.  The volume is how many times the stock is bought sold within a particular period of time, which is usually averaged daily.  The more volume reflects the interest in a particular stock, but it does not indicate if that interest is positive or negative.  Often, when the trade volume increases it is indicative of price movements that are going to transpire.  One tool day traders use is the Trade Volume Index (TVI) to help decide whether to buy a stock or not because of the amount of money flow into and out of an asset.

Timothy Sykes

In 1999, Timothy Sykes seemed to be like most high school students, but he soon became famous with a story that impacted the world of day trading.  Sykes saved his gift money over the years and it to start day trading penny stocks.

His investment was approximately $12,500, and it earned him about $1.65 million by his 21st birthday.  He’s now part of the social trading platform Profit.ly, and regularly post live feeds to site members from a personal.

Many thought if a young person could do this without being an expert, then it must not be that complicated.  This is partially true, but Sykes spent hours studying before he started.

10 Day Trading Tips

To get you on your way day trading, here are some basic rules and tips:

1) While you’re learning, take advantage of free resources like Youtube videos and blog posts.  When you feel ready, set up a practice account online (some websites allow you to do this) and test a few trades.

2) Have an enter price, exit price, and an escape price.  Before you press the button to finalize the deal, you need to know when to get in, when to get out, and a strategy to get out if things are not going as expected.

3) Always set your price targets before you do it and stick with your decisions.  It will help you keep from being overly greedy if the price spikes and limit any losses.

4 ) When the market opens, avoid trading within the first 15 minutes, especially if you are a newbie to day trading.  Those 15 minutes of action are full of market orders placed the night before and panic trades.  It pays to wait until you’re able to see a rewarding opportunity.

5) To find an entry point, look for situations where supply and demand are drastically imbalanced.  If a supply is nearly gone and there are still buyers, then the price will go up, and if there is a surplus of supply and no buyers, the price will go down.

6) An important lesson is to set a proper risk-reward ratio.  At least 3:1 will allow you to win big and lose small and can help you come out ahead if you experience losses on several trades.

7) Be patient and don’t make a trade because you feel like you need to “just do something.”  Make your trade plan and trade according to your plan.  It takes discipline, and impulsive decisions can become your worst enemy if you’re working alone.

Timothy Sykes was mentioned in a previous blog post as a successful penny stock trader from the social trading site Profit.ly. Click image to read more.

8) Don’t risk too much capital on one trade and only trade with money you can afford to lose.  Budget your day trading and don’t exceed it thinking you are missing an unseen opportunity.

9) Don’t limit yourself to day trading stocks.  There are three other asset classes to keep in mind: forex, futures, and options.  Any of these can present an appealing opportunity.

10) As you go, you’ll learn from your experiences and as you’re learning don’t second guess yourself or your set rules established for getting in and out.  Every day trader losses at times, so don’t be too rough on yourself when things don’t go as planned.

day trading tip 3
Day trading comes with its fair share of risks. Be sure to exercise discipline, patience, practice and smart study habits.

Pros of Day Trading

The biggest pro of day trading is that you can earn some serious money if you can afford to take the risk.  As you learn the inner workings of the marketplace and create your enter and exit plans, you can increase the returns on your money. If you enjoy cliffhanger moments, you can enjoy them regularly.  If day trading becomes your job, then you can gain freedom from punching a clock.  You can set your schedule, work from anywhere, and earn an unlimited amount of income versus a salary.

Cons of Day Trading

Day trading carries a high risk because there are no guarantees that you will make any money and you can lose the money you have.  There is some expense involved outside of having a current computer, and you may need to purchase software to help spot price variations and access financial information.

You will need some capital to get started, and the money could be lost.  Day trading can be stressful and time-consuming, especially when you begin, so pace yourself.

10 day trading tips
Timothy Sykes, a popular day trader, is an active member of Profit.ly. Click image to view website.

 

The Final Verdict

Day trading is risky, but it can also be rewarding.  As a beginner, spend the time to learn the ins and outs of trading and spend time watching the marketplace.  Initially, you may want to get a mentor to help you.  You will learn from a seasoned person that will help you avoid pitfalls and will help reinforce what you have learned.

Considering Moving Abroad Like Thailand or Brazil? Then Follow This Plan

Considering Moving Abroad Like Thailand or Brazil? Then Follow This Plan

 

Considering Moving Abroad

There are many individuals who have succeeded in leaving their native country in pursuit of another destination, and there are those who have attempted and failed. If you are seriously considering moving abroad, especially to the exotic country like Brazil, you are going to need a game plan.

Apart from getting your visa sorted out and purchasing airline tickets, a significant amount of preplanning is required to get you started with your new life in one of the most vibrant places in the world.

Don’t lose yourself in the excitement, and remember to adhere to the guidelines we are going to discuss below.

Save, Save and Save!

If you’ve made a move before, whether it is to another neighborhood or another city, it will take cash. Now that you’re considering moving to another country altogether, it’s going to take a lot more.

Think about it for a second and consider the many unique costs you’re likely to incur. Visa, legal clearances, shipping personal possessions, bit ticket purchases. These expenses are the ones you will incur before you even get there. Now let’s come to the living expenses when the wheels touchdown in the Promised Land.

If you are planning to start from scratch, then having at least about 5 to 8 months of living expenses is highly recommended. If you run out of money in a country where you don’t know the language or customs, it can be scary. Ensure that the financial aspect is covered before you even consider anything else.

Cost to Live A Comfortable Lifestyle in Thailand – According to Scott Mallon 

Do you have a support group in your desired destination? While some solo expatriates have been able to establish themselves own their own, consider the option of seeking out a support system or group of global entrepreneurs who may assist in the process.

These groups may be found on traveler forums or through the social networks. During years of reading the experience of many expatriates, most will advise to first spend a few months in your target before making any final decision.

Tips about Brazil – According to Room In The Moon

And take into account, if such online group does not exist, you may need to use Facebook, Twitter or Google+ to start one of your own.

 

Check and Then Double Check Your Paperwork

When you’re in the process of preparing for your departure, you will be filling out a bunch of paperwork for both, the countries, the one you reside in and the one you intend to visit. Remember to make copies of every document that has your signature on it and every other legal and policy document that is signed to your name.

Considering Moving Abroad2
City lights of Thailand

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because pretty soon, you will be jumping through hoops for international money transfers, filling out tax information, obtaining health clearances, and if you are bringing along a family member, the relevant paper for them as well.

Long story short, do not get on the plane before you confirm, multiple times, that everything you need is there with you, along with backups should you lose the said documents.

Address Any And All Health Needs

Whenever one travels to another country, there is a slew of medical verifications you must go through before you become eligible for a visa. In the case of Brazil, being an exotic vacation destination, there are certain vaccinations and in some cases boosters you must be inoculated with before you become eligible. For that you will be requiring proof, so get the relevant paperwork from the lab or your doctor.

 

Create a Steady Stream of Online Income

Let’s be honest, moving abroad requires money.  And when traveling overseas, the importance of having a sustained online business cannot be overlooked or over stated. Since you are going to need a lot of money to reach Brazil (or wherever) and get settled there, before you start earning again, if you have an online business it can help you stay liquid for the foreseeable future.

Such are the perks of being an online entrepreneur, even while traveling you can take your livelihood with you.  We compiled an extensive list of ways to make money from the internet which one can read at this blog post.

Some forms of online income could be, but not excluded to:

Obviously, it should be noted that generating any amount of income, online or offline, varies per person, and dreams of becoming rich over night (if at all) should be left as just that- dreams.

Additionally, as with all areas of money making, it’s the hard work and effort one must put in before reaping anything significant. The idea of waking up to log on to your virtual work station (Laptop) at the comfort of your desired location is certainly a goal worth reaching.

However, it may require an enormous amount of “elbow grease” depending on your niche.

Love him or hate him, Fred Mwangaguhunga of MediaTakeOut (cringe) has stressed the narrative of hard work. In an online interview, he states,

“as far as I’m concerned, I work 365 days in a year. So I’m working Christmas, morning, when people are sleeping, I’m up and I’m working….. I get up probably around 3:30-4:00 in the morning. And on a regular day, weekday, typical workday, I get up around 2:00 in the morning. And my days are usually somewhere around 12 to 15 hour days”.

Now in terms of finding work overseas, such as Brazil, it’s important to spend a few weeks or months on land to gather as much information as . Thus, once you’ve finally landed a job in Brazil, you will be pleased to find out that the local government regulations state that companies are required to pay their employees an extra month of salary at the year end. Imagine all you can do once you make the life you’ve been dreaming of.

 

3 Best Online Natural Hair Care Business Tips

3 Best Online Natural Hair Care Business Tips

Natural Hair Care Business

 

The hair business is among the most profitable businesses in the country, projecting an estimated annual total of $500 billion dollars.

With such a significant amount of black women returning to their natural roots, the door has opened for many small businesses to flourish and make some serious money. Some of the most popular brands started from home; Mixed Chicks, Shea Moisture and Miss Jessie’s just to name a few.

Whether you’re just looking to make some extra money on the side or you’re trying to start your own home-based business, here are a few tips on how you can get started making money in the natural hair industry.

Using Your Natural Hair Knowledge to Make Money

 

1. Join an Affiliate Program

Affiliate programs are a good way to earn some part-time money while having to do little-no work at all. Basically, you’re making money by promoting certain products to people and once they buy the product from your website, you earn commission. The pay rates differ for each affiliate program, but it seems to usually be about 20% of your sale. Most payout rates are about $50, meaning that your customer has to buy $50 worth of products in order for you to be paid, which would earn you $10 per sale. Perks to joining an affiliate program is that you’re usually given products at discounted prices, therefore you can try them for yourself and be able to give your customers an honest review about them. The best thing to do would be to research and compare natural hair affiliate programs to find the one that’s offers the best products and pay rates for you. Read the previous article for further details.

2. eCommerce: Your Personal Online Business

One thing that is great about working from home is that you won’t have to worry about renting out expensive business space. Selling your products/services online is not only one of the most efficient ways to do business, but it will cut down on your costs which will allow you to see more profit. The online natural hair community is always searching for new and better products to care for their hair, so why not see if your business is the answer they’ve been looking for? Here are a few basics to get you started:

  • Research– Understanding the market you’re entering is vital when starting an online business. You will need to view the pricing, habits and practices of successful competitors in order to see where your business will fit. Research will always be constant in your business since the market is always changing, so it will be important to stay on top of trends if you want your business to stay relevant.

 

  • Know Your Customer Base –You know you will be marketing to naturals (of course), but are you going the more specific route by targeting people with locs, or are you keeping your clientèle broad? You will also need to know what attracts your customer’s eye by understanding what they look for in a product/service. Knowing your customer base will not only set you up for success, but it will allow you to weed out any unnecessary factors of your business that may not profit as well.
  • Pricing –The price of your product/service will be based around the market price, but assessing how much the cost is to provide it will play an important factor as well. For instance, if you come across a competitor who lists their Argan Oil product at $4, you may also find that the majority of their product is petroleum based with about 5% of actual Argan Oil in it. On the contrary, you may find another competitor who lists their Argan Oil product at $20 and see that is composed of a host of other high quality ingredients, as well as the Argan Oil.
  • Marketing No matter how great your products are, no one will know about them unless you market them well. Thankfully enough, we live in an age where the greatest marketing tool ever created is usually right in the palm of our hands: the internet. You can acquire ad space basically anywhere on the internet that’s selling it, but you want to make sure your ads are on a site that your target audience visits frequently. From social media to popular blog sites, the possibilities are pretty much endless. The cost of ad space differs depending on the site, so if you’re trying to keep your costs down you may want to start out by just creating social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) pages for your business to try to get your name out there. One tip I suggest is marketing before you launch your website so that you’ll see some immediate profit. You can use those testimonials to secure your reputation in order to appeal to new customers. Once you generate a steady income, you’ll be able to set a fixed budget for marketing and ad space.
  • Time– Creating an online business will definitely take time, so if you’re a working business professional you may need to work on this during your down time. Once your website is up and running it may also take some time to generate a steady clientèle base, but try to be patient and stay positive. If you don’t have many hits, you may want to go back and review what you may need to change. You may find some mistakes that could be the difference between seeing no profit and seeing big profit.

3. Become a Blogger

Blogging is pretty easy for those who are gifted writers. With the natural hair care business (or any another niche), there’s plenty of opportunities for Black women as previously indicated in the past. The main thing about blogging is consistency; subscribers are more likely to stay with an active blog site that posts relevant content. Be sure not to overwhelm your audience with too many posts- posting about 3x a week should be good. A website with great in-depth instructions on how to start a profitable blog is Retireat21.com, but here are the main points on how the money is made:

  • Google AdSense– With GoogleAdSense, you’re basically renting out space on your blog for advertisements from other companies. You have the say in what ad content you allow on your blog, and the process is very simple. Just sign up with Google AdSense to get started. If your site is new and doesn’t generate a lot of traffic, you initially won’t make that much money due to the fact that you get paid per page view. Once you get a constant stream of viewers and subscribers, you’ll begin to rack in a good amount of money.
  • Affiliates– Refer back to “Joining an Affiliate Program,” above.
  • Sponsored Reviews-Sponsored reviews probably generate the majority of the natural hair care blogger’s income. Companies send you products for free and ask you to use and review them, honestly, on your blog. How easy is that? What you need to focus on with these reviews is honesty because readers are usually very good at spotting a B.S. review. One negative thing about sponsored reviews is that you may wind up with more products than you have room for, unnecessary items that you may never use again, or things that you just don’t like.

[Black Owned Beauty Supply Association]

Things To Consider

Just like any business, in order for any of these processes to work you need to put in the time and effort, but you also need to be passionate about what you are doing.

If you’re a professional business woman, make sure to choose something that doesn’t need your constant attention and time. Also, don’t overwhelm yourself with trying to do too many things at once.

[SFBAY View: BOBSA Founder Sam Ennon Meets With Chinese Gov. & Hair Manufacturers]

If you find that you don’t have the time to manage a blog, shut it down and try something else. On the other hand, if you’re self-employed (freelancing, small business owner, etc.), try something that will generate a good amount of income during times when your personal business isn’t making much money. You may find that doing a part-time blog generates a lot more income than your freelancing work.

Working a home-based business can be a simple process, but it can also turn out to be very strenuous so don’t put more on your plate than you can chew.

Since you’re working from home, you have ample opportunity to take some time for yourself in between the madness. In the words of Janelle Monae, “Everything is about balance. You can’t work, work, work, work without any play.”

12 Cool Ways to Make Money Online

12 Cool Ways to Make Money Online

Ways to Make Money

 

So you’ve decided that you want to create an additional stream of income to fund that exotic trip on your bucket list, and you’re determined to use the internet to supplement your earnings. You will want to find an online niche that is unique, useful to potential users, and can generate enough revenue to help make that bucket list a bit shorter. Beyond fulfilling bucket list items, you dream of success so great that you can fire your boss and strike out on your own to make your fortune.

Then perhaps you’ve been looking for some ways to make money.
Before you give the boss his or her walking papers, consider that finding a money making online niche and turning it into reality requires a lot of time, hard work and research. Information gathering is crucial, and not just any information, but the right information. Unfortunately, there are far too many “get rich on autopilot” scams, with empty or ambiguous promises of “being up and running in a few weeks”. This information, in the form of a “system” (at a special price) may actually be:

⦁ The Wrong Information
⦁ Outdated Information
⦁ Information That One Realizes Could Have Been Obtained for Free

Buying one of these “get rich” systems is tempting for sure, but chances are very high that the only person making any money will be the one selling the system to you! Hard work, persistence and tons of free information available in cyberspace and elsewhere will help you achieve financial success and independence. And therefore, behold, the (free) suggested list for what’s creating an online revenue stream.

Top 15 Money Making List

 

1 – Author a Blog 

Reading, contributing to, or commenting on blogs has become an everyday routine for many internet users. Expertise, commitment and business savvy are all important to success.

Blogging has created a fantastic conduit for encouraging diversity and advocating for minorities, with the likes of Necole Kane  (hellonecole.comxonecole.com), Fred Mwangaguhunga of MediaTakeout.com, Zoe Griffin, Andy Torres of Style Scrapbook, David Badash’s The New Civil Rights Movement, or Viviana Hurtado and The Wise Latina Club, just to name a few . These sites and many other top blogs enjoy huge amounts of traffic and a large following on social media.

[How to Start a Food Blog and Make Money]

Create your own successful blog and you’ll have advertisers begging to pay you for ad space (Read Advertising)!

Read this previous blog post which goes further in detail on blogging.

2 – Utilize Affiliate Marketing/Programs

You can become an affiliate marketer (free!) through your website, blog, review site, e-mail list (see below), newsletter or other online presence. Links, or ads, placed on your site produce income when a visitor clicks on the link and makes a purchase at the advertiser’s site, rewarding you a commission. Clickbank, JVZoo, CJ Affiliate (formerly Commission Junction) and Amazon Affiliates are examples of companies that can assist you in becoming a successful affiliate marketer.

 

Max Bounty Review

[Best Affiliate Marketing Business Opportunities]

Other affiliate websites worth joining:

 

A word of caution: while there are many sites offering courses promising one to become a super affiliate, it’s recommended to take advantage of free resources to assist in proper guidance. The popular Warriors’ Forum has an enormous amount of recent and up to date discussion posts from seasoned Internet Marketers. Additionally, Affilorama offers both free and premium membership services.

3 – Wall Street Laptop – Online Investing & Trading

Your rent or mortgage payment is just out of reach, or that fabulous vacation you wanted to take isn’t going to be possible for another year. Why deny yourself what you want when you can use the internet to generate income?  Consider trading in the financial markets as a way to make money that not many know about.

[Wall Street Laptop: The Future For Investing Online]

These aren’t “get rich quick schemes,” you need to study and work at it for it to work for you. Be assured, with knowledge and effort, you can take these strategies and make them into money-making opportunities.

They are as follows:

  • Day Trading By day trading, we are talking about buying and selling stocks quickly during the course of a day.Sometimes you will hang onto to a stock for just a few hours, sometimes minutes. When you want to make money as a day trader, you would scout companies with high betas. This means looking for businesses which are more volatile than the overall market.You’ll find the most volatile stocks in the market are often what’s called penny stocks. These stocks trade for $5 or less per share. For example, if a stock has a beta of 2.1, the stock could climb or drop 2.1 times as fast as the market, if the market’s value begins to climb or drop. Day traders look for these potentials because fast gains can be had as they ride each volatile stock for only a short while. See this post to read more details on Jason Bond and swing trading.
  • FOREX Trading In the forex market, you buy or sell currencies.To do this, you place a trade in the foreign exchange (FOREX) market. The mechanics of a trade are very much the same as you would find in the stock market. If you have any experience in trading, you should be able to to do this fairly easily.The object of forex trading is to exchange one currency for another in the expectation that the price will change, so that the currency you bought will increase in value compared to the one you sold.  Potential investors can discover more by reading a previous post, social trading, as it relates to both forex and penny stocks.
  • Binary Options You can make money in binary option trading if you follow a system. The key is to control risk.  A trader can never lose too much money on any particular trade.

A put option is an contract giving the owner the right, but not the obligation, to sell an underlying security, like stocks or bonds, at a specific price within a preset time. This is the opposite of a call option, which gives the contract holder the right to buy shares.

A call option is an agreement that gives an investor the right to exercise the option to buy an underlying security at a specific price within a preset time period.

In theory, you have a 50% chance of being correct on any trade whether you buy a call or a put option. To make money, you only need to be correct on about 60% of the trades you take. When you are making money in binary options, the outcome of a trade can be influenced by the other people participating and the outside environment. The outcome of a binary options trade can be anticipated by the current environment when the trade is executed. You don’t have to be right by much to be on the money making side.

  • Contract for Difference Trading Making money from CFD trading (Contracts For Difference) involves taking advantage of rising prices (long positions), or dropping prices (short positions) on stocks or bonds. The CFD is a contract between two parties, a buyer and a seller, to exchange the difference between the opening price and the closing price of a contract. When this difference is a negative amount, then the buyer pays that amount to the seller.

To make money, you need to:

  1. Understand past patterns, so you can better predict future movements
  2.  Forecast momentum, so you can “ride the wave”
  3. Swing trading by looking for stocks currently trading either above or below their normal range
  4. Taking out two positions in the same industry – one goes long while the other goes short

4 – Ad Networks

Selling advertising directly on your site can provide a steady cash flow. Using a tool such as Google AdSense can make the process easy and effective, providing access to a large existing pool of advertisers. Advertising networks love websites that attract a lot of traffic, so it’s important to work on generating unique and regular visitors each month, using this as leverage for placed ads to attract large audiences.

5 – Data Entry Online Jobs /Utilize Virtual Assistant Services

Fiverr, UpWork, and Time-etc are all examples of companies that specialize in providing virtual assistance in all kinds of business endeavors. You can freelance through these companies to use your skills and talents to make money doing what you love to do, and in many cases at your own hours! These services may include, but not exclusive to: Billing Clerk, Ghost Blogger, Business Card Designer, eNewsletter Publisher, Security Monitoring or Online Course Developers and Language Programming. Imagine taking advantage of freelance data entry jobs for hire on vacation in Thailand, Brazil or Belize!

See the previous posts regarding extra income from Udemy courses and data entry.

6 – Use Ecommerce Sites

Amazon and eBay are two well-known ecommerce sites that you can use to make money. Both provide platforms that allow you to sell products in different ways to hundreds of millions of potential buyers. Alternatively, you can set up your own site with the help of specialists, or give it a go on your own. As the saying goes, “If you build it they will come”. As an example, you could create the next best virtual flea market to bring potential sellers together in exchange for a percentage of each sale with dropshipping. Or, perhaps you have an idea of a product of your own? Either way, with the right amount of research and effort, the possibilities are endless.

 7 – Apps Development

Come up with an app that people decide they can’t live without, and watch the money roll in. Consider Chad Mureta of AppEmpire, now worth millions, who created his first app, a bestseller called Fingerprint Security Pro, with no prior experience. In-app purchasing can generate additional revenue, and in-app advertising is another potential money maker. Small business owners are realizing the impact that mobile apps can have on their bottom line, and the demand for those with the skills to create such apps is huge.

Many apps are bought and sold on Flippa.

8 – Freelance Writing

If writing is your thing, you can become a freelance writer for SEO content companies such as FiverrWriter Access,  BKA Content, or freelance exclusively for a company or a select blog or blogs. As online and social media presence becomes more and more important for a company’s survival, a gifted writer can use their talents to create some respectable income.

9 – Domain & Website Flipping

Flippa.com, NameJet.com and other auction sites facilitate the buying and selling of domain names that have expired for a variety of reasons. With some skill and tenaciousness, flipping domains and websites can be one of the simplest methods to make money online, in many cases for a considerable profit. Website flipping involves the buying of a site, improving it, and then reselling it at a higher price. A low initial investment and the chance to make money off the site even while improvements are being made can make this process lucrative as well.

Read previous entries for more: selling domains and social match phrases.

10 – E-mail List Building

Combined with a blog site following or strong social media base, successful marketers know the power of generating huge prospects, which serves as a rewarding source of passive income. In exchange for submitting an e-mail via an opt-in form, subscribers receive updates, free ebooks or discount deals (to name a few). The next step comes from sending an “e-mail blast” (MailChimp, Constant Contact and SendGrid are just a few of the top electronic marketing services used to reach potential leads) with products or services, such as those from affiliate programs. Whether you choose to build an email list with or without a website, it’s important to note that numbers are everything, giving marketers enough opportunities to monetize their website traffic or Facebook fans.

 11  – Write an E-book

With the advent of self-publishing, anyone can write and publish an e-book, with the potential to be read by millions all over the world. Whether it be fiction or non-fiction such as a how-to or a self-help book, the possibilities are limitless and the income potential great.

Brief demonstration from Stefan Pylarinos of K Money Mastery:

12 – Utilize YouTube

Creating original content on your own YouTube channel is a great way to generate revenue. The key is to create fun, engaging content that is not only appealing to many users, but to advertisers as well. Quality content submitted on a regular basis creates and nurtures advertising relationships that will last and create income over the long term. If interested, you may learn more here.

In Conclusion

Although there is no easy path to making lots of money online, there are so many opportunities available that there should be something for everyone. These 15 methods only scratch the surface of what is possible through hard work, determination, skill, lots of research, and a little luck. Choose something that appeals to you and go for it – you could be the next internet millionaire!

InstaForex Review

The Emergence of the Social Trader

The Emergence of the Social Trader

Social Trader

 

A lot of the previous blog posts have dealt with investing and how technology and the internet have made things easier for the common woman and man. So it’s no surprise to introduce another concept: The Social Trader.

Social trading is a practice online investors employ to make financial decisions, in which they utilize user-generated financial content from sites such as Profit.ly and Etoro.com. Sites like these help the social trader to analyze financial data by supplying a common ground for copying and comparing trades, strategies, and techniques. Before social trading was possible, copy traders and investors had to rely solely on technical analysis to make investment decisions.  Today’s social trading investors are able to trade data-feeds of social indicators online with other traders.

[7 Best Swap Free Forex Halal Sites]

Social or copy trading allows online trading with the assistance of others. Many social traders claim that this ability greatly shortens the time necessary to move from being a novice to becoming an experienced Forex (Foreign Exchange Market) trader. All foreign currencies are traded in this over-the-counter market, which is the most liquid and biggest world market today. Social traders can watch others take trades, interact with other traders, and then copy, or duplicate, the most successful trades, and in the process learn why top performers choose the trades they do. By using copy trades, a new trader can learn what strategies work or what strategies don’t work.

 

What are some of the key features of social trading?

Transparency – By using trading platforms like InvestFeed or eToro, a social trader can find out the performance statistics of other traders, past and present positions, plus current market sentiment, which allows members all the information they need in order to appraise the site contributor’s credibility

Monetization -The ability to convert an object or asset into legal tender or money. It is possible for copy traders to learn a great variety of data about other users which will benefit them in the long run.

Cooperative trading – Through these online sites newer traders have the chance to work cooperatively in trading teams, pool funds, share information, and divide research up collaboratively.

Information flow – Social traders can benefit greatly by studying information exchanges that flow freely between financial investors. Freely exchanged information is valuable to individual investors.

How does copy trading compare to social trading?

Copy trading capabilities are available with assorted financial trading operators as one part of a bigger social trading platform. Copy trading permits financial market traders to automatically copy any positions that are managed or opened by a particular investor inside the social trading network. A portion of the funds of a copy trader is linked to a copied investor’s account. This means that all trades initiated by the investor being copied, like opening or closing positions, or assigning Take Profit and Stop Loss orders, will then be executed in the account of the copying trader, depending upon the allotted trading funds of the copier and the proportion of the investor’s account that is being copied. Copy traders usually have the right to disconnect from any copied trades and begin to manage these trades themselves.

 

A study of copy trades in 2012 demonstrated that traders who did copy trades on eToro with a “suggested investor” were 6 to 10% more successful than manual traders, and four percent more successful than copy traders of random investors. Research is on-going to fine tune a trader’s capacity to benefit sustainably from copy trading.

Social trading has become increasingly popular. Here is a listing of the most popular social trading networks available today:

  • eToro – This site is a social trading network as well as a broker and focuses on novice investors. New investors like this site’s simple mobile friendly interface A review of eToro can be found toward the end of this article
  • ZuluTrade – This site currently has the greatest number of investors and traders online. They provide complete trade copying plus social interaction capabilities
  • Ayondo – This German based site was the first to offer auto trading to UK customers in order to “spreadbetForex accounts. They offer stocks, indices, fx, bonds, interest rates, and commodities
  • Copyop – This is the most advanced and leading trading network for social binary options
  • CM Trading CopyKat – On this site you can copy and follow traders through a special “CopyKatSIRIX trading platform. Members can mirror trades from everybody on SIRIX
  • Profit.ly – This huge website deals specifically with instructing people on penny trading ins and outs. This site offers email stock-pick alerts, SMS, plus a private chat-room where users can find help. A review of this copy trading site can be found immediately below.

InstaForex Review

Because they’ve become slightly more popular compared to the rest, we shall examine Profit.ly and eToro further:

Social Trading With Profit.ly

Profit.ly was created to introduce accountability, data-driven optimization, transparency and measurement into the world of online trading. Copy trades exist in abundance. However, concerns about stock manipulation as well as industry regulations sometimes prevent affiliates and members from being able to share information openly all the time. For this reason Profit.ly allows investors and traders to make private profiles where they can enjoy total account privacy.

Check the interview below:

This online site has advanced analytic tools which allow social traders to measure their performance, and at the same time make a knowledgeable analysis of which trade setups work the best for them. Traders can choose from various different products that include the capability to track profits, verify trades, get on leaderboards, message and follow other traders, plus view the stats of other traders for $29.95 a month. $49.95 a month allows a copy trader to make a private profile (but you won’t have access to other traders’ stats). The Pro level costs $74.95 a month and includes a private profile, as well as access to the statistics of other traders.

Profit.ly founder Timothy Sykes has made a career of exposing misinformation and fraud in the online guru and penny stock industries. A new feature of Profit.ly is called the “Bernie Madoff“, which allows community members to weed out and expose those traders that are possible liars.

profit.ly
Click image to visit Profit.ly, the Social Trading Platform

Social Trading With eToro

Founded by Jonathan Assia, eToro.com, “the Facebook of trading”, is currently the leading social trade network in the world (excluding the US). More than 5 million investors are using this social investment network. Opening an account with eToro gives you immediate access to CopyTrader, which advertises that members can choose to copy from more than 3 million traders. Once you open an account you can utilize their OpenBook platform for searching top social investors. When a potential trader to be copied is spotted, a user can allocate a part of their funds and begin copy trading. Any information that the copy trader submits is immediately protected by state-of-the-art encryption technology to ensure that your information won’t be shared with any third parties. A new account can be funded with PayPal, Moneygram, or credit card.

etoro forex
Click image to visit eToro, the world’s leading social trading network

One interesting feature of eToro is that if “popular traders” are copied, they’ll be rewarded. Depending on how many copiers a Popular Trader has, they’ll receive monthly fixed commission payments. The topmost “Elite” traders will receive annually 2% of all funds that are under their management, as well as totally commission free trading. In July of 2016 eToro updated their “Popular Investor Dashboard” to include a CRM (Customer Relationship Management System) which enables more interactions between copiers and Popular Investors. There’s currently more than 5 million users on eToro, which appeals to professional traders that are interested in making some extra cash for their trading skills.

To discover more details on the popular Social Trading platform, consider reading the full blog post review on eToro.

Examining The Financial Trump Rally

Examining The Financial Trump Rally

 

Trump Rally

 

 

 

 

 

In the early morning of November 9th, 2016, Trump was declared the President of the United States after Hillary Clinton conceded. For business men and women, especially those in the stock business, this was a defining moment, and as seen with every President, there are economic effects that have to be felt.

 

Within a couple of days, stocks began to rally and the dollar was strengthened to levels that haven’t been seen for over a decade. Trump’s economic agenda might be among the reasons that saw the strengthening of the dollar, or it might be his economic policies that have increased investor confidence.

This effect has now been named after the man to whom it is owed, and it is known as the Trump Rally. No, not the rally as it relates to protests or large gatherings for Trump supporters, but the one in terms of finances.

Lou Dobbs Commentary:

What exactly is the Trump Rally?

The Trump Rally is the positive effect on the economy that the election of Donald Trump as President has had. Just when it was clear that Trump was going to win the election, the stocks fell by about 5% on the evening of November 8th, and a number of people predicted that the market might crash if Trump wins the presidency.

On the morning of November 9th, when Trump was to give his acceptance speech, the stocks were still quite low. However, the stocks rose significantly and by the end of the day, the stocks had not only recovered the losses from the previous day, but they had also risen by 1%. This alludes to the economic policies that Trump has, which are seen to favor investment.

[Donald Trump News For Internet Entrepreneurship]

There has been quite a race in the stock market, and most countries have joined in the rally. Europe has been rallying as well, and the effects seen in most of these markets are figures that have not been seen for a long time. In just three and a half months, the stocks indices have lifted by a whopping 10%, a level that has not been seen in the last thirteen years.

[Forbes: Wall Street-Friendly Era]

The reasons behind the rallying are varied, and everyone seems to have a different opinion. The first speculation is the economic promises by President Trump. These include the promise to cut costs, less strict business regulations and turning infrastructure into a tax incentive. It could also be that the economy is getting better under the leadership of President Trump. Whatever the reasons, a lot of investors are riding the Trump Rally in an effort to increase their profits.

Video Commentary From AvaTrade

How Investors are Taking Advantage of the Trump Rally

With increased confidence in investment, there has been a race to gain using the Trump Rally. Stock rallying has been the method through which investors have been riding the Trump Rally.

The Trump Rally has been characterized by an increase in the purchase of stock. This increase in the stock trading has been as a result of increased investor confidence, which has directly led to an increase in demand for stocks in the market. An increase in capital and investments for companies have been realized, rising to up to as high as $100 million. Shareholders are releasing their shares at very high values, and investors are scrambling to get these shares.

However, there is quite a number of risk associated with the Trump Rally. First, it is not known to be permanent or a temporary occurrence. The investors are mostly dependent on the enactment of the promises made by president Trump, including reduced taxes and reduced restrictions on investments. The fear is that if these promises are not upheld, the investors run the risk of losing the amount of money that they use to invest.

TheStreet Discussion On Tech Stocks:

The other threat is the threat that the market will falter just as fast as it gained. At the moment, the stock market is riding on the crowd effect towards investment. The first person was driven by Trump’s promises, the second person was driven a bit by Trump and a bit by the first person, and now everyone is riding on the high that is the crazy number of investments. The fear of this is that this is a house of cards, and the slightest falter in confidence might lead to a crash in the market, back to the values from before the election, or even lower.

The Role of Online Investing and Trading

Online investment is the buying and trading is the buying and selling of stock electronically, and it plays a major role in everyday investment. You should read this post for further details regarding online investing.

Online trading is important for several reasons. First, online trading can play a role in your overall financial plan. If you buy and sell stock regularly, and you do it well enough to earn you some regular amount of money, you can add it to your financial plan. Secondly, with online investment and trading can be practiced as a side hustle, away from your main job. A knowledge of the stock exchange and trading values is necessary, no other knowledge is necessary.

There are three major ways through which you can participate in online trading. These three ways also are playing a major role in the Trump Rally as well. They are Forex, Bitcoins trading and Penny stocks.

Forex trading is a global market where different countries trade currencies. When visiting a new country, you are expected to use the currency of that country, and therefore, you change your dollars to, say, South African Rand. The amount of money you get when trading while getting into the country may be 13.22 Rand. While leaving the country, you need your dollars back, and while trading, you might be required to give 13.27 Rand for a dollar. This is foreign exchange. On a larger scale, a person may buy and sell the South African Rand, depending on how much it is trading against the dollar.

Foreign exchange can be done online, and in the Trump Rally, the investors have been riding on the strength of the dollar, buying it at very low prices and selling at relatively higher prices.

The role of bitcoins in the Trump Rally, which is traded online as well, cannot be understated. Bitcoin is a digital currency that can be bought, sold, saved and even cashed. During the Trump Rally, the bitcoin has been seen to stabilize due to an increase in investor confidence. Before Trump got elected, the bitcoin was trading at below $1000, but has stabilized and is now trading at approximately $1185.

Penny stocks, also traded online, are stocks with relatively higher risks and higher speculations, and they trade outside the major stock exchanges. They lack liquidity and are mostly traded over-the-counter, even though they are traded online as well. Riding the Trump Rally, investors have been buying penny stocks, due to a relatively safer cushioning. However, most investors have been hesitant, because, either way, penny stocks are high risk.

This just goes to show just how much the Trump Rally has been good to online investment and trading.

In conclusion, the Trump Rally is great for the American market and everyone working in it. The rush for gold is real, and the high demand is great. However, the uncertainties surrounding this rush are just as many, and the best course of action for any investor is to wait and see where this goes, and when there are fewer uncertainties, then invest.

On Mobile Usage in India – All the Facts

On Mobile Usage in India – All the Facts

Mobile Usage in India

What is not so well known about the long running war between iPhone and Android is that India is where the battle between Apple, Google and Samsung is being played out, with frantic intensity. India is the world’s fastest growing smartphone market, according to Gartner, with smartphone sales growing by 166.8% this year and accounting for 53.6% of the new mobile devices sold this year.

Mobile Usage Challenges

India may have been slow at providing basic amenities for its people – still a large number of households in India, especially in rural Indian and in urban slums, do not have access to drinking water or proper toilets. Still, a significant percentage of Indian children suffer from malnutrition and in many ways, the country is still technologically backward, suffering from a creaking infrastructure. But if there is one area in which India shines, and shines really brightly, it is in the national mobile device usage.

There are 1.25 billion people in India and according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), India’s premier telecom regulator, there are as many as 933 million mobile phone connections in the country. Which means that the mobile device usage in India is particularly high for what is still a very poor country.

Udemy- Online Courses

But that is not the full picture about the mobile device usage in India. The caveat here is that the number of unique mobile phone subscribers in India is actually less than half of the estimated number of 933 million total subscriptions. This is because Indian mobile phone users have an average of 2.5 sims registered in their names. While the sim penetration in India has reached almost 75% of the population, the mobile penetration has only reached 35%. There are more mobile phone subscriptions than mobile phone devices.

Promising Outlook For Mobile Usage

The anomaly is because the telecom market is highly competitive in the country, with half a dozen well established telecom companies battling it out for the attention of a vast population that grows richer and less poorer every year, and has more disposable income to spend, year after year. There is no question that many Indians are poor, but things are changing fast, and there is now no doubt that the country is on the right track. The fast growing mobile device usage in India is one of the biggest signs of a new wave of prosperity.

So to cater to the growing demands of a vast market, the big telecom companies in India, such as Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Reliance and Tata DoCoMo and to survive the tough competition try trick in the trade to attract new customers, offering freebies and great deals for subscribing to their connections. This, coupled with the really cheap smartphones available in the country has spurred the mobile phone usage in India like nowhere else in the world.

The smartphone market in India is another huge success story. While there were 113 smartphones sold in the country by 2013, and proceeding year – in 2014 – the smartphone sales have been estimated to have increased by 166.8% – a truly remarkable growth. While iPhones are getting increasingly popular in India, the real battle for the attention of the Indian consumer is being played out by the various makers of Android phones. While Samsung still lords over the smartphone sales in India, it is facing great competition – not from Apple, Nokia or Lenovo – but from Indian manufacturers such as Micromax, Lava and Karbonn. Micromax has been a great local success story and its great success against Samsung has been widely covered in business publications in the country.

Also interesting is the fact that more people in India use internet on their mobile phones than on their desktop. The internet penetration in the country (for desktop usage) is still quite low, which is being made up by increasing smartphone sales.

Mobile Usage For Social Media

Facebook and YouTube are hugely popular in India and account for bulk of the internet usage on mobile devices. Facebook claims to have 100 million users in the country, of which 84 million are said to use it only through their mobile phones.

Another interesting fact which suggests just why mobile phone usage in India is so critical is that over 90% of Indian mobile phone users claim to do research on a particular product on their mobile devices before placing an order for it online.

Lastly, an overwhelming majority of mobile phone subscriptions in the country are pre-paid connections (93%). Not just poor or middle class Indians, even the rich prefer to have pre-paid connections because of the mistrust associated with postpaid subscriptions, where the telecom companies are known to make frequent mistakes with the billing.