Bryan Ellis comments on Virtual Real Estate Investing
Landlords and rehabbers take notice - you may soon be focused on the new concepts of “Virtual Real Estate Investing“. What is meant by “Virtual Real Estate Investing” ranges from online games like SecondLife (where real profit can be made) to the use of internet technologies to make normal real estate investors more profitable.
In order to figure out the truth of the matter, I sought out Bryan Ellis of BryanEllis.com, whose experience in the fledgling industry is truly impressive.
When I began using the term virtual real estate investing in the late 1990s, I did so because I saw clear parallels between the strategies used for profiting from physical real estate and those that would create income in the online world, said Ellis.
One example of the parallels between virtual and physical real estate Bryan Ellis cites is the similarity between the monetization of domain names versus physical property. “These types of assets - websites and physical real estate - can be monetized in very similar ways like buy lo/sell high, leasing/rental and advertising opportunities” he says.
The similarities really are obvious. For example, if you’re the owner of a desirable property, its desirability is (in a business context) largely due to its being in a location that is of interest to others. Likewise, if you own a desirable domain name, others will find value in it because it serves their purposes. So it doesn’t matter if you own physical real estate or virtual real estate - you’ll likely use similar strategies to turn them into money in your pocket.
In our next installment of this series on virtual real estate investing, Bryan Ellis will share the internet analogies to the physical concept of real estate development.
Wholesale Television Receiver: 100% Verified Wholesale Worldwide Suppliers
The advent of the Internet has enabled small retailers, flea market vendors, and eBay sellers to find wholesalers from across the country. Many times these wholesalers can be located on the opposite end of the country, making a warehouse visit impractical. But since the wholesaler is located far away from the retailer, is difficult, and sometimes nearly impossible to inspect the wholesale merchandise. While this situation might discourage many stores, flea market vendors, and eBay sellers from dealing with far away wholesalers, there are steps that can be taken to make these transactions safer. The best way to ensure that the wholesale deal is legitimate is to make sure that the wholesaler is reputable. So how do you ensure that a wholesaler is reputable? For starters, see what kind of treatment they extend to you over the phone.. Get Wholesale Television Receiver at Salehoo wholesale directories, see how Salehoo can help your business. To make a profit he must pass these costs on to you. Read on to find out more about Wholesale Television Receiver and Salehoo Wholesalers. They are making a profit on these clothes that they bought at wholesale prices. More on Wholesale Television Receiver at Salehoo wholesaler directory.
Security Measures- Despite all the fears of identity theft, online transactions account for less than 4% of identity theft. There are numerous software programs available (some for free) that the user can download to protect themselves from viruses and spyware. Worried about spyware? Download a free spyware program at safer-networking (called SpyBot Search & Destroy). Read on about Wholesale Television Receiver and how Salehoo wholesale directory can help you. They have also done some homework and revisions of the goods and products on offer. More on Wholesale Television Receiver below.
OK, so what types of businesses can you start or purchase? Well, there are many types of businesses that involve the wholesale trade, here are some examples: Manufacturing– After you manufacture goods you have to sell them to wholesalers, retailers or directly to the public. This involves wholesale or distribution, or both. Find out more about Wholesale Television Receiver and how Salehoo wholesale directory can help you start your own business from home. If you’re a really frugal person borrow yesterday’s paper from your neighbor; that way you won’t have to spend a dime to find out what liquidation events are coming up in your town. Wholesale Television Receiver: Find out how Salehoo wholesale directory can serve YOU!
Get: Wholesale Television Receiver at Salehoo wholesale directories, and get a head start in your own startup business. The only way to thrive in your startup business is to get quality products cheaply, and from 100%, weekly verified wholesale suppliers from all over the world. CLICK BELOW for FULL DETAILS Inside
Side Job Became Full Time
It is kind of scary when a side job that you love can become so successful that you have the option to quit your normal 9 to 5 position. Now you are faced with doing something that you really love and making a great income but leaving behind the safety and stability of a corporate job. So, when you are looking at home business opportunities make sure that you ask yourself this question. Are you ready to be honest with yourself as your side job can become a full time passion and full of money making capabilities that your “stable” job could never offer.
I have a group of friends that meets together once a week to discuss different business ventures we are all interested in. One friend of mine looking back on her year of work said that her success was a double edge sword. She did better than expected but not good enough to make the ultimatum with her corporate job. Her home business opportunities were really taking off but she needed a monthly income to support the business. We are now busy brainstorming different ideas for her so that maybe she can rely less on the funding portion of the home business to really get it off the ground.
Never Tell Me The Odds!
Do you remember the original “Star Wars” moment when Han Solo, played by Harrison Ford, had to escape capture by Imperial cruisers?
Someone aboard asked him if he knew how unlikely escape was.
He shot back, “Never tell me the odds!”
I love that, and every aspiring small businessperson should adopt this outlook.
We’ve all heard the odds that predict 90% of all start-ups will fail within three years, or so, haven’t we?
Who cares?
That new hair salon, and that newspaper delivery service, and that independent insurance agent down the street may close their doors, but what do they have to do with me?
They may have started out at exactly the same moment, but their destinies aren’t mine. Yet statistics suggest we’re all alike, and in this sense, statistics lie.
There are lots of reasons people strike out on their own, and profitability is certainly one of them. But another motive is to feel independent, self-reliant.
For the corporate drone who actually made it long enough to earn the gold watch from the huge corporation, doing everything by yourself and for yourself can be exhilarating.
Plus, it may be in the cards to have one or two losing ventures before you learn how to do it better. Maybe those failures are just parts one and two of a three part drama, yet they’re reported as miscues.
When I started my own independent consulting business over 20 years ago I never knew how unlikely my success was, and I’m happy I didn’t!
Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone®, You Can Sell Anything By Telephone! and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.
J.G. Wentworth Forecast:Consumers Expected to Increase Sales of Annuities They Hold in 2006, Continu
Bryn Mawr, PA, December 5, 2005 - American consumers are expected to more than double the sales of existing tax-deferred annuities they hold in 2006, as the economy moves into what appears to be a transition phase in which liquidity will be valued over illiquid holdings, according to J.G. Wentworth. As a result, the company said, sales by consumers of existing annuities are likely to hit a three-year high next year even as the annuities market itself continues to grow. “Based on the public data we’ve seen as well as proprietary information from agents and brokers active in this market, 2006 is likely to be a watershed year for sales by consumers of annuities they purchased, often in very different economic environments,” said Michael B. Vaughan, managing director of the J.G. Wentworth Annuity Purchase Program. “There are, according to industry estimates, more than $1.6 trillion of assets backing annuities in the U.S. alone. We estimate that 5-10%, or $80-160 billion, of those annuities are in the hands of consumers who would sell, in any given year, if they could.” Vaughan pointed to the following five factors as supporting J.G. Wentworth’s assumptions:
– Liquidity matters in a changing economy. Consumer confidence, and optimism about more liquid investments like stocks and real estate, remains high.
– Investment needs change. Changes in investment strategy or goals, or even just life changes like illness or divorce, often force hard reviews of existing assets and investment decisions. Unexpected medical problems can also be a factor.
– Buyer’s remorse is real. In fact, according to a 2003 survey of immediate annuity owners by the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI), more than a quarter of respondents (27%) were “concerned they may be unable to sell their annuity if they want the money for something else” and 4% believe the decision to purchase an annuity was a poor one.
– Annuity ownership can complicate estate planning and wealth transfer. The inheritance of an annuity, where there is significant divergence between the financial objectives of the original annuitant and the heir, can create issues.
– Even the “experts” don’t advise annuity ownership for all. The Motley Fool, a leading personal finance media company, said, “Annuities by and large: are too expensive, offer mediocre insurance coverage, restrict the owner’s investment choices to so-so, ho-hum, quasi-mutual fund subaccounts…and lack liquidity.” Vaughan added, “Tax-deferred annuities have been a valuable personal finance tool for many consumers and offer the benefits of stable, secure and guaranteed income.
Unfortunately, annuities can also become a very inflexible solution for many consumers when they face the need to review estate planning or investment goals, or simply realize that their life circumstances have changed.”
About J.G. Wentworth J.G. Wentworth, the sponsor of the Annuity Purchase Program, is the nation’s oldest, largest and most respected buyer of annuities. For more than 14 years, J. G. Wentworth has been purchasing annuities as well as other deferred payment streams. During this time, the company has purchased over $2 billion of future payment obligations. The company’s annuity-backed notes are rated AAA by Standard & Poor’s and AAA by Moody’s and sold to institutional investors. J.G. Wentworth is based in Bryn Mawr, PA. For more information about J.G. Wentworth and the Annuity Purchase Program, go to www.jgwfunding.com/annuities.asp. # # #
The Most Important Principles for Internet Success
For the uninitiated, setting up an online business can be made so much more difficult if the correct path is not followed initially.
To many prospective online entrepreneurs the Internet presents an easy way to achieving a lifestyle of the rich and famous.
Whilst there are a select number of internet businesses that are making preposterous amounts of money, there are also those that are making a mere pittance if not nothing at all.
If you are reading this you obviously want to know how to be in the former category.
Well I can tell you that to be a top internet earner it takes more than merely registering your business, securing a domain name and publishing a site linked up with a few affiliates and then waiting for the money to start rolling in.
In fact most of the online businesses earn paltry amounts and fade away into insignificance in a short amount of time.
Take heart though because if you start off by following these guidelines to starting your own internet business, you will have a solid platform from which to grow your business.
The dismal performance of many home based internet businesses can often be caused by not adhering to one or more of the following;
• A sound Business Plan is essential and it should consist of the following:
• a short term plan (1-3 months)
• a medium term plan (6-12 months)
• and a long term plan (more than 1 year)
In this plan you need to record budgetary items as well as your objectives in terms of what you want to achieve in monetary value as well as lifestyle.
Reducing the above to writing is highly motivating and serves as an excellent source for inspiration when you are feeling flat and demoralized.
Remember: Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance
• Domain Name - Establish and register an appropriate domain name - not a freebie as it will hurt your search engine rankings for one thing and your credibility for another.
• Web Hosting - Sign up with a reputable web host, not a free one, and ensure that they offer enough web space and bandwidth for your needs and do not host ‘bad neighborhood’ websites on their servers.
This could have a detrimental effect on your site’s rankings and effect server reliability.
• Website Design - The image, functionality etc of your website obviously needs to be out of the top drawer. It’s no good having tons of traffic that is not captured and doesn’t result in sales.
• Products and Services - Decide on the products and/or services that you are going to market.
• Affiliate Marketing - If you are going to do affiliate marketing decide on a niche market and promote the appropriate affiliates only.
Promoting many products and affiliates on your site will only serve to confuse the site visitor and result in no sale!
• Advertising - If you are going to spend money on advertising, spend wisely.
You don’t want to spend your budget on non-effective marketing.
• Website Traffic - To establish a high profile for your website you will need to pay a lot of attention to Search Engine Optimization for your site to appear in the SERP’s (Search Engine Results Pages)
• E-Mail List - Establish an opt-in email list to send out newsletters to.
As the list grows so will your business, however if you indulge in spamming practices your business will only go one way…down!
Their are many dubious offers out there that promise to drive huge amounts of instant traffic to your site…beware of wasting your money on them
You will find great inspiration, ideas and tips for your Internet Business at http://www.income.za.net and http://www.internetbusiness.co.za
Finally, remember that even the best laid plans will come to nought if they are not constantly implemented, monitored and applied with drive and passion.
Mark Bellinger
Websites: http://www.income.za.net
http://www.internetbusiness.co.za
How to Find a Genuine Home-Based Business Opportunity
With all those scams out there how does one go about finding a genuine home-based business opportunity? The good news is that they are out there, the bad news is that sometimes it takes quite a long time to find one that is actually genuine and that suits you.
Genuine Home-based Businesses should be Established
Genuine home-based businesses should be able to tell you how long they have been around, their company registration number, who owns the company and other details that you would normally expect a business to provide. If they can’t provide these simple details then you should be wary.
Genuine Home-based Businesses should have happy customers
You should be able to get testimonials from people who have joined the opportunity and have been satisfied with it, other than the people who are trying to sell you the program. The people who gave these testimonials should also be contactable and you should be able to get at least some of their contact details so that you can contact them personally.
Genuine Home-based Businesses should be contactable
You shouldn’t just have an email or postal address for the company but you should also be given, at least, a telephone number and preferably as many details as possible. If people do not give all their contact details be wary because they may be trying to hide.
Be wary of MLM and “Get Rich Quick” schemes
If there was a way for people to “get rich quick” don’t you think everybody would be doing it? Most get rich quick programs, unfortunately, are scams and tend to rather make you poor so be very wary before you go into anything like that. The other thing to be wary of is MLM. MLM programs tend to make the people at the top richer while the people at the bottom get poorer. If someone tells you that if you join such and such a program and so many people join under you and in turn so many people under them, watch out! This is an MLM or pyramid scheme and you should be very wary. This is not however the same as being an affiliate or agent for a program which can be a very good way to make money because it is not based on the same MLM pyramid structure.
In conclusion, there are genuine home-based business opportunities out there and although they may be difficult to find if you follow the rules above you should be able to find one that meets your needs and gives you the freedom and flexibility you have been craving in your search for finding a home-based business so keep looking and I wish you all the best.
This article was written by Mandy Buchanan, owner of 1 Way Resources (http://www.1wayresources.co.za) If you are looking for more articles on business ideas, business resources or webmaster resources please visit http://www.1wayresources.co.za or you can subscribe to our Business Ideas Newsletter by emailing subscribe@1wayresources.co.za with your name, email address and the subject “Business Ideas Newsletter”.
Get the Food Right with Caterers
In the early 1990’s it was registered that the capital had no exact tactic of suggesting & rating game restaurants. An idea was set to create a food publication which would be filled with the greatest London places to eat including Chinese dim sum restaurants as well as a range of price tags. The eating guide would be in the shape of a petite pocket book and it would make it easy to carry all over the place with you.
What makes the eating guides so distinctive and diverse from any other restaurant guide is the fact that the places to eat are recommended by everyday people, not expert restaurant judges. Following the victory of the eating guide, later followed the accomplishment of the website. The website itself will tell you almost everything you need to know about pretty much any Swiss restaurants in London, it’s easy to navigate around & has a brilliant search area where you just have to put in the name of the Italian restaurants and what location it is in & the website will find it for you. Get assistance planning an event with great caterers: click here.
The restaurant review website itself has three different sections in all, the English capital Restaurants, Great Britain restaurants and Venues & Parties. the English capital & UK eateries are pretty self explanatory, places & parties is a piece that offers venue & service hire.
Parties & Events is all based on attempting to make organising a party or possibly an event as effortless as possible. the places to eat have options to help you with everything along with offers on what they consider will work well and added extras. The 1 st sub bit is the venue searcher, with this all one would have to do is enter your city and the number of attendees that would suit you & it will often bring up all the venues and livery halls. There is also a services searcher so if one would are looking for Dublin Caterers to cater your party then maybe Hardens is presently able to make ideas for you. Other options consist of birthday entertainment, food and drink, marquees & other essentials.
Increasing Conversions Through Action-Oriented Copywriting
by Karon Thackston © 2005 http://www.copywritingcourse.com
I do site reviews. Needless to say, I see a lot of Web copy. One
thing that always befuddles me is the lack of focus many site
pages have. It’s as if the writer assumes the site visitor will
read the copy and automatically know what to do next. The fact
is you have to know what action you want visitors to take before
you get them to take that action. That means knowing what the
preferred action you want visitors to take is, before you write
the copy.
Think About It
Before you pen one word (for the Web or any other marketing
medium), stop and think. “After reading this copy, what -
specifically - do I want my site visitors to do?” Maybe you want
them to click deeper into the site. Perhaps you want them to buy
right then and there. It could be that you’d like them to call
to discuss your product or service. Make a donation. Subscribe.
Download. There are thousands of possible actions. Give some
consideration to the question above and choose the action you
most want your visitors to take.
Signposts Point the Way
The next step is to include signposts along the way so your
visitors understand what they’re supposed to do once they’ve
read your copy. Leaving verbal clues helps prepare your visitors
to take action once the time comes.
For instance, if you run a software site that offers a free
trial download, you can prepare your visitors to get the trial
version all throughout your copy by mentioning “free download”
or “free trial.” Your copy might read:
Email Lock software allows you to send emails and attachments
securely through encrypted channels. With the free download,
you’ll discover just how easy it is to protect your messages and
attachments from spying eyes. It’s ultra-easy to use. You’ll
send emails just as you always have, and your recipients won’t
know anything has changed, either. The free trial version is
fully functional and allows you to experience all the
flexibility and simplicity of sending safe and encrypted emails
and attachments.
What’s happening as your site visitors read? They see phrases
like, “With the free download, you’ll discover…” OK, where’s the
download button? Then they read, “The free trial version is
fully functional…” Wonderful! I want it! How do I download the
free trial?
They begin looking for ways to take the action you want them to
take. So tell them how!
Ready? And… Action!
Your job is just like a movie director’s job. The director has
to motivate and encourage his actors. He tells them why their
characters are so important to the film. The director helps the
actors understand the emotions involved with the parts they are
playing. Then, once he has them all primed, he calls for action.
That’s what you should do in your copy. Guide your visitors.
Lead and nudge them in the right direction. Show them signposts
that point to the action you want them to take. Then call for
them to take that action.
Once you give your copy focus, once you define a goal for the
copy and an action for your visitors, you’ll find it easier to
write copy that converts.