All About Trading

Stranger

American Century Global Gold
Amex Precious Metals
Fidelity Gold
Franklin Gold
ING Gold
Invesco Gold
Monterey Gold
Oppenheimer Gold
US Global Gold
Scudder Gold
Van Eck International Investment
Vanguard Gold

Stranger

The fall in gold and silver due in the main to the strengthening dollar and weakening oil price is offering a “golden” opportunity for us to see some action this day and buy the silver dips.

Sorry about the very obvious pun but we thought we should tell you that we have placed a day order for SLV Jan 2010 $17 call (SLVAQ) at $0.90 a contract.

At the time of writing the trade has been partially filled although the published bid is still at $0.95.

Readers will recall some very nice profits banked from an earlier trade we talked about, namely the SLV October $15 call so lets hope we can repeat another successful option trade in the metal.

A substantial proportion of our portfolio is held in physical gold, gold and silver ETFs and precious metal miners for the long term as you might expect but when an opportunity arises to take advantage of that excellent piece of market trading advice “buy the dips, sell the peaks” then speculate we will.

Using the power of leverage offered by call and put options means that for a limited amount of financial exposure powerful profits can be made at the same time as knowing exactly how much you might lose within your chosen time frame.

As long as you always bear in mind that options are time sensitive and can expire worthless you can keep potential losses under control without risking the much more expensive and capital intensive speculative route of buying or shorting the actual stock.

Our order has now been filled and the ask is still $0.95.

Silver may go down again tomorrow, if so we will be watching the market closely after the opening hour and if the opportunity occurs we will buy more silver calls at below our target today.

Remember that the dollar is has been heavily shorted and those shorts have to be covered. To further cloud the short term outlook the dollar is now becoming the preferred currency of the carry trade, so expect swings to the upside from time to time that seem to bear no relation to the fundamental facts.

Those facts are that the Feds have made it very obvious that they will continue to pump new money into the so called quantative easing program, interest rates are not going to be raised for a long time yet, another round of mortgage resets and other housing horrors are becoming due and, so far this seasons earnings reports have hardly set the markets on fire.

Lest we forget the most telling statistic of the nations health, at least in our opinion, is that unemployment continues to rise even if a little less quickly.

A hiccup here, a hiccup there, but gold and silver are destined to preserve wealth in the longer term as the dollar gradually continues to give up its status as the worlds´ preferred currency and the US sinks ever deeper into the sea of debt that it is creating for itself.

Gold and silver have never enjoyed more trading opportunities than are available today. We read that even those most conservative of investment bodies, the pension funds are no longer ignoring the precious metal markets and are adding gold ETFs to their holdings.

The market is no longer the preserve of the uber rich and specialist traders, any investor, however limited in capital can now get profitably involved.

Stranger

At the end of last week Rhodium for 30 day delivery was trading around $1500 an ounce, more expensive than platinum and palladium with which it shares its primary use in auto catalyst applications to control exhaust emissions.

We assume that our readers are conversant with its properties and range of uses. Now lets see how to invest in Rhodium and if it is worthwhile.

As it is such a rare metal there is no primary miner, that is, it is a by- product of other mining activities.

Just to cloud the issue the two principle sources of the metal are South Africa and Russia, both countries with question marks over their political futures so gaining exposure by investing in Rhodium miners will require a high degree of research, together with an outlook on the future political direction of both countries.

It is also known that auto manufacturers are actively researching ways to cut down on the dependency of expensive Platinum Group Metals in catalytic converters, with Rhodium the most costly of all.

We know of no ETF, mutual fund or unit trust trading solely in Rhodium on any world market.

To gain investment via this route your best bet is through one of the several PGM or precious metal funds where rhodium is part of the mix.

There is a Rhodium ´pool´ operated by Kitco through whom you can buy and sell the physical metal as ´sponge´, that is in a powder form. You should be aware that the spreads can be very high indeed when trading the metal by this route.

For more information about joining the ´pool´ go to www.kitco.com and search Rhodium pool.

That leaves the physical metal in ingot, bar or coin form. This is an exceptionally grey area that we are reluctant to comment on with the exception that we have heard of platinum/rhodium coins being minted.

Our advice is that trading in physical rhodium is highly specialised and is the domain of a few very high worth players. It is not a market that even the most sophisticated of knowledgeable general market investors can expect success by trading this exceptionally rare metal with its extraordinary properties and with a limited usage base as it rarely obeys the rules of the game.

For instance, just check out the spreads.

Although we have had questions on how to invest in Rhodium, we trust that readers will not mind if we sum up, in the hope that everybody will benefit, by advising that the safest way to get a toehold into Rhodium is via a producer.

If the metal flies to the moon the odds are heavily in favour of the other PGMs doing the same.

If a less expensive substitute for Rhodium and Platinum does arrive in the auto industry, at least some sting will be taken out of the downside by the wider applications enjoyed by the other metals produced by the miners.

One final thought, just like platinum and palladium, rhodium remains unchanged in the catalytic process and therefore is subject to very intensive recycling.

Stranger

Gold has dropped $20 in a day and $30 in ten days. Not quite the mother of all dips but substantial nevertheless.

Has there been any fundamental change to the long-term outlook for the yellow metal? Not in our book, if anything the US economy and the dollar are sinking ever deeper into the mire.

That brings us to our headline “gold – buy the dip today” while the bullion price is below $990 an ounce.

After a weekend of reflection on the hot air coming out of the G20 meeting, reality is likely to step in, leaving it unlikely that gold will stay below $1000 an ounce next week.

There seems probable that the outstanding day to day and longer term influence on the gold price will remain the US dollar with the oil price having less input than in the previous twelve and more months.

Even if we are wrong in the very short term there is little likelihood that the dollar will enjoy remaining as the flight to safety currency if the stock market weaken.

Those that take this path quite understandably want instant access to cash to take advantage of any perceived continuity of the current stock market strength, bear bounce or otherwise. Right now the markets have looked flattish all week but there may be a last strong bounce before the inevitable.

We have heard some mention of the dollar as a carry trade currency but doubt whether this is yet a realistic scenario and can account for any significant change in its value.

Our favorite technical analyst tells us that there is a ´nice´ head and shoulders pattern forming in the Dow and S & P 500 that presages a significant fall in around six to ten weeks.

If and when that happens the fears of hyper inflation will re-emerge as risk takers lose their appetite and government may be strongly tempted to enter another round of so called quantative easing, better known as money creation!

The 400 tonnes of gold that the IMF is offloading has undoubtedly had a dampening effect on the market but rumours are strong that a deal will be struck with the Chinese at the summit this weekend.

Even if this does not occur the amount although significant, is not likely to overhang the market for long before the safe haven of gold lures more and more risk averse investors into its folds.

May we leave you with this thought “ don’t delay, buy the dip today´!
Happy investing.

Stranger

Rumours and facts combined caused gold to leap to a record high of $1043.50 an ounce yesterday quickly followed by hitting $1048 in today’s early European trading before falling back to $1041 at 13.25 Central European Time.

The rumour that the Gulf States are considering dropping the US Dollar for oil trading, and using a basket of currencies, including gold, together with no little encouragement from China and Russia, has gained some ground.

We have mentioned before that these countries have expressed reservations about the continued use of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency but have doubts that the complexities of such a change over can be satisfactorily sorted within a short timescale.

We anticipate that if, or more likely when, this comes to fruition it will be after a long period of negotiated agreements between individual nations before a practical consensus evolves over the make up of the alternative trading currency.

The consequences for the value of the US currency should this come about will be little short of catastrophic bearing in mind that China and others will dump their vast dollar holdings as the US economy slides deeper and deeper into the mire.

Why hoard dollars if their purchasing power erodes almost on a daily basis and with little or no hope of US bonds ever being repaid, or perhaps even defaulting on the interest. Simple but grim!

Be that as it may, the fact is that the Australian decision to become the first significant economy of the developed west to signal an interest rise has added impetus to the rise in gold, with other precious metals following suit.

Our theory is that the Australian interest rate rise is being perceived by some investors as the first of many to come from other nations, with the likelihood of high inflation following close behind leaving gold in its centuries old situation as the store of value of the last resort.

There is still one outstanding opportunity for precious metal enthusiasts to cash in on the current bull run in gold. While gold has hit new record highs, silver is still shy of its March 2008 high of over $20 an ounce.

The gold silver ratio is over 60 (but only just) while we expect the historical average ratio of the lower fifties to reassert itself before very long. This will mean a silver price of around $25 an ounce if gold hangs onto the upside of $1040 an ounce.

One final observation, do not expect the US to take this situation lying down. The Fed and its minions will continue to play every trick in the book to undermine the rise in gold, ranging from manipulating the gold and silver markets to mounting any propaganda campaign that will scare the dollar doomsayers and encourage the voters.

How could anybody think that the dollar and US treasuries were a safe haven bet just a few days ago when the markets hiccupped but the dollar rose and yields fell? But it happened and no doubt will happen again as President Obama continues to initiate and authorise more and more government spending that the nation cannot afford.

As an example every socialist administration that the UK has had to endure has eventually had to constrain their spending, even to the point of going bankrupt and cap in hand to the IMF for a loan.

Each and every period of socialist government in the UK, from Attlee after the war, through Wilson, Callahan, Blair and now the mentally challenged Brown, has ruined this once powerful and influential nation and left the Right of centre Tory party to clear up the mess.

Looks like a similar scenario is developing in the United States.

Just as in Britain, short-term socialist style populist measures are being cobbled together with no thought of future consequences. The cash for clunkers is a case in point.

Did nobody think through the eventual outcome when the scheme was closed? Now new vehicle sales are way, way down, while Japanese owned manufacturers took the bulk of the artificially stimulated sales. Oh yes, we nearly forgot that cutting pollution, although we wonder by how little, was a major benefit according to the government’s spin doctors!

Right now the US is heading for the abyss, but it is a large and resilient nation with many natural resources and a population blessed with many entrepreneurial and innovative citizens.

It needs a government capable of grasping the long-term essentials for rebuilding the nations prosperity regardless of any short-term voter unpopularity. Unless President Obama, who has some admirable qualities, has a serious rethink, it will be over three years before the voters will have the opportunity to vote in an administration that can straighten out the mess that seems likely to be left.

In the meantime we must hope that a politician emerges who has the integrity, intelligence and desire to put the good of the nation above all the vested interests and can gain the votes of the majority, whatever his party allegiance.

“Cometh the hour, cometh the man”

Until then put your faith in gold and silver.

Stranger

Gold is one of the most popular precious metals in the world. It is used for many purposes such as gold jewellery, in medicine and electronics. Gold is also an essential part of the world over economy, and has an established global market.

Gold has been used as a currency in many countries in history. In the past, many countries had adopted the Gold Standard, which meant their official currency was gold. Although that standard was abolished, gold has retained its importance in the global economy. It is seen as a good investment that should be a part of every portfolio.

The value of gold depends on its weight, and there are many types of gold weights that are used for trading, or investment. The most common type is a gold bar. A Gold Bar is a gold ingot available in many sizes, and weights. They can be specified into tow major categories. One category includes gold bars made through casting. This is a procedure in which, gold is melted, and is poured into different moulds to give them a specified shape.

The next category is that of minted bars. Minting is the process of hand cutting gold blanks according to exact measurements. When the bars are minted or casted, their weight is engraved on the top, so that it is known exactly what its value is. When weighed in grams, sixteen weights are available internationally, which range from five hundred gram to point third of a gram. In ounces, eight weights are available, from twenty ounces to below one ounce.

There are many different weights of these gold bars. Central banks usually hold gold in the form of four hundred oz bars. These bars are allowed to vary between three fifty, and four thirty oz, and are of around 99.5 percent purity. The most widely traded gold weights in the world are the kilo bars. It is the most popular kind to be used by traders, and investors, as it does not sell at a high premium, and thus can be cheaper than other alternatives. Apart from these, there are gold weights of a tone, 1 tola, or 10 tolas.

In London, the market deals in the London Good Delivery gold bullion bar. This gold bar is the most important gold bullion in the world, and it weighs four hundred oz. Loco London is the de-facto standard for bullion spot trading all around the world. This means that the physical bars will be passed from buyer to seller in a transaction.

Gold bars can be denominated in different weights around the world. Internationally, they are weighed in grams while in many English speaking countries including the UK; they are mostly weighed in ounces. In the Asian and Middle Eastern region, they are mostly weighed in tolas.

Nowadays, gold has become an increasingly attractive investment as gold prices are rising, and have reached their all time high this year. When prices rise, this brings profits to gold investors and sellers.

Stranger

Stock futures trading are a way to hedge yourself in stock trading. Put simply, this type of a transaction is defined as the one where you agree to pay a seller a specific price for a specific amount of stock that you buy from him on a particular date in the future.

On the other hand, stock futures trading is an investment option and these can be traded on the markets in a manner similar to ordinary stocks. This type of trading is usually conducted on a margin basis, that is, you only pay a small part of the price of the stock when you enter into a contract.

What Are The Benefits?

This is an important investment avenue, open to investors for hedging their risky stock purchases. They can go short on such future contracts, implying that they sell the stock before they actually own it. They can also go long on such future contracts.

Being margin based, this form of trading allows an investor to buy a large portfolio of stocks with a comparatively smaller down payment as compared to traditional stocks.

Options available to the investor are much more than if you invest in traditional stocks. You can go long and short on the same stock. You can work on a calendar spread, wherein, you enter into a contract to sell the stock futures you have bought a month from now, and again enter into another contract to buy the same stock three months from now.

Disadvantages

Any high return investment avenue, by its very nature, will also be highly risky. The same is true for stock futures trading. Let us compare the scenario of an investment in traditional stocks versus investment in stock futures.

When you buy stocks of a particular company, you will need to pay the current price of that specific stock. If the price of that stock declines, at which point you sell the stock, you will make a loss to the extent of the difference in your purchase and selling price.

In the case of stock futures trading, you undertake margin trading and therefore, buy a much larger portfolio or a larger number of stocks than in the case illustrated earlier. If the price of the stock then declines, you are faced with a situation where you would lose most of your initial investment and will also owe money to your broker. In this case, you are required to make good the loss, and this can put a severe strain on your financial position.

Additionally, in contrast to the situation where you own physical stocks of a company, in stock futures trading, you do not have any rights of stock holders. You are therefore not entitled to any dividend or bonuses, which the company might announce, nor will you have any voting rights.

Stock futures trading are an exciting investment avenue; however, you can easily burn your fingers, so does your research well before you step into this arena.

Stranger

Let's take a look at the fundamentals for gold and silver. Both are great investments during times of inflation and deflation, and both act as a store of wealth.Gold and silver act as a hedge against inflation. In other words, while our government is busy printing excessive amounts of paper money, your dollars are falling in value sharply and your money needs to be transferred to hard assets.

Gold has just hit an all time high, but silver is warming up to way outperform gold in the near term and long term. Since silver plays an additional role as not only money, but also as an industrial metal, there is much more demand placed on silver than gold.

About 95% of all the gold ever mined is still in coin, bullion bar, jewelry, or some other form. The same cannot be said about silver. Silver's above ground supplies have dramatically dropped from 12 billion ounces in 1900 to 1 billion ounces today. The price of silver is going to have to go dramatically higher to keep up with demand.

In fact, the demand for silver is so high that the USGS stated that silver would be the first element to go extinct by 2020. Not only is this extremely bullish for the metal, the COMEX has been manipulating the price down for years, and when this finally busts the movement in silver will be astronomical.

You should prepare for the dollar collapse that is happening right now. Why do you think China, Russia, Arab states, and many other countries are getting out of dollars and into precious metals.

The mainstream media is not going to preach to you to get into gold and silver. They will not do this because it is bad business for the dollar. Either way, people are not stupid to the fact that our government is causing massive inflation right now.

For six thousand years people have turned to gold and silver during times of economic turmoil and inflation.

Educate yourself on precious metals and learn why you should diversify some of your assets into gold, and especially silver.

Stranger

Gold has been the most popular and the most ancient investment commodity. Even before currency was introduced in history, gold was stored and was considered as the greatest repaying investment. The truth has been the opposite of this myth, though. If one studies the history of gold investment, it would become quite clear that gold appears to be profitable, but it is not so.

In these times, when there are fewer buyers as compared to the sellers, and so, bullion does not offer so much hope. Moreover, it is a non-profit investment commodity in the sense that it does not provide a regular inflow of cash, even when its price is rising. One has to sell it in order to reap the profit.

It is common for people to be beguiled by fraudulent persons or companies, who devise new ways to steal money from them. Owing to the declining value of dollar, gold prices have increased sharply. There has been a record increase in the demand of physical gold in the past few years. Many gold mining companies, brokers, and investors having huge savings in gold are converting it into cash now due to the economic crisis taking its toll on everyone.

Typical scams involved in gold investment are the discount prices offered by persons/companies/shops selling rare or collectible coins online or in live auctions, over pricing of bullion by advertising shortage of gold coins in the global market, and offering unallocated gold storage accounts by private individuals or companies.

Simple people are befooled by selling inferior quality of bullion by those involved in the scam business. First time gold investors are an easy target of such scams where ordinary gold coins are sold at high prices by declaring them 'rare' or 'collectible'. It is imperative for all gold investors to check out the spot gold price online or in newspapers before buying anything in gold.

Gold mining companies and other individuals who want to sell their bullion now when the gold price is sky-high are using electronic, and print media to advertise their scams. They constantly propagate the issue of the declining solid reserves of gold in the global market, and urge everyone to buy now, because the prices will increase with every passing day. They have rather made an artificial demand-market in order to reap maximum profit.

Some individuals and persons are offering unallocated gold accounts or lockers to bullion investors, which are neither supported by any financial or government institution.

Gold investors fall prey to such scams either on phone, emails, websites, advertisement etc. the State has warned gold investors against such scams, which have already deprived thousands of people in the USA alone. People are advised to check the authenticity of the individuals/companies from whom they are buying gold. It takes years to save money and invest in gold or any other kind of profitable commodity. One should keep a vigilant eye on the latest scams, and try to stay away from them.

Stranger

It was like a balloon ready to burst or a lid ready to pop off. Supply and demand was there but wasn't quite enough to overcome the governments tactics of keeping the price of gold low so the U S Dollar looked appealing.

Although they keep trying, the demand is too great and now gold has the upper hand. The biggest reason is, the same allies that had previously been supporting the dollar are now snubbing it and opting for gold instead.

Major economic countries like China and India are no longer interested in sinking their currency reserves into the dollar. They are looking at how the U S Government is managing it and running the other way. Although some other currencies are somewhat appealing, they always seem to fall back on gold.

Another major blow to the greenback is the fact that most major countries are now pushing to have oil denominated in something other than the dollar.

Those who have been investing in the shiny metal for some time now, are the real winners in this soon to be historic event. How historic? No one knows exactly how high the price of gold will rise but many analysts are predicting unprecedented levels in the range of $3000/oz to $4000oz.

Many gold bugs have been touting this price rise for several years. Some investors listened and some have not. But now is the time to lend an ear because one thing is for sure, the dollar can not survive once the gold price manipulation game is over. The results, investors win!

Stranger

Gold perks up everyone's ears in the investment sphere and many people often turn to purchasing their own gold to cash in a considerable amount for it. However, there is a way in which to invest in gold. You do not just place a chunk of your cash and have that golden bar instantly purchased. Indeed, there is proper timing when it comes to buying that gold. You just have to know where to look and invest in.

Usually, gold diggers watch the gold prices in the market. In fact, gold is an important article of trade and operates differently from other trade commodities. The reason is because of its small demand for industrial artifacts.

It has been said that the issue regarding gold has become a trend in the money exchange market. An investor will usually stick to proper timing to invest in gold and take into consideration the personal finances as well. Without any cash on hand, then the time is not fitting for a gold investment. It is as simple as that since you can forget about taking money away in paying bills or any other high paying credit cards. You also have to be sure that you have back up finances prior to your gold investing plans.

To those gold hunters out there, this is the best time to invest in it as long as you have proper knowledge of gold prices out in the market today. These gold prices usually fluctuate during the warm months of summer and right now, the spot price takes a dive from a thousand dollars per troy ounce. Indeed, when the gold price is at a downward spiral, then it is the best time to invest in gold. You will get the most value for your buck when gold prices are at their lowest.

Somehow, it is simple to learn the gold pricing by taking some time to do a basic research about the gold spot price. Surely, you can observe how the dollar level slips and displays weakness. When the dollar falls, gold prices escalate so better keep an eye on dollar spikes before considering your gold purchase.

Oftentimes, people who seek for gold also seek for companies who offer good deals in terms of selling it. There are sales available which you can just look into so you can grab your gold when it is on sale. Prices are unpredictable as they usually move in response to inflation and economic slumps. To be sure that you are getting a good deal for your gold, you should determine where the gold prices will go.

Of course, price is an important indicator regarding an economy's financial status. Economic inflation and deflation can trigger anxiety and apprehension among those investors who have gone for the gold. This could happen without any knowledge about the present price of gold. To do this, you can scour websites that have updated information about gold prices so that you can familiarize yourself and understand how gold stock prices go.

Jim is the owner of Diamond Jim's... a premier pawn shop in Phoenix, AZ. He specializes in buying and selling gold along offering many other great services. He has studied and become an expert in gold pricing... by seeing Diamond Jim, you will know that you are getting a fair price and that you will not be ripped off by the many charlatans out there.

Go visit Diamond Jim's site and give him a call as even if you don't want to sell or buy gold in Phoenix, but you live outside of Phoenix... he can still help you.

Stranger

If you are wondering how to buy gold, then listen up. Buying is really a good trend right now and there are many reasons for this. First, production is either flat or falling all over the world. The price is increasing and it's due to inflation, the flat supply and prevailing uncertainty in other investments.

When buying gold, there are some things you will want to consider. The question is...Why do you want to buy? Is it just for your personal use or do you want to buy to sell? Jewelry and gold are two things a buyer looks into when buying gold for his personal use. It is more readily available, but it does have the least liquidity. You will not get your resell value of what you actually bought it for.

You will have better luck in selling collectible gold coins, due to quality and content being guaranteed. This may make your decision easier when figuring out how to buy gold.

So, if you buy gold as an investment, how will you know what the quality and content is? When you buy bullion, you are buying bars and coins that do not lose their quality. Same goes for buying gold stock.

When you buy stocks, you are not buying actual gold. These are stocks in a mining company. You are taking risks when buying stocks because there is no guarantee how much gold can be found in mines.

You ability to sell gold bars will be less than that of selling gold coins, due to the fact of the area, that is, unless you live in an area where there is a high demand for gold among jewelers who wish to make jewelry from it. So who is to say you will profit from this. There is no governmental guarantee of the quality or quantity when selling gold bars as there are with gold bullion. The reason is that the gold bars can be tampered with and when you get ready to sell the gold bars, you will more than likely have to pay for examination fees just to prove the value to a dealer.

It is in your best interest when buying gold bars, to not commit until you know for sure that the dealer is giving you proof of the quality and quantity of the gold. You have to know and trust the dealer. Make sure the dealer can prove the value of the gold before you buy

Stranger

For the hard-asset enthusiast, the gold-silver ratio is part of common parlance, but for the average investor, this arcane metric is anything but well-known. This is unfortunate because there's great profit potential using a number of well-established strategies that rely on this ratio.

In a nutshell, the gold-silver ratio represents the number of silver ounces it takes to buy a single ounce of gold. It sounds simple, but this ratio is more useful than you might think. Read on to find out how you can benefit from this ratio.

How the Ratio Works
When gold trades at $500 per ounce and silver at $5, traders refer to a gold-silver ratio of 100. Today the ratio floats, as gold and silver are valued daily by market forces, but this wasn't always the case. The ratio has been permanently set at different times in history - and in different places - by governments seeking monetary stability. (For background reading on gold, see The Gold Standard Revisited.)

Here's a thumbnail overview of that history:

* 2007 – For the year, the gold-silver ratio averaged 51.
* 1991 – When silver hit its lows, the ratio peaked at 100.
* 1980 – At the time of the last great surge in gold and silver, the ratio stood at 17.
* End of 19th Century – The nearly universal, fixed ratio of 15 came to a close with the end of the bi-metallism era.
* Roman Empire – The ratio was set at 12.
* 323 B.C. – The ratio stood at 12.5 upon the death of Alexander the Great.

These days, gold and silver trade more or less in sync, but there are periods when the ratio drops or rises to levels that could be considered statistically "extreme." These "extreme" levels create trading opportunities. (To learn about why gold is a good investment, see 8 Reasons To Own Gold.)

How to Trade the Gold-Silver Ratio
First off, trading the gold-silver ratio is an activity primarily undertaken by hard-asset enthusiasts like "gold bugs". Why? Because the trade is predicated on accumulating greater quantities of the metal and not on increasing dollar-value profits. Sound confusing? Let's look at an example.

The essence of trading the gold-silver ratio is to switch holdings when the ratio swings to historically determined "extremes." So, as an example:

1. When a trader possesses one ounce of gold, and the ratio rises to an unprecedented 100, the trader would then sell his or her single gold ounce for 100 ounces of silver.
2. When the ratio then contracted to an opposite historical "extreme" of, say, 50, the trader would then sell his or her 100 ounces for two ounces of gold.
3. In this manner, the trader would continue to accumulate greater and greater quantities of metal, seeking "extreme" ratio numbers from which to trade and maximize his or her holdings.

Note that no dollar value is considered when making the trade. The relative value of the metal is considered unimportant.

For those worried about devaluation, deflation, currency replacement - and even war - the strategy makes sense. Precious metals have a proven record of maintaining their value in the face of any contingency that might threaten the worth of a nation's fiat currency.

Drawbacks of the Trade
The obvious difficulty with the trade is correctly identifying those "extreme" relative valuations between the metals. If the ratio hits 100 and you sell your gold for silver, then the ratio continues to expand, hovering for the next five years between 120 and 150, you're stuck. A new trading precedent has apparently been set, and to trade back into gold during that period would mean a contraction in your metal holdings.

What is there to do in that case? One could always continue to add to one's silver holdings and wait for a contraction in the ratio, but nothing is certain. This is the essential risk to those trading the ratio. It also points out the need to successfully monitor ratio changes over the short and medium term in order to catch the more likely "extremes" as they emerge.

Gold-Silver Ratio Trading Alternatives
There are a number of ways to execute a gold-silver ratio trading strategy, each of which has its own risks and rewards.

* Futures Investing
This involves the simple purchase of either gold or silver contracts at each trading juncture. The advantages and disadvantages of this strategy are the exact same: leverage. That is, futures trading is a very risky proposition for those who are uninitiated. Yes, you can play futures on margin. And yes, that margin can also bankrupt you. (For more insight, read Margin Trading.)

* Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)
ETFs offer a simpler means of trading the gold-silver ratio. Again, the simple purchase of the appropriate ETF (gold or silver) at trading turns will suffice to execute the strategy.

Some investors prefer not to commit to an "all or nothing" gold-silver trade, keeping open positions in both ETFs and adding to them proportionally. As the ratio rises, they buy silver; as it falls they buy gold. This keeps them from having to speculate on whether "extreme" ratio levels have actually been reached. (For more insight, see Gold Showdown: ETFs Vs. Futures.)

* Options Strategies
Options strategies abound for the interested investor, but the most interesting involves a sort of arbitrage, which involves the purchase of puts on gold and calls on silver when the ratio is high and the opposite when it's low. The "bet" is that the spread will diminish with time in the high-ratio climate and increase in the low-ratio climate. A similar strategy might be employed with futures contracts as well. Options permit one to put up less cash and still enjoy the benefits of leverage.

The risk here is the time component of the option eroding any real gains made on the trade. Therefore, it's best to use long-dated options or LEAPS to offset this risk. (For more insight, read Option Spread Strategies.)

* Pool Accounts
Pools are large, private holdings of metals that are sold in a variety of denominations to investors. The same strategies employed in ETF investing can be used here. The advantage of pool accounts is that the actual metal can be attained whenever the investor desires. This is not the case with metal ETFs, where certain very large minimums must be held in order to take physical delivery.

* Gold and Silver Bullion and Coins
It is not recommended that this trade be executed with physical gold for a number of reasons, ranging from liquidity to convenience to security. Just don't do it. (For more on gold as a commodity, read What Is Wrong With Gold?)

Conclusion
There's an entire world of investing permutations available to the gold-silver ratio trader. What's most important is to know one's own trading personality and risk profile. For the hard-asset investor concerned with the ongoing value of his or her nation's fiat currency, the gold-silver ratio trade offers the security of knowing, at the very least, that he or she always possesses the metal.

Stranger

According to the World Gold Council there was 1,212 metric tons of old gold scrap recycled in 2008. This accounts for over one third of the supply. Learn where it came from and how you can profit from this phenomenon.

Over the past year gold has been on the minds of many people. This is due to it's rise in value. Anyone who has unwanted gold laying around, specifically jewelry, is rushing to cash in on the high returns they can receive.

The evidence shows this because already in the first two quarters of 2009 there has been nearly 1000 tons recycled and sent to refineries, almost as much as the entire year of 2008. That means the volume has nearly doubled from last year.

This phenomenon creates an excellent opportunity for investors looking to buy and for entrepreneurs looking to start up a gold buying service.

The advantage for investors is the ability to obtain it at a lower price. Instead of paying the normal spot price plus a premium, when buying bullion coins and bars, they can buy scrap gold much lower. Then they can hold it in it's original form or trade it in for bullion at any precious metals refinery.

For entrepreneurs, it offers a very profitable opportunity to started in the service business of recycling gold.

Almost everyone has some amount of gold that they no longer want or need and are willing to sell. In fact, the price is so high that many people are selling it at a higher price than they purchased it for at retail, especially if it was bought prior to 2000.

When starting a gold buying service you have the chance to make some excellent profits just by being the middle man. You simply buy from individuals and resell it to a refinery.
You can actually get started by operating right out of your house and, depending on your ambitions, it can grow into a full time storefront operation.

Getting started on a small scale is rather inexpensive. Just place a classified in your local paper and hand out some business cards. When a seller contacts you, simply meet with them right at your kitchen table, go to their house, or meet them at a coffee shop.

Several tools to analyze the gold are necessary and can be purchased from any jewelry supply company. You will need a 10X jewelers loupe to inspect the items, an acid test kit to be sure the gold is authentic and a scale to determine the weight.

Once you know the exact quantity they have, simply make them an offer to buy. It's best to offer about 50% of the spot gold value to protect yourself against loss, just in case you make a mistake in the testing process.

After you have made the purchase you can send your scrap gold to the refinery of your choice. They will assay it and within a few days you will receive a check.

As I stated earlier, in 2009 there was nearly as much scrap gold recycled in just the first two quarters as there was in the entire year 2008. This spells opportunity for those looking to capitalize on a trend that will continue for a long time.

The question is, how much of the 1,212 tons will you buy?

Jeff Sneeringer, author of the report "How To Buy Gold Low", is an expert on the subject. For over 20 years he's been buying scrap gold below 50% of spot price. In 2008 there was over 1200 metric tons of gold acquired at prices far below spot, using the very same techniques Jeff teaches in his 26 page report.

Stranger

With the price of gold hitting all time highs many traders are wondering if gold trading is a great way to be able to make additional profits. One way that this can be done is through the trading of the gold futures contract. This is where you are speculating that the price of gold will rise or fall in the future. Historically speaking gold has been a great long term investment during times of economic uncertainty or crisis. Given the fact that the world is currently in a financial crisis and you have many different international tensions flaring gold is showing why it is such a great investment during times of great challenge.

There are many ways that you can profit from the up and down movements in the price gold. One way is to play the long side, which is where you are speculating that prices will rise in the future. Another way is to play the short side, which is when you are speculating that prices will fall in the future. When you are going to be trading any of the different commodities it is important to pay attention to the tick that is taking place.

This is where as futures contract is being purchased or shorted it is reflected by a positive up tick or a negative down tick. What you want to do is enter a position on a negative down tick if you are planning on going long or a positive up tick on the short side, helping you to enter the futures contract at the right time. A common strategy used to trade gold is the straddle, which is where you are going long and short at the same time. The idea is to purchase both contracts at the same price and time frame so that you can take advantage of the volatility to make money.

Stranger

Two: power-levelling. Payment is again made via a web site but this time you give the gold-farming firm your username and password. Their staff then play your character, levelling it up. Once the character has reached the agreed level, it is handed back. This is where many MMO firms contend that hacking comes into play: you're trusting a virtual stranger with all your details.

Three: selling accounts. "Want to play an MMO but don't want to start at Level 1?" says 'Extreme Gamer', who runs the WoW Gold Facts review site. "You can purchase MMO accounts that have characters at high levels, with coveted items, mounts and what-have-you. Alternatively, if you want to sell your account to another player, the RMT site can act as your middle man. Price will depend on what level the character is plus the items and gold in its inventory. I'd say the range could be anywhere from USD 100 for a so-so account to USD 1500 for the cream of the crop."

Amidst a crop of hackers, cheats and scammers, are there any which are running a reputable business? E.G. claims that "they're usually the old-timers of the industry like IGE and MySuperSales. I reviewed both sites in the past for my site and both did not fail. They weren't perfect, but they delivered, and I didn't have to go through the agony of following up and threatening a chargeback. As for the nature of the business being illegal or not, I am not aware of any ruling by any court that states that it is illegal. We're talking about corporate EULAs [End User Licence Agreements]. In my opinion, their current terms and conditions makes the publishers look greedy.

Gold farming companies are what you might call the sweatshops of the MMO world. Farmers don't sell direct - they run their high-level accounts and grind long shifts to acquire gold, currency, items, etc.

The gold-farming firm (workshop) which employs the gold farmers has a relationship to a gold seller (the broker), usually the website that the player ends up dealing with. Gold selling companies are borderline legit, or sometimes borderline criminal, depending on your definitions and their actions (and geographical locations and laws in those countries).

They buy the gold from the farming companies, put on a markup (see table, end) and they are the ones you see spamming in-game. A game account to them is far less valuable than to a farmer, who needs a high-end character in order to farm most efficiently.

Stranger

What do "gold sellers" actually do? Sit in a den somewhere, plotting crimes and flogging victims' credit card details, in order to fund their drugs and prostitution empires ... or is the picture of the hard-pressed Chinese worker on the edge of starvation wages more accurate? The truth is, probably, a mixture of both, with many "legitimate" gold farming and selling businesses keen to distance themselves from the criminal element in the industry. No-one knows for sure, because that industry is so fragmented and located in distant cultures like China.

Money makers

Gold sellers, or real money traders (RMT), make their cash in three main ways:

One: selling in-game currency. This is similar to buying foreign currency in the "real world". You buy via a gold seller's website at a clearly stated real-to-virtual currency exchange rate, with payment typically made via PayPal or credit card. You sometimes get the cash sent via in-game mail, but since MMO companies tightened up their procedures you often get a message and are told to meet one of the gold farmers in-game. The money is then delivered. According to just one estimate, in mid-2008, you could buy five million RuneScape gold for around USD 20.

Stranger

The past week in gold, silver, oil, natural gas and the broad market wasn’t anything to write home about. We are seeing controlled profit taking which is making the market choppy. Many traders are getting very bearish on the market which is a good thing in my opinion. According to my market internals, sentiment and volume analysis we should get a shake out (sharp dip) which would make traders exit their positions before the market continues higher.

Some trader’s say we are in a bull market, others say we are in a major bear market. Either way the trend is up on the daily and weekly charts and companies are making money. Buying on over sold dips has been very profitable this year. Until I see things drastically change, this is my strategy for the broad market.

Lets take a look at the commodity sector.

HUI – Gold Stocks Index
Recently we have seen money move out of gold stocks but with the majority of them trading at support trend line we could see some fireworks this week.
Gold – GLD Exchange Traded Fund
Gold has been trading sideways as investors and traders digest the previous rally higher. The recent price action looks similar to the September rally and consolidation. Lets hope for a another move higher without getting shaken out of our positon.

Natural Gas, Oil, Silver and Gold Exchange Traded Fund Conclusion:
Overall, the market feels ready for quick snapback to shake traders out of profitable positions. I expect a resumption of the up trend as the market slowly creeps higher at a steady pace digesting each rally with sideways movement.

I know many people are shorting the broad market and that is not something I am willing to do yet. Until I see a drastic change, long positions are my bread and butter. Once the market does reverse, there will be plenty of time to play the short side using the Leveraged ETFs.

Commodities are taking a breather but with our support trend lines nearing I expect some movement this week.

Stranger

There are several lists with “ways to make money with a website” on the Internet, but none of them seem to be complete. That is why I decided to create this one. If you know a method that is not listed below, just let us know and we’ll update it.

Notice that ways to make money with a website are different from ways to make more money from it. Methods to increase your traffic or click-through rate will help you make more money, but they do not represent a method of making money per se.

For example, one could suggest that blending AdSense ads with the content is a way to make money from a website. In reality it’s not; it’s just a way to make more money by improving your ad click-through rate. The real monetization method behind it is a PPC ad network.

The list is divided into direct and indirect methods, and examples and links are provided for each point. Enjoy!

Stranger

No matter what your site is about, the way to get traffic is pretty much universal – on page and off page optimization. Apart from on page SEO what else can help bring forex traders to your financial portal, forex forum or blog? What are the tricks to get noticed? How to do the off page optimization wisely?

Once you have optimized the website itself with unique title and content, correct meta title, meta description, design, easy navigation, site map and once you have selected the target keywords for your forex website, it is time to work on off-page optimization. Here are couple of tips:

1. Post in forex related forums and blogs

Provide quality answers and advices to traders by writing post and helping the users of the forex forums. Here are things you should pay attention to:

· Look for forex related forum and blogs

· Find out whether the blog is a dofollow

· Make comments, post advices, earn trust and become top commentator (with at least 100+ posts). Usually forums give titles to top posters – such as “Expert”. Forex traders will sure visit your site if you have a prestigious title next to your username!

· Never stop commenting! It is an on-going, daily process.

2. Submit to social networks

Social networks, such as digg, is very important for your forex website development. It is crucial to post useful links, and not just plain advertising. Diggers can ban you if you appear to spamy.

3. Submit articles

Write as many articles as possible. Submit it to top article directories such as ezinearticles. You have to become a regular writer and, at the same time, provide quality material. Captivating articles are very useful. Forex traders, especially beginners, constantly search for educational material. Posting and submitting your articles to directories can bring a very good traffic flow.

After some time, your writing skills improve and your articles will become a true magnet for forex visitors. Once the number of visitors increase, so will the quantity of leads generated.

Ah, and one more thing - when you submit at article to directories, don’t forget to add a back link to your forex website (in most cases you are allowed to add up to 3 text links in the resource box).

4. Analyze the competition

Never stop looking around and spying on your competition. You can easily get unique forex ideas by simply checking out what others have already made.

5. Make Announcements

If you just started a new forex website, it might be a good thought to write Press Releases. Let others know what’s new on your site – new forex section, daily fundamental analysis, brand new forex forum, trader’s online help etc.

6. Advertise with Google Adwords

If you are not satisfied with the traffic, try using google adwords to promote your forex site. Apart from google adwords, there are other good advertising sites which can bring quality traders your way. Research online which traffic provider is best suitable for you in terms of services and fees.

7. Get Backlinks

The forex keywords you have selected to rank well with should be used in the back links directed to your site.

8. Be patient

Getting traffic is not easy and definitely isn’t a fast process. It is not a short term work. The aim should be a long term success. Only then your forex website will bring constant profits.

Stranger

Forex affiliate marketing is blooming resulting in increasing number of forex sites. Many affiliates strive for success, however not every site brings income. What make a website profitable? What are the common affiliate mistakes and how to avoid them?

Mistake 1: Don’t know anything about forex

Whether you like it or not, you have to understand what you promote, especially when it is forex market. If you don’t have enough time and effort to sit and learn what forex is all about, you might want to pass it up. Forex has to become your area of expertise, your passion, your “one and only”!

Being an expert in forex is of course not everything in affiliate marketing, however in the long run, if you do invest your time in understanding, your experience with forex will be much more pleasurable and profitable.

Mistake 2: Spam potential traders
If your forex website collects emails for newsletters, make sure not to send spam. The newsletter should contain informative and useful information for a potential and existent trader.

The links/banners of forex brokers or other forex products you present should not overwhelm the reader, otherwise traders will hate your site, block the newsletters as junk and never visit your site again. Even if you need to hire someone to write a decent forex article – do so. It is worth the fee.

Mistake 3: Wrong tracking code
Make sure to check and recheck the tracking code (both links and banners) you set up on your forex website. Even one tiny mistake can result it disaster – the traders referred by you will not be tracked and added to your affiliate account.

Mistake 4: Not getting your own feet wet

As a forex affiliate, you have to convince the traders to trade with promoted forex brokers or buy certain trading products. It is impossible to give a truthful review on something without trying it out yourself.

You can lose respect and trust of the visitors. How? Here is the scenario – you promote a forex broker or product that doesn’t deliver what is promised. By promoting them, you are responsible for the recommendations given to traders. Therefore, it is your job to see what is really delivered.

Mistake 5: Giving up too quickly

Many affiliate beginners, especially in forex market, seek fast income. It is crucial to be patient and put all the efforts in the content building – the results will surprise you!

Keep in mind that some potential traders don’t deposit right away. On the opposite, they learn about trading and practice with free demo account provided by most forex brokers. It can takes several month before the first deposit is made.

Stranger

Being new to affiliate marketing, especially in forex industry, you need to have reasonable expectations. You hear about great potential income and the success stories, but are they all true? Can you really make money being forex affiliate? How much money can you make on average? How much time and effort are needed to maintain forex website? Are there honest forex affiliate programs, which really pay? In my experience, forex affiliate marketing is not as easy as it may seem at a first glance. Your potential as an affiliate is very difficult to measure accurately, since there are simply too many variables involved. The best way is to give it a try and see how far it takes you.

· How much money is there in Forex Affiliation?

In the beginning, it might be only couple of dollars per day. As time passes, your average income would grow to hundreds and some day you might even make $1,000 in 24 hours! What is really important to understand that the hard work you invest in the beginning of your affiliate path will definitely pay off.

I believe that the general expectation of your affiliate marketing business should be $2,000-$7,000 a month. That of course if you work at it full time and full hearted.

· How much time is needed?

Just like any other business, forex affiliate marketing requires a lot of hard work and time involved. Whether you are satisfied with your current income or not, the amount of work never goes down. At the end of the day, there is still a huge to-do list!

Every affiliate is different. For some it comes naturally; for others it requires more time and energy. The biggest problem is impatience. Most affiliates give up too quickly. After all, it takes 3 – 6 months to get things up to point of generating any kind of income.

Don’t be fooled, when you hear that affiliates work couple of hours a day. It takes hours of work, involving web design, content building, SEO, traffic generation, public relation, social network submission, link exchange, advertising etc. Besides, like with any work, you sometimes get distracted by reading occasional emails, checking website statistics, devouring the commissions from forex affiliate programs, socializing with your online friends etc.

· What is the average agenda?

Search engine optimization takes time to bring results; therefore you have to stick to it. With time your SEO efforts should grow and the income increase. Here is what can be considered as affiliate agenda:

STAGE 1: Your site contains about 10 pages and has 10-30 incoming links. Some of the search engines have indexed it. You have about 10-50 visitors per day, but no commissions at this point.

STAGE 2: The amount of pages increases and so do incoming links (I guess, 100-500 is the right amount to expect). The popularity increases and 50 visitors turn into 500. At this point you should be making about $200 + per month.

STAGE 3: You have more than 100 pages and tones of inbound links (I mean, thousands). The amount of visitors is beyond 1,000 , the conversion rate is high and your commissions are between $500 to $2,000.

Once you pass STAGE 3, it is all up to you. Work hard and you can turn $2,000 into twice as much and more!

Forex affiliate beginners sometimes think that a website with 10 pages or so and 5 back links is enough. The truth is, the successful SEO and commissions earned are closely linked to the amount of work an affiliate is willing to put in.

· Are there honest forex affiliate programs?

Yes, there are. Most forex affiliate programs I have experience with paid and continue paying. Of course there are misunderstandings from time to time, but this happens in every business. Be ready to stand your grounds and be fair. If you missed to fill the payment form on time, don’t blame it on your affiliate manager!

In conclusion, forex affiliate marketing can be extremely profitable. It can allow you to work on your own from the comfort of your home (or anywhere else with the access to laptop and internet connection). If you are creative, hard working and quick learner, forex affiliate marketing is the right thing for you.

Stranger

I think with forex-affiliate.com you should look at the overall package. Sure their default spreads are probably a bit higher than other platforms but thats because you can trade with a much lower margin than any other platform as well. You can open an account with just $25!!! Who else lets you do that? If that wont convert you any customers i dont know what will. Further more as soon as any customer registers they contact him, offer him free forex training and adjust his account to his trading style and change his spread etc.

As an affiliate for me this is a great product. It doesnt require any download, its completely web based, they accept credit cards and pay pal for trading (i dont know any other platform that does) and customers can start trading in 5-10 minutes.

It worked for me so far ... i got 5 active customers out of 20 registrations and thats a good conversion ratio. I am trying to build up more mainstream traffic now in order to send over to these guys.

Stranger

Yahoo! Small Business offers a great web hosting package for small businesses, especially for those who are not coders or Internet gurus. Yahoo web hosting has an easy to use web site creation tool that can be accessed from anywhere you have Internet access and it does not require products like Dreamweaver or Photoshop to edit your site or images.

Web hosting comes with a free domain and up 1000 email addresses with unlimited storage. Yahoo also offers ecommerce packages that can support up to 50,000 products and has an easy to use set up wizard for quick storefront creation. All plans come with full Spam and Virus protection and 24-hour support.

This hosting service offers two different web site creation tools, one easy and one advanced customization option; they can alter hundreds of templates to suit your specific business, the advanced editor can also work with your own unique code. Both are almost as easy to use as creating an email or blog entry, its WYSIWYG editor can automatically put in links and resize images. Yahoo hosting really is a great choice for non-coders, but also offers the advanced tools experienced web designers’ desire as well.

Standout Features:
• Zero coding knowledge required
• Unlimited disk space, data transfer and email storage
• 24-hour customer support
• Virus and Spam protection included

Stranger

Here’s an insightful review on Godaddy from a client of mine and pretty much sums up what I hear from everyone:

After hosting my ecommerce site with godaddy for 4 years I’m dumping them. I’ve been experiencing site outages due to overloaded database servers, lost email, and overall just bad service and support.

Technical support does respond quickly; however, their fist level support technicians only have canned scripts to work from and it’s frustrating to continually hear that the problem is with my website code, which has not changed in 2 years.

Godaddy support has told me that the lost emails are my fault. After arguing with them for 2 weeks they finally figured out that all of my company email was being routed incorrectly. They fixed that problem, but now there are times when it takes 24+ hours to receive an email generated by customers from my website.

It took me over a month to get support to look into the database server timeout problems. Finally I called and got someone who was able to validate that the database connection was timing out from my website (and costing me sales).

I was told that another customer was consuming all available server cycles and that nothing could be dome about it unless I moved to dedicated hosting (for a very large fee).

I was also told that part of the my timeout problem was caused by me being a customer for so long that my website was on a very old, slow server and should move to one of the newer servers; once again, for a rather large fee. Nice to see that GoDaddy values their long term customers (that’s sarcasm by the way).

So I decided to purchase virtual dedicated hosting; but after 2 weeks decided to cancel because I could not spend 12 hours a day trying to get the server configured (they preconfigure nothing).

Sure GoDaddy is cheap, but if you plan on growing your ecommerce business, you’d be better off hosting with top level hosts like StartLogic or Yahoo Hosting.

Stranger

GoDaddy offers much more than just domain names and simple website hosting, but can handle just about anything you throw at their service. GoDaddy has a variety of web hosting options, different packages and a host of additional features that make it a great option for hosting a personal webpage or small business site. With competitive rates and additional valuable add-ons, GoDaddy is a great web-hosting solution that is easy to setup and simple to use.

Pricing:

This is where GoDaddy falls a little short. To get the same options other hosts provide in basic packages, we had to look at GoDaddy's Unlimited Hosting package, which is a bit more spendy. Combine that with GoDaddy's penchant for charging extra for standard features, and they score low in the pricing category.

Make no mistake, GoDaddy's support and service is rock-solid, but you pay more for it than with other hosting companies.

Hosting Features:

GoDaddy’s web hosting packages come loaded with features. GoDaddy is proud of their world class data center and physical services, and reasonably so. GoDaddy actually owns their hosting facilities, which feature state of the art security and advanced backup technology for complete and competent network servers.

Each GoDaddy hosting plan comes with web site statistic tools to help you keep an eye on how your hosted page is performing. Setup is absolutely free, and includes access to the GoDaddy.com Hosting Connection, where you can interact with other GoDaddy users and find free applications to use on your web site.

Each GoDaddy hosting plan also comes with a variety of free software and credits to help you get the word out on your site. The Deluxe plan that we reviewed includes a $25 Google AdWord credit, a $50 Microsoft adCenter credit, and a $50 Facebook credit.

GoDaddy provides other tools as well for further adding function to your site. You can host forums on your GoDaddy website, start a blog, and show off your photos. And while GoDaddy doesn’t include a free shopping cart, they do have e-commerce solutions available, including merchant accounts and the Quick Shopping Cart.

Programming / Multimedia:

GoDaddy helps beginners easily set up their site, and includes additional tools for advanced developers to work with. GoDaddy also offers a variety of professional site building services and designs for additional fees. Regardless, all GoDaddy solutions support several programming languages. The deluxe plan we reviewed supports CGI (Python and Ruby), PHP, Perl, ASP, MySQL, ColdFusion, and FrontPage extensions.

Most functions within the Account Management tool are similar to other control panels. In addition, with GoDaddy.com you can perform account management tasks, email management, web security, database setup and management, and manage statistic tools.

Support & Service:

GoDaddy has a variety of help and support options available, and they’re accessible all of the time. The online support forum and FAQs section are well organized and contain a wealth of knowledge for beginners and advanced users alike.

GoDaddy service representatives can also be contacted on the phone, or through email. GoDaddy is a large company with several thousand users, so personal help would be expectedly slower than others. However, GoDaddy’s support team is quick to respond, and the expected response time for emails has significantly decreased since our last review.

Summary:

GoDaddy is a worthy competitor and worthwhile web hosting service. They provide all the essentials and then some, complete with secure facilities. The setup process is straightforward, and GoDaddy has an option for all levels of management, from beginner to expert. Though not as complete as a couple of our other reviewed web hosting services, GoDaddy has what it takes, and is definitely a great option.

Stranger

People are willing to pay for someone or something that will teach them and give them knowledge (as opposed to mere information). Education is one of the biggest industries in the world, and the online landscape behaves in a similar way.

Creating a mentoring program related to the niche of your website could be very profitable if you manage to structure and promote it adequately. There is a wide range of media and tools that you can use to deliver the information, from text articles to audio and video lessons.

Brian Clark leveraged the success of Copyblogger to launch a mentoring program teaching people how to build membership and how to sell content online. The program is titled Teaching Sells, and it costs $97 monthly. Sounds expensive, but they have over 1,000 members.

28. Creating a conference around the website

If your website takes off and becomes an authority on its niche, you could create a conference around it. Depending on the size of your audience, the event could attract thousands of people, and you could make money directly from conference passes and sponsors.

Search Engine Land, for instance, created a series of conferences that visit several cities on the United States and on other countries as well. The conferences are called Search Marketing Expo, and the tickets and passes cost thousands of dollars

Stranger

28 Ways to Make Money with Your Website

by Daniel Scocco

There are several lists with “ways to make money with a website” on the Internet, but none of them seem to be complete. That is why I decided to create this one. If you know a method that is not listed below, just let us know and we’ll update it.

Notice that ways to make money with a website are different from ways to make more money from it. Methods to increase your traffic or click-through rate will help you make more money, but they do not represent a method of making money per se.

For example, one could suggest that blending AdSense ads with the content is a way to make money from a website. In reality it’s not; it’s just a way to make more money by improving your ad click-through rate. The real monetization method behind it is a PPC ad network.

The list is divided into direct and indirect methods, and examples and links are provided for each point. Enjoy!

Direct Methods

1. PPC Advertising Networks

Google AdSense is the most popular option under this category, but there are also others. Basically you need to sign up with the network and paste some code snippets on your website. The network will then serve contextual ads (either text or images) relevant to your website, and you will earn a certain amount of money for every click.

The profitability of PPC advertising depends on the general traffic levels of the website and, most importantly, on the click-through rate (CTR) and cost per click (CPC). The CTR depends on the design of the website. Ads placed abode the fold or blended with content, for instance, tend to get higher CTRs. The CPC, on the other hand, depends on the nice of the website. Mortgages, financial products and college education are examples of profitable niches (clicks worth a couple of dollars are not rare), while tech-related topics tend to receive a smaller CPC (sometimes as low as a couple of cents per click).

The source of the traffic can also affect the overall CTR rate. Organic traffic (the one that comes from search engines) tends to perform well because these visitors were already looking for something, and they tend to click on ads more often. Social media traffic, on the other hand, presents terribly low CTRs because these visitors are tech-savvy and they just ignore ads.

List of popular CPC advertising networks:

2. CPM Advertising Networks

CPM advertising networks behave pretty much as PPC networks, except that you get paid according to the number of impressions (i.e., page views) that the ads displayed on your site will generate. CPM stands for Cost per Mille, and it refers to the cost for 1,000 impressions.

A blog that generates 100,000 page views monthly displaying an advertising banner with a $1 CPM, therefore, will earn $100 monthly.

CPM rates vary with the network, the position of the ad and the format. The better the network, the higher the CPM rate (because they have access to more advertisers). The closer you put the ad to the top of the page, the higher the CPM. The bigger the format (in terms of pixels), the higher the CPM.

You can get as low as $0,10 and as high as $10 per 1,000 impressions (more in some special cases). CPM advertising tends to work well on websites with a high page views per visitor ratio (e.g., online forums, magazines and so on).

List of popular CPM advertising networks:

3. Direct Banner Advertising

Selling your own advertising space is one of the most lucrative monetization methods. First and foremost because it enables you to cut out the middleman commissions and to determine your own rates. The most popular banner formats on the web are the 728×90 leaderboard, the 120×600 skyscraper, the 300×250 rectangle and the 125×125 button.

The downside of direct banner advertising is that you need to have a big audience to get qualified advertisers, and you will need to spend time managing the sales process, the banners and the payments.

Related links:

4. Text Link Ads

After Google declared that sites selling text links without the nofollow tag would be penalized, this monetization method became less popular.

Many website owners are still using text links to monetize their sites, though, some using the nofollow tag and some not.

The advantage of this method is that it is not intrusive. One can sell text links directly through his website or use specialized networks like Text-Link-Ads and Text-Link-Brokers to automate the process.

Text link marketplaces and networks:

5. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a very popular practice on the Internet. Under this system you have a merchant that is willing to let other people (the affiliates) sell directly or indirectly its products and services, in exchange for a commission. Sometimes this type of advertising is also called CPA (cost per action) or CPL (cost per lead) based.

Affiliates can send potential customers to the merchant using several tools, from banners to text links and product reviews.

In order to find suitable affiliate programs you can turn to individual companies and publishers like Dreamhost and SEOBook, or join affiliate marketplaces and networks.

List of popular affiliate marketplaces and networks:

6. Monetization Widgets

The latest trend on the web are widgets that let you monetize your website. Examples include Widgetbucks and SmartLinks. Some of these services operate under a PPC scheme, others behave like text link ads, others yet leverage affiliate links.

Their main differentiator, however, is the fact that they work as web widgets, making it easier for the user to plug and play the service on its website.

List of companies that provide monetization widgets:

7. Sponsored Reviews

PayPerPost pioneered this model, with much controversy on the beginning (related to the fact that they did not require disclosure on paid posts). Soon other companies followed, most notably Sponsored Reviews and ReviewMe, refining the process and expanding the paid blogging model.

Joining one of these sponsored reviews marketplaces will give you the opportunity to write sponsored posts on a wide range of topics. Not all bloggers are willing to get paid to write about a specific product or website (because it might compromise the editorial credibility), but the ones who do are making good money out of it.

If your blog has a big audience you could also offer sponsored reviews directly, cutting off the commissions of the middleman.

List of sponsored reviews and paid blogging networks:

8. RSS Feed Ads

With the quick adoption of the RSS technology by millions of Internet users, website owners are starting to find ways to monetize this new content distribution channel.

Feedburber already has its own publisher network, and you can sign-up to start displaying CPM based advertising on your feed footer. Bidvertiser recently introduced a RSS feed ad option as well, with a PPC scheme.

Finally, some blogs are also opting to sell banners or sponsored messages on their feed directly. John Chow and Marketing Pilgrim are two examples.

Related links:

9. Sponsors for Single Columns or Events

If you website has specific columns or events (e.g., a weekly podcast, an interview series, a monthly survey, a special project) you could find companies to sponsor them individually.

This method increases the monetization options for website owner, while giving advertisers the possibility to target a more specific audience and with a reduced commitment.

Mashable illustrates the case well. They have several advertising options on the site, including the possibility to sponsor specific columns and articles, including the “Daily Poll” and the “Web 2.0 Invites.”

Problogger also runs group writing projects occasionally, and before proceeding he publicly announce the project asking for sponsors.

10.Premium Content

Some websites and blogs give away part of their content for free, and charge for access to the premium content and exclusive tools.

SEOMoz is a good example. They have a very popular blog that gives advice and information on wide range of SEO related topics. On top of that visitors can decide to become premium members. It costs $48 monthly and it grants them access to guides, tools and other exclusive material.

11. Private Forums

While the Internet is populated with free forums, there is also the possibility to create a private one where members need to pay a single or recurring fee to join.

SEO Blackhat charges $100 monthly from its members, and they have thousands of them. Obviously in order to charge such a price for a forum membership you need to provide real value for the members (e.g., secret techniques, tools, and so on).

Performancing also launched a private forum recently, focused on the networking aspect. It is called The Hive, and the monthly cost is $10.

These are just two examples. There are many possibilities to create a private and profitable forum, you just need to find an appealing angle that will make it worth for the members.

List of popular forum software:

12. Job Boards

All the popular blogs are trying to leverage job boards to make some extra income. Guy Kawasaki, ReadWriteWeb, Problogger… you name it.

Needless to say that in order to create an active and profitable job board you need first to have a blog focused on a specific niche, and a decent amount traffic.

The advantage of this method is that it is passive. Once you have the structure in place, the job listings will come naturally, and you can charge anywhere from $10 up to $100 for each.

List of popular job board software:

13. Marketplaces

Sitepoint is the online marketplace by excellence. Some websites and blogs, however, are trying to replicate that model on a smaller scale.

Depending on your niche, a market place that allows your visitors to buy, sell and trade products could work well. Over the time you could start charging a small fee for new product listings.

The problem with this method is that there are no standard software on the web, so you would need to hire a coder to get a marketplace integrated into your website.

You can see an example of a marketplaces being used on EasyWordpress and on Mashable.

14. Paid Surveys and Polls

There are services that will pay you money to run a small survey or poll on your website. The most popular one is called Vizu Answers.

Basically you need to sign up with them, and select the kind of polls that you want to run your site. Most of these services operate under a CPM model.

15. Selling or Renting Internal Pages

Million Dollar Wiki made this concept popular, but it was being used on the web for a long time around (check Pagerank10.co.uk for instance).

These websites sell for a single fee or rent for a recurring fee internal pages on their domain. Usually they have either high Pagerak or high traffic, so that people purchasing a page will be able to benefit in some way.

Implementing this method on a small blog would be difficult, but the concept is interesting and could be explored further.

16. Highlighted Posts from Sponsors

Techmeme probably pioneered this idea, but somehow it has not spread to other websites. The tech news aggregator displays editorial posts on the left column, and on the sidebar they have a section titled “Techmeme Sponsor Posts.”

On that section posts from the blog of the advertisers get highlighted, sending qualified traffic their way. Considering that the monthly cost for one spot is $5000 and that they have around 6 sponsors at any given time, it must be working well.

17. Donations

Placing a “Donate” link or button on a website can be an efficient way to earn money, especially if your blog is on a niche where readers learn and gain value from your content.

Personal development and productivity blogs, for instance, tend to perform well with donation based systems (one good example being Steve Pavlina).

A small variation of this method appeared sometime ago with the Buy Me a Beer plugin. This WordPress plugin enables you to insert a customized message at the bottom of each article, asking the readers to chip in for a beer or coffee.

18. In-text Adverting

In-text adverting networks like Kontera and Vibrant Media will place sponsored links inside your text. These links come with a double underline to differentiate them from normal links, and once the user rolls the mouse over the link the advertising will pop. Should the user click on it the site owner will make some money.

Some people make good money with this method, but others refrain from using it due to its intrusiveness. It is also interesting to note that very few mainstream websites have experimented with in-text advertising.

19. Pop-ups and Pop-unders

Pop-ups are a common yet annoying form of advertising on the Internet. If you are just trying to make a much money as possible from your website, you could experiment with them.

If you are trying to grow the traffic and generate loyal visitors, however, you probably should stay away from them. Just consider the hundreds of pop-up blockers out there: there is a reason why they are so popular.

Ad networks that use pop-ups:

20. Audio Ads

Also called PPP (Pay Per Play), this advertising method was introduce by Net Audio Ads. the concept is pretty simple: play a small audio advertising (usually 5 seconds) every time a visitor enters into your website. The user should not be able to stop it, creating a 100% conversion rate based on unique visitors.

The company is still rolling tests, but some users are reporting to get from a $4 to a $6 CPM. Regardless of the pay rate, though, this is a very intrusive form of advertising, so think twice before using it.

21. Selling the Website

Selling your website could be your last resource, but it has the potential to generate a big sum of money in a short period of time.

Market places on online forums like DigitalPoint and Sitepoint are always active with website buyers and sellers. Keep in mind that they most used parameter to determine the value of a website is the monthly revenue that it generates, multiplied by a certain number (the multiplier can be anything from 5 to 30, depending on the expectations of the seller, on the quality of the site, on the niche and other factors).

Some people also make money trading and flipping websites. They either create them from scratch or buy existing ones, and after some revamping they sell them for a profit.

Related links:

Indirect Methods

22. Selling an Ebook

Perhaps one of the oldest money making strategies on the web, using a website to promote a related ebook is a very efficient way to generate revenue.

You could either structure the website around the book itself, like SEOBook.com, or launch the ebook based on the success of the website, like FreelanceSwitch did we the book How to be a Rockstar Freelancer.

Related links:

23. Selling a Hardcover Book

Many authors and journalists leverage their blogs or websites to sell copies of hardcover books. Examples include Guy Kawasaki, Seth Godin and Malcolm Gladwell.

While most of these people were already renowned authors before they created their website, one could also follow the other way around. Lorelle VanFossen did exactly that with her Blogging Tips book. First she built her authority on the subject via her blog, and afterwards she published the book.

List of self publishing and publishing services:

24. Selling Templates or WordPress Themes

As more and more people decide to get an online presence, website templates and WordPress themes become hotter and hotter.

On this segment you have mainstream websites like TemplateMonster, as well as individual designers who decide to promote and sell their work independently.

Brian Gardner and Unique Blog Designs are two examples of websites that make money with the sales of premium and custom WordPress themes.

25. Offering Consulting and Related Services

Depending on your niche, you could make money by offering consulting and related services. If you are also the author of your blog, the articles and information that you will share will build your profile and possibly certify your expertise on that niche, making it easier to gain customers.

Chris Garrett used a similar strategy. First he created a highly influential blog on the blogging and new media niche, and afterwards he started offering consulting services to clients with related problems and needs.

26. Creating an Email List or Newsletter

Email lists and newsletters represent one of the most powerful marketing and money making tools on the Internet. They offer incredible conversion rates, and the possibility to call people to action in a very efficient way.

Creating a big list is a difficult task though, so if you have a popular website you could leverage it to increase the number of subscribers on your list.

Yaro Starak is a famous Internet marketer, and if you visit his blog you will notice that right on top he has a section encouraging visitors to subscribe to his email newsletter. Yaro generates five figures in revenues each month from his email newsletters, proving that this method works.

List of software to manage email newsletters:

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Monday, November 9, 2009

A List of US Gold & Precious Metal Mutual Funds

Golden Opportunity To Buy Silver Dips

How To Invest In Rhodium

Gold – Buy The Dip Today!

What Caused Golds Record Leap?

Gold Weights Explained

Understanding Stock Futures Trading

Silver Will Out-Perform Gold!

Gold Investors Warned Against Frauds

Gold Price Manipulation Game is Over - Investors Win

How to Know When to Buy Gold by Watching the Gold Prices

How to Buy Gold

Trading The Gold-Silver Ratio

Scrap Gold Recycling - How You Can Profit

Gold Trading Strategies

Gold farming versus gold selling

Gold Trading Exposed: The Sellers

Money makers

Gold, Silver, Oil, Natural Gas ETF Trading

Monday, November 2, 2009

Ways to Make Money with Your Website

Get Traffic for Your Forex Website

Common Forex Affiliate Mistakes

What to Expect from Forex Affiliate Marketing?

Forex Affiliate programs

Yahoo! Web Hosting

Go Daddy

Selling WebHosting Plans

Mentoring programs

Selling Templates or WordPress Themes

28 Ways to Make Money with Your Website

Direct Methods

Indirect Methods

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