Loans in Tough Times: Banks can make it just that much harder

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Trying to apply for a loan in a tough economy can often be a challenge. People with bad credit reports and scores have difficult times in securing loans for small amounts. Banks simply do not trust certain people with poor credit history.

Less Formal Lending

Fortunately, there are some institutions and companies that are willing to provide loans without any major hassles and problems. Some companies can lend money by taking any form of collateral from burrowers. For example, a burrower that has an expensive home entertainment system can get a loan for placing such property security for a loan.

Similarly, a vehicle can be used as collateral for a loan that involves thousands of dollars. You can visit 800loanmart.com for more information on applying for a loan from alternative sources.

Easier to process

These days, loans can be given out online by filling out simple surveys. Loan companies ask potential borrowers a few quick questions. An automated system checks the official information of a client and then accepts or rejects a request for a loan.

Loans that are given out with personal property as collateral usually come with lower interest rates compared to some banks and credit unions. Anyone that has a car title can essentially apply for a quick loan that would be very difficult to obtain from local financial institutions.

Check the interest rate before you borrow, and don’t be seduced by the lowest tier rates. They are teaser rates, for good reason… you could end up paying much more.

Considerable Caveats

There are some considerable caveats that you should note when borrowing finance like this, however.

Firstly, your car (almost any car) is a depreciation asset. In other words, over time your car is becoming less valuable, not more valuable. Therefore, should you be forced to sell your car to repay the loan, it will be worth less than when you borrowed. Check your car resale value yourself so that you can determine how much it is worth, and how quickly the value is depreciation.

Secondly, if you are forced to sell the car to repay the loan, it is likely that the fire sale will reduce the sale value even more as you have to sell in a hurry. And if the company that owns the car title sells the car … well then, as long as they get their money back, they won’t worry too much about the excess value.

Thirdly, and as a consequence of the first point, your interest rate will be higher than a secured loan on a property that you own; because the value is on a depreciating asset, the total amount is lower in value, and therefore the profit margins for the lender will be lower too. You might not want to know this, but this will result in a higher interest rate, and bigger potential penalties for late payment, etc.

However, if you are stuck for short-term funding, and family & friends can’t, then this kind of loan might make a lot of sense, even though the cost & risk is much higher for you.

So cover your a$$ first

You need to make sure you can make the payments! Don’t repeat this kind of borrowing, the interest rates over long periods will skyrocket! And, NEVER EVER, roll the loan over or borrow another loan to repay this one.

Google Traffic: Help! What should I do now?

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The real question is how do you grow your business? Yesterday is gone, today is here. Tomorrow is the opportunity. I do believe that ‘the build content and visitors will come from Google’ days are over. Google is now increasingly ranking existing traffic. In other words, if you’re already popular, expect to get found in Google, but if you’re not… well, you know the story now.

The recent updates haven’t only been about finding Spam & Unnatural links in the index, but if you peel back the layers, you will see that Google is boosting branded sites; authorship is important; following social habits; and gearing up for mobile. This is at the same time as it is coming under pressure in its advertising markets from the likes of Facebook, Microsoft, & Yahoo! Advertisi

Add the list: Build the list

I had nearly 1,000,000 (that’s six zeroes) page views… but because I didn’t follow this mantra, I ended up with 150 subscribers to my mailing list. 150 out of 1 million pvs? What does that tell you?

So I would strongly recommend adding a popover for your newsletter, and push as many of the visitors you get now to sign up for the newsletter as possible. Put your RSS content into the newsletter and make your newsletter a PDF subscription only monthly update newsletter that is ESSENTIAL to have.

You can mirror the content throughout your site…but the convenience of having it once a month far outweighs the inconvenience of searching for all the disparate content on your site. Don’t leave it to late to do that…

Take your power back from Google

One of the dangers of working the SBI system is the power that you hand over to Google without realizing it. And many webmasters are now ruing the day they made that decision …of putting Google in the position to decide the future of their business. My coffee site is a classic example of this, and something that I have not remedied yet.

Essentially, a viable site has to have a diverse and diversifying source of incoming visitors. You cannot, should not ever rely on Google for your mainstream visitors. They are fickle, they are come & go, they don’t stick around, and they don’t often return to your site… too many other options to consider. However, they are loyal to Google, so it doesn’t matter to them whatever happens to your site.

Avoid Endless P&P Reports & Tweaking

Many SEO specialists, gurus and affiliate marketers advise and sell products/services that encourage you to get back into Google’s graces by endlessly tweaking your site’s keywords, URLs, keyword density, Google algo data… whatever particular flavor they are selling that day. But search engine rankings is a game for SEO specialists whose business is SEO.

Is SEO your business? No… Your business is bring the best of your site to your visitors. That is your business. Not endlessly tweaking Wordpress, PHP, HTML, GWT, or whatever acronym there is. I’m not saying “neglect these”… but your purpose should be tweaking those for the sole point of satisfying your visitors enough that they will ‘Like’ you, ‘Share’ you, Subscribe, Bookmark or Purchase from your site.

So what should I be doing?

So the ultimate question becomes not how can I get my site back in Google but how can I help my exisiting traffic LOVE my site or NEED my site to the extent that they will gladly give up time, money or effort to get it. That is branding. That is what Google is now looking for.

And with only a set number of hours in the day, then you have to ask yourself is it really worth my time hacking all these errors or would the time be better spent writing the content (for the blog or newsletter or Facebook) that my visitors/customers will LOVE? So don’t let the Google errors, the plugin problems, the niggles over CSS/HTML diminish your passion for your site.

Simplify what you need to do to serve your customers better. That’s all you need to. Let Google sweat the details. Because you have a great site, a great brand, great customer loyalty, great content… it is Google that has the troubles, the software issues, the problems… they are Google’s problems.

Don’t let Google ruin your business

Your site is what matters. When you focus on that, you will find the help that your site needs. And you will benefit your customers and visitors. Directly building your own brand & brand loyalty is the best (and perhaps the only real) alternative to letting Google run and ruin your business.

Learn Successful Real Estate Investment from the Pro’s

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There are real estate entrepreneurs who have learned the ropes and developed strategies to make the world of real estate investment profitable. These same entrepreneurs are willing to share their success and knowledge with others. The result is educational packages available through live seminars, books, blogs and websites, similar to what Dean Graziosi offers.

Study the Materials

The educational materials will give interested individuals a boost up and teach interested parties real estate investment. Learning from another entrepreneur shortens the learning curve and saves the student from reinventing the wheel. The student always has the ability to fine tune any methods and techniques learned from others with elements discovered on their own.

The educational package teaches individuals how to buy, sell, rent and flip real estate properties. Many real estate entrepreneurs have learned these methods by studying the knowledge of other successful entrepreneurs. As the real estate market changes, the entrepreneurs adjust their methods and techniques and, as a result, always have something new to offer.

See the experts LIVE

The live events are especially important, and the best way to learn from an expert. Live event participants receive a first hand and up close education with an expert in the field of real estate investing. This is a formula that is successful as the students have the ability to ask questions and participate in a discussion with an expert, rather than just reading a book or listening to an audio blog. Books and blogs on the subject provide helpful and handy reference information, but an actual discussion with an expert is priceless.

Real estate investors often offer their help through the books they author and teach individuals not only how to be successful in the real estate market, but to be happy and confident and to accomplish anything with effort and a plan. The most successful authors create an easy to understand formula to help all interested parties to find the right path to success to every area of their life.

Learn the Inside Track

Students also learn how to identify cycles in the real estate market and to maximize their advantage during the different cycles to make profitable real estate investments. Successful real estate entrepreneurs have developed easy to understand and cutting edge strategies that less experienced real estate investors can follow and duplicate to experience real estate investment success.

The real estate investment entrepreneurs teach their own personal strategies for turning any property into a winning investment, by determining true real estate values. Students learn how to identify different types of real estate markets and a successful method of implementation for each one. Students also learn methods for testing the integrity of any local real estate market and how to use formulas developed by successful real estate investors to turn profits in any real estate cycle. Students also learn how to minimize risk while maximizing profits by understanding the current real estate cycle.

A favorite technique for real estate investment entrepreneurs is the no money down strategy. This method is successful in the ever changing world of real estate investment, mortgages and volatile periods of real estate investment. Lending companies often experience downtimes when it is not in their best interest to lend money to real estate investors and to be able to close a sale with no money down is often times the best route to success.

Invest in Market Growth

You’ll need to study the materials & advice you come across, no matter where you get it. Then look at your local market or where you intend to practise carefully before you begin investing in real estate. With many populous neighborhoods set to grow, demand for real estate properties is going to go on expanding. Make sure you can take part in that trend!