Rubi

Oil Stocks As A Long Term Investment

admin — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 22:01:01 +0000

The demand for world oil is increasing while world reserves are decreasing. This is a known fact. The current price of oil can certainly confirm this statement. Consensus also agrees that we will never see $25.00 oil again.The logical conclusion to our above statement is oil stocks should be a good long term investment. However, the location of the oil companies? reserves can affect their bottom line and valuation.Some of the largest reserves in the world are found in Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Canada. Political unrest in Venezuela, unstable and unpredictable government in Russia and Osama Bin Laden targeting Saudi Arabia leave Canada, namely the Alberta Oil Sands, as the largest, most reliable oil reserves in the world.Companies like Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. are planning to spend billions during the next 10 years to develop Alberta’s unusual oil deposits as demand for crude rises and output from existing reserves decline. Oil sands output in Alberta may double to 2 million barrels a day by 2013, according to a presentation by Enbridge Inc. earlier this month.Oil sands are deposits of bitumen - heavy oil that must be treated to convert it into crude oil for use in refineries to produce gasoline and diesel fuels. The U.S. Energy Department revised its global oil resource estimates to include the oil sands 174 billion barrels of proven reserves that can be recovered using current technology.With demand for oil and other commodities from China and India increasing due to their growing economies, strong trading relationships are procuring with Canada - a country with numerous resources, political stability and neutral military views.Companies with reserves in the Alberta oil sands look like a great investment for the next decadeThere are many companies with reserves in the Oil Sands here are some with strong exposure.Suncor Energy Inc. SU.tse , Western Oil Sands Inc. WTO.tse and the Canadian Oil Sands Trust COS/UN.tse

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

5 Secrets To Building A Successful Internet Business

admin — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 19:01:01 +0000

Everyday I talk with people who want to get started on the internet with their own business. But the whole process seems a mystery to them whether they have an affiliate marketing program, a real estate course or they sell health and fitness products. The easiest way I found to walk people through the basic building blocks is to use a real life example of building a brick and mortar business. Success on the internet is possible when you know how to build it and drive targeted traffic to your website.Let’s say you wanted to open a coffee shop that would rival Starbuck’s?. Where would you begin? You would probably want to do some kind of research to see how many coffee shops were in your town or city. After all, if there are 5 in a ten mile radius, you might want to think about a different location or how you would make your coffee shop unique enough to slaughter the competition.1. Identify your nicheWell, it’s not much different on the web. You want to first identify your niche. First, let’s quickly explain what a niche is and isn’t. If you are selling every affiliate marketing program under the sun, this is not a niche. A niche would be to focus on affiliate programs in a specific field like health and fitness. Then you want to find out what the top websites are by typing ‘health and fitness’ into Google. Here you can see the top 10 sites that Google says are important. Remember that even the category ‘health and fitness’ can be broken down into further niches like weight loss for women or top 20 health products for longevity. See what your competition is doing and how you could do it different or better.Another way to look for niches is to use Overture’s search term tool. Place your keyword in the box and hit go. Overture will spit out anything relevant to that keyword. It will show you possible niches you hadn’t thought of and how many people search for that keyword. For example, you may put in coffee beans and it may show you that organically grown and processed coffee beans are all the rage.2. Build a user friendly websiteBack to the coffee shop. Next thing you might do is have the shop built in a good location where traffic can come and go easily. You too must build a website that has what people are looking for, is easy to navigate, easy to shop and checkout with friendly customer service. Tip: If you are selling weight loss products, don’t try and sell power tools. While this may sound obvious, many people try to take the ’sell everything’ they can approach and what happens is they end up selling nothing.What will the environment of the coffee shop be like? What experience do you want your customers to have? Your customers will be entering your website with expectations of finding the information they need and the products they want. In that order. You might invite them to sign up for a free 7 part report on ‘how to lose 10lbs guaranteed over the next 30 days eating healthy.’ At the end of that report you can encourage them to look at your weight loss supplements or vitamins.3. Good navigationAs in the coffee shop, have your items for sale laid out in a well organized fashion so the buyer can order exactly what they want with little effort except to give you their credit card number. It is best to have your products grouped and images optimized for fast page loads. Think about what you like. Do you want to see ten products described well on a page or fifty crammed in? As you would have nice displays in your coffee shop so will you on your website.4. Offer something better than your competition doesWhat other things could you do to enhance your buyer’s experience? In a coffee shop you could offer free samples of new drinks or have a discount card for people who drink coffee with you every morning. On your website, you can offer free tips, reports and discounts on volume buys or repeat purchases.5. Market wiselySo, how do you get people to come try your coffee shop? Typically, a brick and mortar business will advertise in the local paper. It may be that you have the coffee that is guaranteed to get them going in the morning, free internet access, homemade muffins or the freshest coffee beans available. With your website, you may do pay-per-click advertising, exchange reciprocal links or write articles.Traffic must come in the door of your website, like what they see and hopefully buy from you.While most of these tips are common sense, it is amazing how few people actually use these critical ingredients in their online business. Pretend you are a customer arriving to your web store for the first time. What could you do to make the whole experience better?

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

So You Want To Be A Consultant?

admin — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 14:01:01 +0000

Let’s say you have more than 20 years experience in your chosen field. For the sake of this article, let’s say you have been in the nonprofit field for 25 years and are at the very top of your game. And let’s say you’re a bit bored with the hum-drum day-to-day routine of being an executive director. You love nonprofit sector, but you need more of a challenge and you yearn to help people grow and achieve success in their nonprofit careers. Plus, you’d like to earn a little bit more money and are a bit tired of the board of directors overseeing everything you do.Perhaps it’s time to go into business for yourself. Perhaps it’s time to become a consultant, a coach, a speaker and trainer. The thought is exciting, albeit a little frightening. You’re current salary is certainly respectable for a person with your skills and experience, and the health insurance and retirement plan are comforting benefits that you don’t want to relinquish. But none of these factors have been able to sufficiently scratch that darned itch that keeps telling you it’s time to start your own nonprofit consulting business.Going into business for yourself as a consultant, coach, or speaker (or all of the above) requires determination, a little self-sacrifice (in the beginning), and a lot of experience. People hire consultants because they need the expertise of someone who has been there and done that?hundreds of times. There are consultants in literally every career field, and once they become accustomed to the process of generating clientele, they can make over double what they were earning as employees. In fact, recent statistics show that successful and established consultants can make anywhere from $1,200 to $5,000 per day.There is power and prestige in consulting that can rarely be found in management positions, even executive positions. The power comes from calling the shots as a business owner and making sure people know they need you; the prestige comes from being the very best in your field?and making sure people know it.But there’s a not so subtle difference in owning your own business and owning your own consulting firm. Lots of people own businesses. My fianc? owns a deli, my father owns a small publishing business, and my mother owns a bakery. But owning your own consulting firm lets people know that you’re the cr?me de la cr?me in your field - and if they want to rise to the top like you have, they’ll hire you to help them.Consulting firms, like the one you will soon own, can be anything from a one man show to a large agency boasting senior and junior associates. Most consultants make their day to day income from coaching and mentoring individuals in the field - charging anywhere from $300 (for junior level staffers) to $500 (for senior executives) per hour. They also assist clients with organizational development, strategic and financial planning, and a host of other services including workshop facilitation and board and staff retreats. And if they like to speak in front of audiences, many consultants make thousands of dollars simply talking to a crowd for a few hours about their experiences and knowledge.While it’s not as easy as 1-2-3 to quite your job and start making $5,000 a day as a consultant, it’s certainly not as difficult as it looks - especially if you’re very very good at what you do and have expertise that few can match. Start off as a moonlighter, which is the term used when someone has a ?day job? but works on their own business in the evenings. Make a simple business card for yourself and during your lunch hour at work, go to chamber of commerce or rotary meetings where you can network and talk to people about your new consulting practice.It’s not too difficult to pick up a small client or two this way, and once you do a good job for them and build confidence in yourself you’ll begin to branch out and up. People will hear about you, your phone will start ringing, those simple business cards you handed out at the rotary meetings will change hands and generate bigger clients, and you’ll begin to realize that maybe you really can quit that hum-drum job and make it big on your very own.

Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Hello world!

admin — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 10:01:05 +0000

Welcome to Actualblog.net. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!