5 Sites for Promoting Your Local Business

The advertising of the future is going online--and going local. This hot trend is growing rapidly and shows no signs of letting up. In fact, according to a report by Borrell Associates, local online advertising is expected to grow by 31 percent this year, hitting $7.7 billion. The report also predicts local paid search will skyrocket by 86 percent this year, up to $1.8 billion. Local e-mail marketing will experience growth of about 54 percent, reaching $233 million.

There's no question that consumers are using the internet to navigate their way to local brick-and-mortar retailers. A recent study by ROI Research Inc. and Performics shows that online searches influence 20 to 30 percent of purchases made at retail locations--and that number is only increasing. More and more sites, like Local.com, are making their presence known by competing against major search engines like Google and Yahoo!. So study up, plan your budget and get in on the online advertising game.

1. Website: Google AdWords
How It Will Help You: AdWords helps you target local online customers by setting your pay-per-click ads to appear only when people search a particular city, state or region. There's no minimum spending requirement--your daily budget is up to you.

2.  Website: Yahoo! Local Listings
How It Will Help You: Local Listings will promote your business to customers looking for information in Yahoo! Local. Choose from three different plans (one is free) to meet your company's needs.

3. Website: CitySearch
How It Will Help You: CitySearch offers online advertising tools to easily open your account, manage your daily results and receive ad placement on MSN, Yahoo!, Google and Ask.com. Similar to the idea of pay-per-click advertising, CitySearch offers two paid plans, "Web Connect" and "Call Connect."

4. Website: Ask.com's AskCity
How It Will Help You: Ask.com recently launched AskCity, a new local search application that's a one-stop destination for making plans. In one screen, consumers can map a route, make dinner reservations, purchase movie tickets and e-mail plans to others. Pricing for advertising on Ask.com varies.

5. Website: AOL's CityGuide
How It Will Help You: AOL's CityGuide specializes in providing local entertainment information to AOL service members. Advertising with AOL allows marketers to target consumers specifically by lifestyle and market.

6. Website: Craigslist
How It Will Help You: Craigslist gets an estimated 10 million unique visitors per day. With an online classified ad format organized by region or city, Craigslist connects buyers and sellers in more than 300 communities; for the most part, posting on the site is free.

7. Website: MerchantCircle.com
How It Will Help You: This free site offers a local business listing service that allows you to better manage your online reputation and become more visible in search engine results.

8. Website: Dotster
How It Will Help You: Dotster is a web domain registration and hosting company offering a local web advertising package called "Local Site Promotion." You set your monthly budget and Dotster will make your ad visible on all the major search engines.

9. Website: Local.com
How It Will Help You: Advertising on Local.com will give you access to their 10 million-plus monthly customers. Choose from a free basic listing or pay-per-click options.

10. Website: Froogle Local
How It Will Help You: Google's shopping search engine allows users to search for specific products by location. It's a great way for users to find retail stores regardless of whether you use e-commerce.

11. Website:ReachLocal
How It Will Help You: This site provides a central location for businesses to set-up, maintain and track local search advertising campaigns. Pricing varies.

12. Website: RegisterLocal
How It Will Help You: RegisterLocal is a service, costing $199.95 per year, that allows you to create a master profile they submit to search engines and directories on your behalf.

13. Website: TrueLocal
How It Will Help You: This local search engine features full-text searching and offers advertising opportunities for businesses. Currently indexing more than 13 million local businesses, TrueLocal starts at just $1 per month.

14. Website: YellowPages.com
How It Will Help You: YellowPages.com is a large online local directory site featuring city guides and advertising solutions. Basic listings are free.

15. Website: Web.com's MyEzClicks program
How It Will Help You: MyEzClicks lists your business on more than 30 major search engines, including Google, Yahoo! and MSN for a monthly fee.

Culled from www.entrepreneur.com

20 Kids gets $100,000 to drop out of School

For most people, school accelerates us towards our goals. For some prodigal, break-out brilliant thinkers, school is a speedbump.

At least that’s the philosophy behind the Thiel Foundation’s 20 Under 20 Fellowship program, which announced its latest class of participants today. Peter Thiel, who established and funds the foundation, became something of a startup legend for co-founding PayPal and Palantir Technologies. He was also the first outside investor in Facebook and has since co-founded and manages the elite Silicon Valley venture capital firm Founders Fund.

The 20 teens chosen as Thiel Fellows are each awarded $100,000 over two years to launch their business ideas, but must drop out of college. While they are expected to be largely self-guided in their pursuits, they are given top-tier mentorship and guidance from former Fellows and other entrepreneurs and investors. They are also encouraged, but not required, to move to the San Francisco area.

Culled from www.entrepreneur.com

EU Inflation Figures Continue To Display Weakness

Last week, market volatility was slightly lower than usual with investors perhaps bracing themselves for the upcoming week's ECB interest rate decision and US jobs report. However, we did encounter the release of some more vital EU metric data, which seemed to provide further validity to the consensus that the ECB will implement further stimulus, this coming Thursday.

For example, both Italy’s and Spain’s latest inflation data missed expectations. In Italy, it was expected that inflation levels would rise by an annualized 0.6%, however prices increased by only 0.5%. Whereas in Spain, the annual inflation rate increased by 0.2%. A substantial drop compared to last month’s 0.4% gain. There were also concerns regarding EU employment data released in France and Germany. In France, unemployment reached another record high and in Germany, the number of people unemployed surprisingly increased for the first time in six months. The total EU unemployment rate will be released this upcoming Tuesday.

In other news, there are increasing emerging indications from the United States that their economy is progressing. On Tuesday, US Durable Goods dismissed analyst expectations for a 0.6% contraction, increasing by 0.8%. This was followed by US Consumer Confidence advancing towards its second highest reading in nearly six years. Further good news was announced on Thursday when Initial Jobless Claims continued its recent consistent decline, with only 300,000 applications made last week. For the past four weeks, Initial Jobless Claims have decreased to their lowest level since August 2007.

However, there was confirmation that the terrible weather the US faced over the New Year period led to the US economy contracting by 1% during the first quarter of 2014. Initially, the news that the US GDP contracted for the first time in three years created some anxiety, though analysts are now trying to digest the GDP data in a positive manner. After reviewing the GDP release, it was apparent that a significant proportion of the economic contraction was due to a reduction in business investment and construction building. The general feeling is that this will correct itself over the coming months, and contribute towards the 2^nd quarter US GDP surpassing expectations.

In regards to the Japanese economy, there appears to be an air of confusion regarding their highly anticipated CPI release. During the beginning of the week, the JPY strengthened following reports that BoJ policy makers are already discussing the possibility of withdrawing from their QE stimulus, leading to suspicions that Thursday’s Japanese CPI data was going to outperform expectations. This turned out to be the case, with Japanese consumer prices increasing to their fastest pace in 23 years, at an annualized 3.2% growth level.

However, the inflation release appeared to be subdued. On reflection of the data, it was apparent that a sales tax recently implemented in April encouraged additional consumer expenditure. Despite the sales tax encouraging consumers to purchase, household spending actually contracted by an annualized 4.6%. The overall conclusion was that with household spending contracting and a recent sales tax contributing towards the inflation surge, the current CPI levels will not be sustainable. The IMF promptly dismissed the BoJ’s previous assertion that their inflation targets are achievable, proclaiming that the BoJ’s 2% CPI target will not be achieved until at least 2017. Currently, economists are in agreement with the IMF, and predicting further BoJ easing later this year.

In surprising news, the GBPUSD fell towards its lowest valuation in over a month, following a week of mixed economic performances from the United Kingdom economy. The week ended on a positive note, after a survey from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) announced the strongest level of economic growth in over a decade. However, this survey was released after the GBPUSD record losses, following the news that mortgage approvals declined in April.

Previously, BoE Governor Mark Carney raised eyebrows when he emphasized that the UK housing sector posed one of the biggest risks for the UK economy, hinting towards the consensus that the UK economic revival had been driven by consumer lending. With the BoE set to disappoint the bulls by maintaining interest rates at 0.5% this coming Thursday, further GBPUSD losses could be forthcoming.

Elsewhere, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand previously announced their dissatisfaction with the higher valued Kiwi, indicating that it would lead to worsening fundamentals for their economy. Last week’s economic disappointments provided validity to their assertion. New Zealand’s Trade Balance missed the $636 million expectation, registering in at $534 million. Further data displayed that exports declined by 6.5% last month, with imports rising by 5%. Further economic weakness was displayed when business confidence declined sharply last month. Overall, since the RBNZ made their dovish comments, the NZDUSD has fallen around 250 pips.

What to Watch this Week:

The upcoming week will likely witness a significant increase in market volatility, with a highly anticipated interest rate decision from the ECB, and a US jobs report standing out as the events more likely to have a significant impact on the currency markets. Interest rate decisions are also released in the coming week from Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

In reference to the ECB, the EURUSD has already depreciated by nearly 500 pips (3%) since Mario Draghi stated during last month’s ECB policy meeting that if inflation levels show no signs of progressing, the ECB are “comfortable” with acting in June. Since Draghi’s threat last month, a continuation of EU metric data has alerted the bears, and 90% of economists are predicting another interest rate cut this coming Thursday. Only 8% of economists are expecting the ECB to introduce asset based purchases (QE). Interestingly, nearly 95% of economists asked by Bloomberg are expecting the ECB to become the first major central bank to introduce negative deposit rates (though that was not specified as expected to happen this month). 

The other major market mover over the next week will be the release of the latest US Non-Farm Payrolls. Last month’s NFP was their strongest in the past 5 years, and within the last month, we have witnessed a consistent decline in Initial Jobless Claims. As mentioned in our previous market report, there are emerging indications that the Federal Reserve is beginning to transition towards offering a more hawkish outlook regarding the US economy. Another impressive NFP will facilitate this process. Currently, economists are estimating that just over 200,000 jobs were created within the US economy last month.

Although the majority of attention over the upcoming week will be focused on the European and American markets, we are also expecting volatility from Australia. This coming Tuesday, the RBA will announce their latest interest rate decision, where they are expected to leave rates unchanged at a record-low 2.5%. However, the key event risk from Australia could in actual fact be Wednesday’s GDP announcement.

During the latest RBA minutes, the Reserve Bank of Australia set alarm bells ringing when they disclosed that the Australian economy is set to welcome a period of weaker than expected economic growth. This has worried onlookers that Wednesday’s GDP release may fail to meet expectations. 

Written by Jameel Ahmad, Chief Market Analyst at FXTM.

 

For more information please visit: Forex Time

13 Accidental Inventions That Changed the World

Necessity isn't always the mother of invention. Lots of the things we rely on to cure our diseases, cook our meals, and sweeten our days weren't deliberately designed. Instead, they were a happy accident.

Read on to see how society-shaping inventions -- from Coca-Cola to penicillin and the microwave oven -- came about by chance.

Alyson Kreuger contributed additional research to this article.

1. Penicillin

Inventor: Sir Alexander Fleming, a scientist.

What he was trying to make: Ironically, Fleming was searching for a "wonder drug" that could cure diseases. However, it wasn't until Fleming threw away his experiments that he found what he was looking for.

How it was created: One day in 1928, Fleming noticed that a contaminated Petri dish he had discarded contained a mold that was dissolving all the bacteria around it. When he grew the mold by itself, he learned that it contained a powerful antibiotic -- penicillin -- used to treat ailments ranging from syphilis to tonsillitis. Thanks to penicillin and other antibiotics, the rate of death due to infectious disease is now one-twentieth of what it was back in 1900.

2. Coca-Cola

Inventor: John Pemberton, pharmacist.

What he was trying to make: Living in Atlanta in the 1880s, Pemberton sold a syrup made of wine and coca extract he called "Pemberton's French Wine Coca," which was touted at a cure for headaches and nervous disorders.

How it was created: In 1885, Atlanta banned the sale of alcohol, so Pemberton created a purely coca-based version of the syrup to be mixed with carbonated water and drank as a soda. The result was a perfect beverage for the temperance era -- a "brain tonic" called Coca Cola.

3. Chocolate-chip cookies

Inventor: Ruth Wakefield, owner of the Toll House Inn.

What she was trying to make: Wakefield just wanted to make some chocolate cookies.

How it was created: While mixing a batch of cookies in 1930, Wakefield discovered she was out of baker's chocolate. As a substitute she broke sweetened chocolate into small pieces and added them to the cookie dough. She expected the chocolate to melt, making chocolate cookies, but the little bits stuck.

4. Potato chips

Inventor: George Crum, a chef at the Carey Moon Lake House in Saratoga Springs, New York.

What he was trying to make: Crum was trying to serve a customer French fries in the summer of 1853.

How it was created: A diner kept sending his French fries back, asking them to be thinner and crispier. Crum lost his temper, sliced the potatoes insanely thin and fried them until they were hard as a rock. To the chef's surprise, the customer loved them.

5. The Pacemaker

Inventor: John Hopps, an electrical engineer.

What he was trying to make: Hopps was conducting research on hypothermia and was trying to use radio frequency heating to restore body temperature.

How it was created: During his experiment he realized if a heart stopped beating due to cooling, it could be started again by artificial stimulation. This realization led to the pacemaker in 1951.

6. Silly Putty

Inventor: James Wright, an engineer at General Electric.

What he was trying to make: During World War II, the United States government needed rubber for airplane tires, boots for soldiers, and the like. Wright was trying to make a rubber substitute out of silicon, since it was a widely available material.

How it was created: During a test on silicon oil in 1943, Wright added boric acid to the substance. The result was a gooey, bouncy mess. While he couldn't find a practical application, the impracticality of Silly Putty is what makes it awesome.

7. Microwave ovens

Inventor: Percy Spencer, an engineer with the Raytheon Corporation.

What he was trying to make: In 1946, Spencer was conducting a radar-related research project with a new vacuum tube.

How it was created: While experimenting with the tube, a candy bar in Spencer's pocket started to melt. Already a holder of 120 patents, Spencer grabbed some unpopped popcorn kernels and held them by the device.

Sure enough, they started to pop. Spencer knew he had a revolutionary device -- and an enabler to lazy cooks everywhere.

8. LSD as a drug

Inventor: Albert Hofmann, a chemist.

What he was trying to make: He was researching lysergic acid derivatives in a laboratory in Basel, Switzerland in 1938.

How it was created: Hofmann unintentionally swallowed a small amount of LSD while researching its properties. He subsequently had the first acid trip in history, marking the entry of a drug that would become a theme of undercurrent culture, most signified the Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."

The psychedelic has had its mark on tech, too: Steve Jobs said that taking LSD was "one of the two or three most important things" he had done in his life.

9. Saccharin

Inventor: Constantine Fahlberg, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University.

What he was trying to make: Fahlberg was trying to find a new use for coal tar back in 1879.

How it was created: Home from a long day at the lab, Fahlberg noticed that his wife's biscuits were way sweeter than usual.

The secret ingredient: The chemical that would eventually be known as saccharine had been on his hands after the lab work. The researcher immediately requested a patent and mass produced his product.

10. Post-it notes

Inventor: Spencer Silver and Art Fry, researchers in 3M Laboratories.

What he was trying to make: In 1968,Silver made a "low-tack" adhesive at 3M, but he couldn't find a use for it.

How it was created: Silver's adhesive was remarkable for the fact that you could stick something light to it -- like a piece of paper -- and pull it off without damaging either surface. What's more, the adhesive could be used again and again. He tried to find a marketable use for the product for 3M for years, to seemingly no avail.

Years later, his colleague Fry found himself frustrated when he couldn't find a way to stick papers into his book of hymns at the church choir. And like that, the idea for the Post-it was born -- though it wasn't until 1980 that it was launched nationwide.

11. Scotchgard

Inventor: Patsy Sherman, a chemist for 3M.

What she was trying to make: In 1953,Sherman was assigned to work on a project to develop a rubber material that would not deteriorate from exposure to jet aircraft fuels.

How it was created: An assistant accidentally dropped the mixture Sherman was experimenting with on her shoe. While the rest of her shoe became dirty and stained, one spot remained bright and clean. She retraced her steps and identified the stain resistant compound, known today as Scotchguard.

12. Corn Flakes

Inventor: John and Will Kellogg, brothers and breakfast entrepreneurs.

What they were trying to make: The brothers were trying to boil grain to make granola.

How it was created: In 1898,the brothers accidentally left a pot of boiled grain on the stove for several days. The mixture turned moldy but the product that emerged was dry and thick. After a few experiments, they got rid of the mold -- and created Corn Flakes.

13. The Slinky

Inventor: Richard Jones, a naval engineer.

What he was trying to make: In 1943, Jones was trying to design a meter to monitor power on battleships.

How it was created: Jones was working with tension springs when one of them fell to the ground. The spring kept bouncing from place to place after it hit the floor -- the Slinky was born. 

Culled from www.entrepreneur.com

3 Free Website to Organically Grow Your Presence Online

Sharing valuable content can grow your expertise and influence online. Lots of up-and-coming entrepreneurs want to create organic and cost-effective buzz about their products and services but aren’t sure how to get started without hiring a PR agency. Whether you have a PR staff or not, there are still several influential online outlets for sharing high-quality content and valuable information that will help you spread your influence.

Here are three great sites you can write for that will help you expand your influence -- and they’re all free.

1. Medium: Started in 2012 by Twitter co-founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone, Medium is a collaborative writing space to share your writing. The user interface is simple and easy to navigate and you can call on other writers for help with editing, ideas and more. It’s a highly social place such as Tumblr or Blogger (another of Williams’ projects) that’s designed to cater to writers and readers the way Tumblr caters to socially sharing images. The site even tells you in the article how long it should take you to read. You can create a free profile and join this prolific, highly social and inviting community to meet cool people and write great content.

2. Slideshare: Slideshare is a great resource for information as well as to create original content to share. The content on slideshare tends to focus on presentations, giving you the maximum information in the most condensed format. As the site has grown, the content has evolved. You can now find incredible infographics, common documents and videos. The site is free and increases your likelihood of having your content go viral as this voracious community is constantly sharing and promoting.

3. Quora: This question-and-answer-based platform has grown exponentially over the years and seeks to be the information hub of the internet. Think of it like a social Wikipedia. Ask any question you can imagine and get answers from any manner of experts and casual bystanders. The most popular questions rank highest on the site for the best exposure, so make sure your query is a broad-reaching topic you’re truly interested in. Better yet, build your own expertise and qualifications by answering open questions. Responses are voted on by other Quora members and the better your answer, the higher it will rank. It’s a simple concept that can be a fascinating experience as both the asker and answerer.

Culled from www.entrepreneur.com

CBN extends mortgage banks' recapitalisation by six months

FRESH facts emerged last week that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) may have shifted by six months the deadline for the recapitalization of Primary Mortgage Institutions (PMIs) in the country.

 The apex bank had initially granted the mortgage firms a 12-month deadline from November 1, 2011, which would have terminated by December 12, 2012, but extended to 18 months, by April 30, 2013. Another circular was issued in March 20, 2013 to extend the date to December 2013, which according to CBN will afford all affected PMBs sufficient time to exercise any of the options for capital raising, business combination and downscaling.

It was revealed that CBN gave six months moratorium to some mortgage banks that have a national spread, that already made payment of N2.5 billion for state license to close their  branches or upgrade to N5 billion national license. In the circular, the firms are expected to close their branches nationwide, if they could not comply with the new directive by the end of June.

  The new extension will also enable CBN officials to verify PMBs submissions and allow sufficient time for capital verification and necessary regulatory approvals.    Sources disclosed some of the affected mortgage banks, including a federal institution are seeking further injection of funds to retain their national spread.

   Under the fresh guidelines, mortgage firms have been categorized into National and State mortgage firms, while the National PMIs are allowed to operate in any or all parts of the federation after the payment of a new N5 billion minimum paid up capital, the State PMIs are restricted to only one state at the payment of N2.5 billion.

  Sources further disclosed that the mortgage firms led by its national body –Mortgage Banking Association of Nigeria (MBAN) have lobbied the CBN’s Other Financial Institutions Department (OFID) to soft pedal on the announcement of the about 38 PMIs that have been adjudged to be financial sound and undergone recapitalization to limit crisis of confidence rocking the sector.

   It was further gathered that series of talks have taken place between some of the recapitalized and non-recapitalized banks in move to ensure soft landing for most mortgage firms through mergers and acquisitions.  This was confirmed by one of the affected mortgage institution, who disclosed that a deal was recently brokered to shift customers’ liability to the new firm

.

 Recently, CBN explained that its rationale for the State PMIs is to promote the spread of mortgage firms across the six geo-political zones to further embed the objective of financial inclusion and national PMBs will provide options for operators to remain in business at different authorisation levels, and similar to other banking segments.

  It is a known fact that the sector is facing a harsh economic down turn, notwithstanding the global economic crisis as the scarcity of long-term funds are hitting the operators hard. The short-term funds are mostly sourced from the money market, where commercial banks also complete for funds

.

   Their cash flow is also hampered by their inability to tap into the National Housing Fund (NHF), and becoming a window for the collection of the fund, which has prompted MBAN to liaise with the Federal authorities, local financial institutions and international development agencies to float a Mortgage Refinancing Company.

Sourc: Guardian Newspaper