*Highly
Recommended *
Three
Stocks that Can Make You an Absolute Fortune
How
would you like find an investment with a massive upside...
like 5 to 10 times on your money... and with a VERY wide
margin of safety? It might sound too good to be true, but
that's exactly what you can expect when you find a company
with massive hidden assets.
Well,
my colleague, Andrew Gordon, has just spent the last several
months searching for these types of situations... companies
with hundreds of millions of dollars that Wall Street is
overlooking. And he found three of them. Buying these stocks
is like buying dollar bills for 30 cents a piece... small
risk and an astronomical reward. Andrew just wrote a complete
analysis of what he found in a document called The
1000% Report. I highly recommend you check
it out.
-
Will Bonner
Why
You (Yes, You) Should Invest in Real Estate
By
Michael Masterson
Next
to owning your own business, investing in real estate gives
you the highest potential return on investment (ROI). The
reason you can get such high returns on real estate is because
of the power of leverage.
Let
me explain.
When
you're a real-estate investor, you're essentially in the
business of finding other investors to back your projects.
Those investors are lending institutions or private lenders.
They receive interest payments from you and, initially, loan
fees. You get to keep the profits.
This
is what is called "positive leverage." Essentially,
you are borrowing most of the money you need. It means you
can ratchet up your profits by using other people's money
to control an appreciating asset - and it's one of the great
advantages that real estate has over the stock market.
In
a typical leveraged (i.e., mortgaged) real estate deal, you
can invest $10,000 to $20,000 (or less) to buy a $100,000
property. If that property appreciates 4 percent (or $4,000),
then the ROI you achieve is not 4 percent but 40 percent
or 20 percent, depending on whether you invested $10,000
or $20,000.
I'm
simplifying things for the moment, but stick with me. This
is a pretty interesting subject. If the property "cash
flows" (meaning, if the rent you get for it covers your
loan costs plus taxes, insurance, and an allowance for vacancies
and maintenance), you benefit from all the appreciation multiplied
by the amount of leverage you took.
A
90 percent mortgage (one in which you put up only 10 percent
of the property cost) gives you a 10-to-1 leverage advantage.
A 95 percent mortgage gives you an 18-to-1 leverage advantage.
In
other words, you get all the net cash flow. And you get all
the equity built up from paying down the loan (amortization).
For
example, let's say you put $10,000 down on a $200,000 property.
If you waited three years to sell it and, at that time, its
value had gone up to $300,000, you would have turned your
$10,000 into $110,000 - not including the net rents you've
accumulated and the amortization you've picked up. Subtract
your buying and selling costs, and you should still make
10 times your money (or more) in just a few years. That's
the power of financial leverage.
Having
a mortgage would increase your costs - roughly by the amount
of interest you would pay (the cost of the money you are
financing) - and so you might end up paying some additional
fees. But overall, your returns on the property would greatly
outweigh the cost of the investment.
(Ed.
Note: The above article is an excerpt from the book EVERY
graduating student should haven Michael Masterson's just
released Automatic
Wealth for Grads... AND ANYONE
JUST STARTING OUT.)
"A
good basic selling idea, involvement and relevancy, of
course, are as important as ever, but in the advertising
din of today, unless you make yourself noticed and believed,
you ain't got nothin'."
- Leo
Burnett
11
Things You Can Do Right Now to "Fix" a Business
Website
By
John Forde
The
bigger the Internet gets, the more important it is to have
a website that works. And I'm talking not only about sales
websites but also about editorial-style websites. Here are
the 11 best ways I know of to do it:
1.
Define the site's purpose in five words or less.
Is
this a sales site? Then the goal is: "Sell ______." Is
its purpose to build an e-zine's mailing list? Then the goal
is: "Get names for mailing list."
The
purpose needs to be that simple. Pick the most important
result, make it narrow, and stick to it. The more you try
to accomplish, the less the site will accomplish in terms
of quality results. You can always create other websites
to serve other purposes.
2.
Get a headline at the top of the first page.
Forget
big logos. Forget splash pages. Get words up top in type
bigger than you think you need. And not just any words. You
need a powerful emotional "hook." A big problem
identified. A shocking statement. A huge benefit.
3.
Get a big benefit "above the fold."
If
your headline at the top of the page is benefit-driven, you've
done this. If your headline is fear-driven or something other
than a clear benefit, apply the "no-scroll" rule:
Make sure the reader sees the benefit before he starts scrolling
down the page.
4.
Get rid of "click here to continue" page breaks.
For
a fluid, more effective reading experience, you need one
long scroll. The less clicking your readers do while soaking
up your message, the better. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
5.
If it's a site for building a mailing list, get your signup
box "above the fold."
If
you're after e-mail addresses, the sign-up box should be
featured prominently in one of the corners. And it should
reassure readers that there's no risk to their privacy when
they sign up (which had better be true).
6.
Strip away pointless graphics and links.
Don't
risk having readers miss what you have to say by obscuring
it with unnecessary links and graphics. You don't want images
that aren't relevant to your message, no matter how cool,
cute, or stylish. Nor do you want to give links to other
websites (at least, not on a promotional page) or anything
that does not further the sale. Stay in control of the reader's
attention.
7.
Eliminate technological "tricks."
Flashing
banners, java-programming, flash-programming or frames are
not only distractions, they take too long to load. Worse,
they could crash your website or the user's Web browser.
Obliterate them.
8.
Reread all your subheads.
Skim
through the document and read the subheads. Not all of them
have to sell, sell, sell - but it's a mistake for none of
them to do so. You need subheads to keep hooking the interest
of the page skimmer, which is what most people are when they
read both online and printed direct mail. Subheads are there
to pull the reader back in. Well-crafted subheads offer a
path that the reader will want to follow.
9.
Check and recheck your offer.
When
sales websites go wrong, the offer is often the reason they
flop. Is it the best possible offer you can make? Is there
an aspect of the sale that can be fulfilled online (to cut
costs and motivate the buyer with instant-satisfaction urgency)?
Can you offer a better guarantee? Is the guarantee featured
close to the push for action? Have you reassured your readers
that your reply page and their information are secure?
10.
Read the copy out loud.
This
old technique still works. Print the page and read the copy
out loud. You can even record it and listen to the playback.
Do any phrases sound dull? Are there sections that are boring
or long-winded? Or parts so good you realize they should
land closer to the front? You'll discover flaws and opportunities
this way that you'll completely miss otherwise.
11.
Run a local usability test.
Get
at least three people who know little or nothing about the
product you're selling. Let them read the Web page without
giving them instructions on how to navigate. Provide no warm-up
about what to expect. If they all have similar complaints,
fix the problem. If their best response is that they "like" it,
you still have work to do. If they start asking questions
about the product and how to get it, you've got a winner.
(Ed.
Note: John Forde is a popular presenter at AWAI Bootcamps
and seminars. He writes extensively for Web promotions, and
is the author of AWAI's new copywriting program, Secrets
of Writing for the Internet.)
*Advertisement
*
Explode
Your Sales and Profits by More Than 10,000%
I
used to work like nuts and what I got back barely seemed
worth it.... sometimes it was like “why should I even
bother???”
Luckily
before I gave up on everything I decided to try one more time,
but this time with a little bit of help.
Now
I can’t hardly even believe what the difference looks
like in my life. My little company that I struggled with
for years is finally taking off like crazy. It’s
so cool!
It’s
all because I did something simple, listening
to this one man.
Deciding
What to Do Each Day
By
Rich Schefren
Strategic
entrepreneurs don't start out their days by asking, "What
do I want to do today?" They ask themselves, "What
are the most important, highest-leverage activities that
need to get done today?"
Take,
for instance, Jack Welch. When he took over as CEO of General
Electric, points out the Harvard Business Review ,
he realized that "what needed to be done ... was not
the overseas expansion HE WANTED to launch. It was getting
rid of businesses that, no matter how profitable, could not
be number one or number two in their industries."
As
an entrepreneur, you have to focus on the needs of your company
when choosing how to spend your time. Are you picking tasks
based on what you want? Or are you making those decisions
based on what your company needs from you?
If
you pick the most important task to work on first, you'll
be more effective and your company will be more profitable.
(Ed.
Note: Rich Schefren is arguably one of the world's best small-business
strategists. His marketing strategies have been featured
in The Wall Street Journal , and he's appeared on
every major television network, including ABC, CBS, and NBC.
Rich's
businesses have done over $35 million in sales, and he currently
coaches many of today's top Internet gurus and service providers
on streamlining their businesses while exploding their profits.)
Today's
Action Plan
Whether
you already have an online business or are just thinking
about starting one, you'll be interested in ETR's special
teleconference series, "Secrets of Easy Internet Money." Rich
Schefren, Yanik Silver, and Matt Furey will be revealing
the most profitable "hidden" Internet income opportunities
around. Learn
more.
It's
Good to Know: An Exercise to Reduce Eyestrain
By
Jon Herring
At
the end of a very long day last week, my eyes were tired
from too many hours in front of the computer. But before
I called it a night, I happened to catch an e-mail from
health writer Chet Day about an exercise to relieve eyestrain.
It worked for me right away, so I thought I'd share it
with you. It's called the "Distant Night Exercise."
1.
Cup your hands and place your palms over your eyes. Position
your hands so that no light is coming through. Your palm
can touch your eyelashes, but do not put pressure on your
eyes.
2.
As long there is no light coming in, you can keep your
eyes open or closed. Now, relax and imagine that you're
looking into the distant night sky.
After
30 seconds or a minute, the eyestrain should be diminished.
This works because your eyes are much more relaxed when
you are looking out at a distance, rather than focusing
on a near point. Give it a try.
*
Advertisement *
How
to Increase Your Income by $60,000 - $90,000 a Year Without
Quitting Your Day Job!
There's
a little known trend taking place right now that's allowing
busy people like you to increase their incomes significantly
without investing a lot of money or time. It's one of the
easiest opportunities you will ever come across - it's called
Antipreneuring. No special skills or knowledge needed! CLICK
HERE to get started now!
Word
to the Wise: Exiguous
Something
that is "exiguous" (ik-ZIG-yoo-us)
is extremely scanty. The word comes from the Latin "exiguus" ("strictly
weighed").
Example
(as used by Terence Brown in The
Life of W.B. Yeats): "Among the
pressures provoking these distresses were a father's financial
inadequacy and a growing awareness that, by finding employment
himself, he could ameliorate the family's exiguous circumstances."
