Foreign Exchange Market

The foreign exchange (currency or forex or FX) market exists wherever one currency is traded for another. It is by far the largest market in the world, in terms of cash value traded, and includes trading between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, multinational corporations, governments, and other financial markets and institutions. Retail traders (small speculators) are a small part of this market. They may only participate indirectly through brokers or banks and may be targets of forex scams.

Contents Market size and liquidity Trading characteristics Market participants Banks Commercial Companies Central Banks Investment Management Firms Hedge Funds Retail Forex Brokers Speculation Reference See also External links

Market size and liquidity

The foreign exchange market is unique because of:

• its trading volume,
• the extreme liquidity of the market,
• the large number of, and variety of, traders in the market,
• its geographical dispersion,
• its long trading hours - 24 hours a day (except on weekends).
• the variety of factors that affect exchange rates,

Average daily international foreign exchange trading volume was $1.9 trillion in April 2004 according to the BIS study Triennial Central Bank Survey 2004

• $600 billion spot
• $1,300 billion in derivatives, ie
  • $200 billion in outright forwards
  • $1,000 billion in forex swaps
  • $100 billion in FX options.

Exchange-traded forex futures contracts were introduced in 1972 at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and are actively traded relative to most other futures contracts. Forex futures volume has grown rapidly in recent years, but only accounts for about 7% of the total foreign exchange market volume, according to The Wall Street Journal Europe (5/5/06, p. 20).

Top 10 Currency Traders

% of overall volume, May 2005

Rank	Name	% of volume
1	Deutsche Bank	17.0
2	UBS	12.5
3	Citigroup	7.5
4	HSBC	6.4
5	Barclays	5.9
6	Merrill Lynch	5.7
7	J.P. Morgan Chase	5.3
8	Goldman Sachs	4.4
9	ABN AMRO	4.2
10	Morgan Stanley	3.9

The ten most active traders account for almost 73% of trading volume, according to The Wall Street Journal Europe, (2/9/06 p. 20). These large international banks continually provide the market with both bid (buy) and ask (sell) prices. The bid/ask spread is the difference between the price at which a bank or market maker will sell ("ask", or "offer") and the price at which a market-maker will buy ("bid") from a wholesale customer. This spread is minimal for actively traded pairs of currencies, usually only 1-3 pips. For example, the bid/ask quote of EUR/USD might be 1.2200/1.2203. Minimum trading size for most deals is usually $1,000,000.

These spreads might not apply to retail customers at banks, which will routinely mark up the difference to say 1.2100 / 1.2300 for transfers, or say 1.2000 / 1.2400 for banknotes or travelers' cheques. Spot prices at market makers vary, but on EUR/USD are usually no more than 5 pips wide (i.e. 0.0005). Competition has greatly increased with pip spreads shrinking on the majors to as little as 1 to 1.5 pips.

Trading characteristics

There is no single unified foreign exchange market. Due to the over-the-counter (OTC) nature of currency markets, there are rather a number of interconnected marketplaces, where different currency instruments are traded. This implies that there is no such thing as a single dollar rate - but rather a number of different rates (prices), depending on what bank or market maker is trading. In practice the rates are often very close, otherwise they could be exploited by arbitrageurs.

Top 6 Most Traded Currencies

Rank	Currency	ISO 4217 Code	Symbol
1	United States dollar	USD	$
2	Eurozone euro	EUR	€
3	Japanese yen	JPY	¥
4	British pound sterling	GBP	£
5-6	Swiss franc	CHF	-
5-6	Australian dollar	AUD	$

The main trading centers are in London, New York, and Tokyo, but banks throughout the world participate. As the Asian trading session ends, the European session begins, then the US session, and then the Asian begin in their turns. Traders can react to news when it breaks, rather than waiting for the market to open.

There is little or no 'inside information' in the foreign exchange markets. Exchange rate fluctuations are usually caused by actual monetary flows as well as by expectations of changes in monetary flows caused by changes in GDP growth, inflation, interest rates, budget and trade deficits or surpluses, and other macroeconomic conditions. Major news is released publicly, often on scheduled dates, so many people have access to the same news at the same time. However, the large banks have an important advantage; they can see their customers order flow. Trading legend Richard Dennis has accused central bankers of leaking information to hedge funds. [1]

Currencies are traded against one another. Each pair of currencies thus constitutes an individual product and is traditionally noted XXX/YYY, where YYY is the ISO 4217 international three-letter code of the currency into which the price of one unit of XXX currency is expressed. For instance, EUR/USD is the price of the euro expressed in US dollars, as in 1 euro = 1.2045 dollar.

On the spot market, according to the BIS study, the most heavily traded products were:

• EUR/USD - 28 %
• USD/JPY - 17 %
• GBP/USD (also called cable) - 14 %

and the US currency was involved in 89% of transactions, followed by the euro (37%), the yen (20%) and sterling (17%). (Note that volume percentages should add up to 200% - 100% for all the sellers, and 100% for all the buyers). Although trading in the euro has grown considerably since the currency's creation in January 1999, the foreign exchange market is thus still largely dollar-centered. For instance, trading the euro versus a non-European currency ZZZ will usually involve two trades: EUR/USD and USD/ZZZ. The only exception to this is EUR/JPY, which is an established traded currency pair in the interbank spot market.

Market participants

According to the BIS study Triennial Central Bank Survey 2004

• 53% of transactions were strictly interdealer (ie interbank);
• 33% involved a dealer (ie a bank) and a fund manager or some other non-bank financial institution;
• and only 14% were between a dealer and a non-financial company.

Banks

The interbank market caters for both the majority of commercial turnover and large amounts of speculative trading every day. A large bank may trade billions of dollars daily. Some of this trading is undertaken on behalf of customers, but much is conducted by proprietary desks, trading for the bank's own account.

Until recently, foreign exchange brokers did large amounts of business, facilitating interbank trading and matching anonymous counterparts for small fees. Today, however, much of this business has moved on to more efficient electronic systems, such as EBS, Reuters Dealing 3000 Matching (D2), the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg and TradeBook(R). The broker squawk box lets traders listen in on ongoing interbank trading and is heard in most trading rooms, but turnover is noticeably smaller than just a few years ago.

Commercial Companies

An important part of this market comes from the financial activities of companies seeking foreign exchange to pay for goods or services. Commercial companies often trade fairly small amounts compared to those of banks or speculators, and their trades often have little short term impact on market rates. Nevertheless, trade flows are an important factor in the long-term direction of a currency's exchange rate. Some multinational companies can have an unpredictable impact when very large positions are covered due to exposures that are not widely known by other market participants.

Central Banks

National central banks play an important role in the foreign exchange markets. They try to control the money supply, inflation, and/or interest rates and often have official or unofficial target rates for their currencies. They can use their often substantial foreign exchange reserves, to stabilize the market. Milton Friedman argued that the best stabilization strategy would be for central banks to buy when the exchange rate is too low, and to sell when the rate is too high - that is, to trade for a profit. Nevertheless, central banks do not go bankrupt if they make large losses, like other traders would, and there is no convincing evidence that they do make a profit trading.

The mere expectation or rumor of central bank intervention might be enough to stabilize a currency, but aggressive intervention might be used several times each year in countries with a dirty float currency regime. Central banks do not always achieve their objectives, however. The combined resources of the market can easily overwhelm any central bank. Several scenarios of this nature were seen in the 1992-93 ERM collapse, and in more recent times in South East Asia.

Investment Management Firms

Investment Management firms (who typically manage large accounts on behalf of customers such as pension funds, endowments etc.) use the Foreign exchange market to facilitate transactions in foreign securities. For example, an investment manager with an international equity portfolio will need to buy and sell foreign currencies in the spot market in order to pay for purchases of foreign equities. Since the forex transactions are secondary to the actual investment decision, they are not seen as speculative or aimed at profit-maximisation.

Some investment management firms also have more speculative specialist currency overlay units, which manage clients' currency exposures with the aim of generating profits as well as limiting risk. The number of this type of specialist is quite small, their large assets under management (AUM) can lead to large trades.

Hedge Funds

Hedge funds, such as George Soros's Quantum fund have gained a reputation for aggressive currency speculation since 1990. They control billions of dollars of equity and may borrow billions more, and thus may overwhelm intervention by central banks to support almost any currency, if the economic fundamentals are in the hedge funds' favor.

Retail Forex Brokers

Retail forex brokers or market makers handle a minute fraction of the total volume of the foreign exchange market. According to CNN, one retail broker estimates retail volume at $25-50 billion daily, [2]which is about 2% of the whole market. CNN also quotes an official of the National Futures Association "Retail forex trading has increased dramatically over the past few years. Unfortunately, the amount of forex fraud has also increased dramatically."

All firms offering foreign exchange trading online are either market makers or facilitate the placing of trades with market makers.

In the retail forex industry market makers often have two separate trading desks- one that actually trades foreign exchange (which determines the firm's own net position in the market, serving as both a proprietary trading desk and a means of offsetting client trades on the interbank market) and one used for off-exchange trading with retail customers (called the "dealing desk" or "trading desk").

Many retail FX market makers claim to "offset" clients' trades on the interbank market (that is, with other larger market makers), e.g. after buying from the client, they sell to a bank. Nevertheless, the large majority of retail currency speculators are novices and who lose money , so that the market makers would be giving up large profits by offsetting. Offsetting does occur, but only when the market maker judges its clients' net position as being very risky.

The dealing desk operates much like the currency exchange counter at a bank. Interbank exchange rates, which are displayed at the dealing desk, are adjusted to incorporate spreads (so that the market maker will make a profit) before they are displayed to retail customers. Prices shown by the market maker do not neccesarily reflect interbank market rates. Arbitrage opportunities may exist, but retail market makers are efficient at removing arbitrageurs from their systems or limiting their trades.

A limited number of retail forex brokers offer consumers direct access to the interbank forex market. But most do not because of the limited number of clearing banks willing to process small orders. More importantly, the dealing desk model can be far more profitable, as a large portion of retail traders' losses are directly turned into market maker profits. While the income of a marketmaker that offsets trades or a broker that facilitates transactions is limited to transaction fees (commissions), dealing desk brokers can generate income in a variety of ways because they not only control the trading process, they also control pricing which they can skew at any time to maximize profits.

The rules of the game in trading FX are highly disadvantageous for retail speculators. Most retail speculators in FX lack trading experience and and capital (account minimums at some firms are as low as 250-500 USD). Large minimum position sizes, which on most retail platforms ranges from $10,000 to $100,000, force small traders to take imprudently large positions using extremely high leverage. Professional forex traders rarely use more than 10:1 leverage, yet many retail Forex firms default client accounts to 100:1 or even 200:1, without disclosing that this is highly unusual for currency traders. This drastically increases the risk of a margin call (which, if the speculator's trade is not offset, is pure profit for the market maker).

According to the Wall Street Journal (Currency Markets Draw Speculation, Fraud July 26, 2005) "Even people running the trading shops warn clients against trying to time the market. 'If 15% of day traders are profitable,' says Drew Niv, chief executive of FXCM, 'I'd be surprised.' "

In the US, "it is unlawful to offer foreign currency futures and option contracts to retail customers unless the offeror is a regulated financial entity" according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Legitimate retail brokers serving traders in the U.S. are most often registered with the CFTC as "futures commission merchants" (FCMs) and are members of the National Futures Association (NFA). Potential clients can check the broker's FCM status at the NFA. Retail forex brokers are much less regulated than stock brokers and there is no protection similar to that from the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. The CFTC has noted an increase in forex scams

Forex Broker Guide

Introduction

The following is a list of questions you may like to consider before opening an account. You can use this checklist to narrow down your selection of companies that fit your requirements. You may also wish to refer to the forex broker ratings page on this site to read about traders unique experiences with particular brokers.

Important Note to Traders: GoForex recommends you do not open an account with a U.S. based forex broker regulated by the CFTC and NFA, due to excessive and over-bearing regulation imposed on retail forex brokers including reduced leverage levels, the "no-hedging" rule and the FIFO (first-in, first-out) rule which affects the way you trade.

The following links will also give you some background information on U.S. FCM's (Futures Commission Merchants).

• Selected Financial Data for FCM's
• NFA Background Affiliation Status

1. Word of Mouth

• What do other traders say about the broker? See Forex Broker Ratings & Forex Broker Reviews
• What is their customer service like?

2. Customer Protection

• Is the broker regulated?
• What regulatory organisation are they registered with and what protections does it afford the client?
• Are client funds protected against fraud?
• Are client funds protected against bankruptcy?

3. Execution

• What business model do they operate? i.e. Are they a Market Maker[?], ECN[?] or no-dealing desk broker[?]?
• How fast is their order execution?
• Are orders manually or automatically executed? [?]
• What is the maximum trade size before you have to request a quote?
• Are all clients trades offset?

4. Spread [?]

• How small is the spread?
• Is it fixed or variable?

5. Slippage [?]

• How much slippage can be expected in normal and fast moving markets?

6. Margin [?]

• What is the margin requirement? e.g. 0.25% margin = max 400:1 leverage [?]), 0.5% margin = max 200:1 leverage, 1% margin = max 100:1 leverage, 2% margin = max 50:1 leverage, etc.
• Does the margin requirement change for different currency pairs or days of the week?
• At what point does the broker issue a margin call?
• Is required margin the same for standard and mini accounts? [?]

7. Commissions

• Does the broker charge commissions? (Most market makers commissions are built into the spread)

8. Rollover Policy [?]

• Is there a minimum margin requirement in order to earn rollover interest?
• What are the swap rates like for going long or short in a particular currency pair?
• Are there any other conditions for earning rollover interest?

9. Trading Platform

• How intuitive and functional is it to use?
• Are there many disconnections during trading hours?
• How reliable is it during fast moving markets and news announcements?
• How many different currency pairs are available to trade?
• Does the broker offer an Application Programming Interface (API) to allow clients to automate their trading systems?
• Does the broker offer any other special features? (e.g. One click dealing, trading from the chart, trailing stops, mobile trading etc.)

10. Trading Account

• What is the minimum balance required to open an account?
• What is the minimum trade size?
• Can clients adjust the standard lot size traded? [?]
• Can clients earn interest on the unused margin in their account?

how to start a small business

STEP 1 Business Ideas
To start a business you will need to choose or create a business idea. While this is an obvious step many people who want their own business don't have an idea, just the desire to be an entrepreneur. For the budding entrepreneur, there are many options; buying a franchise or an existing business, or looking to others for ideas for a start-up business. Once you have decided on the business you wish to start, then the real work begins.

STEP 2 Business Plan
Writing a business plan is your next and most important step, this is how you and others will evaluate your business. When seeking financing the investors or lenders will want to read your plan before they supply you with funding. If you're financing the business yourself, you will still want to have a written plan to develop business strategies and financial projections. A key element within the business plan is the marketing plan, which explains marketing strategies that will be used to advertise and promote the products or services. The goal setting steps of the plan will help you to analyze the success of the business in future years and clearly illustrate the capital needed to operate the company to break-even.

STEP 3 Financing
With your business plan in hand, you are ready to go find yourself some capital. Most small businesses have three options for financing: friends & family, investors or bank loans. Each of these options has different considerations for the business. Investors and even friends & family usually want ownership and control of their portion of the business. Bank loans burden the business with an additional expense of the loan payment, which can erode the business profits.

STEP 4 Getting started12
You've got the plan, the money and the enthusiasm; you're ready, right? Not yet, as with everything you need to take the legal issues into consideration. First you should choose a legal structure: Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, or Corporation. Your financing decisions will have an effect on what legal structure you choose. Now you can file with the state to incorporate and obtain a federal Identification number.

STEP 5 Opening the Doors
Okay, it's time to get on the road to making some money; this of course means spending money. Where are you going to run your business? Will a home office do or is commercial space needed to service your customers? Do you need to hire employees to help you run the business? What are your bookkeeping needs, do you need an accountant? Finally, who could forget taxes, what taxes do you have to pay and collect? Now that your business is through the start-up phase, you can now look forward to the issues of managing a small business.

Finding Online Jobs

There are many avenues to home employment on the Internet. If you look for jobs at home or work at home jobs on a search engine, you will find many Jobs at Home Websites with Job Listings. Some offer Free Membership and some charge a Monthly, Annual or Lifetime Registration Fee. Many offer Free Trial Memberships or Trial Memberships. Some jobs at home websites you will see on the Internet are: 2Work-At-Home.com, Bassador.com, HomeJobStop.com, Homeworkers.org, LegitJobs.net, SohoJobs.com, SpeedySecretarial.com, TJobs.com, Work-At-Home-Land.com and WorldWideWorkAtHome.com.

Staffing Services, No Fee Work At Home

However, there are also many more companies online offering home employment directly with no cost to you. Some of them are Outsourcing Services hiring home employees from their own websites. You will also see help wanted advertisements from temporary and permanent employment agencies looking for workers. You might consider employment agencies, staffing services, freelance websites, recruiters, help wanted classifieds or jobs search agents. An online search for virtual staffing services should provide many helpful online virtual staffing services that are looking for employees to work for their clients.

Outsourcing Services No Fees

You will find many more work at home opportunities on the Internet with Outsourcing Services. They already have a large clientele and marketing system and are looking for more employees to help their clients. There are call centers, customer support providers and customer relationship management firms that pay people for customer support work done from home, telesales specialists looking for salespeople, virtual assistant agencies looking for virtual assistants, data processing services looking for data entry typists and many other outsourcing services are advertising for employees to work online. You will also see many online Outsourcing Services that advertise editing services and recruit editors to work for their online services, or writers, typists, accountants, etc. Many temporary agencies and freelance websites also advertise for workers who will work on outsourced projects for them.

Help Wanted Classifieds

For recent help wanted classified advertisements look at http://FreshJobs.com and http://ExpertNetSurf.com. Recent classified advertisements with titles like Now Hiring, Help Wanted and Job Openings are posted in newsgroups, job boards, forums and message boards too. JobBoardMagic.com, Job-Search-Engine.com and JobLine.net check many job boards in their job search. You could also post your resume at http://HelpWantedSite.com and apply for jobs you like with your resume from their website. CareerBuilder.com, a large job and career website, and Jobvertise.com also provide this service free.

Jobs At Home Newsletters

There are also many helpful jobs at home websites that will send you recent job advertisements in a newsletter or ezine. You can join their mailing list or subscribe to their newsletters free at their websites. ExpertNetSurf.com is recommended for recent jobs at home advertisements in their free newsletter. Bassador.com, HomeJobStop.com and Telework-Connection.com also provide free jobs at home information in their newsletters. Email Alerts are also available from many job and career websites including CareerBuilder.com, HelpWantedSite.com and IHireAccounting.com

Internet Newsgroups

Another resource for job search and help wanted advertisements is Internet Newsgroups. Jobs are posted in Newsgroups at http://Google.com in newsgroups like alt.jobs.offered, misc.jobs.offered, biz.jobs.offered, us.jobs.offered and misc.jobs.offered.entry. You can find many recent help wanted advertisements in newsgroups and messages about them. You can also search for jobs. Many more jobs at home opportunities are listed in Yahoo Groups and MSN Groups.

Jobs At Home Search Engines

You will also find many jobs at home search engines and jobs search engines that you can search for jobs. You can search for home employment with jobs search engines using keywords like at home, home, homebased, job at home, outsource, remote, telecommute, telemarket, telework, virtual, work at home, and work from home. JobLine.net will do a Job Search and/or Resume Distribution for a charge. These websites have jobs at home search engines:

Improve Search Engine Rankings With Proper Keyword Research

The best way to achieve search engine dominance is by focusing on keyword research. As a search engine optimization consultant, I’ve worked with hundreds of companies that miss this very important step. Achieving top search engine rankings is largely based on the competitiveness of the keyword phrase you are trying to optimize for. If your competitor is in the top spot with a well entrenched web site, then your chances of out ranking him may be limited.

In addition to focusing on a keyword phrase that doesn’t have strong competition, you need to find terms that are frequently searched on. I recently finished a consulting assignment for a foundation trying to optimize their website. They had top rankings for a keyword term that seemed to be somewhat desirable. However, keyword research proved that the term received less than 100 searches per month. As a result, top rankings for this keyword phrase were nearly meaningless.

Once you have found a keyword phrase that isn’t too competitive and receives an adequate number of monthly searches, the next step is to thoroughly check out your competition. Google the keyword phrases you want to optimize for a run a back link check on the top three ranked web sites. This indicates the strength of those web sites relative to their search engine ranking. The more links, the more difficult it will be to rank higher than they do without some type of sustained link building campaign.

After doing your keyword research and confirming your choice of keywords and keyword phrases, it’s time to focus on improving your web pages around the keywords you’ve selected. Enhance your meta tags, titles, and web copy to include your keyword phrases. This helps to tell the search engines what your web site is about so it can rank your site appropriately. In addition to the on page factors, Google weighs off page factors to determine web site ranking.

Off page optimization requires a sustained effort that uses new content and additional links from third party websites. The most effective strategies are the most basic. Begin with a link building plan. Focus on article directories, web site directories, blogs, social bookmarking sites, and other resources where you can establish in bound links.

Your plan should include daily, weekly and monthly tasks that can attract links from authority websites consistently over time. Your goal should not be to generate thousands of inbound links quickly because Google will penalize your website. Rather, focus on steady link building.

If you want to improve your organic search engine ranking, begin with keyword research. By selecting the right keywords, you’ll be able to optimize your website more quickly than your competitors. After choosing the right keywords, focus on integrating your chosen keywords into your web site. Then you’re ready for link building and other off page optimization tactics that significantly improve rankings.

Walmart Online Job Application

Formerly known as Wal-Mart, Walmart Stores, Inc. is world's largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000 of the year 2010. Walmart is a large chain of discount departmental stores and membership required warehouse stores, in the US, which was founded by Sam Walton in the year 1962. Being such a large public corporation, Walmart employment opportunities are there in various fields like store management, pharmacy, marketing, optometry, retail store associate, web designing, logistics, web developer, etc. Job opportunities in these sectors are largely attracting the youths and unemployed people. Walmart jobs also provide you several Walmart employment benefits like incentives, store discounts, profit sharing, 401k plan, health insurance, education and many more. However, you need to know everything about Walmart online job application format, in order to gain all this and more.

Process of Walmart Online Job Application

As I said earlier, Walmart job opportunities are actually endless and you can definitely get the desired job at Walmart, after you finish their enrollment formalities in the correct manner. First of all, you need to have a clear idea that Walmart employment application is completely an online procedure and hence, you will not get their printable versions. You can get more information about the Walmart employment opportunities at the nearest Sam's store or directly on Walmart hiring website itself. Let me tell you that Walmart online application process differs by the respective job for which you are applying. Well, here are a few steps that you can do to apply online for Walmart.

Sign Up
You cannot fill Walmart online job application if you are nor a registered member with Walmart. Hence, to do that, you need to sign up with them on their website. Before the registration process begins, you need to accept the terms and conditions of of the company that clearly mentions the drug testing and background checking policies of Walmart. Acknowledgment of the fact that omission or misrepresentation of any information in the form is bound to bar you from appearing for the Walmart employment test. Once you agree to some of these basic yet important terms and conditions, you will also need to present your social security number while registration. Afterwards, you can easily get the access of the Walmart online application form.

Fill Out
Filling the online application form is quite simple, wherein you are asked to fill out the basic information like gender, education, nationality, qualification, special skills, email address, contact number, two reference personalities with their addresses and contact numbers, etc. However, you can withhold information like your ethnicity and gender, if you wish. Amongst the rest of the mandatory information is the type of Walmart service that you wish to join. For instance, Walmart transportation, Sam's club, Walmart retailing or distribution, etc. Make sure that you clearly mention your employment specifications, in order to avoid future misunderstandings. In short, you need to be really frank and truthful while filling out the Walmart employment form online.

Take Care
Once you are done with filling out the Walmart online job application, you need to wait for some time, before submitting it for the final time. Well, you need to check the form twice in order to check a few things that you might have missed out while filling the form. The most important thing is that you should not leave any mandatory field empty. You also shouldn't leave any field empty even if you are afraid of filling in the correct information. In short, Walmart maintains utmost transparency and expects the same from its future associate aspirants. It is the reason why, filling previous employer's name is not enough but you also need to mention the time span of your unemployment after you left it.

Once you are sure that you have filled the Walmart online job application form without bluffing or without leaving any blank fields, then only submit the form for further processing. In the mean time, (before appearing for the test), you need to constantly stay into touch with the latest disclaimers from Walmart to become aware about the currant requirements. The company responds within two week's time span and if not, then feel free to contact them for further follow up. All the best!

Content Marketing - Understanding the Why and How

What is content marketing? Content marketing is using relevant and valuable information to attract potential customers to you. This information will not only attract but, if done correctly, will engage your target audience and drive profitable action to your business.

I'm always amazed at the looks and responses I get when I'm speaking to a client and I explain to them they need more content. I'm then almost always questioned "why?"

Think of content as a way of interacting and communicating with your cutomers without selling.

Need proof it works? Think of an article you read that captured your attention and really engaged you. Did you look to see who the writer was? Were you interested in the company that they worked for and the products or services that they offered? If they were using the skills of content marketing, I can almost guarantee you did.

A great article can market your product or service in a way that the consumer is not interrupted. You are using that article to educate your consumer and create an awareness on information that is important to them. This makes your potential buyer more intelligent.

A successful content marketing strategy will deliver consistent valuable information to your target market, when this strategy works you turn the consumers you have targeted into buyers.

Look, it's no secret that consumers are tired of traditional marketing. This is why you see a rush to social media and permission based marketing rather than intrusive marketing that doesn't allow consumers to make the choice of when they want to be marketed to. Why do you think consumers skip commercials, tear out magazine advertisements, and turn on online ad blockers? Because they are taking back control and they will decide when they want to be marketed to.

As a business, you have to be smarter in your marketing efforts and this includes writing content that is not only interesting but relevant and valuable to the market you are targeting.

How do you know if your content is marketing for you? It's easy really. Answer the following questions when reviewing your content or use them as a guideline when creating new content.

• Is it targeting a specific market? If not the content will be too broad to attract a targeted audience.
• Is your content informative, relevant and valuable to those you are targeting? Or is it just a sales pitch?
• Does it educate your target audience about your industry without being too sales oriented and pushing just your products or services?
• Does your message include a subtle marketing message that grabs the reader’s attention and gets them interested in what you offer? The key is the marketing message must create an interest and a desire for what you have to offer without trying to close a sale. Think of it as leaving a faint fingerprint on the mind of the consumer who is reading.
• Does it leave the reader wanting more?
• Does it stir emotion within the reader and inspire action?

If you answered “yes” to the above questions, you have a good piece of content that you can use to market the products or services that you offer. If you were unable to answer “yes” to all of the questions you will want to tweak your content until you can.

You can use content marketing in all areas of your marketing including print, media, events and online. You want to make sure that your website has content that markets to your audience. You also want to make sure that if you have a blog, you are also using it for content marketing. Content marketing is valuable and often leaves a longer impression than any other method of marketing.

How To Improve Your Online Conversion By 300% Or More

Do I have your attention? Anyone trying to make a living online is interested in one thing, improving conversions. As an Internet marketing veteran, I’ve seen plenty of web sites and blogs miss one their biggest opportunities for growth. The answer is actually quite simple, making the most of your list.

Maybe you have your own email list of fifty-thousand names or more. Perhaps you have a small list of just a few dozen prospects who have emailed you questions or comments. Regardless of where you begin, having a list is only part of the equation. The most successful marketers I know utilize their list in a variety of ways to build relationships and sell products that are a win-win for both buyer and seller.

The first way to utilize your list is through an auto responder sequence. If you’re not using an auto responder, I advise you to search for auto responder services online. Popular services like Aweber only charge around twenty dollars per month, allowing you to send unlimited messages. These messages should position you as an expert, provide purchase ideas, and continually provide value.

The second way to use your list effectively is to provide pre-notification of product launches. There are many super affiliates that use their list in this manner, generating tens of thousands of dollars per month. Once you know of an affiliate product being launched within a six to eight week period, map out a pre-launch communication plan that reaches out to individuals prior to launch. This may include access to product information, downloads, videos, etc., to build anticipation around launch day. When launch day comes, create a sense of immediacy and scarcity – purchases will ensue.

The third way to leverage the power of your list is through referrers, building an even larger list that you can communicate with. Are you asking those who sign up for your list to refer your company, products, or services to others? Make your emails easy to forward and encourage referrals. This is a great way to reach individuals who are more likely to value your content and accept your offers.

The final method for leveraging an email list is to communicate on a regular basis. Your auto-responder sequence should integrate a series of messages spread out over time. By continually staying in front of your list and utilizing the content that you have to provide value, these individuals will stay engaged and have a higher propensity to purchase from you.

The time to start building your email list is now. In parallel, be sure to focus your energies on leveraging that list using the proper techniques. Having a great list is fine but unless you utilize it properly, you’ll never see the true value inherent in the list itself.

Organization Improvement Turning Around Negative Attitudes

At one time or another, organizations develop an over-abundance of "negative energy" or attitudes. Sometimes they can be linked to organizational trauma, like down-sizing, budget restraints or workload increases, but sometimes they evolve over time with no apparent triggering event. The negative organization is characterized by increased complaining, a focus on reasons why things can't be done, and what seems to be a lack of hope that things will get better. It feels like the organization in stuck in treacle. And, it's contagious. Negativism can affect even the most positive employees.

What can you do? Based on an article by Arthur Beck and Ellis Hillmar, professors in organization development at University of Richmond, we suggest the following:

Model Positive Behaviour

It is obvious that if management is walking negative and talking in a negative way, staff will follow. Don't do it. More than that, take a positive approach with staff by showing confidence in their abilities. Expect a lot, support staff, hold them accountable, confront them and be clear and honest. Set standards for your own work and relations with employees, and work towards meeting them to set an example of positive behaviour.

Acknowledge Negativity

You can't ignore negativity and expect it to go away. If you do not acknowledge it, then staff will feel that you are out of touch, and will not be confident in your abilities. Acknowledge the frustration negative feelings, and do not try to convince the person or people that they shouldn't have their negative feelings. However, when acknowledging employees' negative feelings, try asking for suggestions regarding what to do about them.

Look For And Identify The Positives In All Situations

Sometimes we forget to find positives. When an employee makes an impractical solution, we are quick to dismiss the idea. We should be identifying the effort while gently discussing the idea. Look for small victories, and talk about them. Turning a negative organization into a positive one is a result of thousands of little actions.

Give Positive Recognition Often

Pretty straight-forward. Provide positive recognition as soon as you find out about good performance. Do not couple positive strokes with suggestions for improvement. Separate them. Combining them devalues the recognition for many people.

Refrain From Collusion On Negativity

It is easy to get caught in the general complaining and bitching, particularly in informal discussions. When faced with negative conversations, consider changing the subject, comment on the negative content ("Let's talk about something more pleasant"), or ask what can be done about the situation (move from negative to positive slant).

Front and Center - Leadership Critical To Managing Change

When change is imposed (as in downsizing scenarios), clearly the most important determinant of "getting through the swamp", is the ability of leadership to...well, lead. The literature on the subject indicates that the nature of the change is secondary to the perceptions that employees have regarding the ability, competence, and credibility of senior and middle management.

If you are to manage change effectively, you need to be aware that there are three distinct times zones where leadership is important. We can call these Preparing For the Journey, Slogging Through The Swamp, and After Arrival. We will look more carefully at each of these.

The Role of Leadership

In an organization where there is faith in the abilities of formal leaders, employees will look towards the leaders for a number of things. During drastic change times, employees will expect effective and sensible planning, confident and effective decision-making, and regular, complete communication that is timely. Also during these times of change, employees will perceive leadership as supportive, concerned and committed to their welfare, while at the same time recognizing that tough decisions need to be made. The best way to summarize is that there is a climate of trust between leader and the rest of the team. The existence of this trust, brings hope for better times in the future, and that makes coping with drastic change much easier.

In organizations characterized by poor leadership, employees expect nothing positive. In a climate of distrust, employees learn that leaders will act in indecipherable ways and in ways that do not seem to be in anyone's best interests. Poor leadership means an absence of hope, which, if allowed to go on for too long, results in an organization becoming completely nonfunctioning. The organization must deal with the practical impact of unpleasant change, but more importantly, must labor under the weight of employees who have given up, have no faith in the system or in the ability of leaders to turn the organization around.

Leadership before, during and after change implementation is THE key to getting through the swamp. Unfortunately, if haven't established a track record of effective leadership, by the time you have to deal with difficult changes, it may be too late.

Preparing For The Journey

It would be a mistake to assume that preparing for the journey takes place only after the destination has been defined or chosen. When we talk about preparing for the change journey, we are talking about leading in a way that lays the foundation or groundwork for ANY changes that may occur in the future. Preparing is about building resources, by building healthy organizations in the first place. Much like healthy people, who are better able to cope with infection or disease than unhealthy people, organization that are healthy in the first place are better able to deal with change.

As a leader you need to establish credibility and a track record of effective decision making, so that there is trust in your ability to figure out what is necessary to bring the organization through.

Slogging Through The Swamp

Leaders play a critical role during change implementation, the period from the announcement of change through the installation of the change. During this middle period the organization is the most unstable, characterized by confusion, fear, loss of direction, reduced productivity, and lack of clarity about direction and mandate. It can be a period of emotionalism, with employees grieving for what is lost, and initially unable to look to the future.

During this period, effective leaders need to focus on two things. First, the feelings and confusion of employees must be acknowledged and validated. Second, the leader must work with employees to begin creating a new vision of the altered workplace, and helping employees to understand the direction of the future. Focusing only on feelings, may result in wallowing. That is why it is necessary to begin the movement into the new ways or situations. Focusing only on the new vision may result in the perception that the leader is out of touch, cold and uncaring. A key part of leadership in this phase is knowing when to focus on the pain, and when to focus on building and moving into the future.

After Arrival

In a sense you never completely arrive, but here we are talking about the period where the initial instability of massive change has been reduced. People have become less emotional, and more stable, and with effective leadership during the previous phases, are now more open to locking in to the new directions, mandate and ways of doing things

This is an ideal time for leaders to introduce positive new change, such as examination of unwieldy procedures or Total Quality Management. The critical thing here is that leaders must now offer hope that the organization is working towards being better, by solving problems and improving the quality of work life. While the new vision of the organization may have begun while people were slogging through the swamp, this is the time to complete the process, and make sure that people buy into it, and understand their roles in this new organization.

Conclusion

Playing a leadership role in the three phases is not easy. Not only do you have a responsibility to lead, but as an employee yourself, you have to deal with your own reactions to the change, and your role in it. However, if you are ineffective in leading change, you will bear a very heavy personal load. Since you are accountable for the performance of your unit, you will have to deal with the ongoing loss of productivity that can result from poorly managed change, not to mention the potential impact on your own enjoyment of your job.

Being a trusted expert

TheCompounder.com¹³. Then read the about us page. Sign up for the newsletter as well. If you have a few minutes, pick a product and start the checkout process. If you really like the product, buy it.

While you're doing that, read the copy on each page. And if you buy, read the follow-up e-mails and the printed materials in the box when the product arrives at your home. (Disclaimer: I'm a customer of this site, but don't stand to make a single penny from recommending it. I'm just using the site to make a point.)

Being a trusted expert may sound like a simple task, but it isn't. Before you can write in a way that helps your visitors, you have to recognize and achieve a number of things.

Create a site to compete with The Compounder

How would you do that? How would you compete? The truth is, it's very hard to compete directly with a site like this. There are already other sites where you can buy much of what he sells, maybe at better prices too.

But this site isn't about offering the lowest prices. Nor is it about free shipping offers or bulk discounts. So why do people buy from this site, and not others? The answer is simple. It's because they trust Larry Frieders.

That trust isn't based only on the fact that he is a pharmacist. That trust is also based on him, as an individual. Larry is not only the pharmacist, he's also the writer of the site and the newsletter. You hear his voice in ever line you read.

You don't hear the slick writing of a professional copywriter or marketer. That doesn't mean he doesn't try to make the sale...he does. But every line is real and sincere. His photo is on the site, and on his newsletters. He is making himself personally accountable for every product sold and every word written.

He also makes sure that his readers are provided with all the information they need. He is not only a seller of products, he is also a trustworthy source of information on a variety of important health matters.

And he has been doing the same thing for years...building his site, his list and his base of loyal customers little by little and step by step.

This is a solid, enduring business that should prosper for many years to come. Online trends can come and go. Price wars can flare up and then die down. But unless Larry Frieders makes some big mistakes, or decides to retire, his business is wonderfully insulated against all kinds of competition.

Applying this approach to other businesses

You don't have to be a pharmacist or some other 'trustworthy' professional to make this model work. It's not about the qualification. It's about being there, being honest, being accountable, personally... and offering a product or service that is truly useful or valuable.

You can sell garden equipment. You can sell white papers and guides. You can be a reseller of travel products, financial products. You can consult on technology or business. What you do doesn't matter.

What matters is putting yourself upfront. Write the site in your own words. Make your own promises, personally, one-to-one.When you do that, honestly and completely, you separate yourself from all your competitors.

FOREX (Foreign Exchange Market)

The forex market is all about trading between countries, the currencies of those countries and the timing of investing in certain currencies. The FX market is trading between counties, usually completed with a broker or a financial company. Many people are involved in forex trading, which is similar to stock market trading, but FX trading is completed on a much larger overall scale. Much of the trading does take place between banks, governments, brokers and a small amount of trades will take place in retail settings where the average person involved in trading is known as a spectator. Financial market and financial conditions are making the forex market trading go up and down daily. Millions are traded on a daily basis between many of the largest countries and this is going to include some amount of trading in smaller countries as well.

From the studies over the years, most trades in the forex market are done between banks and this is called interbank. Banks make up about 50 percent of the trading in the forex market. So, if banks are widely using this method to make money for stockholders and for their own bettering of business, you know the money must be there for the smaller investor, the fund mangers to use to increase the amount of interest paid to accounts. Banks trade money daily to increase the amount of money they hold. Overnight a bank will invest millions in forex markets, and then the next day make that money available to the public in their savings, checking accounts and etc.

Commercial companies are also trading more often in the forex markets. The commercial companies such as Deutsche bank, UBS, Citigroup, and others such as HSBC, Braclays, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan Chase, and still others such as Goldman Sachs, ABN Amro, Morgan Stanley, and so on are actively trading in the forex markets to increase wealth of stock holders. Many smaller companies may not be involved in the forex markets as extensively as some large companies are but the options are stil there.

Central banks are the banks that hold international roles in the foreign markets. The supply of money, the availability of money, and the interest rates are controlled by central banks. Central banks play a large role in the forex trading, and are located in Tokyo, New York and in London. These are not the only central locations for forex trading but these are among the very largest involved in this market strategy. Sometimes banks, commercial investors and the central banks will have large losses, and this in turn is passed on to investors. Other times, the investors and banks will have huge gains.

Different currency rates happen and change every day. What the value of the dollar may be one day could be higher or lower the next. The trading on the forex market is one that you have to watch closely or if you are investing huge amounts of money, you could lose large amounts of money. The main trading areas for forex, happens in Tokyo, in London and in New York, but there are also many other locations around the world where forex trading does take place.

The most heavily traded currencies are those that include (in no particular order) the Australian dollar, the Swiss franc, the British pound sterling, the Japanese yen, the Eurozone eruo, and the United States dollar. You can trade any one currency against another and you can trade from that currency to another currency to build up additional money and interest daily.

The areas where forex trading is taking place will open and close, and the next will open and close. This is seen also in the stock exchanges from around the world, as different time zones are processing order and trading during different time frames. The results of any forex trading in one country could have results and differences in what happens in additional forex markets as the countries take turns opening and closing with the time zones. Exchange rates are going to vary from forex trade to forex trade, and if you are a broker, or if you are learning about the forex markets you want to know what the rates are on a given day before making any trades.

The stock market Is generally based on products, prices, and other factors within businesses that will change the price of stocks. If someone knows what is going to happened before the general public, it is often known as inside trading, using business secrets to buy stocks and make money - which by the way is illegal. There is very little, if any at all inside information in the forex trading markets. The monetary trades, buys and sells are all a part of the forex market but very little is based on business secrets, but more on the value of the economy, the currency and such of a country at that time.

Every currency that is traded on the forex market does have a three letter code associated with that currency so there is no misunderstanding about which currency or which country one is investing with at the time. The eruo is the EUR and the US dollar is known as the USD. The British pound is the GBP and the Japanese yen is known as the JPY. If you are interested in contacting a broker and becoming involved in the forex markets you can find many online where you can review the company information and transactions before processing and becoming involved in the forex markets.

Interview with the famous trader Adrian Shiroma known as ¨the account duplicator¨

With only 27 years it is one of the Hispanic-Japanese promises of the forex trading of this new decade. He doesn't like ¨the duplicator¨ to call him but the certain thing is that it is able to bend the balance of a forex account with easiness.

In the phone interview Adrian could be many things about their career and their life

How so certain it is that that you duplicate the accounts?

Adrian Shiroma: I don't duplicate them, I triplicate them (laughs), I think that it is exaggerated because not all the accounts can be duplicated easily, it depends on several things: the size of the account, available markets, for example: small accounts cannot duplicate them easy, but if to give him a good profit, but the big accounts are easy to manage.

Adrian are you consents of your fame?, do you think that it is exaggerated or that you really deserve it?

Adrian Shiroma: The good things come alone when make all with love, then people request me advice, they puts me on approval and now my own clients are those that have given me that fame. But I don't believe it to me, I know that people exist better than me.

How did you begin in this?
Adrian Shiroma: Surprisingly I began with a documentary that I saw myself when I has 18 years that called ¨The divine Proportion¨, spoke on the I number golden and the persistence of this in all the proportions that are in the universe. We find it in our body, in you hoist them, plants, galaxies and recently I discovered that the physical beauty is increased to measure that its face completes these proportions.

Interesting What is the relationship this has with the forex graphs?
Adrian Shiroma: All, what shot my interest toward the markets was the mention of these in the documentary. Notice that this proportion finds it in the setbacks, arches and fibonacci fans, it fits perfectly in any graph of the market, it is a divine constant of the nature. Always from boy. I foresaw when an event will repeat. And when seeing the news it confirmed it to me to myself so I always had the restlessness of discovering the because of these sensations. Then I discovered that if we can predict a certain event we could also use it to predict the following movement of a forex graph and it was this way, those they were my beginnings.

Do you work especially for some company?

Adrian Shiroma: I manage accounts for a lot of people, they are those that call me. I manages some private funds, and I now am managing the account of a brazil celebrity.


Which indicators your usually uses to open your operations?

Adrian Shiroma: My trading style is tendential is based on the proportions Fibonacci by means of one formulates that I discover and that I apply in my EA which I have programmed for my own trading. I Usually trading to 4 hours without indicators, In days of high volatileness only me duplicate the hunger (laughter), I like when the market this anxious one, I like when the market is renewed, this it is my inspiration to trade. I avoid to watch the balance of the account but until to have finalized the day, I watch soon it and I say - ohhh, I believe that that is a lot of money. (laughter).

What is your secret for your trading operations?
Adrian Shiroma: It is a secret, I only apply it in my operations and the programming of my robots like the AureoFX, at the moment I don't have thought to reveal it but I am for sure many other traders has already given with her

What do you say of the use of automatic systems in the trading of FOREX?

Adrian Shiroma: There is something that I have very clear: 97% of EAs is disposable even those that they make you win a lot, these usually take off in fact all that they give you the following week . Only 3% of the EA are good but they are not commercial, they use them the banks, brokers and corporations.

Do you think that people give a wrong use to the EAs?

Adrian Shiroma: Definitively yes, I have done systems with regular results that could give stable profit to their users but the problem this in that people don't know how to use them neither to configure. People people want to see immediate results and they forget that the FOREX is of patience market and in occasions it becomes rebellious and it doesn't want to have you close. One can say that the FOREX has its temperament. To enter and to leave is two very important strategic movements of survival with discipline. The common error it is to seek their EAs to give him such an infinite money as their ambition without having an investment plan.

Do recommend us especially some EAs?

Adrian Shiroma: I recommend that you learn how to trade better than your own EA, it is curious that when you arrives at that level, people it is already it consents that it is useless to use EA because their abilities overcome them, then the automatic systems become something of ¨elite¨ then for those advanced traders that want to program their strategies in one to reduce their work load, they are themselves those that use them and they are not in sale. Something exists very curious: if a system of 3% put on in hands of an operator average he would have lost short term because he doesn't know how to use it or worse even: he believes to know but that the author and it modifies the parameters of the system to try to get but in less time.

Do you operate your accounts manually or with EA?
Adrian Shiroma: I have a work method that always works me, a EA always needed of the support of the trader and the robot's trader, I believe that my systems and I make a perfect team and we supplement ourselves as couple.

Which the instructions are to use an EA correctly?
Adrian Shiroma: The good EAs usually indicate you so that markets were created, it cheats them frames and I number of lots vs balance in account. The 2 errors but common they are: to have it ignition the whole day and to alter the parameters especially to increase the lots after seeing earnings what places the account in constant danger. Personally I think that all commercial EAs are totally crap.

What you recommend to recover a negative account?
Adrian Shiroma: The first thing is to change the trader, if he is the same owner the one that operates her this it will be bound sentimentally to her and for but that wants it it didn't take a positive one. If it is also a third. Alone a good trader with a good money management can recover the account little by little before it is late.

Why is it said that the brokers operates vs the user?
Adrian Shiroma: Not only it is said, it is a fact that in all the contracts of account opening clauses exist in those that it is indicated that the broker operates in our against, in other words: that if we win in an operation another person that should lose in that same operation should exist so that they can pay us. This had untied many bad experts on the part of some clients that sign this clause without reading it in the one that the broker the right is reserved to pay. However it is not very common to see cases of unpaid in grateful brokers.


What advice do you give to those traders that are beginning in this world of the FOREX?

Adrian Shiroma: The trading is an art and as all art it costs to be developed, the virtuous musician didn't become expert of one year for the other one. The beginner should burn so many demo accounts it can burn rehearsing own strategies and learned to prove which is the one that but it is coupled to his trading style and personality.

Do you believe that the trading is for everybody?

Adrian Shiroma: That is as if you asked me if we all have talent to be medical, the answer is not, our talents are some (we are not good in everything), each person should discover for what is good and that is achieved rehearsing, the experience will give you the answer, if you believe that you have talent for this studying and practicing found the answer.

Forex Scalping Strategy

The term 'Forex', is basically an abbreviation of the words, 'foreign exchange'. The Forex is a securities market where different currencies of nations is the subject of trade. Like any other market, Forex market works on the buy and sell basis and is more like a barter exchange system, where currency for currency becomes the medium through which the exchange takes place. The Forex market works on the simple principle that there is a difference between the prices of two currencies. For example if you want to sell off 50 USD (United States Dollars) in the Forex market you will get back about 37 Euros. The rate of conversion changes every day and in many cases, it also changes almost after every hour. In fact, Forex scalping strategy is based on this short term changes on the rate of currency exchange.

Conventional Forex Strategies

There are some strategies of Forex market trading that been successfully tried and tested by traders in the past. The simple principle, that is applicable goes as follows…

The basic code that traders follow is, '…buy when cheap, sell when expensive…'. Confused? Here's an explanation. Suppose that you buy foreign currency at a price X. Due to the economic conditions, the market value of that currency drastically shoots in an upward direction. In such a situation, you will be able to sell that currency for a price, Y, which is of course, greater than X. The difference is your profit and the investment is the initial low price X. The key to become successful is to understand the rise and fall in the trend of the currency, that you are dealing in. A severe drawback in such cases that there is a high risk of the trend falling down and people losing money in the process. Since the Forex market is an international market, a trend that enters falling cycle, takes time to recover and the trader might end up losing a lot of money or the liquidity (in case if he decides to stay put). The Forex scalping techniques, are preferred in almost any business model or market, as the main emphasis is given on short term buys and sells. Thus, the risk of any dicey trend crashing down is eliminated.

Learn Forex While Making Money

With the proper education and training anyone can learn forex and generate big profits. Beginners usually spend more time playing with a calculator figuring out how much money they can make instead of learning the skills and tools they need to actually have a chance of reaching their goals.

The main reason that over 95% of traders lose money trading forex over and over again comes down to poor trading education and training regarding how difficult trading actually is and what it takes to make money consistently and not blow their accounts out. Forex trading takes a lot of planning and hard work to be successful and it is important to understand that so you can begin approaching the markets with that mindset.

Knowing how difficult it is to be successful at trading forex it makes sense that a normal forex education is not going to be enough to be profitable. The best way you can learn forex is to find an experienced trader willing to work with you and allow you to trade along side them.

Sure if you have all the time in the world you can seek out all the free information available online needed to learn how to trade profitability. Consider the for a moment the value of a free forex trading education and compare that to the value of proven forex trading school from an experienced trader and mentor.

It is highly recommended that all beginners to forex start by studying, reading and absorbing as much information as possible. Find a profitable trading strategy from a pro trader that you can begin with by following and then later see if you can improve upon it and make your own strategy that is even a little bit better.

While it is nice there is a ton of free information available online to help you learn forex the fact of the matter is the majority of it is going to only help you to form bad habits and loss money. Make sure to be aware of traders posting in forums as their advice tends to be the worst as they prefer an audience and fan clubs more than making pips in the markets.