Shares can only be purchased through a stockbroker and that means that the first thing you need to do is prior to investing in shares is to decide on the type of broker you want. You may also have to figure out a style of dealing, this could be through the phone or via the internet as most investors currently do.

If you’re the busy type with no time to trade, then you can decide to go for stockbroking service offering full advisory services. With stockbroking service, a broker will analyze your individual situation and develop a plan to march your investment needs.

The broker will also watch over your investments and offer suggestions on how and where to buy shares and selling too. There is a variation of this, commonly referred to as “discretionary service” here your stockbroker may purchase and sell shares on your behalf without your consent. It’s a highly customized service and sometimes very costly.

If you decide to buy shares on your own, then an online stockbroker account could be a convenient option. Share trading over the internet is often quick and cheaper than phone dealing, besides involving less paperwork. If you decide to trade shares over the internet, selecting the right account is a matter of utmost importance. Trading with the right account could save you hundreds of dollars on trading costs. Active traders making regular trades will often require different accounts from small infrequent traders. Below is an example to illustrate the above points.

If you’re an irregular trader, dealing in small amounts of stocks, then buying shares in batches is highly advised; in this case your online broker will collect your order and purchase the shares at specified time rather than buy them in real time. The drawback with this method is that the fluctuating nature of share prices may affect the price you get, it’s probably the most affordable method.

If you’re a frequent trader dealing large amounts, then pay attention to your stockbroker’s fine print to stay informed about the fees charged. Frequent traders are better off looking for companies with lower, flat fees. Note that larger transactions could be expensive since they involve takeovers and mergers levy in addition to the stamp duty.

Love life, not just the weekends. You only have one life, Live It! @ www.NicciAndLee.com

Some say we are in a recession. Others say we haven’t had any negative growth yet through the 2nd quarter of 2008 and you need 2 consecutive quarters of negative GDP for a textbook recession. The financial and credit markets are predictors of the future and they are telling us that, any way you want to measure it, 2009 will be a year of recession

Does this mean to go and hideout in a bunker until the weather clears? If you do, this will be a mistake which you will regret for a very long time. Tough times call for action, not passivity. It calls for greater precision and targeting for the most efficient and ROI-driven strategies to maintain and improve your sales and profits. Yes, I said improve … even in a recession.

The following from Emarketer was just released showing the estimates of online advertising spending growth:

The doom and gloom crowd don’t believe these numbers and therefore won’t share them with you as we are here. However, according to a June McKinsey & Co. survey of 340 senior marketing executives worldwide, 91% are using online advertising, and over one-half indicate that their companies plan to maintain or exceed current levels where possible. Even more telling, 55% of marketers said they’re cutting expenditures on traditional media, precisely in order to increase funding for online efforts.

Why is this? Why do marketing experts believe that shifting precious marketing dollars online and taking away from the traditional media is the way to go? It all comes down to results.

Here are the key reasons for the phenomenon:

1. The buyer is finding your website as a result of their personal initiative; all at a time and place of their choosing. Traditional media reach less than .05% of their target market at enormous cost; this is the quintessential example of inefficiency and waste and cannot be tolerated by all those on a tight marketing budget.
2. The web is, more than anything else, an instrument of measurement. Therefore it is vastly more measurable and accountable than traditional methods.
3. The web is clearly more targeted and provides us much granularity as the buyer or the seller desires. The information is all there and always available.
4. The web is just simply gaining viewer time. Traditional media commercials are ignored or “fast-forwarded” using new technology. When online, viewers are in buyer mode when searching for a product or service; they have the confidence that the web / Google et al will lead them to the right information and the right purchase.
5. Traditional media provide you only the information they want you to know in the time or space they are allowed. The web provides no barrier; buyers can check out products, prices, terms and conditions. They can use the social media and other supportive tools to gain the confidence and peace of mind they need before making a buying decision.

So here is what you need to do to overcome the challenge of recession:

1. Improve your Internet Marketing Strategy. This includes many factors:

a. Hire an Internet Marketing Company
b. Generate a game plan to generate targeted traffic through SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Sponsored Search or PPC (Pay per Click).
c. Make a major commitment to content with the company you select. Content is life-blood of quality SEO results.
d. Improve your website to optimize conversions as well. The right SEO Company will actually include this service as an integral part of Search Engine Marketing and Website Design.

2. Start e-publishing a monthly newsletter for your existing clientèle. Keep your name in front of your customers and new prospects that sign up through the sign-up on your website.

3. Consider Affiliate Marketing - depending on your business, you can take advantage of thousands of online sales agents that only earn a commission after the sale is made or the lead is generated … a true meritocracy.

Do all of these things and more and you will be found by precisely those people who are seeking your products and services.

Love life, not just the weekends. You only have one life, Live It! @ www.NicciAndLee.com

Here are some tips to start your own business on a low budget. If you want to start your own company and you don’t have enough money to think about entertainment rooms or even a simple cubicle, here is a way to get your company lifted onto its feet with a low and sometimes even no budget at all.

The first and most important tip of all is to think about starting online. The internet is the last haven of the cheap entrepreneur and it is an idea place where you can apply marketing strategies and start selling your service online, and looking at the responses, you can then reformulate strategies or even change your product cycles to fit the needs of your market. Don’t sweat the internet, there are people who have virtually just launched their business online and now are making tons of money from it. Reaching up to and over $50, 000 a month in revenue is not unheard of and the internet is the place with the potential to reach sky rocket profits and lift your brand up and over for everyone to see. The internet has many ways that you can make money. First all you need is a website, and that usually costs just a few dollars a month and some hosting websites will throw in a limited email service as well. With the website you have access 6 million people who are online at any one time. Use it as an online store and start selling products. Direct marketing on the internet is one the biggest booming businesses on the internet and the thing is you can sell anything online, from property all the way to perishables. Another thing, the top money spinner on the internet is affiliate marketing and this is something that everyone should know about. It is big business on the internet and it is basically representing another person’s product and using all the backend and frontend channels of the internet to drive volume to your website selling this very product and taking a cut everytime someone decides to purchase it. With affiliate marketing, you are able to represent many products at once, and once you get the hang of it ,you will be able to open up several revenue streams and watch as your PayPal account grows with every waking and unwaking moment.

The internet is the ideal place for anyone to start a business with a low budget and with it; even the person with the lowest budget in the world can bring an idea into fruition. Cyberspace is a lot like the real world, only it is more fluid, more dynamic and you are unlimited in most senses in access to the millions of people online. This is how to start your own business on a low budget and the internet has advanced to such a level that 60% of the worlds traditional businesses have online counterparts. The internet is a turnkey for anyone to start a business on a low budget.