Making Money With Options

The power of hands-on learning is indisputable. But when it comes to investing your money in the stock market, however, making a beginner’s mistake can cost you more than just your self-esteem. Thankfully, the web makes it easy to practice with virtual money.

There are a multitude of online investment games like Investopedia and gnuTrade that play with virtual money, but not all of them are easy for beginners. Here are five of the best free (because you shouldn’t have to spend real money to play with fake money) online games for getting your feet wet.

1. Wall Street Survivor

Invest $100,000 in virtual cash via drop-down menu choices. A friendly cartoon version of stock guru Mark Brookshire helps you make your final decision by providing some rating numbers when you input a stock. These include a rating for survivor sentiment, fundamentals, technical and a Motley Fool Rating.

For additional help choosing stocks, the site has an impressive resource library that spans beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. Start with Investing 101 and consider taking advantage of the community forums if you have specific questions. Those who need a little help getting started can also choose to adapt one of the preset portfolios created by proven traders.

While the $100,000 competition is most popular, anybody on the site can create a contest. Prizes vary, but most often consist of competitive pride.

2. HowTheMarketWorks

Owned by the same company as Wall Street Survivor, this game is great for investors looking to gain experience with a new type of portfolio. In addition to stocks and indexes, there are options to experiment with Forex portfolios, penny stocks, mutual funds and short selling.

Beginners can execute market order-based trades in a “fun mode” without worrying about things like set hours, maximum number of trades per day, per stock and order expiration. A “realistic mode” amps up the complexity after they’ve mastered the beginner level.

Players can manage up to three stock portfolios and three Forex portfolios on the site at once. For each portfolio, they select a starting value between $100 and $500,000 and set how much virtual commission you are charged per trade.

The competition aspect is optional. General monthly contests give each player $25,000 as a virtual starting point. Other public contests include challenging restrictions like “short sells only” or “penny stocks only.” Users can create their own password-protected games as well, which is a feature that teachers find helpful for creating class competitions.

3. Young Money Stock Market Game

Young Money Magazine’s stock exchange game is easy to learn but also fairly realistic, which is a hard balance to strike.

Realistic aspects include a virtual commission that’s taken out of each trade, adhering to market hours and rules about how you can invest. Unlike many investing games, trades are made at a real-time price. Learning aspects include convenient help icons on key terms and an intuitive tabbed interface.

The site runs a monthly contest with a $100 (real) cash prize that goes to whoever gained the highest percentage. Players can also create their own contests or join other user-made contests.

4. MarketWatch Fantasy Earnings Trader Game

MarketWatch will run this mock stock market contest for a total of four weeks, awarding the winner of each week with an iPad. It’s on week three right now, but there’s still time to get in on the competition for week four.

You must have your selections picked before the week starts on Monday. The shares that you select are “purchased” at Monday’s open and will “sell” automatically at Friday’s close.

The catch is that all players can only use the 15 to 20 symbols selected for each week. The companies are selected by the game owner for companies that are projecting their earnings during each week. Lining up picks is easy — players simply drag the company’s logo to their trading card and designate if they want to sell short or go long.

Although there are some pros playing, this game is especially manageable for beginners due to the limited stock options for each week.

5. UpDown

Like Young Money’s game, UpDown has helpful icons that explain key terms for beginners. More comprehensive resources in the education center mercifully cover even the most basic of investing concepts.

Community features, like the opportunity to collaborate with a group and to see the most-bought and most-sold stocks, are also helpful for beginners. The “watch list” tool provides a convenient dashboard for monitoring potential picks.

UpDown sponsors a monthly contest that rewards players who beat the market with real cash.

More Business Resources from Mashable:

- 5 Lessons to Learn from Web Startups/> - 20 of the Best Resources to Get Your Startup Off the Ground/> - 5 Startup Tips From the Father of Gmail and FriendFeed/> - 6 Ways to Recruit Talent for Startups/> - 10 Essential Tips for Building Your Small Biz Team

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, H-Gall

For more Business coverage:

class="f-el">class="cov-twit">Follow Mashable Businessclass="s-el">class="cov-rss">Subscribe to the Business channelclass="f-el">class="cov-fb">Become a Fan on Facebookclass="s-el">class="cov-apple">Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

The Commitment of Traders Report is created by the CFTC – The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and is published weekly every Friday. This body gathers and publishes the open futures positions on all publicly traded US futures contracts as well as the corresponding options. The data consists of 3 main categories.

Commercial Traders – These are the bigger players in the markets, the smart money and consist of large firms that actually use the commodity being traded, includes companies like…BP in the Oil and Gas Market, Nestle in the Cocoa and Sugar market. The main function of these traders is to hedge the price of the commodity that they trade in.

Large Speculators – These consist primarily of commodity fund traders and are mainly trend following. The position sizes of these traders tends to be in tandem with the movement of price.

Small Speculators – The little guys, individual traders and small firms, these are the traders that tend to be wrong in the market at the tops and bottoms of markets.

How do we use this data? We believe that the COT Index offers a good indication of market sentiment and future direction. The key is to follow the smart money (Commercial) and trade against the other 2 groups when they are at an extreme.

Extremes in the data are figures below 30.00 and above 70.00. The ideal situation for a short position is a low reading in the Commercial COT and high readings in the Large and Small trader numbers. For example the Commercial COT Index reads 5.97, this means that the net commercial position is strongly biased to the short side. The Large and Retail (our main contrarian focus) are reading 97.70 and 100.00 respectively, meaning they are the most long side biased they have been in the last 6 months. For traders this means that their focus should be on short side trades, the goal is to follow the commercial traders when the other 2 groups at opposite extremes.  This is the ideal alignment of the groups for optimum success.

This weeks COT Index Review

e-mini S&P 500: We started last week with a punch through the 6 month highs, although we had a bullish start the week ended relatively neutral. COT positioning however remains strong on the long side. We see no reason for this to change on the basis of the COT report.

Signal:  Bullish

EURUSD: More volatile but ultimately sideways action from the EURUSD, COT positioning has weakened a little from the 6 month high we had in the previous report but the overall position remains to the long side.

Signal: Bullish

GBPUSD: In last weeks report we asked the question, are we seeing an accumulation pull back? The answer from the market was most certainly yes! As the GBPUSD rallied over 350 pips from the lows after a very bullish COT reading. This weeks COT again is bullish although not quite at the level of the previous week.

Signal: Bullish

USDJPY: Our COT analysis has been very bearish on the USDJPY for a long while and last weeks action provided a big confirmation of that view, with the USDJPY making 15 year lows.! Although Cot has softened a little this week, it remains bearish

Signal: Bearish

Retail Trader Position Analysis

Also known as the Long-Short ratio this is a tool primarily offered by Forex firms, we haven’t been able to come across the same data in the futures as yet. The data is based upon the collective trades and trading direction of many thousands of retail traders (the average Joe). This group of traders is notoriously wrong at predicting market direction, market tops and bottoms with some simple analysis we can look at this data and take a contrarian view, for example if over 70% of retail traders are long USDJPY this offers us a short bias. Savvy traders should then be focusing there energies on short side trades.

USDJPY: Retail positioning of the USDJPY has reached the stratospheric levels of 83.68% Long! Amazing! The strength of the Yen remains strong, there are market rumors of further intervention to be announced.

EURUSD: A volatile but ultimately sideways week for the Euro, retail traders remain short but with a slightly weaker position than what we saw last week.

GBPUSD: Retail positioning in the pound shifted dramatically last week, with the percentage of traders short is now 66.56%! This takes them in to our Strong Long zone on the anti-retail trader tool.

Provided by Pivotfarm - The Home of Support and Resistance Trading

eric seiger

Cee-Lo Green sings &#39;Fox <b>News</b>&#39; on &#39;Colbert Report&#39; - The Dish Rag <b>...</b>

With William Shatner and possibly Gwyneth Paltrow taking a stab at “F*** You,” Cee-Lo Green shows them how it's done.The musician appears on Comedy Central's...

Cee-Lo Sings &#39;Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Version of &#39;F--- You&#39; on &#39;Colbert&#39; (VIDEO)

Cee-Lo Green was forced to revise his popular 'F**k You' single when he appeared on 'The Colbert Report' (weeknights, 11:30PM ET on COM). 'As this.

<b>News</b> Corp Names EVP Office Of Chairman – Deadline.com

NEW YORK, NY, November 9, 2010 – News Corporation today announced that Former New York City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein will join the Company as Executive Vice President, Office of the Chairman. ...

eric seiger

The power of hands-on learning is indisputable. But when it comes to investing your money in the stock market, however, making a beginner’s mistake can cost you more than just your self-esteem. Thankfully, the web makes it easy to practice with virtual money.

There are a multitude of online investment games like Investopedia and gnuTrade that play with virtual money, but not all of them are easy for beginners. Here are five of the best free (because you shouldn’t have to spend real money to play with fake money) online games for getting your feet wet.

1. Wall Street Survivor

Invest $100,000 in virtual cash via drop-down menu choices. A friendly cartoon version of stock guru Mark Brookshire helps you make your final decision by providing some rating numbers when you input a stock. These include a rating for survivor sentiment, fundamentals, technical and a Motley Fool Rating.

For additional help choosing stocks, the site has an impressive resource library that spans beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. Start with Investing 101 and consider taking advantage of the community forums if you have specific questions. Those who need a little help getting started can also choose to adapt one of the preset portfolios created by proven traders.

While the $100,000 competition is most popular, anybody on the site can create a contest. Prizes vary, but most often consist of competitive pride.

2. HowTheMarketWorks

Owned by the same company as Wall Street Survivor, this game is great for investors looking to gain experience with a new type of portfolio. In addition to stocks and indexes, there are options to experiment with Forex portfolios, penny stocks, mutual funds and short selling.

Beginners can execute market order-based trades in a “fun mode” without worrying about things like set hours, maximum number of trades per day, per stock and order expiration. A “realistic mode” amps up the complexity after they’ve mastered the beginner level.

Players can manage up to three stock portfolios and three Forex portfolios on the site at once. For each portfolio, they select a starting value between $100 and $500,000 and set how much virtual commission you are charged per trade.

The competition aspect is optional. General monthly contests give each player $25,000 as a virtual starting point. Other public contests include challenging restrictions like “short sells only” or “penny stocks only.” Users can create their own password-protected games as well, which is a feature that teachers find helpful for creating class competitions.

3. Young Money Stock Market Game

Young Money Magazine’s stock exchange game is easy to learn but also fairly realistic, which is a hard balance to strike.

Realistic aspects include a virtual commission that’s taken out of each trade, adhering to market hours and rules about how you can invest. Unlike many investing games, trades are made at a real-time price. Learning aspects include convenient help icons on key terms and an intuitive tabbed interface.

The site runs a monthly contest with a $100 (real) cash prize that goes to whoever gained the highest percentage. Players can also create their own contests or join other user-made contests.

4. MarketWatch Fantasy Earnings Trader Game

MarketWatch will run this mock stock market contest for a total of four weeks, awarding the winner of each week with an iPad. It’s on week three right now, but there’s still time to get in on the competition for week four.

You must have your selections picked before the week starts on Monday. The shares that you select are “purchased” at Monday’s open and will “sell” automatically at Friday’s close.

The catch is that all players can only use the 15 to 20 symbols selected for each week. The companies are selected by the game owner for companies that are projecting their earnings during each week. Lining up picks is easy — players simply drag the company’s logo to their trading card and designate if they want to sell short or go long.

Although there are some pros playing, this game is especially manageable for beginners due to the limited stock options for each week.

5. UpDown

Like Young Money’s game, UpDown has helpful icons that explain key terms for beginners. More comprehensive resources in the education center mercifully cover even the most basic of investing concepts.

Community features, like the opportunity to collaborate with a group and to see the most-bought and most-sold stocks, are also helpful for beginners. The “watch list” tool provides a convenient dashboard for monitoring potential picks.

UpDown sponsors a monthly contest that rewards players who beat the market with real cash.

More Business Resources from Mashable:

- 5 Lessons to Learn from Web Startups/> - 20 of the Best Resources to Get Your Startup Off the Ground/> - 5 Startup Tips From the Father of Gmail and FriendFeed/> - 6 Ways to Recruit Talent for Startups/> - 10 Essential Tips for Building Your Small Biz Team

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, H-Gall

For more Business coverage:

class="f-el">class="cov-twit">Follow Mashable Businessclass="s-el">class="cov-rss">Subscribe to the Business channelclass="f-el">class="cov-fb">Become a Fan on Facebookclass="s-el">class="cov-apple">Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

The Commitment of Traders Report is created by the CFTC – The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and is published weekly every Friday. This body gathers and publishes the open futures positions on all publicly traded US futures contracts as well as the corresponding options. The data consists of 3 main categories.

Commercial Traders – These are the bigger players in the markets, the smart money and consist of large firms that actually use the commodity being traded, includes companies like…BP in the Oil and Gas Market, Nestle in the Cocoa and Sugar market. The main function of these traders is to hedge the price of the commodity that they trade in.

Large Speculators – These consist primarily of commodity fund traders and are mainly trend following. The position sizes of these traders tends to be in tandem with the movement of price.

Small Speculators – The little guys, individual traders and small firms, these are the traders that tend to be wrong in the market at the tops and bottoms of markets.

How do we use this data? We believe that the COT Index offers a good indication of market sentiment and future direction. The key is to follow the smart money (Commercial) and trade against the other 2 groups when they are at an extreme.

Extremes in the data are figures below 30.00 and above 70.00. The ideal situation for a short position is a low reading in the Commercial COT and high readings in the Large and Small trader numbers. For example the Commercial COT Index reads 5.97, this means that the net commercial position is strongly biased to the short side. The Large and Retail (our main contrarian focus) are reading 97.70 and 100.00 respectively, meaning they are the most long side biased they have been in the last 6 months. For traders this means that their focus should be on short side trades, the goal is to follow the commercial traders when the other 2 groups at opposite extremes.  This is the ideal alignment of the groups for optimum success.

This weeks COT Index Review

e-mini S&P 500: We started last week with a punch through the 6 month highs, although we had a bullish start the week ended relatively neutral. COT positioning however remains strong on the long side. We see no reason for this to change on the basis of the COT report.

Signal:  Bullish

EURUSD: More volatile but ultimately sideways action from the EURUSD, COT positioning has weakened a little from the 6 month high we had in the previous report but the overall position remains to the long side.

Signal: Bullish

GBPUSD: In last weeks report we asked the question, are we seeing an accumulation pull back? The answer from the market was most certainly yes! As the GBPUSD rallied over 350 pips from the lows after a very bullish COT reading. This weeks COT again is bullish although not quite at the level of the previous week.

Signal: Bullish

USDJPY: Our COT analysis has been very bearish on the USDJPY for a long while and last weeks action provided a big confirmation of that view, with the USDJPY making 15 year lows.! Although Cot has softened a little this week, it remains bearish

Signal: Bearish

Retail Trader Position Analysis

Also known as the Long-Short ratio this is a tool primarily offered by Forex firms, we haven’t been able to come across the same data in the futures as yet. The data is based upon the collective trades and trading direction of many thousands of retail traders (the average Joe). This group of traders is notoriously wrong at predicting market direction, market tops and bottoms with some simple analysis we can look at this data and take a contrarian view, for example if over 70% of retail traders are long USDJPY this offers us a short bias. Savvy traders should then be focusing there energies on short side trades.

USDJPY: Retail positioning of the USDJPY has reached the stratospheric levels of 83.68% Long! Amazing! The strength of the Yen remains strong, there are market rumors of further intervention to be announced.

EURUSD: A volatile but ultimately sideways week for the Euro, retail traders remain short but with a slightly weaker position than what we saw last week.

GBPUSD: Retail positioning in the pound shifted dramatically last week, with the percentage of traders short is now 66.56%! This takes them in to our Strong Long zone on the anti-retail trader tool.

Provided by Pivotfarm - The Home of Support and Resistance Trading

eric seiger

Cee-Lo Green sings &#39;Fox <b>News</b>&#39; on &#39;Colbert Report&#39; - The Dish Rag <b>...</b>

With William Shatner and possibly Gwyneth Paltrow taking a stab at “F*** You,” Cee-Lo Green shows them how it's done.The musician appears on Comedy Central's...

Cee-Lo Sings &#39;Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Version of &#39;F--- You&#39; on &#39;Colbert&#39; (VIDEO)

Cee-Lo Green was forced to revise his popular 'F**k You' single when he appeared on 'The Colbert Report' (weeknights, 11:30PM ET on COM). 'As this.

<b>News</b> Corp Names EVP Office Of Chairman – Deadline.com

NEW YORK, NY, November 9, 2010 – News Corporation today announced that Former New York City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein will join the Company as Executive Vice President, Office of the Chairman. ...

eric seiger

eric seiger

eric seiger

Cee-Lo Green sings &#39;Fox <b>News</b>&#39; on &#39;Colbert Report&#39; - The Dish Rag <b>...</b>

With William Shatner and possibly Gwyneth Paltrow taking a stab at “F*** You,” Cee-Lo Green shows them how it's done.The musician appears on Comedy Central's...

Cee-Lo Sings &#39;Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Version of &#39;F--- You&#39; on &#39;Colbert&#39; (VIDEO)

Cee-Lo Green was forced to revise his popular 'F**k You' single when he appeared on 'The Colbert Report' (weeknights, 11:30PM ET on COM). 'As this.

<b>News</b> Corp Names EVP Office Of Chairman – Deadline.com

NEW YORK, NY, November 9, 2010 – News Corporation today announced that Former New York City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein will join the Company as Executive Vice President, Office of the Chairman. ...

eric seiger

The power of hands-on learning is indisputable. But when it comes to investing your money in the stock market, however, making a beginner’s mistake can cost you more than just your self-esteem. Thankfully, the web makes it easy to practice with virtual money.

There are a multitude of online investment games like Investopedia and gnuTrade that play with virtual money, but not all of them are easy for beginners. Here are five of the best free (because you shouldn’t have to spend real money to play with fake money) online games for getting your feet wet.

1. Wall Street Survivor

Invest $100,000 in virtual cash via drop-down menu choices. A friendly cartoon version of stock guru Mark Brookshire helps you make your final decision by providing some rating numbers when you input a stock. These include a rating for survivor sentiment, fundamentals, technical and a Motley Fool Rating.

For additional help choosing stocks, the site has an impressive resource library that spans beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. Start with Investing 101 and consider taking advantage of the community forums if you have specific questions. Those who need a little help getting started can also choose to adapt one of the preset portfolios created by proven traders.

While the $100,000 competition is most popular, anybody on the site can create a contest. Prizes vary, but most often consist of competitive pride.

2. HowTheMarketWorks

Owned by the same company as Wall Street Survivor, this game is great for investors looking to gain experience with a new type of portfolio. In addition to stocks and indexes, there are options to experiment with Forex portfolios, penny stocks, mutual funds and short selling.

Beginners can execute market order-based trades in a “fun mode” without worrying about things like set hours, maximum number of trades per day, per stock and order expiration. A “realistic mode” amps up the complexity after they’ve mastered the beginner level.

Players can manage up to three stock portfolios and three Forex portfolios on the site at once. For each portfolio, they select a starting value between $100 and $500,000 and set how much virtual commission you are charged per trade.

The competition aspect is optional. General monthly contests give each player $25,000 as a virtual starting point. Other public contests include challenging restrictions like “short sells only” or “penny stocks only.” Users can create their own password-protected games as well, which is a feature that teachers find helpful for creating class competitions.

3. Young Money Stock Market Game

Young Money Magazine’s stock exchange game is easy to learn but also fairly realistic, which is a hard balance to strike.

Realistic aspects include a virtual commission that’s taken out of each trade, adhering to market hours and rules about how you can invest. Unlike many investing games, trades are made at a real-time price. Learning aspects include convenient help icons on key terms and an intuitive tabbed interface.

The site runs a monthly contest with a $100 (real) cash prize that goes to whoever gained the highest percentage. Players can also create their own contests or join other user-made contests.

4. MarketWatch Fantasy Earnings Trader Game

MarketWatch will run this mock stock market contest for a total of four weeks, awarding the winner of each week with an iPad. It’s on week three right now, but there’s still time to get in on the competition for week four.

You must have your selections picked before the week starts on Monday. The shares that you select are “purchased” at Monday’s open and will “sell” automatically at Friday’s close.

The catch is that all players can only use the 15 to 20 symbols selected for each week. The companies are selected by the game owner for companies that are projecting their earnings during each week. Lining up picks is easy — players simply drag the company’s logo to their trading card and designate if they want to sell short or go long.

Although there are some pros playing, this game is especially manageable for beginners due to the limited stock options for each week.

5. UpDown

Like Young Money’s game, UpDown has helpful icons that explain key terms for beginners. More comprehensive resources in the education center mercifully cover even the most basic of investing concepts.

Community features, like the opportunity to collaborate with a group and to see the most-bought and most-sold stocks, are also helpful for beginners. The “watch list” tool provides a convenient dashboard for monitoring potential picks.

UpDown sponsors a monthly contest that rewards players who beat the market with real cash.

More Business Resources from Mashable:

- 5 Lessons to Learn from Web Startups/> - 20 of the Best Resources to Get Your Startup Off the Ground/> - 5 Startup Tips From the Father of Gmail and FriendFeed/> - 6 Ways to Recruit Talent for Startups/> - 10 Essential Tips for Building Your Small Biz Team

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, H-Gall

For more Business coverage:

class="f-el">class="cov-twit">Follow Mashable Businessclass="s-el">class="cov-rss">Subscribe to the Business channelclass="f-el">class="cov-fb">Become a Fan on Facebookclass="s-el">class="cov-apple">Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad

The Commitment of Traders Report is created by the CFTC – The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and is published weekly every Friday. This body gathers and publishes the open futures positions on all publicly traded US futures contracts as well as the corresponding options. The data consists of 3 main categories.

Commercial Traders – These are the bigger players in the markets, the smart money and consist of large firms that actually use the commodity being traded, includes companies like…BP in the Oil and Gas Market, Nestle in the Cocoa and Sugar market. The main function of these traders is to hedge the price of the commodity that they trade in.

Large Speculators – These consist primarily of commodity fund traders and are mainly trend following. The position sizes of these traders tends to be in tandem with the movement of price.

Small Speculators – The little guys, individual traders and small firms, these are the traders that tend to be wrong in the market at the tops and bottoms of markets.

How do we use this data? We believe that the COT Index offers a good indication of market sentiment and future direction. The key is to follow the smart money (Commercial) and trade against the other 2 groups when they are at an extreme.

Extremes in the data are figures below 30.00 and above 70.00. The ideal situation for a short position is a low reading in the Commercial COT and high readings in the Large and Small trader numbers. For example the Commercial COT Index reads 5.97, this means that the net commercial position is strongly biased to the short side. The Large and Retail (our main contrarian focus) are reading 97.70 and 100.00 respectively, meaning they are the most long side biased they have been in the last 6 months. For traders this means that their focus should be on short side trades, the goal is to follow the commercial traders when the other 2 groups at opposite extremes.  This is the ideal alignment of the groups for optimum success.

This weeks COT Index Review

e-mini S&P 500: We started last week with a punch through the 6 month highs, although we had a bullish start the week ended relatively neutral. COT positioning however remains strong on the long side. We see no reason for this to change on the basis of the COT report.

Signal:  Bullish

EURUSD: More volatile but ultimately sideways action from the EURUSD, COT positioning has weakened a little from the 6 month high we had in the previous report but the overall position remains to the long side.

Signal: Bullish

GBPUSD: In last weeks report we asked the question, are we seeing an accumulation pull back? The answer from the market was most certainly yes! As the GBPUSD rallied over 350 pips from the lows after a very bullish COT reading. This weeks COT again is bullish although not quite at the level of the previous week.

Signal: Bullish

USDJPY: Our COT analysis has been very bearish on the USDJPY for a long while and last weeks action provided a big confirmation of that view, with the USDJPY making 15 year lows.! Although Cot has softened a little this week, it remains bearish

Signal: Bearish

Retail Trader Position Analysis

Also known as the Long-Short ratio this is a tool primarily offered by Forex firms, we haven’t been able to come across the same data in the futures as yet. The data is based upon the collective trades and trading direction of many thousands of retail traders (the average Joe). This group of traders is notoriously wrong at predicting market direction, market tops and bottoms with some simple analysis we can look at this data and take a contrarian view, for example if over 70% of retail traders are long USDJPY this offers us a short bias. Savvy traders should then be focusing there energies on short side trades.

USDJPY: Retail positioning of the USDJPY has reached the stratospheric levels of 83.68% Long! Amazing! The strength of the Yen remains strong, there are market rumors of further intervention to be announced.

EURUSD: A volatile but ultimately sideways week for the Euro, retail traders remain short but with a slightly weaker position than what we saw last week.

GBPUSD: Retail positioning in the pound shifted dramatically last week, with the percentage of traders short is now 66.56%! This takes them in to our Strong Long zone on the anti-retail trader tool.

Provided by Pivotfarm - The Home of Support and Resistance Trading

eric seiger

eric seiger

Cee-Lo Green sings &#39;Fox <b>News</b>&#39; on &#39;Colbert Report&#39; - The Dish Rag <b>...</b>

With William Shatner and possibly Gwyneth Paltrow taking a stab at “F*** You,” Cee-Lo Green shows them how it's done.The musician appears on Comedy Central's...

Cee-Lo Sings &#39;Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Version of &#39;F--- You&#39; on &#39;Colbert&#39; (VIDEO)

Cee-Lo Green was forced to revise his popular 'F**k You' single when he appeared on 'The Colbert Report' (weeknights, 11:30PM ET on COM). 'As this.

<b>News</b> Corp Names EVP Office Of Chairman – Deadline.com

NEW YORK, NY, November 9, 2010 – News Corporation today announced that Former New York City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein will join the Company as Executive Vice President, Office of the Chairman. ...

eric seiger

eric seiger

Cee-Lo Green sings &#39;Fox <b>News</b>&#39; on &#39;Colbert Report&#39; - The Dish Rag <b>...</b>

With William Shatner and possibly Gwyneth Paltrow taking a stab at “F*** You,” Cee-Lo Green shows them how it's done.The musician appears on Comedy Central's...

Cee-Lo Sings &#39;Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Version of &#39;F--- You&#39; on &#39;Colbert&#39; (VIDEO)

Cee-Lo Green was forced to revise his popular 'F**k You' single when he appeared on 'The Colbert Report' (weeknights, 11:30PM ET on COM). 'As this.

<b>News</b> Corp Names EVP Office Of Chairman – Deadline.com

NEW YORK, NY, November 9, 2010 – News Corporation today announced that Former New York City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein will join the Company as Executive Vice President, Office of the Chairman. ...

eric seiger

Cee-Lo Green sings &#39;Fox <b>News</b>&#39; on &#39;Colbert Report&#39; - The Dish Rag <b>...</b>

With William Shatner and possibly Gwyneth Paltrow taking a stab at “F*** You,” Cee-Lo Green shows them how it's done.The musician appears on Comedy Central's...

Cee-Lo Sings &#39;Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Version of &#39;F--- You&#39; on &#39;Colbert&#39; (VIDEO)

Cee-Lo Green was forced to revise his popular 'F**k You' single when he appeared on 'The Colbert Report' (weeknights, 11:30PM ET on COM). 'As this.

<b>News</b> Corp Names EVP Office Of Chairman – Deadline.com

NEW YORK, NY, November 9, 2010 – News Corporation today announced that Former New York City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein will join the Company as Executive Vice President, Office of the Chairman. ...

eric seiger

Cee-Lo Green sings &#39;Fox <b>News</b>&#39; on &#39;Colbert Report&#39; - The Dish Rag <b>...</b>

With William Shatner and possibly Gwyneth Paltrow taking a stab at “F*** You,” Cee-Lo Green shows them how it's done.The musician appears on Comedy Central's...

Cee-Lo Sings &#39;Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Version of &#39;F--- You&#39; on &#39;Colbert&#39; (VIDEO)

Cee-Lo Green was forced to revise his popular 'F**k You' single when he appeared on 'The Colbert Report' (weeknights, 11:30PM ET on COM). 'As this.

<b>News</b> Corp Names EVP Office Of Chairman – Deadline.com

NEW YORK, NY, November 9, 2010 – News Corporation today announced that Former New York City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein will join the Company as Executive Vice President, Office of the Chairman. ...

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eric seiger
eric seiger

Cee-Lo Green sings &#39;Fox <b>News</b>&#39; on &#39;Colbert Report&#39; - The Dish Rag <b>...</b>

With William Shatner and possibly Gwyneth Paltrow taking a stab at “F*** You,” Cee-Lo Green shows them how it's done.The musician appears on Comedy Central's...

Cee-Lo Sings &#39;Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Version of &#39;F--- You&#39; on &#39;Colbert&#39; (VIDEO)

Cee-Lo Green was forced to revise his popular 'F**k You' single when he appeared on 'The Colbert Report' (weeknights, 11:30PM ET on COM). 'As this.

<b>News</b> Corp Names EVP Office Of Chairman – Deadline.com

NEW YORK, NY, November 9, 2010 – News Corporation today announced that Former New York City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein will join the Company as Executive Vice President, Office of the Chairman. ...

I was speaking with a young man recently about starting a new business making money online and he told me about all the different programs he had purchased online but were getting him nowhere. He discussed his frustrations with incomplete information, unfamiliar terms, and just the overwhelming amount of fluff with no real substance he had maxed out his credit cards to buy.

After he vented for a while, he asked a very simple question: "So where do I begin?"

I think my answer surprised him. "You need to start with yourself."

Starting a small business, especially a home-based business making money online, should never be about the business itself - it should be about YOU. You need to know yourself and what you really want out of this type of business. Not everyone should work for themselves and certainly not everyone can succeed online. There are certain characteristics, traits, and skills that are vital to success as a work-at-home entrepreneur. Running a small business from home will be one of the most difficult tasks you can ever attempt if it's not a good fit with your personality and traits.

So is running a business making money online right for you? Ask yourself these questions to gauge your talents, skills, and chances for success.

1. Do you really want to work for yourself? Without true desire, you will not be successful. There needs to be a reason why you want to pursue this business. Making the decision to create a business making money online can be life-changing. You need to make sure it is truly what you want. There are so many other options and opportunities in the world to make money. Running an online business is just one possible choice. If you pursue an online business for the wrong reason (you think it's an easy way to make money, for instance), you may well fail.

2. Are you willing to keep learning and growing? Look at any super-successful athlete, like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, or more recently Michael Phelps. Even at the height of their success, they never stopped practicing, never stopped trying to improve. If the best in the world surround themselves with coaches and are never satisfied with their skill level, what does that tell you? You must be willing to invest the time and effort in learning and improving.

3. Can you take responsibility for your own success or failure and prioritize activities for yourself? In other words, are you self-motivated? Self-motivation means you can act because the outcome has personal meaning to you.

4. Can you stick to your plan even when things go wrong? This is perseverance, or the refusal to accept "No" as a final answer. Starting a small business making money online is hard. There are obstacles and challenges, many of which you will not know about until you are up against them. The entrepreneur who refuses to admit defeat and keeps getting up and plugging away, over and over again, is the entrepreneur who will succeed online.

5. Do you know your limitations? Truly successful people know their own weaknesses and figure out ways to compensate. They hire help or outsource what they don't know how to do. Working for yourself does not mean always working by yourself.

Success comes from identifying your talents and desires and then working to use your talents to make your desires come true. After all, someone once said "work is only work when you'd rather be doing something else." So do a thorough inventory of your own traits, likes and desires before committing to running a business making money online from home.


eric seiger

Cee-Lo Green sings &#39;Fox <b>News</b>&#39; on &#39;Colbert Report&#39; - The Dish Rag <b>...</b>

With William Shatner and possibly Gwyneth Paltrow taking a stab at “F*** You,” Cee-Lo Green shows them how it's done.The musician appears on Comedy Central's...

Cee-Lo Sings &#39;Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Version of &#39;F--- You&#39; on &#39;Colbert&#39; (VIDEO)

Cee-Lo Green was forced to revise his popular 'F**k You' single when he appeared on 'The Colbert Report' (weeknights, 11:30PM ET on COM). 'As this.

<b>News</b> Corp Names EVP Office Of Chairman – Deadline.com

NEW YORK, NY, November 9, 2010 – News Corporation today announced that Former New York City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein will join the Company as Executive Vice President, Office of the Chairman. ...

eric seiger

Cee-Lo Green sings &#39;Fox <b>News</b>&#39; on &#39;Colbert Report&#39; - The Dish Rag <b>...</b>

With William Shatner and possibly Gwyneth Paltrow taking a stab at “F*** You,” Cee-Lo Green shows them how it's done.The musician appears on Comedy Central's...

Cee-Lo Sings &#39;Fox <b>News</b>&#39; Version of &#39;F--- You&#39; on &#39;Colbert&#39; (VIDEO)

Cee-Lo Green was forced to revise his popular 'F**k You' single when he appeared on 'The Colbert Report' (weeknights, 11:30PM ET on COM). 'As this.

<b>News</b> Corp Names EVP Office Of Chairman – Deadline.com

NEW YORK, NY, November 9, 2010 – News Corporation today announced that Former New York City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein will join the Company as Executive Vice President, Office of the Chairman. ...

eric seiger

Make Making Money

To summarize an hour of dialogue, you should at some point have a product that your readers will want. You should give a lot of free content away, but even when it comes to content, you can charge for some amount, and if your content is good enough, people will pay for the premium stuff. "You can tell them about ninety percent, and they'll pay money just to get the final ten percent," so they know they have the whole picture, Clark says.



Making money blogging will not happen overnight. Sometimes it may seem like this is possible, but in reality, it takes a lot of work. "Build something that is real and something that matters to people," Rowse advises. He shared a story about how he launched a product one day and literally watched the sales roll in. It was as if he had hit a button, and the cash just started flowing, but then he realized he had been working hard up to that point for over two years, promoting the blog, writing two posts a day, doing SEO, press releases, etc. It wasn't overnight. 



You're not scalable, meaning that as your audience grows and more people want to connect with you, there will be a point where it just becomes too much. You have to set boundaries, otherwise you will have no time for yourself and your family. 



Eventually, you're going to have to "get real" about how many meaningful connections you can make in a day, Simone says, adding, "That's part of growing up in social media.”



When they say "no one actually wants that much authenticity," they mean that nobody cares about what you did last night, who you were with, what you had for breakfast, etc. In other words, don't show everybody everything about yourself, because you're not writing for you. You're writing for them. Be who you want to be for your audience. 



Ultimately, you're blogging and using social media to sell, but you can't just go around selling to people, because they won't have it. It just doesn't work. You have to make them want to buy. "You're selling yourself," says Clark. If you provide enough value to your audience, they will want to buy what you have to offer if it expands upon the value you're already giving them. "The content is the marketing," he says. 



Just having a blog is not a business. If you want it to be a business you have to treat it like one, Rowse says. This is basically an extension of number 2. 



The most important of the seven points is that no one is reading your blog. As Simone says, there are hundreds of millions of blogs, and that includes blogs on your topic. You have to write it in a way that is fresh, and either entertaining or informative. The good news is that you don't need "monster traffic". You just need a good, steady core audience for advertising to do well. 

Olbermann Suspended Without Pay From MSNBC After Making Political Donations To Democrats

Today, Politico reported that MSNBC host Keith Olbermann made political contributions to three Democratic candidates — Kentucky senate candidate Jack Conway and Arizona House members Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords. Following the story, MSNBC President Phil Griffin released a statement this afternoon stating that Olbermann has been suspended without pay:

I became aware of Keith’s political contributions late last night. Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay.

MSNBC’s policies governing its employees states:

Anyone working for NBC News who takes part in civic or other outside activities may find that these activities jeopardize his or her standing as an impartial journalist because they may create the appearance of a conflict of interest. Such activities may include participation in or contributions to political campaigns or groups that espouse controversial positions. You should report any such potential conflicts in advance to, and obtain prior approval of, the President of NBC News or his designee.

It’s unclear what harm Griffin determined resulted from Olbermann’s contributions. Politico noted that Olbermann donated to Grijalva on the same day that Grijalva appeared as a guest on his show. In his defense Olbermann said, “I did not privately or publicly encourage anyone else to donate to these campaigns, nor to any others in this election or any previous ones, nor have I previously donated to any political campaign at any level.”

Atrios reports that Pat Buchanan, a very frequent guest on MSNBC and an official contributor, has also made a number of donations to Republican candidates.

Meanwhile, Steve Benen observes that, while Olbermann made his donations in a personal capacity, News Corp. — Fox News’ parent company — “made multiple undisclosed donations to the Republican Governors Association, totaling at least $1.25 million, in addition to a $1 million contribution to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for its pro-Republican election-year activities. Fox News has helped GOP candidates raise money on the air; Fox News personalities are featured guests at Republican fundraisers; while other Fox News personalities continue to help generate financial support for Republican candidates now, even after the elections.”

eric seiger

<b>News</b> Corp. Social Games Unit Buys Making Fun | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Most of the big media companies have big stakes in digital games, except News Corp. But Rupert Murdoch's company is trying to catch up--without spending a lot of money.

Australian <b>News</b> Site Issues Apology and Correction For Inaccurate <b>...</b>

On Tuesday Australian news site news.com.au (Australia's 3rd biggest news site) ran an article about the new Haynes Guide to the USS Enterprise (reviewed at TrekMovie on Monday). The news.com.au article contained this passage: ...

Keith Olbermann suspended after donating to Democrats - Simmi <b>...</b>

Olbermann has been suspending indefinitely after violating NBC's ethics policies.

eric seiger

To summarize an hour of dialogue, you should at some point have a product that your readers will want. You should give a lot of free content away, but even when it comes to content, you can charge for some amount, and if your content is good enough, people will pay for the premium stuff. "You can tell them about ninety percent, and they'll pay money just to get the final ten percent," so they know they have the whole picture, Clark says.



Making money blogging will not happen overnight. Sometimes it may seem like this is possible, but in reality, it takes a lot of work. "Build something that is real and something that matters to people," Rowse advises. He shared a story about how he launched a product one day and literally watched the sales roll in. It was as if he had hit a button, and the cash just started flowing, but then he realized he had been working hard up to that point for over two years, promoting the blog, writing two posts a day, doing SEO, press releases, etc. It wasn't overnight. 



You're not scalable, meaning that as your audience grows and more people want to connect with you, there will be a point where it just becomes too much. You have to set boundaries, otherwise you will have no time for yourself and your family. 



Eventually, you're going to have to "get real" about how many meaningful connections you can make in a day, Simone says, adding, "That's part of growing up in social media.”



When they say "no one actually wants that much authenticity," they mean that nobody cares about what you did last night, who you were with, what you had for breakfast, etc. In other words, don't show everybody everything about yourself, because you're not writing for you. You're writing for them. Be who you want to be for your audience. 



Ultimately, you're blogging and using social media to sell, but you can't just go around selling to people, because they won't have it. It just doesn't work. You have to make them want to buy. "You're selling yourself," says Clark. If you provide enough value to your audience, they will want to buy what you have to offer if it expands upon the value you're already giving them. "The content is the marketing," he says. 



Just having a blog is not a business. If you want it to be a business you have to treat it like one, Rowse says. This is basically an extension of number 2. 



The most important of the seven points is that no one is reading your blog. As Simone says, there are hundreds of millions of blogs, and that includes blogs on your topic. You have to write it in a way that is fresh, and either entertaining or informative. The good news is that you don't need "monster traffic". You just need a good, steady core audience for advertising to do well. 

Olbermann Suspended Without Pay From MSNBC After Making Political Donations To Democrats

Today, Politico reported that MSNBC host Keith Olbermann made political contributions to three Democratic candidates — Kentucky senate candidate Jack Conway and Arizona House members Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords. Following the story, MSNBC President Phil Griffin released a statement this afternoon stating that Olbermann has been suspended without pay:

I became aware of Keith’s political contributions late last night. Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay.

MSNBC’s policies governing its employees states:

Anyone working for NBC News who takes part in civic or other outside activities may find that these activities jeopardize his or her standing as an impartial journalist because they may create the appearance of a conflict of interest. Such activities may include participation in or contributions to political campaigns or groups that espouse controversial positions. You should report any such potential conflicts in advance to, and obtain prior approval of, the President of NBC News or his designee.

It’s unclear what harm Griffin determined resulted from Olbermann’s contributions. Politico noted that Olbermann donated to Grijalva on the same day that Grijalva appeared as a guest on his show. In his defense Olbermann said, “I did not privately or publicly encourage anyone else to donate to these campaigns, nor to any others in this election or any previous ones, nor have I previously donated to any political campaign at any level.”

Atrios reports that Pat Buchanan, a very frequent guest on MSNBC and an official contributor, has also made a number of donations to Republican candidates.

Meanwhile, Steve Benen observes that, while Olbermann made his donations in a personal capacity, News Corp. — Fox News’ parent company — “made multiple undisclosed donations to the Republican Governors Association, totaling at least $1.25 million, in addition to a $1 million contribution to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for its pro-Republican election-year activities. Fox News has helped GOP candidates raise money on the air; Fox News personalities are featured guests at Republican fundraisers; while other Fox News personalities continue to help generate financial support for Republican candidates now, even after the elections.”

eric seiger

<b>News</b> Corp. Social Games Unit Buys Making Fun | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Most of the big media companies have big stakes in digital games, except News Corp. But Rupert Murdoch's company is trying to catch up--without spending a lot of money.

Australian <b>News</b> Site Issues Apology and Correction For Inaccurate <b>...</b>

On Tuesday Australian news site news.com.au (Australia's 3rd biggest news site) ran an article about the new Haynes Guide to the USS Enterprise (reviewed at TrekMovie on Monday). The news.com.au article contained this passage: ...

Keith Olbermann suspended after donating to Democrats - Simmi <b>...</b>

Olbermann has been suspending indefinitely after violating NBC's ethics policies.

eric seiger

eric seiger

eric seiger

<b>News</b> Corp. Social Games Unit Buys Making Fun | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Most of the big media companies have big stakes in digital games, except News Corp. But Rupert Murdoch's company is trying to catch up--without spending a lot of money.

Australian <b>News</b> Site Issues Apology and Correction For Inaccurate <b>...</b>

On Tuesday Australian news site news.com.au (Australia's 3rd biggest news site) ran an article about the new Haynes Guide to the USS Enterprise (reviewed at TrekMovie on Monday). The news.com.au article contained this passage: ...

Keith Olbermann suspended after donating to Democrats - Simmi <b>...</b>

Olbermann has been suspending indefinitely after violating NBC's ethics policies.

eric seiger

To summarize an hour of dialogue, you should at some point have a product that your readers will want. You should give a lot of free content away, but even when it comes to content, you can charge for some amount, and if your content is good enough, people will pay for the premium stuff. "You can tell them about ninety percent, and they'll pay money just to get the final ten percent," so they know they have the whole picture, Clark says.



Making money blogging will not happen overnight. Sometimes it may seem like this is possible, but in reality, it takes a lot of work. "Build something that is real and something that matters to people," Rowse advises. He shared a story about how he launched a product one day and literally watched the sales roll in. It was as if he had hit a button, and the cash just started flowing, but then he realized he had been working hard up to that point for over two years, promoting the blog, writing two posts a day, doing SEO, press releases, etc. It wasn't overnight. 



You're not scalable, meaning that as your audience grows and more people want to connect with you, there will be a point where it just becomes too much. You have to set boundaries, otherwise you will have no time for yourself and your family. 



Eventually, you're going to have to "get real" about how many meaningful connections you can make in a day, Simone says, adding, "That's part of growing up in social media.”



When they say "no one actually wants that much authenticity," they mean that nobody cares about what you did last night, who you were with, what you had for breakfast, etc. In other words, don't show everybody everything about yourself, because you're not writing for you. You're writing for them. Be who you want to be for your audience. 



Ultimately, you're blogging and using social media to sell, but you can't just go around selling to people, because they won't have it. It just doesn't work. You have to make them want to buy. "You're selling yourself," says Clark. If you provide enough value to your audience, they will want to buy what you have to offer if it expands upon the value you're already giving them. "The content is the marketing," he says. 



Just having a blog is not a business. If you want it to be a business you have to treat it like one, Rowse says. This is basically an extension of number 2. 



The most important of the seven points is that no one is reading your blog. As Simone says, there are hundreds of millions of blogs, and that includes blogs on your topic. You have to write it in a way that is fresh, and either entertaining or informative. The good news is that you don't need "monster traffic". You just need a good, steady core audience for advertising to do well. 

Olbermann Suspended Without Pay From MSNBC After Making Political Donations To Democrats

Today, Politico reported that MSNBC host Keith Olbermann made political contributions to three Democratic candidates — Kentucky senate candidate Jack Conway and Arizona House members Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords. Following the story, MSNBC President Phil Griffin released a statement this afternoon stating that Olbermann has been suspended without pay:

I became aware of Keith’s political contributions late last night. Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay.

MSNBC’s policies governing its employees states:

Anyone working for NBC News who takes part in civic or other outside activities may find that these activities jeopardize his or her standing as an impartial journalist because they may create the appearance of a conflict of interest. Such activities may include participation in or contributions to political campaigns or groups that espouse controversial positions. You should report any such potential conflicts in advance to, and obtain prior approval of, the President of NBC News or his designee.

It’s unclear what harm Griffin determined resulted from Olbermann’s contributions. Politico noted that Olbermann donated to Grijalva on the same day that Grijalva appeared as a guest on his show. In his defense Olbermann said, “I did not privately or publicly encourage anyone else to donate to these campaigns, nor to any others in this election or any previous ones, nor have I previously donated to any political campaign at any level.”

Atrios reports that Pat Buchanan, a very frequent guest on MSNBC and an official contributor, has also made a number of donations to Republican candidates.

Meanwhile, Steve Benen observes that, while Olbermann made his donations in a personal capacity, News Corp. — Fox News’ parent company — “made multiple undisclosed donations to the Republican Governors Association, totaling at least $1.25 million, in addition to a $1 million contribution to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for its pro-Republican election-year activities. Fox News has helped GOP candidates raise money on the air; Fox News personalities are featured guests at Republican fundraisers; while other Fox News personalities continue to help generate financial support for Republican candidates now, even after the elections.”

eric seiger

eric seiger

<b>News</b> Corp. Social Games Unit Buys Making Fun | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Most of the big media companies have big stakes in digital games, except News Corp. But Rupert Murdoch's company is trying to catch up--without spending a lot of money.

Australian <b>News</b> Site Issues Apology and Correction For Inaccurate <b>...</b>

On Tuesday Australian news site news.com.au (Australia's 3rd biggest news site) ran an article about the new Haynes Guide to the USS Enterprise (reviewed at TrekMovie on Monday). The news.com.au article contained this passage: ...

Keith Olbermann suspended after donating to Democrats - Simmi <b>...</b>

Olbermann has been suspending indefinitely after violating NBC's ethics policies.

eric seiger

eric seiger

<b>News</b> Corp. Social Games Unit Buys Making Fun | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Most of the big media companies have big stakes in digital games, except News Corp. But Rupert Murdoch's company is trying to catch up--without spending a lot of money.

Australian <b>News</b> Site Issues Apology and Correction For Inaccurate <b>...</b>

On Tuesday Australian news site news.com.au (Australia's 3rd biggest news site) ran an article about the new Haynes Guide to the USS Enterprise (reviewed at TrekMovie on Monday). The news.com.au article contained this passage: ...

Keith Olbermann suspended after donating to Democrats - Simmi <b>...</b>

Olbermann has been suspending indefinitely after violating NBC's ethics policies.

eric seiger

<b>News</b> Corp. Social Games Unit Buys Making Fun | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Most of the big media companies have big stakes in digital games, except News Corp. But Rupert Murdoch's company is trying to catch up--without spending a lot of money.

Australian <b>News</b> Site Issues Apology and Correction For Inaccurate <b>...</b>

On Tuesday Australian news site news.com.au (Australia's 3rd biggest news site) ran an article about the new Haynes Guide to the USS Enterprise (reviewed at TrekMovie on Monday). The news.com.au article contained this passage: ...

Keith Olbermann suspended after donating to Democrats - Simmi <b>...</b>

Olbermann has been suspending indefinitely after violating NBC's ethics policies.

eric seiger

<b>News</b> Corp. Social Games Unit Buys Making Fun | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Most of the big media companies have big stakes in digital games, except News Corp. But Rupert Murdoch's company is trying to catch up--without spending a lot of money.

Australian <b>News</b> Site Issues Apology and Correction For Inaccurate <b>...</b>

On Tuesday Australian news site news.com.au (Australia's 3rd biggest news site) ran an article about the new Haynes Guide to the USS Enterprise (reviewed at TrekMovie on Monday). The news.com.au article contained this passage: ...

Keith Olbermann suspended after donating to Democrats - Simmi <b>...</b>

Olbermann has been suspending indefinitely after violating NBC's ethics policies.

eric seiger eric seiger
eric seiger

eric seiger
eric seiger

<b>News</b> Corp. Social Games Unit Buys Making Fun | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Most of the big media companies have big stakes in digital games, except News Corp. But Rupert Murdoch's company is trying to catch up--without spending a lot of money.

Australian <b>News</b> Site Issues Apology and Correction For Inaccurate <b>...</b>

On Tuesday Australian news site news.com.au (Australia's 3rd biggest news site) ran an article about the new Haynes Guide to the USS Enterprise (reviewed at TrekMovie on Monday). The news.com.au article contained this passage: ...

Keith Olbermann suspended after donating to Democrats - Simmi <b>...</b>

Olbermann has been suspending indefinitely after violating NBC's ethics policies.

big seminar 14

There are three things every musician must do to be a success online. Do you want to make more money online? If you're interested in making more money, the key is to start (or continue) doing three basic things in the most effective ways:

1. Run an active band website
2. Promote your services online using free tools from MySpace, Reverbnation, iLike and otherse
3. Promote yourself on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere

Pretty basic, eh? But that's NOT the advice. Anyone active as a musician, whether they're session players for Michael Jackson or a self-funded indie rock artist knows to do these things. The trick is to do them all WELL. How does that happen?

First, study the websites of bands you respect. If you look at this ReverbNation band profile for Paisley Babylon, you'll learn a big secret to properly selling your music online. Many bands make the mistake of allowing all their music online to be downloadable, for free. But take a look at the Paisley Babylon site on ReverbNation and you'll see the band has allowed SOME tracks as a free download, and other tracks available for download ONLY for fans of the group. (You become a fan through a sign-up process on ReverbNation.)

Here's another secret. Let's examine the same band's presence on MySpace. What do you see about the music offered at MySpace that you don't see at ReverbNation? Compare the tracks between the two sites and you'll see there's an important strategy at work here.

If you haven't figured it out yet, here's a clue--the Paisley Babylon song Content 211 available on MySpace can't be downloaded. Do you find Content 211 at ReverbNation as a download?

ReverbNation allows bands to tie their profiles to their Twitter accounts, giving you double the mileage for any post you do at Reverbnation. This is another key to getting more mileage from your efforts to promote your indie band, get PR, and win more fans.

Then there's the "and elsewhere" aspect of band promotion. Do you have a blog that isn't related to your band? This is a great way to promote your music.Plug your band in places where it's not typical to get press. Do you have a friend who blogs regularly? Try to get featured in that blog for some additional PR, or start your own, non-band related blog and give your band some free advertising there.

And finally, don't forget to create a mailing list using these blogs, websites and promotional tools to send updates about your work. Do these e-mail updates in a friendly, conversational way and don't make your messages sound like press releases that people aren't likely to read.

How does all this add up to making more money online with your music? For a start, don't forget to include links to your iTunes albums, CD Baby account and elsewhere. Consider that last sentence as an example of how you can include a link to your music even in an e-mail newsletter blast--you should always include links to your music where it can be purchased. This is especially important because it gives your readers access to the music itself, including samples and previews.

The added visibility of your music from active promotion of your own work online WILL pay off if you are persistent and do it consistently.



eric seiger

<b>News</b> Corp. Social Games Unit Buys Making Fun | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Most of the big media companies have big stakes in digital games, except News Corp. But Rupert Murdoch's company is trying to catch up--without spending a lot of money.

Australian <b>News</b> Site Issues Apology and Correction For Inaccurate <b>...</b>

On Tuesday Australian news site news.com.au (Australia's 3rd biggest news site) ran an article about the new Haynes Guide to the USS Enterprise (reviewed at TrekMovie on Monday). The news.com.au article contained this passage: ...

Keith Olbermann suspended after donating to Democrats - Simmi <b>...</b>

Olbermann has been suspending indefinitely after violating NBC's ethics policies.

eric seiger

<b>News</b> Corp. Social Games Unit Buys Making Fun | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

Most of the big media companies have big stakes in digital games, except News Corp. But Rupert Murdoch's company is trying to catch up--without spending a lot of money.

Australian <b>News</b> Site Issues Apology and Correction For Inaccurate <b>...</b>

On Tuesday Australian news site news.com.au (Australia's 3rd biggest news site) ran an article about the new Haynes Guide to the USS Enterprise (reviewed at TrekMovie on Monday). The news.com.au article contained this passage: ...

Keith Olbermann suspended after donating to Democrats - Simmi <b>...</b>

Olbermann has been suspending indefinitely after violating NBC's ethics policies.

eric seiger

Making Money Opportunities

In yesterday's Go Home Already, I linked to a story which talked about the results of a report conducted by Wider Opportunities for Women. The report discussed the amount of money that people under certain conditions in different areas around the Washington metro area need to make in order to feel financially "secure." Of course, there's serious wiggle room in that phrase, and plenty of commenters argued the validity of the numbers cited -- for instance, a single person without children to support in the District was deemed to need a yearly income of $32,000 per year to be "stable."

I finally got a chance to peruse the report, titled "The Basic Economic Security Tables for the Washington, DC Metro Area," this morning, and thought that I'd share some of the information inside of its pages for you to squabble over. Specifically, the data on single people and what they need to get by.

One failure of the study is that it never comes out and explicitly states what its definition of "economic security" is. Based on the literature out there, the term appears to mean having enough money coming in every month to build a stable future. (I know, we're defining relative terms with yet more relative terms. Best I could do, though. If there are any economists in the audience, please feel free to define the concept to me in concrete terms.)

That said, what does the study consider basic budget items for workers? "The core BEST Index contains basic budget items essential to all workers’ health and safety: housing, utilities, food and essential personal and house-hold items such as clothing, household products and a landline telephone," says the report, which also notes that the Index also assumes that all work occurs outside of the home (incurring transportation costs) and that everyone pays their taxes. Aside from the fact that most single people I know carry a cell instead of a landline, that seems somewhat fair. The Index includes a provision for their progeny's higher education (obviously null for those without children) and homeownership saving. The chart to the above right represents the amount that those with "employment-based benefits" (read: health insurance) need to make call themselves financially secure.

Many excuses and accusations will follow in the wake of the November midterm election. Democrats will blame everything and anyone but themselves, reciting a familiar list of reasons why the populace did not vote for them: racism against our first African-American president, Sarah Palin's Facebook page, George Bush's recession, Tea Party "extremism," xenophobia, the Party of No, Rush Limbaugh, the Ground Zero Mosque, Jan Brewer, the Chamber of Commerce, Dick Cheney, secret money influencing our campaigns, a bad economy making Americans irrational and distrustful of science, and, of course,  Fox News. These anticipated reactions would imply that the election results of November 2010 (should the Republicans fulfill the expectations) are simply the symptoms of traditional reactionary politics against the party in power. This year's election, however, is far more momentous than just the regular ebb and flow of American politics, swinging back from the blowouts by the Democrats in 2006 and 2008.
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FOX <b>News</b> Propels <b>News</b> Corp to Profit Growth

News Corporation (News Corp) is the world's second-largest media conglomerate (behind The Walt Disney Company) as of 2008 and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009. The company's Chairman, Chief Executive. ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Says MySpace Losses Unsustainable | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

That big Myspace relaunch we read about last week? That's all fine and good. But the troubled Web property is a...really troubled Web property, its News Corp. parent stressed today. And it needs to get its act together before it gets ...

Good <b>News</b>: Bookmark-Syncing Service Xmarks Not Closing Down After All

Back in September, we heard that bookmark-syncing service Xmarks was shutting down in 2011, which came as awful news to those of us who relied on the any-browser extension to keep our bookmarks in sync no matter what browser we were ...

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In yesterday's Go Home Already, I linked to a story which talked about the results of a report conducted by Wider Opportunities for Women. The report discussed the amount of money that people under certain conditions in different areas around the Washington metro area need to make in order to feel financially "secure." Of course, there's serious wiggle room in that phrase, and plenty of commenters argued the validity of the numbers cited -- for instance, a single person without children to support in the District was deemed to need a yearly income of $32,000 per year to be "stable."

I finally got a chance to peruse the report, titled "The Basic Economic Security Tables for the Washington, DC Metro Area," this morning, and thought that I'd share some of the information inside of its pages for you to squabble over. Specifically, the data on single people and what they need to get by.

One failure of the study is that it never comes out and explicitly states what its definition of "economic security" is. Based on the literature out there, the term appears to mean having enough money coming in every month to build a stable future. (I know, we're defining relative terms with yet more relative terms. Best I could do, though. If there are any economists in the audience, please feel free to define the concept to me in concrete terms.)

That said, what does the study consider basic budget items for workers? "The core BEST Index contains basic budget items essential to all workers’ health and safety: housing, utilities, food and essential personal and house-hold items such as clothing, household products and a landline telephone," says the report, which also notes that the Index also assumes that all work occurs outside of the home (incurring transportation costs) and that everyone pays their taxes. Aside from the fact that most single people I know carry a cell instead of a landline, that seems somewhat fair. The Index includes a provision for their progeny's higher education (obviously null for those without children) and homeownership saving. The chart to the above right represents the amount that those with "employment-based benefits" (read: health insurance) need to make call themselves financially secure.

Many excuses and accusations will follow in the wake of the November midterm election. Democrats will blame everything and anyone but themselves, reciting a familiar list of reasons why the populace did not vote for them: racism against our first African-American president, Sarah Palin's Facebook page, George Bush's recession, Tea Party "extremism," xenophobia, the Party of No, Rush Limbaugh, the Ground Zero Mosque, Jan Brewer, the Chamber of Commerce, Dick Cheney, secret money influencing our campaigns, a bad economy making Americans irrational and distrustful of science, and, of course,  Fox News. These anticipated reactions would imply that the election results of November 2010 (should the Republicans fulfill the expectations) are simply the symptoms of traditional reactionary politics against the party in power. This year's election, however, is far more momentous than just the regular ebb and flow of American politics, swinging back from the blowouts by the Democrats in 2006 and 2008.
bench craft company

FOX <b>News</b> Propels <b>News</b> Corp to Profit Growth

News Corporation (News Corp) is the world's second-largest media conglomerate (behind The Walt Disney Company) as of 2008 and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009. The company's Chairman, Chief Executive. ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Says MySpace Losses Unsustainable | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

That big Myspace relaunch we read about last week? That's all fine and good. But the troubled Web property is a...really troubled Web property, its News Corp. parent stressed today. And it needs to get its act together before it gets ...

Good <b>News</b>: Bookmark-Syncing Service Xmarks Not Closing Down After All

Back in September, we heard that bookmark-syncing service Xmarks was shutting down in 2011, which came as awful news to those of us who relied on the any-browser extension to keep our bookmarks in sync no matter what browser we were ...

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FOX <b>News</b> Propels <b>News</b> Corp to Profit Growth

News Corporation (News Corp) is the world's second-largest media conglomerate (behind The Walt Disney Company) as of 2008 and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009. The company's Chairman, Chief Executive. ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Says MySpace Losses Unsustainable | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

That big Myspace relaunch we read about last week? That's all fine and good. But the troubled Web property is a...really troubled Web property, its News Corp. parent stressed today. And it needs to get its act together before it gets ...

Good <b>News</b>: Bookmark-Syncing Service Xmarks Not Closing Down After All

Back in September, we heard that bookmark-syncing service Xmarks was shutting down in 2011, which came as awful news to those of us who relied on the any-browser extension to keep our bookmarks in sync no matter what browser we were ...

bench craft company

In yesterday's Go Home Already, I linked to a story which talked about the results of a report conducted by Wider Opportunities for Women. The report discussed the amount of money that people under certain conditions in different areas around the Washington metro area need to make in order to feel financially "secure." Of course, there's serious wiggle room in that phrase, and plenty of commenters argued the validity of the numbers cited -- for instance, a single person without children to support in the District was deemed to need a yearly income of $32,000 per year to be "stable."

I finally got a chance to peruse the report, titled "The Basic Economic Security Tables for the Washington, DC Metro Area," this morning, and thought that I'd share some of the information inside of its pages for you to squabble over. Specifically, the data on single people and what they need to get by.

One failure of the study is that it never comes out and explicitly states what its definition of "economic security" is. Based on the literature out there, the term appears to mean having enough money coming in every month to build a stable future. (I know, we're defining relative terms with yet more relative terms. Best I could do, though. If there are any economists in the audience, please feel free to define the concept to me in concrete terms.)

That said, what does the study consider basic budget items for workers? "The core BEST Index contains basic budget items essential to all workers’ health and safety: housing, utilities, food and essential personal and house-hold items such as clothing, household products and a landline telephone," says the report, which also notes that the Index also assumes that all work occurs outside of the home (incurring transportation costs) and that everyone pays their taxes. Aside from the fact that most single people I know carry a cell instead of a landline, that seems somewhat fair. The Index includes a provision for their progeny's higher education (obviously null for those without children) and homeownership saving. The chart to the above right represents the amount that those with "employment-based benefits" (read: health insurance) need to make call themselves financially secure.

Many excuses and accusations will follow in the wake of the November midterm election. Democrats will blame everything and anyone but themselves, reciting a familiar list of reasons why the populace did not vote for them: racism against our first African-American president, Sarah Palin's Facebook page, George Bush's recession, Tea Party "extremism," xenophobia, the Party of No, Rush Limbaugh, the Ground Zero Mosque, Jan Brewer, the Chamber of Commerce, Dick Cheney, secret money influencing our campaigns, a bad economy making Americans irrational and distrustful of science, and, of course,  Fox News. These anticipated reactions would imply that the election results of November 2010 (should the Republicans fulfill the expectations) are simply the symptoms of traditional reactionary politics against the party in power. This year's election, however, is far more momentous than just the regular ebb and flow of American politics, swinging back from the blowouts by the Democrats in 2006 and 2008.
bench craft company

bench craft company

FOX <b>News</b> Propels <b>News</b> Corp to Profit Growth

News Corporation (News Corp) is the world's second-largest media conglomerate (behind The Walt Disney Company) as of 2008 and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009. The company's Chairman, Chief Executive. ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Says MySpace Losses Unsustainable | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

That big Myspace relaunch we read about last week? That's all fine and good. But the troubled Web property is a...really troubled Web property, its News Corp. parent stressed today. And it needs to get its act together before it gets ...

Good <b>News</b>: Bookmark-Syncing Service Xmarks Not Closing Down After All

Back in September, we heard that bookmark-syncing service Xmarks was shutting down in 2011, which came as awful news to those of us who relied on the any-browser extension to keep our bookmarks in sync no matter what browser we were ...

bench craft company

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FOX <b>News</b> Propels <b>News</b> Corp to Profit Growth

News Corporation (News Corp) is the world's second-largest media conglomerate (behind The Walt Disney Company) as of 2008 and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009. The company's Chairman, Chief Executive. ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Says MySpace Losses Unsustainable | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

That big Myspace relaunch we read about last week? That's all fine and good. But the troubled Web property is a...really troubled Web property, its News Corp. parent stressed today. And it needs to get its act together before it gets ...

Good <b>News</b>: Bookmark-Syncing Service Xmarks Not Closing Down After All

Back in September, we heard that bookmark-syncing service Xmarks was shutting down in 2011, which came as awful news to those of us who relied on the any-browser extension to keep our bookmarks in sync no matter what browser we were ...

bench craft company

FOX <b>News</b> Propels <b>News</b> Corp to Profit Growth

News Corporation (News Corp) is the world's second-largest media conglomerate (behind The Walt Disney Company) as of 2008 and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009. The company's Chairman, Chief Executive. ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Says MySpace Losses Unsustainable | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

That big Myspace relaunch we read about last week? That's all fine and good. But the troubled Web property is a...really troubled Web property, its News Corp. parent stressed today. And it needs to get its act together before it gets ...

Good <b>News</b>: Bookmark-Syncing Service Xmarks Not Closing Down After All

Back in September, we heard that bookmark-syncing service Xmarks was shutting down in 2011, which came as awful news to those of us who relied on the any-browser extension to keep our bookmarks in sync no matter what browser we were ...

bench craft company

FOX <b>News</b> Propels <b>News</b> Corp to Profit Growth

News Corporation (News Corp) is the world's second-largest media conglomerate (behind The Walt Disney Company) as of 2008 and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009. The company's Chairman, Chief Executive. ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Says MySpace Losses Unsustainable | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

That big Myspace relaunch we read about last week? That's all fine and good. But the troubled Web property is a...really troubled Web property, its News Corp. parent stressed today. And it needs to get its act together before it gets ...

Good <b>News</b>: Bookmark-Syncing Service Xmarks Not Closing Down After All

Back in September, we heard that bookmark-syncing service Xmarks was shutting down in 2011, which came as awful news to those of us who relied on the any-browser extension to keep our bookmarks in sync no matter what browser we were ...

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FOX <b>News</b> Propels <b>News</b> Corp to Profit Growth

News Corporation (News Corp) is the world's second-largest media conglomerate (behind The Walt Disney Company) as of 2008 and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009. The company's Chairman, Chief Executive. ...

<b>News</b> Corp. Says MySpace Losses Unsustainable | Peter Kafka <b>...</b>

That big Myspace relaunch we read about last week? That's all fine and good. But the troubled Web property is a...really troubled Web property, its News Corp. parent stressed today. And it needs to get its act together before it gets ...

Good <b>News</b>: Bookmark-Syncing Service Xmarks Not Closing Down After All

Back in September, we heard that bookmark-syncing service Xmarks was shutting down in 2011, which came as awful news to those of us who relied on the any-browser extension to keep our bookmarks in sync no matter what browser we were ...

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I've witnessed a lot of personal friends struggle to make money with their music. Unfortunately most of them failed. Some say it is all about luck. Others say it is who you know. After observing my friends' attempt to surpass this ultimate musicians' challenge, I came to my own conclusion: Making money in the music industry relies on a dedicated effort and commitment to avoid spending money in the music industry.

You know that popular cliché "you have to spend money to make money"? Yeah, well it may have been true at some ancient time but it certainly is not anymore. With the technology we have available to us, there is little or no need to be investing money for self promotional or marketing purposes at any time whatsoever unless absolutely necessary.

This is important to at least keep in mind until you do have the money to spend on extra advertising. Free publicity and indirect or grassroots style advertising opportunities are every place we look. The trick for blossoming musicians however is to allow themselves to recognize and utilize these profitable situations instead of letting the excitement of becoming a famous rock star overtake their common sense, natural business mind and ultimately, the funds in their bank accounts.

That is where any musician I know begins to go wrong. It is understandably tough to look away from impending stardom. But what happens is these aspiring musicians get a taste of the fame and riches and they become absorbed and obsessed with it. One area of the music marketing efforts that I've witnessed to be a particular setback financially is in the making and distributing of the demo.

Demo CDs, for instance, and the promotional packages that go along with the music, can really add up in price if you are not careful. Think about it. You must spend money to put the entire package together in an attractive way that will stand out to booking agents and record companies and on top of that shell out even more to physically send the materials. And I won't even mention the amount of money you probably had to put down in order to get someone to produce the demo CD in the first place. Or the Pollstar subscription you bought for access to the addresses and phone numbers of important music industry contacts and performance venues to send the demos to. Yes, this all adds up real quick.

And of course it is understandable how a musician or band could easily get carried away with the demo distribution. After all, the goal is to get as many people to hear the music as possible, right? And if you happen to be starting out your music career with some kind of grant or family trust fund or maybe you made it rich working your butt off in some prestigious career before embarking on this musical journey, if one of these exceptions apply, I see no reason to not mail out unsolicited demo CDs.

For those on a budget, however, it is much wiser to act a little more stingily with your demo CDs. Sure, it's a good idea to make a handful of them to send out to people in your network who actually make a request for one. At least then you will know it is put to use. But as far as the typical unsigned musician self promotional strategy of mass mailing a bunch of demos out to all places that might be the slightest bit interested? Absolutely a big waste of time and money.

I can attest to this as a former professional in the industry. I probably received about 5 demo CDs a day and I hate to say this because I feel terrible about it but I maybe opened one or two a year. It wasn't that I was uninterested it was simply that a) I was too busy to deal with this task and b) the performance venue I worked at was inappropriate for almost every single musician who sent me their work. I knew the way the owner and management worked, and what type of musical acts they wanted (national, very popular and ones that could draw in over 1500 fans) and I was pretty sure these local or independent unsigned musicians would not be able to pull that off.

This, again, resulting in a giant waste of time, energy and money on the part of an artist who probably has some great sounding music. The key, then, in these situations is making awesome looking demo packages with your best music tracks inside and then proceeding to be extremely selective about who you pass them out to. This way at least you know your efforts will be appreciated and acknowledged as opposed to being tossed somewhere in a giant stack of other competing artists wanting the same break where you'll be lucky if anyone ever takes a second look at it in your lifetime.

Don't be discouraged, though, at this new idea about the low level of effectiveness in mass demo CD distribution. Thanks to our wonderful world of advanced technology there are many other ways these days to get your music heard, and if you are savvy about your efforts, you may not even have to pay a cent for them. See another Associated Content article of mine titled "Killer Ways To Promote Your Music For Free" for some unique cost free ideas to get you started as a profitable self promoter of your own personal brilliance.