The LuxMob Info Tags

To many people, their patio is the most cherished part of their
house. It is a source of comfort where you can relax and be
alone or have a party for neighbors and friends, but when the
weather doesn’t cooperate with that comfort then the solution is
an awning cover. A patio awning cover is one way to ensure that
you’ll be able to enjoy your patio in rain or shine. These
covers come in an endless variety of styles and colors and you
can match the awnings with any homes decor. They also add value
to your home, making them a very good investment.

When you add a patio awning to your home, it is almost like
adding another room to your house. The patio itself is a
beautiful feature in any home, but add an awning to that and you
have something spectacular. It becomes like an outdoor room that
the whole family can enjoy. You can get patio awnings in two
different types and these are automatic or manual. With the
manual awning, you can adjust the awning to different pitches
and depth of the fabric. You can set it to where you feel you
need it at the time and can have it partially open or closed.
Automatic awning covers are controlled by an electric arm and
open or close with the push of a button, You can also set then
up so that you can use a remote control, which is really
convenient for those that don’t have the strength or patience to
open and close the awnings themselves. The automatic awnings
usually come with a manual override in case of power outages.

Awnings are not just made for patios. Some people install them
over their windows or they will brighten up a walkway with them.
They can become very energy efficient as well. They are
wonderful at keeping the bright sunlight out and can prevent the
drapes and furniture from suffering with sun rot. It keeps the
temperature in the home a little cooler than getting the direct
sunlight and this can come in really handy on those hot summer
days if your window is facing South. An awning can reduce the
heat up to 65 percent, and with a West window it can reduce the
heat up to 77 percent. Sometimes they are used just to beautify
the home and add charm and elegance to it.

We all know how hot it can get in an RV in the middle of the
summer. Well you can add a beautiful awning to your motor home
and you will not only have shade on the outside, but will be
able to enjoy the cooler temperatures that it provides on the
inside. These awnings can be attached to your motor home so that
they work automatically or manually. They will make a big
difference in front of your motor home while you sit in the
shade having a cool one. They will also make a big difference
when you walk inside to prepare a meal and the temperature is a
lot cooler. This is a good investment for you and your motor
home, as it adds to the value of your RV and gives you comfort
at the same time.

As you probably know, Google Adwords is a pay-per-click solution
offered by Google. As with other PPCs, you are given the ability
to place your small advertisement on various platforms
controlled by Google. While the platform provides you with a
large audience, you must manipulate your keywords to generate
success.

Matching Options

When running an Adwords campaign, you can and should define when
your keywords will appear in search results. To do this, you can
select matching options for each of your keywords to either
reach a broad audience or target a niche.

The Google Adwords platform allows you to select four matching
options:

Broad Match

Broad match is the default setting for an Adwords campaign.
Broad match means your ad will appear in search results when any
combination of the words in your keyword phrase search. Many an
advertiser has learned expensive lessons using this setting.
Let’s look at an example.

Assume I am selling travel writing diaries and using “travel
journals” as my keyword phrase. Any time a person enters any
combination of “travel” and “journals” in a search, my ad will
appear. The ad will also appear for plurals and relevant
variations. While this may sound great at first glance, a broad
match setting can result in low quality hits and poor conversion
rates. A person searching for travel journal stories is going to
see my link. While a decent percentage will click my link, they
are far less likely to buy because they are just browsing. Using
broad match, my costs go up and my conversions go down.

Broad match isn’t necessarily a bad option. If your product
makes a popular Christmas gift, you definitely want to use the
broad match option in November and December. You prospective
clients will be motivated to buy. Even the “browsing” surfers
will convert well.

Phrase Match

Phrase match is a matching option that gives you a bit more
control over your ads. Phrase match tells the Adwords platform
to only show your ad when a search is conducted for the
particular order of your keyword phrase. Using the phrase match
option for “travel journals”, my ad would appear when someone
search for a phrase with “travel journals” in it, but not
“journals travel”. To use phrase match for keyword phrases, you
simply place quotation marks around them.

Exact Match

Exact match is…exact match. It is the most targeted option.
You should use it only if you want your ad to appear in searches
for the exact keyword phrase as written. For instance, if I want
my ad to appear in searches for “travel journals” and nothing
else, I will use the exact match. To select the exact match
option, simply place brackets (”[]”) around the keyword phrase.

Negative Match

No, the negative match option doesn’t involve cussing, insults
or adult sites. Instead, it allows you to designate which
keyword phrase search results you do not want your ad to appear
in. For example, I may not want my travel journal product to
appear in search results for “Amazon travel journals”. I would
simply list the keyword phrase with a dash (-) in front of it
and my ad will not appear. The negative match option is a
tremendous option for eliminating junk traffic from your Adwords
campaign.

The Google Adwords platform is a tremendous advertising
platform. Effectively manipulate your keywords and it can be a
highly profitable one as well.

Credit Score Factors

The information contained on our credit reports affect every aspect of our lives; including employment, insurance, and even interest rates (mortgage, credit cards, automobiles, etc.). There is specific information captured on our report which is used to form our credit score:

• Payment History (accounts for approximately 35%)

• Outstanding Debt (accounts for approximately 30%)

• Length of Credit History (accounts for approximately 15%)

• Types of Credit Currently in Use (accounts for approximately 10%)

• Recent Inquiries (accounts for approximately 10%)

Payment History – Your payment history includes the following types of specific
Information:

• Account payment information on specific types of accounts (credit cards, retail accounts, installment loans, finance company accounts, mortgage, etc.)

• Adverse public records (bankruptcy, judgments, suits, liens, wage attachments, etc.), collection items, and/or delinquency (past due items)

• Severity of delinquency. The more recent the problem, the larger the impact on your credit score.

• Amount past due on delinquent accounts or collection items

• Time since and frequency of past due items (delinquency), adverse public records, or collection items

• Number of past due items on file

• Number of accounts paid as agreed

Outstanding Debt – Your credit score is adversely affected if you owe amounts at or near your credit limit, so if possible, split the balance and transfer some of the debt to a second card. A low balance on two cards is better than a high balance on one. (Credit card companies usually charge a ‘transfer’ fee, but ‘reward’ you for switching you debt by offering a low interest rate. Sometimes the interest rate offered is for an introductory period only, so make sure you read the fine print before transferring your debts.)

• Amount owing on accounts

• Amount owing on specific types of accounts

• Lack of a specific type of balance, in some cases number of accounts with balances

• Proportion of credit lines used (proportion of balances to total credit limits on certain types of revolving accounts)

• Proportion of installment loan amounts still owing (proportion of balance to original loan amount on certain types of installment loans)

Length of Credit History – The longer you have maintained your accounts, the better it reflects on your credit report.

• Time since accounts opened

• Time since accounts opened, by specific type of account

• Time since account activity

Types of Credit in Use – Loans from finance companies generally lower your credit score. According to FICO, this is heavily relied upon when there is little other credit history upon which to base a score.

• Number (or amount) of different types of accounts (i.e. installment loans, credit cards, retail accounts, mortgage, consumer finance accounts, etc.)

Recent Inquiries on Your Report – Recent applications for several new accounts may negatively affect your score. If you inquire about special promotions it does not affect your credit report.

Now that we know what factors the credit bureaus consider when calculating your credit scores, you might be saying to yourself… yeah, yeah, I’ve heard all that before. Tell me something I don’t already know, like how I can raise my score!

With that thought in mind, pay your bills on time. If you have recent late payments on your credit report, lenders view this as you larger credit risk. When you get your bills, don’t let this sit on your kitchen table collecting dust. Keep a log of your current bills by due date and the total amount due. Having a late payment appear on your credit report today can have a larger impact on your credit score than filing bankruptcy five years ago!

Manage your credit effective, and don’t say… “Duh, that one is obvious”. I am definitely stating the obvious here. However, one of the most common ways for consumers to get into a downward spiral credit wise is the poor choices we all have made using the unsecured portion of our credit; CREDIT CARDS. Credit cards do offer immediate relief (or often time’s instant gratification) to our needs (or wants). Don’t go out buying luxury items if you don’t have cash readily available to pay for those items when the bill comes due. That means saying “NO” to plasma screen TV’s, new furniture, Gucci watches, and all the items that we “simply can’t live without”.

Anytime you run a balance on an unsecured credit card or line of credit, it has an impact upon your credit score. By focusing on keeping the balance you carry on your credit cards / lines of credit to less than 25% of your total line of credit, you will be in better shape regarding your credit score.

For more information regarding your credit scores, credit reports or debt options currently available to you, please contact Gateway Credit Connection or visit us online at http://www.creditmonkey.com

Michael Goff is the Co-Founder of Gateway Credit Connection, helping empower consumers to take control of their personal and business finances.

Gateway Credit Connection 15770 Dallas Parkway Suite 1100 Dallas, TX 75248 469.547.4323 Visit us online at http://www.CreditMonkey.com

Could it be possible that you are staring right into the most spectacular financial opportunity of the century? Operation: Iraqi Freedom will undoubtedly be a war marked in history for loss and tragedy, American victory, and the rise of a nation with a new democratic government. But could it also be a war historically remembered for the financial opportunity it created for the sharp investors who keenly recognized an ephemeral chance at the right time?

The War on Iraq ended with a nation placed on the footstool of many new operations. An old dictator was removed; a new government was instilled, and the old currency, each note stamped with the face of the now powerless Saddam Hussein, was suddenly valueless and burned in the streets by American soldiers. In its place entered a new currency, beautifully created with the input of the people and history of Iraq.

The United States funded this new currency, artistically crafted by the De La Rue, the world’s premier currency printers. Unveiled during a press conference in the capitol city of Bagdad, the new Iraqi currency was introduced. A historic university, erected in the thirteenth century, is etched into the one thousand dinar bills. A serene waterfall graces the front of the periwinkle five thousand dinar notes. And a humble, hardworking farmer holds up a sheaf of wheat on the most substantial bill of all: the twenty five thousand dinar note.

Twenty five thousand dinars! That sounds like a huge value allotted to a single bill of currency. But in fact, today, this note is only worth 17.12 US dollars! Today, the average American’s savings account could make them a millionaire in Iraq.

But what does this mean? How does this present such an outrageous financial opportunity? In 1990, prior to the Gulf War and before any sanctions were placed on Iraq, the Iraqi dinar was equivalent to approximately $3.40. And prior to Operation: Iraqi Freedom, the Iraqi dinar still maintained a value of about 30 cents. That’s about three hundred times what it’s worth today.

The United States and several other nations are in the process of taking every measure possible to rebuild Iraq. The country is gaining stability, and could soon be in its way to becoming an independent and prosperous nation. What would this mean for the value of the Iraqi currency? Certainly it would mean a rise in its value. It could go back to what it was worth before the war, or more. And that would mean an unbelievable return for anyone who invested in it today. It could mean thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars for someone who had a million dinars today.

The value of the Iraqi economy has nearly doubled since the capture of Saddan Hussein. This has many investors predicting that the dinar will continue to rise in value as well. Even without help from other nations, with the world’s second largest oil reserve and the world’s largest gas reserve, it is abundantly clear that Iraq has the resources available to expand and become an extremely prosperous nation. In fact, economists and investors are speculating that Iraq has the potential to become among the wealthiest nations in the world.

Today you can take advantage of this potential and be part of those that benefit from Iraq’s success the most. Purchasing the Iraqi dinar at its most vulnerable point in history could mean a fortune in the near future. This means nothing short of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for today’s forward-thinking investors.

Learn more about this unique opportunity and how to purchase the dinar at www.Iraqi-Dinar.com with American Trading Company.

About The Author

Sakina A. Walsh is a personal investor in the Iraqi Dinar, and comes from a family of economists. She has worked for several financial and investment companies, and has most recently partnered with American Trading Company where she has become very enthusiastic about the opportunities presented by the new Iraqi currency.

sakina@forgedesign.com

Are you a website owner or a web designer/developer? If either applies, I would venture to say that eventually you’ll need an online shopping cart for one of your websites. In fact, almost all new websites today need some sort of ecommerce built-in, for the purpose of selling goods and services in the online marketplace.

The greatest challenge is to find the perfect ecommerce shopping cart solution for yourself and/or your client. This task can be very overwhelming, considering, if you type ’shopping cart’ into Google.com, this search alone returns over 14.4 million hits! Most of us don’t have the time to sift through more than a few pages of a search engine to find what we’re looking for.

For the last 3 months, much of my time has been devoted to researching as much shopping cart technology as I could get my hands on. In general, shopping cart software ranges in price from free to over $2000 for a single license and web hosted carts range from $5 to hundreds of dollars per month. The studied carts cover the spectrum of all web programming languages (ASP, ASP.NET, Cold Fusion, Flash, Java, JavaScript & Perl shopping carts) and provide limitless features as a whole. The problem is that locating YOUR perfect cart with YOUR specific features can be a big task.

But no fear, just follow this guaranteed step-by-step guide to locate it:

The Top 10 Steps to Finding the Best Online Shopping Cart

Cost

How much money do you have to spend on an internet shopping cart? The nice advantage is that there are shopping carts with hundreds of features and they don’t cost you a dime. They are generally open source products. The only problem is that these same “free shopping carts” can take hours of installation time and be fairly difficult to configure. For a monthly fee, web hosting shopping carts are made for users with little programming experience and allows them to have an online storefront presence in no time.

Hosting vs. Software

There are two options in selecting your overall shopping cart solution. Either you get shopping cart software, download it, install it on your web server, then configure the shopping cart OR you get an online storefront (aka a hosted shopping cart) where the configuration is very basic and the required setup time is minimal. If you have some programming skills, I recommend buying a script and installing it on your own. The nice thing is that you pay a one-time fee for shopping cart software and the license is good for a lifetime. It’s approximately the same price to have a hosted solution for a year compared to most one time shopping cart license fees.

Supported Gateways

What do I mean by gateways? Gateways give shopping carts the ability to connect and securely process credit card orders in real-time. Not all shopping carts are created equal. Make sure that your client’s merchant account is supported by the cart you select. I have found that almost all carts support the larger online payment processing companies, such as Authorize.net, PayPal and Verisign.

Shipping Options

Will you be shipping physical products? If so, there are shopping carts that have built-in real-time shipping options through DHL, UPS And USPS. Often times, the cart gives the user the ability to view tracking orders and order status all from within your secure shopping cart web interface. Also, there are shopping carts with options to ship digital goods as well (files, programs, pictures, music and others).

Technical Support

What kind of technical support does your shopping cart offer? If you choose to purchase a script, be sure to also subscribe to the shopping cart creator’s newsletter, so that you can stay on top of future updates to the software. Be aware that technical support is generally available on a pay-per-incident basis, as a yearly fee or in the rare case, free. Be sure to know what kind of customer support guarantee the shopping cart comes with.

Security

Please, only buy a shopping cart if it supports SSL (secure socket layer), with 128-bit encryption. As an online storefront, remember that you are responsible for the safe transfer of sensitive information (credit card and bank account information) that is processed through your store. If any of the sensitive information is accessible (stolen) from your website, you could be liable. Be sure that you’re purchasing a secure shopping cart solution. Ask the creator’s of the shopping cart what they do specifically to protect the secure transfer of sensitive information.

Style Compatibility

Can you customize your shopping cart to look like your website? There needs to be a seamless transition between your website and your shopping storefront or your customers might get hesitant in purchasing your products. There should be similar colors and style layout to look professional and believable.

Extra Features

I just wanted to mention some of the other features that I have discovered, which might be a critical point in determining the shopping cart you want.

Affiliate Program - Offer your own customized affiliate program through your shopping cart software. Quickbooks Integration - Many carts allow direct integration with Quickbooks.

Newsletter & Mailing Letter Managers - The ability to stay in touch with your current customers and keep them returning to your online store.

Custom Taxing Options - Create taxable or tax-free products and have the ability to add various global tax options at checkout.

World Languages & Currencies - Shopping cart language translation and support for world currency might be a necessary feature for your cart.

Error Free

You mean shopping carts can have errors? Of course. A private UK-based web testing firm found the following, after studying a large group of UK online shopping carts for a period of one month (24/7):”The majority of UK web sites are guilty of leaving e-consumers stranded at the checkout empty handed, once they have already spent valuable time browsing and selecting goods to purchase. This is due to erratic functionality within shopping carts, at a critical step in the online purchasing process.”

“E-consumers are prevented from making purchases on UK web sites for 9 hours and 30 minutes a month on average, (115 hours a year).” “80 per cent of web sites perform inconsistently with widely varying response times, timeouts and errors - leaving consumers at best wondering what to do next and at worst unable to complete their purchase successfully. This is potentially costing e-retailers millions in lost sales from consumer frustrations.” (http://www.scivisum.co.uk/report/ecommerce/)

Be sure to see what other users are saying about a shopping cart that you might be interested in purchasing. Any shopping cart errors could cost you thousands of dollars in sales. Get a stable and secure cart.

Shopping Cart Directory

The following is a link containing a directory of shopping carts that are categorized according to each of the above-stated steps. Make shopping for shopping carts a breeze!

Shopping Cart Directory

If you have any questions or comments about this article, please contact the author.

About The Author

Evan Stevens (http://www.evanstevens.com) is a professional web developer. This article reviews ecommerce online shopping carts.