Quick Guideline to Avoid Google AdSense Account Banned

There are a lot of Pay Per Click Programs on the net. Google AdSense is one of them and famous advertising program for Pay Per Click today. Most internet user all over the world joined the program to generate money. However, many of them frustrated as their AdSense account get banned. So, I am writing this article to provide a quick guideline to avoid AdSense account from getting banned by Google. This article targeted to the all readers either they want to become or joined Google AdSense program or those who were new publisher to Google AdSense. The points I highlight below are the most common mistakes that happened to the new publishers.

However, at the time of writing this article, there might be changes happened in Google policy and as a precaution action, the readers are encouraged to visit Google AdSense policy at their official site as below;

https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=48182

As I mentioned, this article just provide quick guideline and not as a complete reference. It is just point out the most common mistakes by the new publishers. The complete reference can be accessed by visiting Google Official site as below;

https://www.google.com/adsense/localized-terms

Quick Guideline 1: Avoid invalid clicks

Google AdSense seriously prohibited on the invalid clicks on their ads. The frequently occurrence on invalid click might result to the account disabling. The best way to avoid this invalid clicks is make sure you locate log files in your web server, by doing that, you can monitor your web site activity, visitors, etc... if you found any suspicious activity on your site, then you can report those activity to Google. This will help you from getting banned by Google.

Please do not integrate the ads into something else. Just let the ads on its own. Do not placed ads near to the buttons or text hyperlinks as it may result in unintended click that might be considered as invalid click.

Do not buy traffic as this might contribute to the invalid clicks and cause to your AdSense account be banned.

Quick Guideline 2: Do not ever encourage user to click your ads.

Make sure placed your ads properly, and never ever encourage your visitor to click on the ads. To avoid this separate the ads at least 10px so that there is a space between them. This will look clean and clear.

Quick Guideline 3: Be careful with your content

Make sure you write a good content. Also be careful if you take content from another source, I am afraid that this will cause to "duplicate content" by Google. Make sure there are no excessive repetition content on your site. Google seriously prohibited such contents as below;

Pornography, adult or mature content Violent/Crime content. Hacking/cracking content Gambling or casino-related content Illicit drugs and drug paraphernalia content Any sales of beer or hard alcohol, tobacco or tobacco-related products, prescription drugs, weapons or ammunition, distribution of coursework or student essays (copyright related). Excessive profanity Content related to racial intolerance or advocacy against any individual, group or organization

Quick Guideline 4: Be careful in choosing free web hosting To those newbie out there, please make sure you select to subscribe free hosting that does not have pop-ups and pop-unders that might interfere your site navigation. Please do not provide initiate download or any program like that to your site as this is also against the Google policy.

Quick Guideline 5: Make sure there is a "Privacy Policy" page on your site

Google imposed this "Privacy Policy" must be on your site. The "Privacy Policy" page must contain the related information such as; DoubleClick DART cookie, Log files, Cookies etc... However, I have no idea on how the "Privacy Policy" page looks like. But the easy way is find the others site that already have this "Privacy Policy" related to Google AdSense Policy, copy and modified them as suit to your site. Then put it in your "Privacy Policy" page.

So the above quick guidelines are the most common mistake to the new Google AdSense publishers. By providing this article, I hope it will reduce the mistake, and avoid their AdSense account from getting banned by Google.

AdSense Earnings Can Really Pile Up   Buy Google AdSense Account: Ads by Google   Does Google AdSense Really Work?   How Much Can You Make With AdSense?   Looking for an AdSense Niche? Want Some Truly Unique Tips?   

How to Get Traffic to Your Google AdSense Site

It is a fact that all online marketing strategies are aiming on one thing: to generate traffic. Because with good traffic comes better rankings, thus earning you popularity and good reputation to effectively lure prospective customers in supporting the company by purchasing your goods.

Along with other strategies that can be used in running a promotion online, you can use Goolge AdSense to get traffic and at the same time, earn income. Google AdSense is a pay per click (PPC) platform developed by the popular search engine that displays ads related to your site content.

Basically, it works this way: if you place an advertisement to your site, Google will match the ads to your content based on their relativity and when someone clicks on the ad posted, they will get paid for every click made. By being the most popular and widely used search engine system, Google is making developments to provide better services to both online searchers and advertisers.

Google AdSense will be very beneficial if your website is generating a good volume of traffic so after establishing your website, make sure you are regularly acquiring a valuable amount of traffic. You can do this by doing the following techniques in getting traffic to your Google AdSense site.

One of the conventional ways of gaining traffic is through the use of article marketing. It is where you submit well-written articles to related websites and different article hosting directories.

Submitting write-ups of good quality to several article directories can be helpful to get a lot of traffic as such sites have greater percentage of people coming across different articles for information. Also with other related sites as every article that appears on the site has a corresponding link attached on the material so people can still drop by to your main website for more details.

Contributing on forum sites is also beneficial as you can interact with different people posting several queries. But you may not want to blatantly advertise your site as you will easily be banned, so by giving useful insights as advice to them, you are, in a way, promoting your site.

You can also use popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and others because such sites feature millions of online users worldwide and you can easily reach them through setting up an account on the said sites. Through inviting target market and keeping them updated with interesting posts, you can promote your website by mentioning it frequently.

Video marketing is also helpful in this campaign since it is a fresh and more creative approach in reaching your audience. By applying the basic rules in article marketing, you can easily run your video marketing as well.

Keep on exploring more possibilities so you can have different options. Enjoy!

AdSense Earnings Can Really Pile Up   Buy Google AdSense Account: Ads by Google   Does Google AdSense Really Work?   How Much Can You Make With AdSense?   

Wanting to Make Money With Google AdSense: Four Points

Everyone wants to make money with Google AdSense and they will all want to build their business online. Yet, for the most part they do not make their goals for their business. The key word that most people forget that is when they sign up to the Google AdSense affiliate program they do not realize that they are in fact working a business.

There are many stats that people will quote one of them being that you are one a millions of people who want to make money online with this program. People make money, but on average, the people who do make money each month the number most commonly quoted is 25%. In other words 25% of people who have a Google AdSense account will make the monthly pay-out level of $100.

There that is the news. So, can you plan to build your business so that you are one of the 25%? Yes you can. Here are the four simple and effective steps to doing this:

1) Use the power of online writing sites: This is key, most writing sites will either allow you to use your Google AdSense account on it, or you will be able to harness the power of linking to make money with this program. For example you can go to one online writing site which pays you by impressions, but link to your sites which use AdSense. You can also link from these sites to your main website or blog.

2) Know Your competition: For example if there are 1,000 people using a certain topic, you will have a shorter time in building your business to make a payout than if you are one in a million on a certain topic. This means that you will need to focus more on your work than you would have to otherwise. You will need to think of how much money you expect to make online.

3) Linking: No links not traffic no money. In other words if you have not begun to ink your work, now is a great time to do so. Social networking sites, any sites, but if you do not there is less of a chance you will be found by the Search engines, and make money with AdSense.

4) Your profile: Write a Great profile. The key here is that the profile will make people go to other pages, and be interested in them.

AdSense Earnings Can Really Pile Up   Buy Google AdSense Account: Ads by Google   Does Google AdSense Really Work?   How Much Can You Make With AdSense?   Looking for an AdSense Niche? Want Some Truly Unique Tips?   How To Use AdSense Niches to Make AdSense Cash   

What Are Average AdSense Earnings?

How do you know if Google AdSense is worth your while? How much can you make using Google's pay-per-click scheme? What are average AdSense earnings?

To be able to assess the money making potential of Google AdSense you have to have an understanding of how well the scheme works for the millions of AdSense publishers already signed up to the program. AdSense has a lot of potential. For some AdSense publishers it has become a good way of earning money. A few however, have gone on to make it an extremely successful means of making cash. Unfortunately, those that have gone on to make loads of AdSense cash are in the minority.

In most instances new publishers fail to make substantial amounts of AdSense cash. On average a reasonably motivated webmaster can make about $5.00 a day on their website.

This value for average AdSense earnings doesn't seem to be much at all. You really shouldn't be thinking of leaving your day job, if you're only going to making an average of $140.00 a month.

But you should really be disheartened with the values given for average AdSense earnings because the potential still exists for making loads of AdSense cash... if you're willing to put in little bit of work.

Many successful AdSense publishers have more than one site. In fact most successful AdSense publishers have on average about ten different sites. Each one having varying degrees of success. It is the combined potential of all their sites that ultimately makes them money. So if we look back at our average AdSense earnings of $5.00 per site, we would now then get $50.00 for every ten sites per day. This then results in average monthly earnings in the region of $1400.00. Which to many, is a much more acceptable monthly value.

And of course this amount can be increase by creating more quality AdSense websites. Also some of your sites could make much more than the average $5.00 per day, while others could be making much less. The better the quality of your website the more likely it is to fulfill visitor expectations and the more likely it is to get that all important click.

So as you can see making money is a possibility but the task isn't easy. It will ultimately require that you put in a lot of work in order to build enough websites to boost your average AdSense earnings.

AdSense Earnings Can Really Pile Up   Buy Google AdSense Account: Ads by Google   Does Google AdSense Really Work?   How Much Can You Make With AdSense?   Looking for an AdSense Niche? Want Some Truly Unique Tips?   How To Use AdSense Niches to Make AdSense Cash   

Using All Of Your AdSenses

There are many ways to make money online as an online marketer. A very popular and well known revenue is AdSense. Although AdSense is all the rage today, it should not be relied on as a main source of income. And if you are looking into using AdSense for making serious money, there are some things you really need to consider.

Where Should I start?

AdSense is a good idea for supplementary income or secondary income. First of all, you need a good niche. It is a good idea to learn how to research a market niche that is something everyone is looking for nowadays, perhaps a new fad or idea that everyone is looking for more information on, or people would want to read up on. Do some research on what you think a good market niche would be, what people would be willing to spend money on and build up from there.

A Blog

Secondly, set up a blog. A blog is a low cost and usually free way to set up a site and add content. A blog with a lot of content on it will bring people to your site. Add your content on a daily basis if you can. Even better, post two articles a day, whether it is something you wrote, or post a link to a site that you feel would interest other people to click to and read. This will keep people coming back to your blog on a regular basis and traffic flowing through your blog. When you post an article, have a link at the bottom directed to your website. When people are reading your content, and want to learn more, or need more information, they are sure to go check out your website. Make your content interesting to keep people coming back to look at your blog for new material.

A Website

Next, look into setting up a website. Yes, I did mention that earlier. A blog is free, a website is not, but is very important for setting up your market niche and driving traffic to your site with AdSense ads on them. Even better, once you have your own market niche, set up a domain name for that niche, this makes it easier to search on Google and for search engines to pick up. The blog is there to ultimately bring traffic to your website. Once you have built a market niche site, find another niche and make another website with its own domain name. You will want, over time, to have about two dozen websites up and running to drive traffic to your website with AdSense on them.

You will need to do a lot of research on how to set up AdSense on your website pages. Apply with Google to get your Google AdSense account set up. The Google HTML code will need to be put into your website pages. Google has some good step by step instructions on how to set up your ads on your web pages as well you may have to do more research on how to position the ads on your pages, change the color, adjust the font for your ads. Google gives you the ability to do this as well, within your account settings.

Adding Content

Nothing could be stressed more. Add content. This could be writing your own articles, finding articles geared towards the subject of your market niche, as long as you keep the author's name attached to the bottom of the article. Make your website and blogs interesting for people to come back to your site again and again. There are plenty of tools and content on the web you can search for and add to your sites. There are news feeds, photo galleries, bookmark buttons, you tube videos, slide shows, any number of things you can add to drive traffic to your websites.

Driving Traffic

Finally, you will need to drive traffic to your website. Post articles. There are hundreds of sites online to post your articles attaching your blog or website address at the bottom, helping to direct traffic towards your sites. You can bookmark ther articles you post. Ultimately you want to get the information out there, that your site exists and it has informative content for consumers to read and find what they are looking for. The buying customer, the one who is looking to purchase a product online, is the customer you want coming to your website. These are the people researching a product to buy online and once they find the product they are looking for, will purchase it. Who knows, this could be through an AdSense advertisement that click on while browsing through one of your web pages.

There are many ways to make money online nowadays, and AdSense is only one of many. Creating a blog and website with a market niche and driving traffic to your site where you have Google ads on them. AdSense should not be considered a primary source of income and an online marketer should be looking into other sources of income to market and make money as well.

AdSense Earnings Can Really Pile Up   Buy Google AdSense Account: Ads by Google   Does Google AdSense Really Work?   How Much Can You Make With AdSense?   

The Looming Fiscal Cliff

Okay... so here we are, back again with the election behind us. And, as some of you might recall, about a month back my commentary had a piece about how the elections would impact you with Obama vs. Romney.

So now that Obama has won, let me just summarize what I had mentioned a month ago on Obama's likely impact on some key economic issues.

The first thing I spoke about was that Obama will let tax cuts expire - those so called Bush Tax Cuts which expire on December 31, 2012, unless Congress does something to keep them in place. I'd mentioned that Obama wants to raise taxes on those earning over $250,000 and use this additional tax money to reduce the budget deficit. These tax cuts represent roughly $400 billion that could potentially flow to the government along with payroll taxes and higher taxes on investments: dividends, long-term capital gains.

Part of the package with the "sunsetting" of Bush era tax cuts were across the board spending cuts that also go into effect on January 1, 2013 - something called sequestration - that would impact discretionary spending on items like defense spending, and total about $200 billion in reduced government spending - with higher taxes and spending cuts jointly aimed at reducing the budget deficit, balancing the budget and reining in our national debt. These measures are expected to reduce the budget deficit by roughly 50% in 2015 and budget and debt by $7.1 trillion over the next 10 years.

It's this combination of tax increases and spending cuts that everyone's calling the fiscal cliff that goes into effect on January 1, 2013. It's this uncertainty over the fiscal cliff that was one of the causes of the markets' swing sharply lower on November 7, the day after the election.

And the reason everyone's talking about this fiscal cliff is that it's likely to increase the risk of a recession in 2013 if we just let it happen as is. Under a baseline scenario, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) expects GDP growth to go down to 0.5% in 2013 from its current run rate of 1.1% and this contraction in GDP could significantly increase the probability of a recession in the first half of the year. So this "do nothing" scenario is a fearful one for both Main Street and Wall Street because it portends a recession that could hit us while we are only in the early stages of an economic recovery after the mortgage banking crisis of 2008. And economists fear that this could be hard to get out of especially since the world around us is in pretty bad shape too.

Now, none of this is going to be easy. For one, after this election, the Democrats have a firmer grip on the Senate and the Republicans are stronger in the House of Representatives, and neither party appears very willing to strike a compromise. Additionally, our debt ceiling will soon be reached and our lawmakers will have to soon reach some agreement on raising the debt ceiling so we can at least continue to pay our bills as a nation.

And to make matters worse, the European Union recently downgraded its economic forecast for 2013 - it now expects GDP to contract by 0.3% rather than stay flat as was earlier projected. Even strong nations like Germany are now feeling the pain with growth forecasts revised down to 0.8%, less than half of what they were just a few months ago.

The bang opposite scenario is one where the deadline is simply extended - tax cuts are left in place, at least for now, and spending cuts too are deferred - the kick the can down the road scenario. Under this scenario, the CBO expects deficits to remain high and for public debt to increase, indeed shoot up, from 69% of GDP in 2011 to 100% by 2021 and to 190 percent by 2035 - not a pleasant thought. This scenario would give the new government some more time to strike a compromise but would cause significant uncertainty until some decision is reached... and likely increase market volatility with daily swings tied to pieces of good news and bad news, much like what we've been seeing with the European crisis.

Another scenario is one where Republicans and Democrats reach a modest compromise and let some tax cuts expire while retaining others and enforce some spending cuts while ignoring a few others - sort of a give-and-take approach to avoid political confrontation and economic paralysis. Perhaps this is most likely because the electorate - we, the people too, want both parties to collaborate on this one because a slip-back to recession is bad for employees, businesses and governments that get less tax revenues.

And one final scenario is a grand bargain where both parties work in a bipartisan manner to come up with a solid plan that addresses comprehensive fiscal issues including tax cuts and spending cuts, and put us firmly on a path to balancing our budget and reducing our national debt. Gosh that sounds too good to be true, and unfortunately, it's less likely because neither party will substantially agree to give up too much.

This grand compromise is also something that the CEOs of over 80 major U.S. corporations urged lawmakers in Washington to reach to address our nation's fiscal woes.

So as we go into this lame duck session before the new government is inaugurated, my advice to my listeners is that you continue to stay invested through this uncertainty, even Buffett says "hold" right now and seize significant market declines as buying opportunities of companies that will survive all of this over the long run, and not let any volatility over the coming weeks and months shake you off your investment goals.

The Looming Fiscal Cliff   

The Looming Fiscal Cliff

Okay... so here we are, back again with the election behind us. And, as some of you might recall, about a month back my commentary had a piece about how the elections would impact you with Obama vs. Romney.

So now that Obama has won, let me just summarize what I had mentioned a month ago on Obama's likely impact on some key economic issues.

The first thing I spoke about was that Obama will let tax cuts expire - those so called Bush Tax Cuts which expire on December 31, 2012, unless Congress does something to keep them in place. I'd mentioned that Obama wants to raise taxes on those earning over $250,000 and use this additional tax money to reduce the budget deficit. These tax cuts represent roughly $400 billion that could potentially flow to the government along with payroll taxes and higher taxes on investments: dividends, long-term capital gains.

Part of the package with the "sunsetting" of Bush era tax cuts were across the board spending cuts that also go into effect on January 1, 2013 - something called sequestration - that would impact discretionary spending on items like defense spending, and total about $200 billion in reduced government spending - with higher taxes and spending cuts jointly aimed at reducing the budget deficit, balancing the budget and reining in our national debt. These measures are expected to reduce the budget deficit by roughly 50% in 2015 and budget and debt by $7.1 trillion over the next 10 years.

It's this combination of tax increases and spending cuts that everyone's calling the fiscal cliff that goes into effect on January 1, 2013. It's this uncertainty over the fiscal cliff that was one of the causes of the markets' swing sharply lower on November 7, the day after the election.

And the reason everyone's talking about this fiscal cliff is that it's likely to increase the risk of a recession in 2013 if we just let it happen as is. Under a baseline scenario, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) expects GDP growth to go down to 0.5% in 2013 from its current run rate of 1.1% and this contraction in GDP could significantly increase the probability of a recession in the first half of the year. So this "do nothing" scenario is a fearful one for both Main Street and Wall Street because it portends a recession that could hit us while we are only in the early stages of an economic recovery after the mortgage banking crisis of 2008. And economists fear that this could be hard to get out of especially since the world around us is in pretty bad shape too.

Now, none of this is going to be easy. For one, after this election, the Democrats have a firmer grip on the Senate and the Republicans are stronger in the House of Representatives, and neither party appears very willing to strike a compromise. Additionally, our debt ceiling will soon be reached and our lawmakers will have to soon reach some agreement on raising the debt ceiling so we can at least continue to pay our bills as a nation.

And to make matters worse, the European Union recently downgraded its economic forecast for 2013 - it now expects GDP to contract by 0.3% rather than stay flat as was earlier projected. Even strong nations like Germany are now feeling the pain with growth forecasts revised down to 0.8%, less than half of what they were just a few months ago.

The bang opposite scenario is one where the deadline is simply extended - tax cuts are left in place, at least for now, and spending cuts too are deferred - the kick the can down the road scenario. Under this scenario, the CBO expects deficits to remain high and for public debt to increase, indeed shoot up, from 69% of GDP in 2011 to 100% by 2021 and to 190 percent by 2035 - not a pleasant thought. This scenario would give the new government some more time to strike a compromise but would cause significant uncertainty until some decision is reached... and likely increase market volatility with daily swings tied to pieces of good news and bad news, much like what we've been seeing with the European crisis.

Another scenario is one where Republicans and Democrats reach a modest compromise and let some tax cuts expire while retaining others and enforce some spending cuts while ignoring a few others - sort of a give-and-take approach to avoid political confrontation and economic paralysis. Perhaps this is most likely because the electorate - we, the people too, want both parties to collaborate on this one because a slip-back to recession is bad for employees, businesses and governments that get less tax revenues.

And one final scenario is a grand bargain where both parties work in a bipartisan manner to come up with a solid plan that addresses comprehensive fiscal issues including tax cuts and spending cuts, and put us firmly on a path to balancing our budget and reducing our national debt. Gosh that sounds too good to be true, and unfortunately, it's less likely because neither party will substantially agree to give up too much.

This grand compromise is also something that the CEOs of over 80 major U.S. corporations urged lawmakers in Washington to reach to address our nation's fiscal woes.

So as we go into this lame duck session before the new government is inaugurated, my advice to my listeners is that you continue to stay invested through this uncertainty, even Buffett says "hold" right now and seize significant market declines as buying opportunities of companies that will survive all of this over the long run, and not let any volatility over the coming weeks and months shake you off your investment goals.

The Looming Fiscal Cliff   

The Looming Fiscal Cliff

Okay... so here we are, back again with the election behind us. And, as some of you might recall, about a month back my commentary had a piece about how the elections would impact you with Obama vs. Romney.

So now that Obama has won, let me just summarize what I had mentioned a month ago on Obama's likely impact on some key economic issues.

The first thing I spoke about was that Obama will let tax cuts expire - those so called Bush Tax Cuts which expire on December 31, 2012, unless Congress does something to keep them in place. I'd mentioned that Obama wants to raise taxes on those earning over $250,000 and use this additional tax money to reduce the budget deficit. These tax cuts represent roughly $400 billion that could potentially flow to the government along with payroll taxes and higher taxes on investments: dividends, long-term capital gains.

Part of the package with the "sunsetting" of Bush era tax cuts were across the board spending cuts that also go into effect on January 1, 2013 - something called sequestration - that would impact discretionary spending on items like defense spending, and total about $200 billion in reduced government spending - with higher taxes and spending cuts jointly aimed at reducing the budget deficit, balancing the budget and reining in our national debt. These measures are expected to reduce the budget deficit by roughly 50% in 2015 and budget and debt by $7.1 trillion over the next 10 years.

It's this combination of tax increases and spending cuts that everyone's calling the fiscal cliff that goes into effect on January 1, 2013. It's this uncertainty over the fiscal cliff that was one of the causes of the markets' swing sharply lower on November 7, the day after the election.

And the reason everyone's talking about this fiscal cliff is that it's likely to increase the risk of a recession in 2013 if we just let it happen as is. Under a baseline scenario, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) expects GDP growth to go down to 0.5% in 2013 from its current run rate of 1.1% and this contraction in GDP could significantly increase the probability of a recession in the first half of the year. So this "do nothing" scenario is a fearful one for both Main Street and Wall Street because it portends a recession that could hit us while we are only in the early stages of an economic recovery after the mortgage banking crisis of 2008. And economists fear that this could be hard to get out of especially since the world around us is in pretty bad shape too.

Now, none of this is going to be easy. For one, after this election, the Democrats have a firmer grip on the Senate and the Republicans are stronger in the House of Representatives, and neither party appears very willing to strike a compromise. Additionally, our debt ceiling will soon be reached and our lawmakers will have to soon reach some agreement on raising the debt ceiling so we can at least continue to pay our bills as a nation.

And to make matters worse, the European Union recently downgraded its economic forecast for 2013 - it now expects GDP to contract by 0.3% rather than stay flat as was earlier projected. Even strong nations like Germany are now feeling the pain with growth forecasts revised down to 0.8%, less than half of what they were just a few months ago.

The bang opposite scenario is one where the deadline is simply extended - tax cuts are left in place, at least for now, and spending cuts too are deferred - the kick the can down the road scenario. Under this scenario, the CBO expects deficits to remain high and for public debt to increase, indeed shoot up, from 69% of GDP in 2011 to 100% by 2021 and to 190 percent by 2035 - not a pleasant thought. This scenario would give the new government some more time to strike a compromise but would cause significant uncertainty until some decision is reached... and likely increase market volatility with daily swings tied to pieces of good news and bad news, much like what we've been seeing with the European crisis.

Another scenario is one where Republicans and Democrats reach a modest compromise and let some tax cuts expire while retaining others and enforce some spending cuts while ignoring a few others - sort of a give-and-take approach to avoid political confrontation and economic paralysis. Perhaps this is most likely because the electorate - we, the people too, want both parties to collaborate on this one because a slip-back to recession is bad for employees, businesses and governments that get less tax revenues.

And one final scenario is a grand bargain where both parties work in a bipartisan manner to come up with a solid plan that addresses comprehensive fiscal issues including tax cuts and spending cuts, and put us firmly on a path to balancing our budget and reducing our national debt. Gosh that sounds too good to be true, and unfortunately, it's less likely because neither party will substantially agree to give up too much.

This grand compromise is also something that the CEOs of over 80 major U.S. corporations urged lawmakers in Washington to reach to address our nation's fiscal woes.

So as we go into this lame duck session before the new government is inaugurated, my advice to my listeners is that you continue to stay invested through this uncertainty, even Buffett says "hold" right now and seize significant market declines as buying opportunities of companies that will survive all of this over the long run, and not let any volatility over the coming weeks and months shake you off your investment goals.

The Looming Fiscal Cliff   

The Looming Fiscal Cliff

Okay... so here we are, back again with the election behind us. And, as some of you might recall, about a month back my commentary had a piece about how the elections would impact you with Obama vs. Romney.

So now that Obama has won, let me just summarize what I had mentioned a month ago on Obama's likely impact on some key economic issues.

The first thing I spoke about was that Obama will let tax cuts expire - those so called Bush Tax Cuts which expire on December 31, 2012, unless Congress does something to keep them in place. I'd mentioned that Obama wants to raise taxes on those earning over $250,000 and use this additional tax money to reduce the budget deficit. These tax cuts represent roughly $400 billion that could potentially flow to the government along with payroll taxes and higher taxes on investments: dividends, long-term capital gains.

Part of the package with the "sunsetting" of Bush era tax cuts were across the board spending cuts that also go into effect on January 1, 2013 - something called sequestration - that would impact discretionary spending on items like defense spending, and total about $200 billion in reduced government spending - with higher taxes and spending cuts jointly aimed at reducing the budget deficit, balancing the budget and reining in our national debt. These measures are expected to reduce the budget deficit by roughly 50% in 2015 and budget and debt by $7.1 trillion over the next 10 years.

It's this combination of tax increases and spending cuts that everyone's calling the fiscal cliff that goes into effect on January 1, 2013. It's this uncertainty over the fiscal cliff that was one of the causes of the markets' swing sharply lower on November 7, the day after the election.

And the reason everyone's talking about this fiscal cliff is that it's likely to increase the risk of a recession in 2013 if we just let it happen as is. Under a baseline scenario, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) expects GDP growth to go down to 0.5% in 2013 from its current run rate of 1.1% and this contraction in GDP could significantly increase the probability of a recession in the first half of the year. So this "do nothing" scenario is a fearful one for both Main Street and Wall Street because it portends a recession that could hit us while we are only in the early stages of an economic recovery after the mortgage banking crisis of 2008. And economists fear that this could be hard to get out of especially since the world around us is in pretty bad shape too.

Now, none of this is going to be easy. For one, after this election, the Democrats have a firmer grip on the Senate and the Republicans are stronger in the House of Representatives, and neither party appears very willing to strike a compromise. Additionally, our debt ceiling will soon be reached and our lawmakers will have to soon reach some agreement on raising the debt ceiling so we can at least continue to pay our bills as a nation.

And to make matters worse, the European Union recently downgraded its economic forecast for 2013 - it now expects GDP to contract by 0.3% rather than stay flat as was earlier projected. Even strong nations like Germany are now feeling the pain with growth forecasts revised down to 0.8%, less than half of what they were just a few months ago.

The bang opposite scenario is one where the deadline is simply extended - tax cuts are left in place, at least for now, and spending cuts too are deferred - the kick the can down the road scenario. Under this scenario, the CBO expects deficits to remain high and for public debt to increase, indeed shoot up, from 69% of GDP in 2011 to 100% by 2021 and to 190 percent by 2035 - not a pleasant thought. This scenario would give the new government some more time to strike a compromise but would cause significant uncertainty until some decision is reached... and likely increase market volatility with daily swings tied to pieces of good news and bad news, much like what we've been seeing with the European crisis.

Another scenario is one where Republicans and Democrats reach a modest compromise and let some tax cuts expire while retaining others and enforce some spending cuts while ignoring a few others - sort of a give-and-take approach to avoid political confrontation and economic paralysis. Perhaps this is most likely because the electorate - we, the people too, want both parties to collaborate on this one because a slip-back to recession is bad for employees, businesses and governments that get less tax revenues.

And one final scenario is a grand bargain where both parties work in a bipartisan manner to come up with a solid plan that addresses comprehensive fiscal issues including tax cuts and spending cuts, and put us firmly on a path to balancing our budget and reducing our national debt. Gosh that sounds too good to be true, and unfortunately, it's less likely because neither party will substantially agree to give up too much.

This grand compromise is also something that the CEOs of over 80 major U.S. corporations urged lawmakers in Washington to reach to address our nation's fiscal woes.

So as we go into this lame duck session before the new government is inaugurated, my advice to my listeners is that you continue to stay invested through this uncertainty, even Buffett says "hold" right now and seize significant market declines as buying opportunities of companies that will survive all of this over the long run, and not let any volatility over the coming weeks and months shake you off your investment goals.

The Looming Fiscal Cliff   

The Looming Fiscal Cliff

Okay... so here we are, back again with the election behind us. And, as some of you might recall, about a month back my commentary had a piece about how the elections would impact you with Obama vs. Romney.

So now that Obama has won, let me just summarize what I had mentioned a month ago on Obama's likely impact on some key economic issues.

The first thing I spoke about was that Obama will let tax cuts expire - those so called Bush Tax Cuts which expire on December 31, 2012, unless Congress does something to keep them in place. I'd mentioned that Obama wants to raise taxes on those earning over $250,000 and use this additional tax money to reduce the budget deficit. These tax cuts represent roughly $400 billion that could potentially flow to the government along with payroll taxes and higher taxes on investments: dividends, long-term capital gains.

Part of the package with the "sunsetting" of Bush era tax cuts were across the board spending cuts that also go into effect on January 1, 2013 - something called sequestration - that would impact discretionary spending on items like defense spending, and total about $200 billion in reduced government spending - with higher taxes and spending cuts jointly aimed at reducing the budget deficit, balancing the budget and reining in our national debt. These measures are expected to reduce the budget deficit by roughly 50% in 2015 and budget and debt by $7.1 trillion over the next 10 years.

It's this combination of tax increases and spending cuts that everyone's calling the fiscal cliff that goes into effect on January 1, 2013. It's this uncertainty over the fiscal cliff that was one of the causes of the markets' swing sharply lower on November 7, the day after the election.

And the reason everyone's talking about this fiscal cliff is that it's likely to increase the risk of a recession in 2013 if we just let it happen as is. Under a baseline scenario, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) expects GDP growth to go down to 0.5% in 2013 from its current run rate of 1.1% and this contraction in GDP could significantly increase the probability of a recession in the first half of the year. So this "do nothing" scenario is a fearful one for both Main Street and Wall Street because it portends a recession that could hit us while we are only in the early stages of an economic recovery after the mortgage banking crisis of 2008. And economists fear that this could be hard to get out of especially since the world around us is in pretty bad shape too.

Now, none of this is going to be easy. For one, after this election, the Democrats have a firmer grip on the Senate and the Republicans are stronger in the House of Representatives, and neither party appears very willing to strike a compromise. Additionally, our debt ceiling will soon be reached and our lawmakers will have to soon reach some agreement on raising the debt ceiling so we can at least continue to pay our bills as a nation.

And to make matters worse, the European Union recently downgraded its economic forecast for 2013 - it now expects GDP to contract by 0.3% rather than stay flat as was earlier projected. Even strong nations like Germany are now feeling the pain with growth forecasts revised down to 0.8%, less than half of what they were just a few months ago.

The bang opposite scenario is one where the deadline is simply extended - tax cuts are left in place, at least for now, and spending cuts too are deferred - the kick the can down the road scenario. Under this scenario, the CBO expects deficits to remain high and for public debt to increase, indeed shoot up, from 69% of GDP in 2011 to 100% by 2021 and to 190 percent by 2035 - not a pleasant thought. This scenario would give the new government some more time to strike a compromise but would cause significant uncertainty until some decision is reached... and likely increase market volatility with daily swings tied to pieces of good news and bad news, much like what we've been seeing with the European crisis.

Another scenario is one where Republicans and Democrats reach a modest compromise and let some tax cuts expire while retaining others and enforce some spending cuts while ignoring a few others - sort of a give-and-take approach to avoid political confrontation and economic paralysis. Perhaps this is most likely because the electorate - we, the people too, want both parties to collaborate on this one because a slip-back to recession is bad for employees, businesses and governments that get less tax revenues.

And one final scenario is a grand bargain where both parties work in a bipartisan manner to come up with a solid plan that addresses comprehensive fiscal issues including tax cuts and spending cuts, and put us firmly on a path to balancing our budget and reducing our national debt. Gosh that sounds too good to be true, and unfortunately, it's less likely because neither party will substantially agree to give up too much.

This grand compromise is also something that the CEOs of over 80 major U.S. corporations urged lawmakers in Washington to reach to address our nation's fiscal woes.

So as we go into this lame duck session before the new government is inaugurated, my advice to my listeners is that you continue to stay invested through this uncertainty, even Buffett says "hold" right now and seize significant market declines as buying opportunities of companies that will survive all of this over the long run, and not let any volatility over the coming weeks and months shake you off your investment goals.

The Looming Fiscal Cliff   

The Importance of a Pool Fence and the Dangers of Going Without

Having a pool fence around your pool is one of the most important things you can do for your family to keep them safe. Having a pool is a wonderful thing that builds lasting childhood memories, and no one wants anything more than to keep it that way. Accidental drowning is the second leading cause of death in children 1 to 14. It is also the sixth leading cause of death in those of all ages. It happens, and not protecting you and your family from the dangers of these accidents may in fact lead you to that gruesome possibility. With the fun and enjoyment of things also comes with preparing yourself and your family and taking precautions.

Keeping your family safe is usually priority number one for everyone. When considering a pool, owning a home with a pool, or if you do already have one and there is no fence, really lay down the facts. A pool is a great addition to any backyard. Not only does it add character and excitement, but it gives off a vibe of fun, BBQ's in the summer time, birthday parties and family memories. They are a blast to have and fun for the whole family. But, many may not even consider a pool fence around it, thinking that it may take away from the inviting allure of the water and the colors -which in a sense is exactly right.

Imagine a sweet youngster who loves the pool just as much as any other family member in your home and you know that when little ones want something, they want it right now. Maybe you are on the phone, cleaning or doing anything that may deter you from being able to go out and enjoy an afternoon of fun in the sun and swimming in the pool. What happens when that child decides to go out and swim on their own? What do you do? If you have no fence keeping them from being able to go out and swim unsupervised, you are opening up a window to the possibility of having a dangerous situation followed by grief and regret. It is so important that when you have a pool or would like one, consider adding a pool fence to keep your family safe at all times.

A pool fence does not have to be this ugly eye sore that takes over the backyard and is uninviting and unappealing. There are so many options on the market that looks great, matches any outdoor exteriors and is durable. Safety should be a priority when owning a pool and when that is covered there is nothing from keeping you and your family from fun and entertaining. So when owning a pool, always consider a pool fence and how important they are to have installed around your pool to keep your family protected. You will never regret having a pool fence, knowing that you are keeping your children safe so it can be truly enjoyed by all.

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The Beautiful Look of a Mesh Pool Fence and the Options They Give

A pool is a great asset to any home and backyard. They add adventure and excitement. On warm summer days they keep friends coming over to play and build memories. They also can bring a certain allure and advantage when selling your home, and if that is the case, having a pool fence adds so much more to that. They bring a sense of security and style. Knowing that your children are safe anytime of the year is a valuable thing, and having a pool fence to keep little ones or big ones at bay is a peace of mind that will help you to sleep soundly at night. When wanting to add a pool fence around your swimming area, there are lots of different selections on the market today, each with their own advantages and selling points. One of those would be mesh fences. They are clean, classy and durable. Able to attract the eye visually and keep kids away physically. They are a great addition to any back yard at a great price.

Mesh fences are a great feature to have around your property and are even better when adding them around your pool. What is great about them is it allows you to completely customize your fence personally to get the exact match that suits your needs and security options. A proper pool fence height measures at 48 inches. With these types of fences, you can have that height or anything above. They come in a number of different options that you can choose from. Each are secure, durable and long lasting.

With a pool fence you are keeping your children, family and neighbors safe with the extra addition to your swimming pool area. With a mesh fence you can also choose the style that best suits your outdoor exterior of the home and the backyard. These are easily able to be matched with your home color or a previously existing fence that outlines your property line. If you like a picket fence look, you can have a fence surrounding your pool that has that charm and appeal, while keeping kids safe and away from danger, beyond that you can get any accent, feature or look when it comes to the design of your mesh pool fence. They come in a selection of great colors that allows you to match your home or fence, with that white being the most popular, but also available in tan or gray.

Not only are these types of a pool fence a durable and secure solution to keeping everyone safe, they are also great for a little added privacy. You can choose the slot size between each post, if you want any at all. That way you can keep your swimming are not only completely blocked off but visually closed off and private. Many different retailers offer these as a pool fence solution, always research prices, products and the best retail store for you and your purchase. Adding a pool fence to your swimming pool area is not only an easy decision, but a wise one. With mesh fencing you are not only keeping children safe, but giving your home a clean appealing look as well.

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3 Neat Ways To Enjoy Your Deck This Summer

Are you getting burnt out with the usual cookout on your deck? Perhaps you are hoping to find some other uses for your deck this summer that don't involve turning the grill on. Many families are enjoying their deck all summer long with out of the box activities. Consider family movie night, an ice cream social, or even a camp out! These experiences will bring the family closer and allow for some more fun while the kids are out of school all summer. How do you undertake these things? Read on to discover how fun and simple these ideas are.

1. Family movie night

Sounds crazy as an idea for your deck right? Well if you have a projector for movies than you are all set! Pick an evening that is going to be a comfortable temperature and no chance of rain. Then hang a white sheet from a line or on the side of the home to create a screen (unless you have a portable one). All you will need is to use the outlets but those are usually located on the exterior of the home anyways. You can use outdoor furniture or create a fort with blankets and pillows to enjoy the movie with your family. Oh and don't forget the popcorn!

2. Ice cream social

If you have a birthday party coming up, or a sport event for the kids, or even just a nice hot summer day, an ice cream social is a great way to spend the afternoon on your deck. All you will need to do is stock the table or outside kitchen counter with all the ingredients for an ice cream sundae and then have the kids create their own sundaes buffet style. This is a great way to avoid sticky ice cream messes inside. When you are done you can simply hose off the deck and get rid of the sticky ice cream, chocolate sauce and whipped cream topping.

3. Camp out

There's nothing like a night under the stars. And whether you have little ones or even if it's just you and your spouse, a camp out on the deck is a great way to bring back the fun memories of camping as a child. The best part is that you don't even have to leave your deck! If it's a warm night and free of bugs you may just want to sleep under the stars, but you can also set up your tent on the lawn or even right on the deck. All you will need is to make sure that you have all the ingredients to make a fire and toast some marshmallows.

Don't let your deck sit empty this summer because there are plenty of activities and ideas that will put it to great use! If you do not yet have the deck of your dreams then now is the time to consider a custom built deck from your local deck building company. When you have your dream deck you will want to find as many ways as possible to spend more time outside.

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Patio Heaters: Best Kept Buying Secrets Revealed!

Patio heaters are great for people who like hanging out on their patios in cold nights. With the right one, you can enjoy nights in your patio without feeling the cold air. But what do you need to do in order to buy the perfect one for you.

Certainly there are a lot of things to consider when you are to buy a heater.With all the factors that might affect your buying decision, you can easily get confused on what to really look for. The secrets in buying the perfect heater can now be learned. Read on as we reveal the best kept patio heater buying secrets.

Budget

Normally, heater prices would range between $50 to $200 and this would depend on a lot of things. One would be the brand name, the quality, features, and how much power it packs. To save money, go for the heater that would give you more value for your money overtime and the one that you just need. Don't go over board by spending too much on a special feature that you don't really need. Just stick to the basics.

Area Size

You can narrow down your choices of patio heaters if you know exactly how big your patio is. Knowing the measurement of a patio area will tell you just how much power you need in a heater that would effectively heat your whole patio area.

Power

Of course with a big patio area, it would call for a patio heater that would pack much more power to heat the whole area. You can check the specifications of the heater on its packaging. See how much heat it can produce and what its effective range is.

Gas Or Electric?

There are two main types of heaters being sold in the market. There are those that need gas to produce heat. These types either go for propane or natural gas. You can buy propane in your local home improvement store to refill the tanks. For the ones that run on natural gas, as long as it is hooked up to your gas line, you can be sure it would always give out heat.

These are only a few valuable hints that you can use to help you decide on which patio heater to buy. There are a lot more valuable information that you can find online. Search for articles about various heaters and look for extensive reviews on different brands in the market today before making the decision to buy.

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