SAVE THE WORLD: December 2007

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Sex, Lies and the Secret Truth About Marketing

by Barry A. Densa

It doesn’t matter which business you’re in; what service or product you’re selling—if you want to net six or seven figures every year, drive your competition into bankruptcy and tears, be voted best marketer of the year and be awarded the Noble Peace Prize and an Oscar—you’ve got to be absolutely great in bed!

Where was I? Ah, yes...

Unbridled sex is not what I’m talking about here! I’m talking about how to be a successful marketer. And the bed and mattress is your market. And your partner is not your wife, husband or lover—it’s your customer.
But, if you insist...

Let’s Talk About Sex (Though strictly as a marketing metaphor)

So if you’re easily offended, do not read the next sentence. Now, imagine going to bed with someone you don’t like, who you can barely tolerate, someone you don’t want to talk to or be with—but you sleep with them anyway—and only for the money.

What does that make you? Yeah, exactly.

Yet, even within that business sector, the “business owner” who has a big and generous heart for her clientèle, who’s willing to at least act as if she’s making love to them, well, she’s going to fare far better than her competition—who looks at her customers as just another “John”.

Make Love to Them—Don’t Screw Them!

If you truly care about your customers and you wish to have a quality relationship with them, then their needs and concerns, their pains and deprivations will and must touch you—and drive you to create a solution (read: product or service) that will aid and benefit them. And if you do this, well then, they’ll love you forever (read: buy from you, and be loyal to you and recommend you). Why? Because your efforts are a labor of love—and it’ll show, and it will be reciprocated.
On the other hand, by not caring about or respecting your customers, your motivation is certainly exploitation and self-gratification.

And therefore you’ll foolishly offer them only what you believe they should have or want—that which will please and benefit you more—and them far less, if at all.
And all your relationships will then be shallow and short-lived. And your life will be filled with a tiring succession of unsatisfying first dates (and they’ll all be ugly, dumb, poor—and fat!)
Of course, if you’re an artful and cunning low-life liar, you might succeed in stringing a few gullible dates along for awhile longer. But, in the end, even the ugly, dumb and poor ones will resent your empty promises, and even the fat ones will quickly abandon you for a far more caring, considerate, compassionate and entrepreneurial lover. Because he’ll make them feel beautiful, smart, rich—and skinny! (Remember: you’re replaceable. Do a Google search and see for yourself.)

What’s Sex Without Passion?

Boring. Mechanical. Unsatisfying. Unconvincing. And it won’t get you any more nooky. Passion is what “ka-chings” the cash register on both sides of the bed. (Hey, this is a marketing class; I’m allowed to co-mingle my metaphors.) Passion is uncontainable, infectious, firm, strong and untiring. Romeo had it. Valentino had it, Gable, Harlow and Monroe had it. Depp and Theron, Pitt and Jolie have it now. Pee Wee Herman never did and never will. Passion is the key to every lover’s memorable nights. And the marketers secret to undreamed of success. Passion is honest and true—it can’t be faked! It comes from a belief deep within. Some may mimic its sounds and appearance—but such artifice will always ring hollow, cold and shrill. Real passion leaves no doubt. It’s hot. It’s seductive and inviting. You don’t have to sell it, though you may have to contain it. Express it through your business and to succeed.

Whoa! How Do You Do That?

Okay, for the finale, we’re abandoning all metaphors. Bottom line: To be a successful marketer—a high six or seven figure income marketer—you’ve got to fully believe in and have a deep and abiding love and passion for what you do, what you sell, and to whom you sell it. Your belief and passion has to be so strong that just the scent of it will knock down all doors, all obstacles, all disbeliefs—and all objections. Of course, if you don’t fully believe what you’re selling is the best—the best you can produce and your offer the best you can make—then it clearly isn’t! And to say otherwise is a damnable lie. And you’ve got to be the sleaziest of con artists, a sociopath to the nth degree, to get excited about a lie—to package it and sell it as truth. How can you transfer your excitement, your palm sweating, knee-weakening passion to your customers—instilling in them an unalterable and compelling desire to buy—if you know deep down inside what you’re telling them and selling them is a lie? Listen, if you’re just trying to make a buck by pulling a fast one—you’ll die poor. Passion isn’t a shirt you put on in the morning—it’s the skin you sleep in at night. Passion is what your customers respond to, because passion comes from your heart—from belief, confidence and love. Love your customers and love what you do and be in love with what you have to offer and the world will be yours.

sources: http://www.site-reference.com/

by Hilum Mburu

As the World Wide Web evolves to a global village, every business that is serious about harnessing the power of the internet to tap into a greater market must meticulously plan for their online presence. Having an effective web site requires strategy from choosing the designer and aesthetics to the basic ease of use mechanics.Building an effective websites may seem like a daunting task but it need not be. The following points will help you succeed during the planning stage.

Choosing a Web Designer

An effective website that works is a result of experience, skill, and creativity so choosing the right person to help you get going is essential. The designer should have a thorough knowledge of internet technologies and web standards backed up with a great portfolio which should give you a glimpse of their strengths and weaknesses. A good designer will listen to your needs and make helpful suggestions toward key decisions you need to make at the start of the web design process. The designer will help you articulate your goals and ideas and focus them into an effective website that will help you establish your online presence. There are many qualities that one should look for but all in all you should look for an experienced designer, a graphic design expert, competent technical skills, a good portfolio and site management abilities

Type of Web Site

You need to ask yourself what do I want my website to do for me? There are different types of websites, static, dynamic, e-commerce driven and blogs. Static web sites are the most typical web sites on the Internet and are comprised of text, graphics and images. Dynamic web sites on the other hand are database driven and return results depending on end-user request. Dynamic web sites usually use some form of active script to access the database and return results such as ASP, PHP, and Cold Fusion. A popular type of dynamic web site is called a Blog. Blogs are interactive websites which allow for user input via comments section, these are very useful for learning about the needs of your clients and meeting them satisfactorily. Blogs can be developed as entire websites or as plug-ins or a section on a website. Many web sites offer free blogging such as Word Press E-commerce web sites sell products and services. E-commerce sites are often a type of dynamic web site and utilize a database, but not all however. Some e-commerce sites can be setup simply using PayPal or Google Pay.

Aesthetics

Now let get into the fun part, your website should be visually appealing to your visitors. Remember that the goal of your website is to inform the visitors not annoy them with flashy graphics and screaming colors, so keep the graphics to a minimum. Use simple and clean layouts throughout the site that will enhance the presentation of your content and that will enable the visitor quickly find the information they are looking for before they get annoyed and move on. Now, balance is the key here and not eliminating graphics altogether. Using bland layouts that are boring will have the same effect as over usage. If you have hired a designer trusting in their judgment and listening to their input will help you steer clear of issues.

Content Presentation

The visitor is looking for information and how easy they get it is determined by the presentation. Be clear and concise that one is able to decide if what you are offering is the service or product they are looking for. Use titles and headings in your content to help your visitors scan for the details they are looking for. Keep the content fresh and updated to win the confidence of the visitor. Provide useful content to the visitor that calls them to action, provide solutions to their problems and they will definitely come back for more. Refrain from duplicating your website with your brochure, use a personal language that shows them exactly what they will get from your site. Marketing jargon and vague descriptions is a no-no, you should use a conversational language because your visitors have come for details.

Navigation

Navigation is a road map with clear landmarks, roads that intersect and even suggested routes. Keep in mind that your visitors don't necessarily come through the homepage since they can come through search engines, bookmarks, links from other websites and so on. Make sure that you carry your navigation element uniformly in your site visitors need to know where they are, where they can go and how to go back to their entry point. If your visitor has to stop and ask for directions then chances are they will never get to where they are going in your site. A consistent navigation on each page will make your site more intuitive and appealing.

Search Engines

Search engine optimization should be addressed from the beginning. Search Engine Optimization or ‘SEO’ is important because it assists your site in being 'found' and ranked by search engines. This is done by optimizing your pages to be indexed by the search engine robots that the big search engines like Google use. A few techniques used are; do a keyword research (words or phrases used by users to look for a service or product) then use the keywords in titles, links and in the content. Use 'alt tags' for images and then make sure you have good quality content.

E-Commerce

If you are intending to sell your products and services through your website, then you need to plan this well in advance. E-commerce is a great way of increasing sales and exposing your products and services to a global audience. There are various ways that you can accept payments online these include, bank transfers, credit cards, online checks, and so forth. E-commerce can be full of hidden fees and dangers such as having an unsecured web site that is allowing transaction information to be intercepted. Third party services such as PayPal allow webmasters large and small to setup an e-commerce site quickly and safely. In conclusion if you will keep all these elements in mind during the planning stage of your web site and do adequate research you will find the building process to go far more smoothly.

Sources: www.site-reference.com

by Hilum Mburu

Choosing a Web Designer

Type of Web Site

Aesthetics

Content Presentation

Navigation

Search Engines

E-Commerce

Sources: www.site-reference.com

Making Money Using Google Adsense

Making Money With Your 1st Or 50th Website Using Google Adsense

by Clinton Douglas IV

If you are just starting online with your first website, you have quite a learning curve in front of you. I know that your learning curve is still long, because I have been making money online for years, and I am still learning new stuff everyday. Every year, more people are coming online. And every year, people struggle to figure out how to tap into the economic engine powered by the Internet. The one thing that newcomers to the Internet frequently fail to realize is that those of us, who are making the most money online, spent years learning our trades.The good news is that Internet newcomers have one major advantage that my mentors and myself did not have when we started our online enterprises. The newcomers have people like us who are willing to teach others what they have learned.

First And Most Important Lesson To Learn

There are three kinds of commercial websites on the Internet: product/service merchants, advertising providers, and non-profit websites.Now, the Red Cross and the United Way are non-profit websites by choice and mission. But, the majority of non-profit websites on the Internet were designed to be for-profit websites, but the website owner will have been lucky to have earned enough to pay their web hosting costs.By the end of this article, I hope that I will have provided you enough information to be able to turn any non-profit website into a profit generating machine.Merchants sell services. They also sell products made by others or themselves. Some merchants produce their own informational books and e-books, on a wide variety of topics.Many people make the mistake of assuming that they do not know anything of value that other people would want to know. But, that just isn't true. Call me an optimist if you will, but I believe everyone knows something that other people would be willing to pay a certain amount of money to learn.

it is a fact that some of the smartest online entrepreneurs I know make a lot of money by writing and selling books and e-books, on topics ranging from cryptograms (http://www.cryptogramsbylouise.com/), to how-to cure acid reflux (http://www.refluxgoneforever.com/), to finding the hero within (http://www.herosoul.com/), to how to be more successful with an online business.I have bought many e-books and I have to say that some were better than others, but all of them helped me to learn what I needed to know in order to be successful with whatever endeavor I was undertaking.

Advertising Providers build websites with the intent of attracting a huge and loyal audience, so that advertisers will consider their website to be a good place to spend their advertising dollars.In those dark days before Google Adsense (http://adsense.google.com/) and Yahoo's Publisher Network (http://publisher.yahoo.com/), we little guys were just tough out-of-luck if we wanted to sell our advertising space through a larger network of advertisers.I remember having a website that was finally serving one thousand unique page views per day, or 30,000 page views per month. I remember thinking that it was time for me to see whom I could sell advertising space. So, I started doing my research.I looked at one advertising network, and then another, and another.

Without fail, most advertising networks required one million page views per month in order for a website to participate in their network. I was just poop out of luck.So, I started advertising space on my site to my visitors. I sold some advertising, but I did not make a living doing it. The main issue here is that the people on my site are looking to learn about travel and other things, and advertisers generally spend their time on sites learning about doing business online.Then in 2003, it all changed with the rollout of Google Adsense. Suddenly, all I needed to do was to apply to participate in Google's program. On approval, I could add one little piece of javascript code to my website, and I could start earning money from Google immediately, by making their client's advertising available on my own website. Finally, my information website had a method for earning money that did not require for me to spend all of my waking hours chasing one sale after another.

Some Background

When I started my first online business, I had set up an Yahoo store (http://www.yahoo.com/). I did very well with it, but after a couple years, I realized that I did not want to keep doing the same thing for the rest of my life.Three rooms of my home were committed to storing merchandise that I was buying for resale. When I made a product purchase, I had to take photos and then sit down to my computer, upload the image and make an appropriate product description. Then I had to spend all of my spare time, making new listings at Yahoo and running to the post office to ship the merchandise I had sold.One day I realized that the reason I had started my business is to provide my family a better standard of living. I had accomplished that goal, at the cost of time with my family. I was literally working from the moment I got out of bed, until I collapsed into my bed at the end of the day.After parting ways with Yahoo, I researched other profit models and settled on a membership site. In order to be successful with a membership website, one must be willing and able to add new good quality content to the website at least three or four times per week. That is a job in itself.While my membership site did well monetarily, I found myself in a position similar to when I had my Yahoo store. I was spending all of my spare time with my business and not my family.

Finally, I Wrapped My Head Around

The SolutionWhat I needed for myself was a website where I could sell other people's products and services, then let the other person handle the entire process of collecting the money and delivering the product or service. I needed to build my business in such a way that I could build my website, when I wanted to invest the time, and I could collect my checks at the end of the month.The advertising website is the best kind of site to have when your goals are the same as mine.So, I embarked on building a website that had information on a wide variety of topics.Three years after I started my current website, Google launched their Adsense program. I applied to Google's Adsense program and was accepted within just a few days. I then applied my Google Adsense code to my website. Over the years, I have been building links to my website so that people could find me.

The articles and directory links have produced good traffic results for me on a consistent basis, since I started the process of building them.The Next Lesson Can Literally Double And Triple Your IncomeWhen you undertake to design a website that will host advertising, don't be shy about it!• Don't stick your advertising in a corner somewhere;

• Don't design your advertising to look like something other than an advertisement;

• Don't be afraid to test your advertising placement;

• Don't be afraid to tell people that they can buy advertising on your website;

• Don't be afraid to charge good money to advertisers to have a placement on your website.

Don't be afraid and don't be shy. Your reason for putting advertising on your website is to give YOU a way to make money from your work. But, in order to keep your advertisers happy, you need to make sure that they get a good return for their investment.When you can help your advertisers make money, then you will by extension earn money from your website. It is a beautiful concept; when I help put money in my advertiser's pockets, they put money in my pocket.Specific Tips To Maximize Your Advertising Click-Through Rates (CTRs)The default link color on the Internet is blue; so make the links in your advertising blue.The default text color on the Internet is black; so make the text in your advertisement black or whatever color is the default text color on your website.Make your advertisement block stand out from the rest of the content on the page. Putting your ads directly in your visitor's face is good. Within a text block, I have found the 300x250 to be the most effective ad block size. To see an example of the 300x250 text block in action, view my blog here: http://www.clintondouglasiv.com/Other ad block sizes that we have seen good results include: the 728x90 leaderboard, 468x60 banner, and the160x600 wide skyscraper.Be The Next Advertising Success StoryI advised a friend of mine to make these kinds of changes on his own website. He already had great traffic, but he was not making as much money as I thought he should be making.On my suggestion, he changed his Google ads from the bottom of his left sidebar to the main part of his pages. He told me that his CTR increased from 0.8% to 2.4%. I told him to change his ads from the 468x15 link unit to the 468x60 banner ad. He told me that his CTR increased from 2.4% to 4.7%. Then I told him to change his links from black to blue. Within just a few weeks, he reported back to me that his click-through rates jumped again, this time from 4.7% to 7.8%. He even reported that on some individual days, his new layout generated as high as 11.4% CTRs. On my friend's website, his CTR jumped from 0.8% where it had been for a couple years, since he started using Google Adsense, to 7.8% on average. While most webmasters will see an average increase of two- to three-times, my friend has experienced a nearly tenfold (+9.75%) increase in his advertising revenue through that website.What could you do with ten times more advertising revenue from your website? You will never know until you implement these kinds of changes on your website to increase your own advertising revenue.

sources: www.site-reference.com

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

15 Creative and Profitable Ways to Use Autoresponders

by Nelson Tan

An interested visitor who has been strolling through your site has finally come to just what she is looking for and is about to make a purchase. It's a sunny afternoon, and her cat, who happens to be sitting on the moss under the visitor's large fifty-year-old snow-rose bonsai tree, suddenly jumps down, and the priceless tree topples over.In the blink of an eye, your visitor exits your site, and your sale is dust—unless you have had the foresight to utilize an autoresponder that has captured her e-mail address. If you have installed an autoresponder, you can then follow-up with her, and in all probability, make the sale when the poor woman has finished repotting her precious bonsai.Autoresponders are remarkable, versatile programs that do so much more than just automatically answer your e-mail.

Here are a few ideas that will help you to creatively and productively use your autoresponder to transform the casual visitor into a profitable customer. Use your autoresponder to:

Publish a newsletter. Certain quality autoresponders will manage subscriptions and follow-up with interested prospects. Your newsletter can keep your visitors informed about your services or products, while building your reputation as a credible expert in your particular business.
Publish a newsletter only for your affiliates. Inform them of current sales you are running and of promotional material that your affiliates can use themselves to increase their commissions. Include tips, advice, and techniques that your affiliates can use to successfully go out and promote your business.
Write reviews. Cover books, software, music, e-books, movies, etc., and put each review in an autoresponder. Review your affiliate programs, using a link to your affiliate's page in your autoresponder.
Distribute your articles. Writing and distributing targeted articles is a powerful tool to build your business credibility, bring traffic to your site, and increase your sales potential. If your articles contain valuable information, many editors will print what is known as a resource box for you. A resource box contains your bio and a brief description of your service or product. It can also contain your autoresponder address. Let's say you've written fifty articles. Put them on separate autoresponder accounts and create a master list that contains the titles of each article, the autoresponder address, and a brief abstract. Then promote your master list. Additionally, include your publishing guidelines so your affiliates can add their articles to your list, increasing the number of writers who are represented in your article list.
Create mailing lists. Inform subscribers to your articles when you've written new ones that they may want to publish in their own newsletter or website.
Automate your sales process. Use an ad to insure repeated exposure of your message, which has been proven to effectively increase sales. In your ad, put your autoresponder address where a visitor will be exposed to numerous marketing materials. This multiplies the chances of converting visitors into customers. For example, if you're selling a particular product, put testimonials about how spectacular it is on your autoresponder, and add a detailed, enticing description of your product.
Distribute advertising. Let's say you sell advertising on your website or in your newsletter or e-zine. Set your autoresponder to send the information about rates and how to place an ad automatically to all prospects' email addresses. Then have your autoresponder follow-up. It can also send notification of any special deals you are currently offering.
Distribute an e-mail course. Each day, have your autoresponder send out another lesson. Just be sure that each lesson has quality content—not a sales pitch. Your content will do the selling for you, and will do it much more effectively. You can include tips centered on a different topic for each lesson, illustrating how your product will benefit the reader. Include the tangible benefits the visitor will reap by purchasing your product. Make sure to include a paragraph or two at the end of each lesson enticing your prospect to consider making a purchase.
Automate a reminder about your service or product after a visitor has completed your course. This will increase the possibility of sales from visitors who have taken your course but are dragging their feet about actually making a purchase. You can also use these reminders to promote new products or services, and the products and services of your affiliate programs.
Distribute free reports. This gives your visitor an idea of the type of information you can provide and the quality of your product or service. Make sure these reports are not sales letters or you will more than likely lose a potential customer than gain a sale.
Create trivia quizzes on your site and place the answers in an autoresponder. Your visitor will then be motivated to request your autoresponder, and you will have a record of the visitors' email addresses who took your quiz. Or create a contest and have any visitors that enter send their responses to your autoresponder. Your autoresponder can be set-up to send them a confirmation of their entry.
Offer a trial version of your product. Give your prospects a sample of your e-book, course, software, membership, etc. People who are exposed to a little taste often end up wanting the whole pie. You can also capture their email addresses when you offer them a free trial from your website. Set up your autoresponder to give instructions on how to obtain their free trial, and then make sure to follow-up to try and close the sale.
Link to hidden pages on your autoresponder. For example, a hidden page could be your affiliate page that contains graphics, promotional articles, and text links that interested affiliates can make use of. Inform visitors that they may have free access to your affiliate page by simply requesting your autoresponder. You will then gather a list of visitors who may be interested in becoming your affiliates.
Use an autoresponder on your order page. Post a request form for visitors to be notified of special offers or discounts in the future. This creates a very effective mailing list that contains the names of people who are already your customers.15. Put your links page on your autoresponder. It should contain up to fifty links that would be of particular interest to your visitors. Make sure to add your own promotional copy at the top or bottom of this page.Now that you have proof that autoresponders can be used creatively, see if you can come up with some brilliant ideas of your own!

Ways To Create Profitable Info Products

by Pawel Reszka

Information products such as eBooks, training courses and others have become substantial moneymakers for modern Internet infopreneurs. People today are hungry for all kinds of information and eager to download it for a reasonable price. Here are seven ways you can create info products and profit from selling them online.

Decide what information products to createStart by doing some research online. Determine the best keyword that describe your product and determine its viability. Select products by determining niches that aren't being served by competitors. Look at the way successful info product marketer's package and sell their offerings. How are they priced? Choose a market with the best potential.
Determine the best way to produce itOnce you have made an informed decision regarding the type of product you want to offer, the next step is to produce it. Since most information products are primarily written materials, who will write it? If you think that you're not a good enough writer, it's easy to locate and hire professional freelance writers that can take your ideas and turn them into written materials. To find them, go online to sites like www.GetAFreelancer.com, www.elance.com, www.freelance writersguild.com or others. There are many to choose from. If you aren't up to snuff on desktop publishing software, you may also want to hire someone to help you with graphic design so that your product looks professional.
Choose a packaging methodDespite the fact that an information product is comprised mainly of written materials, audio recordings or audio/visual materials, you need to determine an attractive, eye-catching method of packaging it for delivery to buyers. Whether it's an eBook, a training Course or a written report, the product should be eye-catching. If you must, hire a graphic designer or someone expert at desktop publishing to do it for you.
Decide what it will sell forThe best way to determine what your selling price should be is to review similar products now for sale online and compare. You don't have to compare your product only with those for the same market. The size and type should be enough notwithstanding the subject matter. Keep in mind that most info products are somewhat price sensitive so don't set your price at the highest end of the spectrum. You can always upgrade it later.
Think about how to promote your productThere are many possible ways to promote your info product. You can build a website or blog for that specific purpose at very-low cost. Determine whether you will deliver the product as a download or if you prefer to sell it as a CD that can be shipped directly to buyers. Both methods are currently in use. When it comes to promotion, marketing skills are necessary and if this isn't already your forte, there is a lot of very-specific, detailed information available online at no cost. In addition to your own website, you can use press releases announcing your product's availability, write articles about your product and submit them to available article directories, or sell it through online bookstores and malls. For specific niche markets, consider a joint venture with owners of other nice-related products serving the same market segment. You can also promote it by submitting it to newsletters that are already established and through forums and discussion groups too.
Do market testing firstDo some market testing before you formally launch your product. This will tell you if there are little problems to work out. This can be as simple as asking five or six people whose opinion you value what they think about your product. Be sure to tell them to point out anything they don't like.7. Protect your product by copyrighting itCopyrighting an info product is not terribly complicated. There are complete and detailed instructions available on line along with the required form. It pays to protect what you've worked so diligently to create. Perhaps just as important, you'll be protecting your future profits from people who might like to copy them outright and divert sales into their own offers.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

What is FOREX?

Foreign Exchange Market (Forex) is the arena where a nation's currency is exchanged for that of another at a mutually agreed rate. It was created in the 70's when international trade transitioned from fixed to floating exchange rates, and nowadays is considered to be the largest financial market in the world because of its tremendous turnover.
Introduction to Forex
All currencies are traded in pairs and each is assigned with an abbreviation. Here are some of them (Table 1):
EUR Euro
USD US Dollar
GBP British Pound
JPY Japanese Yen
CHF Swiss Franc
AUD Australian Dollar
CAD Canadian Dollar
NZD New Zealand Dollar
SGD Singapore Dollar

Base currency is the first currency in the pair. Quote currency is the second currency in the pair.
USD / JPY = 120.25
Base currency Quote currency

Rate
This abbreviation specifies how much you have to pay in quote currency to obtain one unit of the base currency (in this example, 120.25 Japanese Yen for one US Dollar). The minimum rate fluctuation is called a point or pip.

Most currencies, except USD/JPY, EUR/JPY, CHF/JPY and GBP/JPY where a pip is 0.01, have 4 digits after the period (a pip is 0.0001), and sometimes they are abbreviated to the last two digits. For example, if EURUSD is traded at 1.2389/1.2394 the quote may be abbreviated to 89/94.

The currency pairs on Forex are quoted as the Bid and Ask (or Offer) prices:

Bid Ask
USD / JPY = 120.25 / 120.30

Bid is the rate at which you can sell the base currency, in our case it's US dollar, and buy the quote currency, i.e Japanese Yen.

Ask ( or Offer) is the rate at which you can buy the base currency, in our case US dollars, and sell the quote currency, i.e. Japanese Yen.
Spread is the difference between the Bid and the Ask price.

Pip is the smallest price increment a currency can make. Also known as a point. e.g. 1 pip = 0.0001 for EUR/USD, and 0.01 for USD/JPY.

Currency Rate is the value of one currency expressed in terms of another. The rate depends on the supply and demand on the market or restrictions by a government or by a central bank.
1.0 lot size for different currency pairs (Table 2)

Currency 1.0 lot size 1 pip
EURUSD EUR 100,000 0.0001
USDCHF USD 100,000 0.0001
EURUSD EUR 100,000 0.0001
GBPUSD GBP 70,000 0.0001
USDJPY USD 100,000 0.01
AUDUSD AUD 200,000 0.0001
USDCAD USD 100,000 0.0001
EURCHF EUR 100,000 0.0001
EURJPY EUR 100,000 0.01
EURGBP EUR 100,000 0.0001
GBPJPY GBP 70,000 0.01
GBPCHF GBP 70,000 0.0001
EURCAD EUR 100,000 0.0001
NZDUSD NZD 200,000 0.0001
USDSEK USD 100,000 0.0001
USDDKK USD 100,000 0.0001
USDNOK USD 100,000 0.0001
USDSGD USD 100,000 0.0001
USDZAR USD 100,000 0.0001
CHFJPY CHF 100,000 0.01

Spreads & Margins
Alpari (UK)’s mission is to provide innovative currency trading technology combined with quality execution, tight spreads and competitive margins.
Margin is the collateral required by Alpari (UK) to open and maintain a position:
1% of transaction size for account balances below $ 100,000
2% of transaction size for account balances up to $ 250,000
4% of transaction size for account balances above $ 250,000

Balance is the total financial result of all completed transactions and deposits/withdrawals on the trading account.

Floating Profit/Loss is current profit/loss on open positions calculated at the current prices.

Equity is calculated as balance + floating profit - floating loss.

Free margin means funds on the trading account, which may be used to open a position. It is calculated as equity less necessary margin.

Calculating profit/loss

For example, EUR/USD exchange rate is 1.2505/1.2509 and your leverage is 1:100. You believe that EUR/USD will go up and buy 0.1 lot of EUR/USD at 1.2509 (Ask price) - for the contract size refer to Table 2. As we can see from Table 2, 1.0 lot of EUR/USD is 100,000 EUR, which means that 0.1 lot (our example deal size) is 10,000 EUR.

So, you buy 10,000 EUR and sell 10,000*1.2509=12,509 USD. In fact to fund this position you do not have to have 12,509 USD but only 125.09 USD. The rest of the money (in our example 12,383.91 USD) is leveraged to you by Alpari (UK).

Leverage (or gearing) mechanism allows you to open and hold a position much larger than your trading account value. 1:100 leverage means that when you wish to open a new position, then you need to support a deposit 100 times less than the value of the contract you are interested in.

For example, you believe that EUR/USD is moving higher and buy 10,000 EUR and sell 12,509 USD. Assuming you are right and EUR/USD goes up to 1.2599/1.2603 and you decide to close the position: when you close a long position you sell the base currency (10,000 EUR in our example) and buy the quote currency (10,000*1.2599 = 12,599 USD):

Transaction EUR USD
Open a position: buy EUR and sell USD + 10,000 - 12,509
Close a position: sell EUR and buy USD - 10,000 + 12,599
Total: 0 + 90

NB: When you close a short position you buy the base currency and sell the quote currency.

To fund this position you only need 100 EUR (approximately 125 USD) not 10,000 EUR. The profit on this position is 90 pips (1.2599-1.2509=0.0090). A pip or point is a minimal rate fluctuation. For EUR/USD 1 pip is 0.0001 of the price (see Table 2).

This example shows a favourable outcome. If EUR/USD had fallen you would realise a loss not a profit and with leverage this loss will be magnified. For example, if you close the position at 1.2419, your loss would be $90. Should you have doubts about your understanding of risks, please consult your financial adviser.

Lot Size is the number of base currency, underlying asset or shares in one lot defined in the contract specifications. For details refer to the Table 2.

Lot is an abstract notion of the number of base currency, shares or other underlying asset in the trading platform.

Transaction (or deal) size is lot size multiplied by number of lots.

Long Position is a buy position whereby you profit from an increase in price. In respect of currency pairs: buying the base currency against the quote currency.
Short Position is a sell position whereby you profit from a decrease in price. For currency pairs: selling the base currency against the quote currency.
Completed Transaction consists of two counter deals of the same size (open and close a position): buy then sell or vice versa.

Leverage is the term used to describe margin requirements: the ratio between the collateral and the value of the contract. 1:100 leverage means that you can control $100,000 with only $1,000 (1%).

Rollover / Interest Policy
Foreign exchange trading at Alpari (UK) is dealt on a "Spot" basis only. This means that all trades settle two business days from inception, as per market convention. The settlement date is referred to as the value date. Alpari (UK) does not arrange physical delivery of currencies hence, all positions left open from 10:59:45 p.m. to 10:59:59 p.m. (London time) will be rolled over to a new Value Date.

As a result, positions are subject to a swap charge or credit based on the "Rollover/Interest Policy" webpage.

Please note that since 03 June 2007 Alpari (UK) Limited no longer closes and reopens the positions which are open at 11:00 pm London time. Instead we have introduced a more convenient method of rollover which involves debiting or crediting a customer’s trading account when he/she holds open positions overnight.

The cost of rollover is based on the interest rate differential of the two currencies. Let’s assume that the interest rates in the EU and USA are 4.25% p.a and 3.5% p.a respectively. Every currency trade involves borrowing one currency to buy another. If you have a buy position of 1.0 lot in EUR/USD, then you earn 4.25% on your Euros and borrow USD at 3.5% per year.

In other words:

If you have a long position (i.e. bought) and the first currency in the currency pair has a higher overnight interest rate than the second currency, then you receive a gain.
If you have a short position (i.e. sold) and the first currency in the currency pair has a higher overnight interest rate than the second currency, then you lose the difference.
If you have a long position (i.e. bought) and the first currency in the currency pair has a lower overnight interest rate than the second currency, then you lose the difference.
If you have a short position (i.e. sold) and the first currency in the currency pair has a lower overnight interest rate than the second currency, then you receive a gain.Please note that if you open and close a position before 10:59:45 p.m. (London time) you will not be subject to a rollover.

The act of rolling the currency pair over is known as tom.next, which stands for tomorrow and the next day.

NB: When you roll an open position from Wednesday to Thursday, then Monday next week becomes the value date, not Saturday; therefore the rollover charge on a Wednesday evening will be three times the value indicated on the "Rollover/Interest Policy" webpage.
Why trade Forex?

Unlike other financial markets Forex has no physical location, like stock exchanges, for example. It operates through the electronic network of banks, computer terminals or via telephone. The lack of a physical exchange enables Forex to operate on a 24-hour basis, spanning from one time zone to another across the major financial centres (Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, London, New York etc). In every financial centre there are many dealers, who buy and sell currencies 24 hours a day during the whole business week. Trading begins in the Far East, New Zealand (Wellington), then Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Moscow, Frankfurt-on-Maine, London and ends in New York and Los Angeles. Below there are approximate trading hours for regional markets (London time):

Japan 00:00-06:30
Continental Europe 06:30-13:00
Great Britain 8:30-15:30
USA 14:30-21:30

Forex has some advantages which make it very popular among investors:

Liquidity. Forex is the largest financial market in the world, with the equivalent of over $3-4 trillion changing hands daily whereas traded volume on the stock markets equates to only 500 billion US dollars.

Flexibility. Forex is a 24-hour market, which offers a major advantage over other markets, for example, stock exchanges which are only open during regional business hours. You can respond to breaking news immediately if the situation requires it and customise your trading schedule.
Lower transaction costs. Traditionally there are no commissions or charges on Forex, except for the spread.
Margin. Our 1:100 leverage (only for deposits below $ 100,000) is a powerful tool. You need to support a deposit of 1,000 US dollars to make a deal with $100,000. Such high leverage combined with rapid rate fluctuations can make this market profitable but at the same time risky: please see Risk Warning below.

Risk Warning
Under margin trading conditions even small market movements may have a great impact on the customer's trading account. You must consider that if the market moves against you, you may sustain a total loss greater than the funds deposited. You are responsible for all the risks, financial resources you use and for the chosen trading strategy.

source:http://www.alpari-idc.com/en/about/forex.html