Amazon Beats Flipkart as the Most Visited eCommerce Site; Gifts Vouchers to All Users

After two and a half years of setting foot in India, Amazon.in has claimed to have become the most visited e-commerce site in India. In order to celebrate this occasion, Amazon has decided to give away a gift voucher worth Rs 200 to every buyer who will buy anything worth a minimum of Rs 500 today.

Jeff Bezos said that “We have built a vibrant marketplace with tens of thousands of sellers offering everyday low prices on India’s largest selection of over 30-Million products and bringing alive our promise to the customers. We will keep growing our investments in India and continue to work hard for our Indian sellers and customers.”

The terms of the offer limit the beneficiary to one gift card. The Gift card will be automatically added to your account on or before January 20 2016. The offer will be valid only till 12AM today and it will hold good for all modes of delivery including COD.

In October, a time when e-commerce companies battle out to sell make the most of the festive season Amazon.in topped the comScore list with a cumulative visit of 200-Million while its arch rival Flipkart attracted a lesser 164 million visitors. Amazon also seems to have achieved the largest growth rate in visitors from the mere 85-Million in October 2014 to 200-Million in October 2015.

Interestingly, although Amazon.in saw 7- percent of its sales from the mobile app it still witnessed a sizeable 30-Million visitors on its desktop site. All the while Flipkart had been busy forcing out its App only strategy literally barring buyers from using their desktop site, a much controversial move which was sort of redacted later. Amazon has always been bullish when it comes to the Indian markets it is infact heavily investing on the Indian front, first the $2-Bn warchest and also the recent promise to invest a total of $5-Bn for the Indian operations.

Craigslist Advertising - The Biggest Bargain in the World

Any business who wants to sell more of their products or services should look into Craigslist advertising.. No matter if the products are being sold through websites or brick and mortar stores, Craigslist can still be very profitable. Except for job posting and housing posting in some markets, advertising on Craigslist is free. 

Because of this there is little monetary risk in placing your advertisements and you can experiment without worrying about the cost. The only thing you'll have to worry about is agreeing to the Craigslist terms of service and following the specific guidelines when posting.

A major reason for advertising with Craigslist along with the free ads is the huge number of potential customers you'll be able to reach. According to the Craigslist fact sheet they get more than 9 billion page views per month and have ten million new images each month. More than 30 million people including more than 25 million in the US alone use Craigslist each month. 

At present there are 450 Craigslist sites in all 50 US states, and in over 50 countries. I have to say these kind of figures really support the claim that Craigslist advertising is the biggest bargain in the world.

With mind boggling figures like Craigslist has, you would think any kind of ad you post would be a winner but not so. You still have to have an attractive ad with a perceived good value in a place where people are looking for it. If you don't you won't be successful no matter how many people come to the site. The huge numbers are great but you still need targeted traffic to be successful no matter what you're selling. With as many different sites as they have you can pinpoint your ads to the exact geographical site you want along with the exact category for your product. 

Marketers know that a small well targeted audience that is interested in your product will make you more money than a huge audience who is not that interested.

One of the keys to marketing to your target customers on Craigslist is to place your ad in the best location on the overall site. Craigslist has specific sections for different types of business to advertise in. If you feel your ad should in more than one section or area then you need to write another variation of your ad so you don't get flagged.

Even if there is not a section for your business or service you still have some options such as placing the ad in the advertising section for small business. There is a chance that someone doing a search in this area might find it, but a better option, if you can't find a good category to advertise in, is to ask Craigslist to add your category. They might accommodate you if they feel it warrants it. Having your own category to your self for even a little while could turn out to be a real winner for your business.

Advertising on Craigslist is fantastic but spamming is not cool or is it tolerated. Do not under any circumstances run the same ad on more than one category or in more than one location. If you want to run more than one edition of the same ad you must rewrite it so it doesn't appear to be spam to readers or the spam watchers on Craigslist. 

Spam may not only cause your potential customers to boycott your ads if they see them all over the place, but you may get all your ads deleted and even possibly be banned from advertising in the future. Play by the rules set forth by Craigslist and you won't find a better advertising bargain anywhere.

How to Set Up PayPal Account

PayPal is without a doubt a necessity when first starting out online, but how to set up a PayPal account the right way, makes a difference in sales and your relationship with PayPal.

If you've been online for a little while, then I'm sure you've heard of the FEARED PayPal freezes, holds and limitations!  In this PayPal series, I want to assist you in learning how to set up PayPal the right way and some really great tips as well. 

Tips For - How to Set up PayPal Account

In this series of PayPal Account Set Up Videos, I'm going to show you how to set up PayPal and  brand  your PayPal. What PayPal calls creating Custom PayPal Pages.  This is a huge benefit for you and a benefit that many people don't know is available to merchants.

So, what is a Custom PayPal Page?

When a customer clicks on your buy now or add to cart button, they are taken to PayPal where they begin the purchasing process.  In most cases, the next page they see is the normal, generic PayPal page.  Nothing on it really looks like or tells the customer they are still with YOU...other than some small text that has your business name and some very small text in the description field that says what product they are buying.

Now...if you didn't know how to set up PayPal correctly, then the business name your customer sees during the PayPal transaction may not be something they recognize or know.  Like many people, when you set up your PayPal Account, you may have given it a generic name like OnlineInf0 LLC because you have several websites and sell several different types of products.

Now your customer who is buying shoes from your website named Mary's Shoes get's confused when during her purchase she sees OnlineInf0 LLC on the PayPal Transaction Page.  She assumes she somehow clicked on a wrong link or somehow PayPal gave her the wrong page.  So, she closes out, tries again, get the same results, get's even more aggravated and goes buys her shoes somewhere else.

Set up PayPal Wrong = Loss of Sales

You've lost this sale and potential many other sales because, you didn't know how to set up PayPal correctly.

Setting up a PayPal account correctly can keep you from losing sales and help you with the sale!

How to Set up PayPal Correctly

When you set up your PayPal account, you need to create a Custom Payment Page  that will become your Primary Payment page.  This is the page all of your customer will see when they purchase any of your products.  When you set up your Custom PayPal Payment Page, you'll be able to add a logo and a header.  This will make your PayPal transaction page look very much like your website.

Now when a customer begins the buying process, they arrive at a PayPal page that has the look and feel of your website!  This will keep your customer happy and feeling safe, knowing they are at the right place.

Having a Custom Payment Page is great, however, what do you do, when you have several websites and now your customer buys an ebook from your Great Books website and the primary Custom Page looks like Mary's Shoes?

You need to have more than one Custom Page, but just learning how to set up PayPal correctly is tough enough on it own.  That's why I've created some great free tutorial videos you can watch at my website.

Learn How to Set Up PayPal Accounts Correctly and Profit!

Google Doubles Down On AI In Europe As It Takes A Stake In DFKI Research Center In Germany

Google has been putting serious investment into building out its artificial intelligence, deep learning and robotics capabilities, and this week the company made its latest move to tap into some of the more cutting edge work going on in the field, specifically in Europe.

The search giant, through its German division Google Germany, has made an investment in the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (the DFKI), a nonprofit institute where some 450 scientists, academics and others work on projects in areas like language technology, embedded intelligence, augmented reality, knowledge management, and mulitmedia analysis and data mining. It also spins out businesses based on those projects. It’s one of the largest research centers of its kind with a 2015 budget of €41 million ($46 million).

Google is not disclosing the value of its stake in the center but confirms that it will give Google a seat on the DFKI’s board.

A Google spokesperson says that the size of the investment is equal to that taken by 16 other private companies that partner with DFKI. Existing partners include industrial giants like Airbus and BMW as well as Intel, Microsoft, Nuance and SAP. Selected partners that also have seats on the board include Harting Technology, Empolis Information Management, and Deutsche Telekom.

The DFKI claims to be the first research organization in Europe to get an investment and board member from Google. But it’s not the first time that Google has made AI investments in Europe, or even in academic research into AI.

Google in 2014 paid more than $500 million to acquire AI startup DeepMind in the UK. Then, the DeepMind team acqui-hired two more AI startups and Google made a substantial investment into Oxford University’s AI research efforts. This year, Google followed on from that with an investment in Oxford University’s Venture Fund by way of Google Ventures.

For DFKI, getting Google on board will help the organization — which operates in Kaiserslautern, Saarbrücken, Bremen and Berlin — potentially get more of its research out into the market as actual products.

“The global market presence of Google opens up a unique opportunity,” read the DFKI press statement on Google’s investment. “I am sure that we can revolutionize mobility, living and working for the future with the next generation of autonomous assistance systems in innovation alliances with Google and our other shareholders,” noted Dr. Wolfgang Wahlster, CEO of the DFKI.

For Google’s part, the company had already been making a lot of internal investments in areas like AI, deep learning, machine learning and robotics — sometimes as tools to run live services today, and sometimes as an investment for whatever Google might like to do tomorrow. Adding an investment in the DFKI will give Google a direct line to external cutting-edge research in the area.

The two have been working together since 2001, noted Dr. Wieland Holfelder, engineering director, Google Germany. “[This investment] binds us together in a long-standing close partnership.”

Developing research partnerships and investments in AI could also be a strategic move for Google in another way: the company has been the subject of investigations by European regulators over being too dominant in businesses like online search and mobile, and of how well it safeguards user privacy.

Despite Google’s efforts, a lot of this paints Google in a negative light. Google using its muscle to back completely new areas of technology that are at the core of Europe’s own digital progress agenda is one way of trying to counterbalance that.

There is yet one more reason why it makes a lot of sense for Google to invest here: Getting an early look at some of the tech that has commercial potential could also give Google an advantage over rival companies that want to build up their own AI capabilities. That is a race that has also spilled into Europe, home to some of the more interesting research into the subject. Just last week, Apple acquired VocalIQ in the UK.

Forex Options Market Overview

The forex options market started as an over-the-counter (OTC) financial vehicle for large banks, financial institutions and large international corporations to hedge against foreign currency exposure. Like the forex spot market, the forex options market is considered an "interbank" market. However, with the plethora of real-time financial data and forex option trading software available to most investors through the internet, today's forex option market now includes an increasingly large number of individuals and corporations who are speculating and/or hedging foreign currency exposure via telephone or online forex trading platforms.

Forex option trading has emerged as an alternative investment vehicle for many traders and investors. As an investment tool, forex option trading provides both large and small investors with greater flexibility when determining the appropriate forex trading and hedging strategies to implement.

Most forex options trading is conducted via telephone as there are only a few forex brokers offering online forex option trading platforms.

Forex Option Defined - A forex option is a financial currency contract giving the forex option buyer the right, but not the obligation, to purchase or sell a specific forex spot contract (the underlying) at a specific price (the strike price) on or before a specific date (the expiration date). The amount the forex option buyer pays to the forex option seller for the forex option contract rights is called the forex option "premium."

The Forex Option Buyer - The buyer, or holder, of a foreign currency option has the choice to either sell the foreign currency option contract prior to expiration, or he or she can choose to hold the foreign currency options contract until expiration and exercise his or her right to take a position in the underlying spot foreign currency. The act of exercising the foreign currency option and taking the subsequent underlying position in the foreign currency spot market is known as "assignment" or being "assigned" a spot position.

The only initial financial obligation of the foreign currency option buyer is to pay the premium to the seller up front when the foreign currency option is initially purchased. Once the premium is paid, the foreign currency option holder has no other financial obligation (no margin is required) until the foreign currency option is either offset or expires.

On the expiration date, the call buyer can exercise his or her right to buy the underlying foreign currency spot position at the foreign currency option's strike price, and a put holder can exercise his or her right to sell the underlying foreign currency spot position at the foreign currency option's strike price. Most foreign currency options are not exercised by the buyer, but instead are offset in the market before expiration.

Foreign currency options expires worthless if, at the time the foreign currency option expires, the strike price is "out-of-the-money." In simplest terms, a foreign currency option is "out-of-the-money" if the underlying foreign currency spot price is lower than a foreign currency call option's strike price, or the underlying foreign currency spot price is higher than a put option's strike price. Once a foreign currency option has expired worthless, the foreign currency option contract itself expires and neither the buyer nor the seller have any further obligation to the other party.

The Forex Option Seller - The foreign currency option seller may also be called the "writer" or "grantor" of a foreign currency option contract. The seller of a foreign currency option is contractually obligated to take the opposite underlying foreign currency spot position if the buyer exercises his right. In return for the premium paid by the buyer, the seller assumes the risk of taking a possible adverse position at a later point in time in the foreign currency spot market.

Initially, the foreign currency option seller collects the premium paid by the foreign currency option buyer (the buyer's funds will immediately be transferred into the seller's foreign currency trading account). The foreign currency option seller must have the funds in his or her account to cover the initial margin requirement. If the markets move in a favorable direction for the seller, the seller will not have to post any more funds for his foreign currency options other than the initial margin requirement. However, if the markets move in an unfavorable direction for the foreign currency options seller, the seller may have to post additional funds to his or her foreign currency trading account to keep the balance in the foreign currency trading account above the maintenance margin requirement.

Just like the buyer, the foreign currency option seller has the choice to either offset (buy back) the foreign currency option contract in the options market prior to expiration, or the seller can choose to hold the foreign currency option contract until expiration. If the foreign currency options seller holds the contract until expiration, one of two scenarios will occur: (1) the seller will take the opposite underlying foreign currency spot position if the buyer exercises the option or (2) the seller will simply let the foreign currency option expire worthless (keeping the entire premium) if the strike price is out-of-the-money.

Please note that "puts" and "calls" are separate foreign currency options contracts and are NOT the opposite side of the same transaction. For every put buyer there is a put seller, and for every call buyer there is a call seller. The foreign currency options buyer pays a premium to the foreign currency options seller in every option transaction.

Forex Call Option - A foreign exchange call option gives the foreign exchange options buyer the right, but not the obligation, to purchase a specific foreign exchange spot contract (the underlying) at a specific price (the strike price) on or before a specific date (the expiration date). The amount the foreign exchange option buyer pays to the foreign exchange option seller for the foreign exchange option contract rights is called the option "premium."

Please note that "puts" and "calls" are separate foreign exchange options contracts and are NOT the opposite side of the same transaction. For every foreign exchange put buyer there is a foreign exchange put seller, and for every foreign exchange call buyer there is a foreign exchange call seller. The foreign exchange options buyer pays a premium to the foreign exchange options seller in every option transaction.

The Forex Put Option - A foreign exchange put option gives the foreign exchange options buyer the right, but not the obligation, to sell a specific foreign exchange spot contract (the underlying) at a specific price (the strike price) on or before a specific date (the expiration date). The amount the foreign exchange option buyer pays to the foreign exchange option seller for the foreign exchange option contract rights is called the option "premium."

Please note that "puts" and "calls" are separate foreign exchange options contracts and are NOT the opposite side of the same transaction. For every foreign exchange put buyer there is a foreign exchange put seller, and for every foreign exchange call buyer there is a foreign exchange call seller. The foreign exchange options buyer pays a premium to the foreign exchange options seller in every option transaction.

Plain Vanilla Forex Options - Plain vanilla options generally refer to standard put and call option contracts traded through an exchange (however, in the case of forex option trading, plain vanilla options would refer to the standard, generic forex option contracts that are traded through an over-the-counter (OTC) forex options dealer or clearinghouse). In simplest terms, vanilla forex options would be defined as the buying or selling of a standard forex call option contract or a forex put option contract.

Exotic Forex Options - To understand what makes an exotic forex option "exotic," you must first understand what makes a forex option "non-vanilla." Plain vanilla forex options have a definitive expiration structure, payout structure and payout amount. Exotic forex option contracts may have a change in one or all of the above features of a vanilla forex option. It is important to note that exotic options, since they are often tailored to a specific's investor's needs by an exotic forex options broker, are generally not very liquid, if at all.

Intrinsic & Extrinsic Value - The price of an FX option is calculated into two separate parts, the intrinsic value and the extrinsic (time) value.

The intrinsic value of an FX option is defined as the difference between the strike price and the underlying FX spot contract rate (American Style Options) or the FX forward rate (European Style Options). The intrinsic value represents the actual value of the FX option if exercised. Please note that the intrinsic value must be zero (0) or above - if an FX option has no intrinsic value, then the FX option is simply referred to as having no (or zero) intrinsic value (the intrinsic value is never represented as a negative number). An FX option with no intrinsic value is considered "out-of-the-money," an FX option having intrinsic value is considered "in-the-money," and an FX option with a strike price at, or very close to, the underlying FX spot rate is considered "at-the-money."

The extrinsic value of an FX option is commonly referred to as the "time" value and is defined as the value of an FX option beyond the intrinsic value. A number of factors contribute to the calculation of the extrinsic value including, but not limited to, the volatility of the two spot currencies involved, the time left until expiration, the riskless interest rate of both currencies, the spot price of both currencies and the strike price of the FX option. It is important to note that the extrinsic value of FX options erodes as its expiration nears. An FX option with 60 days left to expiration will be worth more than the same FX option that has only 30 days left to expiration. Because there is more time for the underlying FX spot price to possibly move in a favorable direction, FX options sellers demand (and FX options buyers are willing to pay) a larger premium for the extra amount of time.

Volatility - Volatility is considered the most important factor when pricing forex options and it measures movements in the price of the underlying. High volatility increases the probability that the forex option could expire in-the-money and increases the risk to the forex option seller who, in turn, can demand a larger premium. An increase in volatility causes an increase in the price of both call and put options.

Delta - The delta of a forex option is defined as the change in price of a forex option relative to a change in the underlying forex spot rate. A change in a forex option's delta can be influenced by a change in the underlying forex spot rate, a change in volatility, a change in the riskless interest rate of the underlying spot currencies or simply by the passage of time (nearing of the expiration date).

The delta must always be calculated in a range of zero to one (0-1.0). Generally, the delta of a deep out-of-the-money forex option will be closer to zero, the delta of an at-the-money forex option will be near .5 (the probability of exercise is near 50%) and the delta of deep in-the-money forex options will be closer to 1.0. In simplest terms, the closer a forex option's strike price is relative to the underlying spot forex rate, the higher the delta because it is more sensitive to a change in the underlying rate.

PayPal - What it is and How to Set it Up

If we're going to succeed in making money, there's one thing we all need:

A VESSEL

A vessel gives us the opportunity to hold in it whatever we are interested in placing inside it. The bigger the vessel, the more it will be able to hold, and the more we will be able to have. The smaller the vessel, the less we will be able to hold on to.

The famous story is told of the old days, where everybody would store their money under their mattresses (although I'm sure there are many who still do!) Of course, once one is making huge amounts of cash, it becomes a little difficult to do this - and a little uncomfortable for sleeping purposes as well!

And so, banks came about. Banks have evolved from institutions that would store huge sums of cash, to the additional and more necessary electronic storage system. Essentially banks store our money today in electronic form. Even though there must be real cash to have an effect, when we inquire about our money from a bank, we are not shown some huge vault with every cent we've earned. Instead, we receive a small piece of paper with a representative figure of it, indicating the value of money we have "saved" in the bank.

When it came to the issues of transferring money on the Internet, this same concept followed, when PayPal came about. Essentially PayPal is a secure Internet Banking system that allows money to pass by from one person to another in an electronic manner. The great thing about it, is that everybody who has a credit card - or a PayPal account with money in it - can make use of it to purchase things online - and of course to receive payments for their own things.

That means that even if a person is not registered as a credit merchant, he can still obtain funds from someone across the globe by means of asking for their credit card details. He incurs no credit card fees for the transaction, although PayPal do take a commission (which can easily be seen on their site.)

In addition to being able to sell things online - no matter what you have - and receiving payment for them, PayPal embedded another useful utility - the Donate utility. It works quite simply! Put one of these icons on to a web page or blog page of yours, and ask your friends and family - and of course every other person in the world to donate a small amount of their hard earned cash - for your noble causes.

These are the vessels. Suddenly what once may have been an outstretched arm with open hand asking for money, is exchanged for an icon on your web page allowing all and sundry to bestow their wealth for your own purposes. Isn't life terrific?!

So how much does it cost?! How does one go about joining the PayPal craze?! Will people actually trust this? Will I get paid? Is it reliable? How will I practically use it? Can I really make money on the Internet with such a simple system?!

COSTS:

PayPal costs practically nothing to join! It's open to a number of countries - although unfortunately not all yet. If you're in the USA and have a bank account, there will be no charge at all. If you are located in certain other areas - such as Israel, you will need to submit your credit card details to PayPal. They will take off $1.95 (at the time of writing this article) to check that everything is in order, but you will receive it back again when you withdraw your first amounts. So... you really don't lose anything!

If you do make use of the Israel system (for example) you will be charged another 22 Shekel each time you make a withdrawal, so do be careful not to take out your money in small quantities as it will end up costing you a lot!

PayPal also has certain restrictions as to how much you are allowed to take out in one day (if you are forced to using the credit card system.) You can find out more on their site, or alternatively email them to confirm exactly what the maximum amounts may be for your location. In Israel, one is only permitted to withdraw $750 per day.

HOW TO JOIN PayPal IN JUST A FEW EASY STEPS:

1. Go to http://www.PayPal.com 
2. Click on Sign-up 
3. Choose what type of account you'd like - Personal, Premier or Business.

The information on the page is clear enough to help you select which is better for you. 
If you're private and just purchasing things, go for personal. 
If you're wanting to make some money yourself, choose Premier. 
If you're serious about business transactions, you'll need to select Business.

Remember, each carries certain tax constraints, and you must select the option best for you.

4. Fill in your details...

AND YOU'RE DONE!

NB: Choose a strong password. PayPal is a target site for hackers just wanting to get at your wealth - as easily as they can! Keep in mind that if anything happens to your wealth, you'll have a hard time retrieving it again!

PayPal'S TRUST

Almost every single commercial site on the Internet is using PayPal. It's a huge success! Those who may mistrust such things as credit card transactions on the Internet etc., may just as well be concerned regarding their credit card in real life situations as well. It doesn't take much to use a credit card on the Internet, and whether or not the credit card is used for the Internet or in real life person - it is equally as easy to misuse it.

GETTNG PAID

It's an amazing feeling to log into one's account and see the wealth accumulating. But it just seems too unreal! Is it actually mine?!

Yes. With just a few clicks after logging into one's account, one can select how much money to retrieve. The money will either be deposited into one's bank account (if one is in a place like the USA) or alternatively onto one's credit card (if for example, one is in Israel.) Don't forget there are fees attached for the credit card!

It can take a few days or more for the money to come through, so don't get in a panic and do be patient.

RELIABILITY

PayPal works like a wonder! For those purchasing, they simply enter their credit card details with the normal numbers and expiry date etc. and the transaction is completed! For those receiving funds, the moment this happens, one will receive an email verifying the transaction has taken place. Check it out on your PayPal account directly if you're unsure of things.

There *are* phishers and others out there who regularly send emails requesting your personal details. These people will claim that they're PayPal and you know... "Just checking in... checking up... updating details" and the like! Don't reveal anything to them. Go back to your account and check that everything is in order, and never reveal your personal information to anyone claiming to be PayPal. If in ANY doubt about a PayPal transaction or email - that vaguely speaks of the need for you to reveal your personal information, be sure to log in to your account and email PayPal directly first!

PRACTICAL USE

You're going to want PayPal for two things. You're going to want donations! Everyone does! Almost every site making use of PayPal sticks the DONATE button somewhere where everybody can see it. Actually you might be amazed at just how many people want to help others involved in some sort of contribution to the Web.

You'll also want PayPal so that you can sell things to others.

I'm going to be publishing other articles to share a number of things you can use the Internet for in order to let others know that you have something - that someone else wants! And with ease, you'll be able to let them know all about it, and - donate, or no donate - they'll be happy to pay using this nifty and easy tool!

CAN *I* MAKE MONEY USING PayPal?

YES! As they say with a click of the fingers - it's that simple! You're going to need to let others know what you have for them. You may wish to create a blog. It's easy to do as we'll learn together in future articles. Once you begin sharing something of yourself to others and what you have available for them, you'll be able to charge them - or of course to simply ask others to help in donating to your causes and allow you to progress in your own work. It's mutual. You give something to others who enjoy what you have to offer, and in return you see some sort of return on investment!

CONCLUSION

Join me for further articles, when we'll be talking some more about PayPal later on again and come back to it when we deal with using it in more detail for other purposes.

PayPal is the Internet ticket to receiving wealth. It's the ultimate vessel needed to allow others to pay you whatever it is you're asking from them. It's fun to use, easy, user friendly when everything is set up correctly, makes a big impression on users (who think you're a real Internet professional and a huge business!)

So, get started today. Sign up with your account and let's move forwards to our next lesson, where we'll get to better grips with setting ourselves up for generating income.

5 Ways to Market Your Youtube Videos and Get More Website Traffic

If you're currently uploading videos onto YouTube for more potential business or are looking to do so, then this article is just for you. Because inside, you will learn a vast amount of ways to get traffic to your website from using Youtube.

As you already know, YouTube is very popular. In fact, it's so popular, that it's currently ranked one of the top 10 sites on the internet in terms of the amount of internet traffic that it gets. So if you're not marketing on YouTube or are using it ineffectively, you're missing out on a ton of new customers that you could be getting on a daily basis.

But first, let's talk about why you would want to market on Youtube. I'm sure you're heard of the term "social networking" or "social marketing". Well, YouTube is more than a video site - it's a social site - and has a ton of user interaction each and everyday. So if you don't like the idea of social marketing, then YouTube can be your answer, because it is a social networking site.

Since uploading videos to YouTube is a form of social marketing, it only makes sense that one of the easiest ways to get traffic to your website from YouTube is to let your friends and family members know about the YouTube videos that you created. Right?

On YouTube (and social networking sites in general), you can make a lot of friends quickly. A great way to make relevant friends on YouTube is to subscribe to channels of users who create similar videos that you do. Some of these users will in turn subscribe to your YouTube channel just because they want to make new friends also. So when you create a new video, guess what? Your new friends will get a notice that you created a new video!

Oh and by the way, I use the term "Youtube channel" because uploading videos to YouTube is like having your own tv station. Viewers can tune into your channel to see if you have anything new, and can watch whatever you have to offer, and watch it anytime they like. But showing your videos to friends is just one great way to get traffic to your website. Another great way is via classified ads.

There are two great classified ads sites that I use to get traffic to my website, and if you want to make your YouTube videos very popular and get more subscribers to your channel, you will want to link to your videos via classified ad websites.

One great classified ad site that I use is usfreeads.com. It currently costs $9.99/month to post ads on this website but it is definitely worth it. With your $9.99 a month membership, you can post unlimited amounts of classified ads. This means that each time you post a new YouTube video, you can market it via your usfreeads.com account, and get more traffic to your video.

With more traffic, you get more views and more subscribers assuming that your information is awesome. But you don't have to stop at classified ads, you can also market your YouTube video via your blog.

In addition to uploading your videos to Youtube, you can upload your videos to your blog and create something that is called a "video blog" - or vlog. Video blogs are just what they sound like - blogs created out of videos. You will want to do some blogging and pinging to get the search engines to index your content, and also will want to do some RSS marketing to get others to insert your blog content onto their website.

But you don't have to stop here. You can also do some viral marketing. Video's in and of themselves can become viral, but the kind of viral marketing I'm talking about is with free ebooks. You can write ebooks related to your niche, and distribute them around the internet via free eBook directories and article marketing. With the eBook directories, you simply insert information about your ebook, and include the link to your.PDF ebook, and submit your info.

With article marketing, you can write articles about a particular topic and submit them to the article directories. You will want to link to your free eBook page where others can download and read it. You will want to include a short blurb that others can pass it around freely - and not modify its contents. In your free ebook, you should include links to your YouTube videos so that you can get traffic to them, and build your YouTube channel subscribers.

Do you see how easy all of this can be? It's very simple, and once you start doing it yourself, you will see how easy it is too. Good luck on your YouTube marketing efforts, and I wish you the best on your YouTube marketing campaigns.

Staying Safe Accepting PayPal Payments

Although PayPal does offer several preventative measures to help protect you from fraudulent transactions, the risks of using PayPal as your merchant are still apparent. PayPal is currently offered to 190 Countries and 18 currencies. Due to the fact that the only Countries currently eligible for a confirmed (seller/buyer protected by the PayPal policy) PayPal shipping address are Canada, USA and the UK, this in itself leaves the doors wide open to scam artists.

There are ways for International sellers to "verify" their account, meaning they've verified their shipping address and possibly some other details making the transaction a little more safe on your end, but without a confirmed PayPal shipping address, you as a seller are not covered under the current seller protection policy in the event of an upset. 

If you're an eBay seller and use PayPal as your method of accepting payment, eBay has stated that they will offer seller protection when shipping to International addresses, even if they're "Unconfirmed", or International. The goal here is to increase seller confidence, sales and offer more purchasing power for eBayers abroad.

From my years of experience using PayPal as my primary merchant account on both my eBay PowerSeller account and my e-commerce websites, the following are some preventive measures to help you stay proactive when using PayPal.

1). Be sure to state your terms of sale in all of your listings/websites. If you buyer sends a payment from a unconfirmed PayPal account and they are located within the eligible zones (Canada, USA, UK) kindly request that they have the account Confirmed with PayPal, or you will not be able to ship the item. This will usually grab their attention. 

Confirming a PayPal address within the eligible zones is quite easy and only takes around 15 minutes, although you do need a credit card, or the process is longer. If the buyer has a high feedback score, or PayPal score you may be OK, it all depends on the value of the product rendered.

2). If the payment was completed by an International buyer take the extra step to be proactive to protect your self from a fraudulent transaction. View where the payment was sent from. There are certain areas to be extra cautious when receiving payments (Nigeria to my experience especially). Don't take anything for granted when shipping Internationally.

 Send the buyer a message stating that you require additional information from them, as they did not meet your minimum tenure for the transaction. Request that they confirm with you the address that the item should be shipped to (should coincide with PayPal/eBay address, if it doesn't match cancel the transaction), home telephone number (if unavailable cellular), whether the shipping address is business or residential and references to any other transactions the buyer may have recently completed using PayPal. You can then call PayPal and confirm these details. 

A good sign of a fraudulent buyer is when they do not respond to your message to acquire additional information, or if they use a threatening tactic to get you to ship the item. If either of these happen refund the payment immediately. I typically give 72 hours for the buyer to respond to the message. If the buyer responds in a threatening matter, report the message to eBay/PayPal and they should be able to take the appropriate measures to further investigate the individual. If they leave you negative feedback on eBay due to the issue, report it to eBay as well. They're typically very good and will have the feedback removed.

3). NEVER SHIP TO AN ALTERNATIVE ADDRESS OTHER THAN ON THE PAYPAL PAYMENT. This is very important. Many scam artists will request that you ship the item to another address and they will pay you extra to use an express service, such as DHL, or FedEx to another Country, or another city and a little bit more for the "inconvenience". This is the #1 PayPal scam that will get you every time. 

Once you send the item to the alternative address and they receive it they will initiate a PayPal dispute stating that they never received the item. At that point you will have no proof that you shipped the item to the address stated on their PayPal account and the funds will be returned to the buyer.

4). Another major indication of a scam is the buyer will change their shipping information within PayPal/eBay shortly after the transaction, or after the tracking information has been received. I personally require a 3 business day order processing time frame to be safe, as most PayPal notifications regarding possible unauthorized transaction will be sent in this time frame and will protect you prior to shipping the item. 

If you've already shipped the item PayPal will require additional information on the shipment to help resolve the situation, but the time frame for a resolution is quite tedious.

5). If the buyer tries to rush the item being shipped it could also be suspicious as well. Although there are several legitimate reasons as to why a buyer would like to have the item shipped the same day, it's truly in your best interest to abide by your policy on International shipments and unconfirmed shipping addresses, as this will save you a lot of time and money. 

Some buyers will use this tactic to expedite their scamming process. Once the item is shipped you will find a nice little surprise, they've changed all of their information within their eBay/PayPal account and claim that you shipped the item to the wrong address. Although both eBay and PayPal have very robust systems to detect suspicious activity such as this, the turn around for a resolution can be a long process and you could be out funds until they resolve the situation.

In conclusion most people who use PayPal to purchase products online are completely legitimate. If you follow these simple precautionary measures within your e-commerce sales, you will save yourself a substantial amount of time, money and stress in the event of a possible scam attempt. 

Use your best judgment, common sense and be empowered by the fact that you have the skills to stop potential scam artists in their tracks.