* Highly
Recommended *
The
Early to Rise 2006 End-of-Year Blowout Sale
What
are your resolutions for 2007?
To
increase your salary by $15,000? To finally start your own
profitable online side-business? To locate an incredible real
estate deal?
Whatever
your dreams, hopes and aspirations may be… ETR is here
to help!
As
2006 comes to a close, we’ve compiled a dozen of our
best success programs into a year-end blowout sale with our
lowest prices ever… so there’s no better time
for you to start making your dreams come true in 2007 than
right now.
This
offer ends when the New Year begins, so don’t put it
off and risk paying more a few days from now. Act today and
you’ll get the best deal we’ve ever offered, guaranteed.
Stop
by our ETR 2006 End-of-Year Blowout Sale now.
-
MaryEllen Tribby
An
Investment Risk You Can Easily Avoid
By
Charles Delvalle
A
volatile stock could fluctuate up or down 10 to 20 percent
within a week. That could mean big gains. But it could also
mean significant losses ... not something you want to risk
if your primary investment goal is to put your money in stable,
dividend-paying companies.
So
how do you avoid investing in volatile stocks that could suck
away your portfolio's earnings? You take a look at the stock's "beta
ranking."
The
beta ranking measures a stock's volatility in relation to the
market. If a stock has a beta of 1, it will generally move
with the market. If its beta is above 1, it will be more volatile
than the market. And if the beta ranking is under 1, it has
very little volatility.
Investing
for stability (and dividend payments) requires a stock with
a beta no higher than 1.25.
Finding
a stock's beta ranking is easy. Just go to Yahoo's finance
link. After you enter the stock's ticker symbol, click on "Key
Statistics" on the left side of your screen. The beta
ranking will be listed under the stock's price history.
[Ed
Note: Charles Delvalle is a regular contributor to INCOME, ETR's
new investment service. INCOME provides a slew of
low-beta, high-dividend-paying companies, with the goal of
providing you with a total return (dividends plus capital gains)
of at least 14 percent per year.]
"Change
occurs in direct proportion to dissatisfaction."
-
Doug Horton
ETR
Insider Report: A New Look for the New Year
By
David Cross
After
a string of e-mails, I was beginning to think Charlie Byrne,
ETR's Editorial Director, didn't like me. I kept on getting
these rejection messages ...
"I'm
sorry David, but I don't think we can run this essay."
"David,
this might not work for us."
"Sorry
again David, but we need to do something else."
You
see, I'd begun sending over a series of articles for Early
to Rise on how entrepreneurs and businesses can improve
the effectiveness of their websites. But those articles created
a bit of a dilemma for Charlie.
As
he explained it to me: "We have a 'Do We Actually Do This
Ourselves?' test for all the advice we print in ETR. We don't
hand out advice we've heard elsewhere. And so it hurts our
credibility for you to tell our readers that, for example,
they should have a printer-friendly website ... when our own
site isn't printer friendly. We're working on getting that
fixed ... but until then, your article would raise our readers'
eyebrows. And with good reason."
Charlie
was right. Since my articles revealed a number of gaping holes
in ETR's own site, there's no way he could publish them in
ETR ... until now.
Coming
soon, all those articles I wrote on creating a better,
more usable, search-engine optimized, printer-friendly website
will appear in ETR.
Why?
Because
come January 1, 2007, ETR will have a brand spanking new website
that incorporates all of the principles of good website design.
Over
the next few weeks, Charlie and I will be telling you about
some of the features of the new ETR website. We'll explain
how we believe it improves on what ETR had before, explain
why we changed it the way we did, and show you how you can
adapt and apply our own learning process to your online business.
Some
of these changes include:
- A
crisper, cleaner, more professional design, with a more cohesive
look and feel
- A
less-cluttered on-screen layout that allows more "breathing
space" for the content
- A
new in-site search engine - to facilitate searching through
the 6,000+ articles in the ETR archives
- A
simpler sign-up for the ETR e-letter
- Improved
and simpler on-screen navigation - so you can jump straight
to the main sections of the website
- A
simpler-to-use system for content writers and editors
- Optimized
content for better search-engine marketing
- Content
syndication ("RSS") - as an additional way to read
website content and for the search-engine optimization benefits
it brings
The
first change I want to tell you about is the one that generated
the most discussion during the development of the new website.
In fact, it has been the most contentious and controversial
issue for every website project I've worked on in
the last decade.
I'm
talking about the website's design.
We
had to consider everything we've learned after years of absorbing
and testing ideas from experts and expert companies like Jakob
Nielsen, Edward Tufte, Future Now, and Jeffrey Zeldman (to
name a few). Plus, we had to acknowledge the fact that most
designers we work with have a strong print and branding bias,
hence a heavy lean toward graphically intensive magazine-style
designs. Then there are the Web analytics, which tell us that
half our website visitors probably still use a slow, dial-up
modem. Plus the fact that not everyone who enjoys reading ETR
does so with full visual faculties.
And
even after considering all that - and after coming up with
an almost-agreed-upon design and working out the details to
get it to look perfect ... someone walks in and tells us that,
on their brother's old Apple Mac, it looks like a dog's dinner.
What
it boils down to is this: The most important thing for us at
ETR is for the design to enhance the content we publish. It
should be attractive but not distracting, and allow you to
read the copy without being bombarded by garish and unnecessary
embellishments.
Our
business is publishing - disseminating and monetizing information.
Our content inspires action and gives you the opportunity to
sign up for our newsletters or reports or to buy our publications,
products, and seminars. Therefore, our design must make it
simpler for you to find information and guide you to elements
like e-mail signup forms on the screen.
And
that is exactly what we believe we have finally accomplished
with ETR's new site.
I
salute the entire ETR team. They've done an incredible job
of pulling together all the seemingly opposing ideas we had
to work with ... and the result is excellent.
Keep
in mind that a good website is not a static "brochure" but
an organic, evolving dialogue. And that dialogue involves ...
YOU! So, come January 1, 2007, visit EarlyToRise.com and tell
us what you think. Go
to Speak Out, ETR's readers' forum, and tell
us what you love, hate, miss, want to see more of, or how you
would like to improve our website even further.
[Ed.
Note: David Cross is Senior Internet Consultant for Agora Publishing
in Baltimore.]
* Highly
Recommended *
Get
the Top Stock Picks of 2007 from Three of America’s
Leading Investment Experts
Now
is the time to take a close look at your investments. It’s
time to weed out the laggards and set your sails for the year
ahead. But before you do, you will definitely want to hear
what three of America’s leading investment experts are
predicting for 2007.
On
an exclusive teleconference presentation, Andrew Gordon, Rick
Pendergraft and Chris Johnson of Investor’s Daily
Edge will reveal their very best ideas for growing your
money in 2007. You’ll learn which markets and sectors
hold the greatest potential for appreciation. And better yet,
each expert will reveal his top stock recommendation for 2007!
You
will not want to enter the New Year without this vital intelligence. Click
here to learn how easily you can participate.
Beat
the Flu
By
Al Sears, MD
When
I was a child, I was taught that if you felt a cold or flu
coming on, the way to prevent it from blossoming into a full-blown
illness was to go outside and soak up the sun - a bit of wisdom
that had been passed down from my grandmother. Her theory was
that a lack of "fresh air" and sun caused the infection.
This
theory appeared arcane when scientists discovered that a virus
causes the flu - but new research has found merit in it. And
if you're exposed to the flu this winter, it may serve you
better than drug therapy.
Researchers
at Harvard University concluded that a lack of sun during the
winter months prevents your body from making the one thing
it needs to ward off the flu: vitamin D. Which may explain
why some people catch the flu, while others don't. I don't
think I've ever had it, yet I am repeatedly exposed me to heavy
viral loads while examining infected patients.
Fact
is, vitamin D deficiency is rampant in non-tropical latitudes
... like here in the U.S. And during the winter, it gets worse
- raising your risk of catching a cold or the flu.
When
you can't spend time in the sun, cod liver oil is the most
effective and reliable source of vitamin D. I recommend it
for my patients, especially during the winter. In fact, I use
it so much that I have begun importing my own cod liver oil
from the cold waters of Norway. It's completely free of mercury.
Get yours HERE].
[Ed.
Note: For more on the health benefits of sunshine, keep reading
ETR. We'll be giving you news about a book that Dr. Sears and
ETR's Jon Herring have been working on together.]
Notes
From Michael Masterson's Blog: How Much Can You Legally "Borrow"?
Several
years ago, Natasha Alden, a research student at Oxford, noticed
similarities between an autobiography she was studying and
a popular novel she had just read.
The
memoir was No Time for Romance, written by Lucilla
Andrews, a best-selling romance novelist. The novel was Ian
McEwan's best-selling 2001 novel Atonement.
Now
that Atonement the movie is about to come out, these
similarities are in the news. Two prominent British newspapers, The
Mail on Sunday and The Times of London, have
published stories with excerpts of the questionable texts.
In
response to the uproar, McEwan wrote a lengthy article in The
Guardian, admitting he used No Time for Romance for
details of nursing and hospital conditions in Britain at the
time his story was set. "I have openly acknowledged my
debt to her in the author's note at the end of Atonement and
ever since on public platforms, where questions on research
are almost as frequent as 'where do you get your ideas from?'"
In
a phone interview with a New York Times reporter,
McEwan vigorously denied that he copied any of Andrews' language.
Yet the published excerpts show close similarities. For example
...
From Atonement: "In
the way of medical treatments, she had already dabbed gentian
violet on ringworm, aquaflavine emulsion on a cut, and painted
lead lotion on a bruise."
From No
Time for Romance: "Our 'nursing' seldom involved
more than dabbing gentian violent on ringworm, aquaflavine
emulsion on cuts and scratches, lead lotion on bruises and
sprains."
What
are we to think of this? What do the professionals say?
I'm
going to ask Matt Turner, Agora's in-house counsel, to write
something up about this for tomorrow's issue of ETR. Meanwhile,
here's what I've got ...
[Ed.
Note: Read the rest of this article on Michael
Masterson's blog.]
-
Michael Masterson
It's
Good to Know: The Difference Between Plagiarism and Copyright
Infringement
By
Matt Turner
Yesterday,
Michael Masterson asked me if I could answer some questions
about plagiarism - an issue that's especially of concern for
those of you who are making a career of copywriting: "What's
the difference between plagiarism and copyright infringement?" "How
much can I 'borrow'?" "As a copywriter, what do I
need to know to protect myself?"
Believe
it or not, plagiarism is not illegal. Your high school English
teacher may have been able to fail you if you plagiarized something,
but a judge cannot hold you legally accountable. Copyright
infringement, though, is illegal.
What's
the difference? Simple.
You
are guilty of copyright infringement if you use the EXACT WORDS
(or enough of the exact words) of another author. On the other
hand, plagiarism is essentially when you take an IDEA from
another author and re-work his actual words to express the
same idea. So long as you rework his idea with your own original
words, you are not liable for copyright infringement. And since
plagiarism is a state law concept and the federal 1976 Copyright
Act pre-empts all state law, plagiarism is no longer a legal
action. You're free and clear to re-work another author's ideas
into your own words. Ideas are owned by no one.
Now,
if you wish to actually quote from another author's work, that's
a little different. Quoting too much can make you liable for
copyright infringement. However, we also have the doctrine
of "fair use." This means that it's okay for you
to take a little from another author's big work and put it
in your medium-to-big work. But you can't take another author's
big work and put it in your little work - because that makes
your work a lot of their work.
Get
it? If not, re-read what I just said ... very slowly. That's
the best way I can put it. If I were to quote the law, I would
confuse you even more.
You
also need to know that when you use research in sales letters,
you are operating in the "commercial speech" world.
(Sales letters = commercial speech, and editorial = non-commercial
speech.) This distinction is important, because the commercial
speech world gets less First Amendment protection and gets
away with a lot less. (For example, in commercial speech the "fair
use" doctrine [see above] can be used but not as much
as in non-commercial speech.)
By
the way, this brings up another, more subtle, point ...
Copywriters
often like to quote their sources in such a way that it almost
implies an endorsement. For example, "And even The
Wall Street Journal agrees, as they wrote ..." Be
careful! There is no hard and fast rule here - and each case
is looked at on its facts. But don't leave yourself open to
a claim that your sales letter is "trading off" the
reputation of another entity. Citing an authoritative source
is fine, but using the source's material and reputation in
a manner that is too glaring can be risky.
[Ed.
Note: Attorney Matt Turner is Agora's in-house counsel.]
* Highly
Recommended*
Do
You Need To Start Out Small?
If
you don't have an Internet business yet, or if your company
is smaller than $1 million then you need something different...
something that lets you start off small.
One
man I know turned $10 into over $500,000. How's that for starting
small!
Let
me show you how to
get a similar Internet income stream running for almost
nothing.
-
Patrick Coffey
Word
to the Wise: Zygote
A "zygote" (ZAY-gote)
is a fertilized egg in its early stage of development - the
single cell that results from the fertilization of an ovum
by a sperm. The word is derived from the Greek for "to
yoke."
This
is one of those words that you would never expect to be able
to work into a conversation. But here's how Alexis Siemon,
ETR's Search Engine Marketing Specialist, knocked Michael Masterson's
socks off with it in a recent staff meeting. She said: "I
have the zygote of an idea."
