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Techniques to Pick the Best Hiking Boots

Why go to a lot of trouble selecting the best hiking boots? Because they are your Feet, yes your feet. If you are going hiking, that means countless steps. Probably the most important part of your body to keep strong during a hike will be your feet. In the event you cannot walk, you can’t get home.

Your boots are the foremost critical element which affects the enjoyment of hiking. For this reason you should pick the best hiking boots for your needs. If you have some boots which are not comfortable or are made for the improper outdoor adventure, it might spoil the entire trip.

Another thing to consider is the fact these boots are to last for a long while, so don’t just get a boot because it’s discounted. Try out the best set of boots to suit your needs. Don’t skimp on your hiking boots. You could regret it when it’s too late and you are a long way in your hike.

Selecting the most appropriate hiking boots for your feet can be confusing, however here’s some advice making it simple.

Your Hiking Boot Buying Process

Above all, you need to try on the boots. I know this sounds like a “duh” moment, still trying it on in a store and making sure their comfort is essential for an enjoyable hike. How can you tell if your boot is actually a perfect fit?

• Test boot styles in the afternoon. Your foot usually swells throughout the day.
• Bring your socks that you will be normally planning to use. Correct fit depends on having the actual socks.
• Put the boots on and lace them snugly (but do not over fasten them so much that you’re hurting your hands, that is much too tight). Stand and try and raise your heel. Your heel ought to rise a maximum of 1/8″. A lot of heel movement suggests too much friction.
• Tighten the laces plus locate a solid target to kick the toe of the boot into, like a post or ground. Kick the object twice. If you find the toes slam into the front of the boot, subsequently the boots are not fitting properly. On a steep downhill trek, the toes can get a beating plus it can cause difficulty with the toe nails or feet. The toes should push close to the front of the boot on the third or even 4th kick, but never slam. Various methods you can look at in case your toes are crushed could be to change socks, re-lace the boots or maybe test a different set of boots.
• A number of locations have a ramp you’ll be able to walk up and down on to help you determine if they are suitable. Utilize it. Trails are not flat, utilize the tools while in the store to recognize the best hiking boots for your feet.
• Assuming you have time (and you should have time for this particular decision) walk around the store. The additional time you can spend in the boots, the better you will know if they fit correctly.
• Before you buy your boots, make certain you may return them. Some stores are good with regards to enabling you to return them if you have only worn them inside and not had them for a lengthy period of time. Check the return procedure before you leave.
• After you have bought your boots, they have to be broken in. (Do not head directly out to a 10 mile trail with new boots!) Put on the boots around the house, take quick walks around your neighborhood. When they appear to fit well, you will be able to use them on a simple day hike. The objective is to get the boots to form to your feet.

Cash Keeping Suggestion: If you’re money-conscience then try the boots on in the store, pick one you truly want and then purchase that identical style on the web for a lot less.

Care and Cleaning

• Make sure that you align the tongue each and every time you put your boots on. This inhibits the tongue from sagging and developing wrinkles. Wrinkles in the tongue contribute to blisters and rubbing.
• Make sure you read the care of the boots. Treat them if necessary to make a water resistant seal. If they’re leather and they end up getting soaked, let them dry out slowly. Don’t set them in front of a fireplace, this can cause breaking of the leather. Open them up each night on the trail as well as after a hike to allow them to air. Also, before putting them away until the next hike, clean them based on the manufacturer’s recommendations. Get any grime off them to help prolong their life. This can be done using a bristle brush. Care for the leather with saddle soap, let them air dry and then put on a sealer or wax.

When Purchasing the Best Hiking Boots For You, Keep These Things in Mind:

Materials used:

1. Leather: Stronger and water repellent. Heavier than synthetic. Generally intended for longer hikes having a full back pack.
2. Synthetic: Lighter in weight weight than leather, unfortunately shows wear more.
3. Waterproof materials: Several boots offer a waterproof membrane that’s attached to the inside of the boot. (such as Gore-Tex ®)

Hiking Style:

1. Day Hikes having a couple of containers of drinking water in a fanny pack.
2. Over Night Hikes with a small pack.
3. Several Day Hikes with a 40 to 50 pound backpack.

Boot Cut:

1. Low Cut: Good for more level terrain, shorter hikes. Not really a lot of ankle support.
2. Mid Height: Additional ankle support, can be used for limited multi-day hikes using a lighter in weight pack.
3. High Cut: Traditionally the most rugged and durable boot. Great for lengthy multi-day hikes with a heavy duty pack.

Day Hike / Low Cut Boots

A Low Cut Boot would be the best hiking boot for day hikes. These could be used on a day time hike with level ground. You would have a small-scale day pack or even a fanny pack with a couple bottles of drinking water. Also, the trail shouldn’t have a great deal of gravel, since it could get in between your sock and the boot. These kinds of boots can also be water proof and are made of synthetic or synthetic/leather blend.

Extended Day or even Shorter Multi-Day Hike / Mid Cut Boots

The best hiking boots for a longer hike would be the mid cut. Mid Cut is good for more challenging inclines and they’ve got more ankle support. The majority are water-proof and are available in synthetic or a synthetic/leather combination. They perform a somewhat better job of keeping out gravel and pebbles and will provide you with more stability on muddy trails. These boots have sufficient support for using a lighter, small backpack.

Mountaineering or Long Multi-Day Hike / High Cut Boots

High Cut Boots tend to be the best hiking boots for the serious hiker. They come in Leather or Leather/synthetic blend. They’re a very strong boot with a lot of ankle support designed to be worn using a weighty pack. They may also be used with crampons for snow. They are unquestionably designed for the most demanding terrain.

Additionally: It is great to have the Perfect Hiking Boots, but what happens when your laces break?

It’s important to have a spare pair of laces on the trail. The laces must be made for boots and not shoes. I would suggest a round instead of a flat style lace, these tend to last longer. The support that laces provide is very important to a comfortable hike.

Every hiking boot needs a good boot insole. Insoles do wear out with time. Make sure that your insole continues giving you the right padding.

Remember; protect your feet with the proper hiking boots. They will appreciate you by the end of the day.

I’m hoping that this report has been helpful in choosing the best hiking boots for you.

About this Author

Get the best hiking checklist on the web for FREE. Go to Hiking Revealed.com to pick it up today.

If you enjoyed this article and want to keep up to date on hiking and backpacking, check out Hiking Revealed.com. This website is packed full of information on hiking equipment and trail reviews.

Remember to sign up and get your FREE Hiking Checklist today!

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Sex Education, as the term clearly indicates, refers to education which is based on human sexual behavior. Parents, schools or caretakers offer it in some parts of the world to educate the children, who are stepping into their adolescence. If formally received, sex education is either taught as a full course at high school or junior high school level or in biology, health, home economics classes. Teaching sex education is rather a controversial issue; debates have been going on for several decades discussing if it should be taught formally in schools or not. Sex education in schools should exist without any doubts and apprehensions as it offers many benefits.

Adolescence is called the “age of storm and stress”. The young teenagers, during this phase of life are under deep psychological pressure. Mainly, this psychological pressure is the result of one’s growing sexual needs and the biological changes and hormonal effects on the individuals. During this time, most of the children are observed to become easily irritable. They find it difficult in most situations to deal with the family members. They might not want to talk to them about the natural changes taking place in their body and mind. In such circumstances, one highly suitable option is that of the teachers who are able to teach them to control their urges until a proper age. In schools, trained teachers would help the students to know how to deal with their sexual impulses. This role can not be replaced by parents or other entities. A classroom discussion and lesson would make them feel it is natural, and they would also feel that they are being understood by someone. However, taking them individually to psychologists or other trained educators would not help. In such a situation they might consider themselves to be different and misunderstood by family and people around them. Therefore, it becomes crystal clear that the best way to offer sex education is always in school.

It is a psychological phenomenon that children at young age are under an immense peer pressure. Something that they learn in the class with their peer group is what makes a better impression on their minds than otherwise. They are more focused in the lessons that teachers offer and are more eager asking question to clear their ambiguities. They might feel embarrassed and uneasy questioning their parents about it, but it always differs in case of the teacher in the class. This is because everyone in the class is going through the same stage. A class discussion becomes healthy source of learning as it helps in enhancing the knowledge on the subject.

Many people advocate that sex education should only be restricted to families, that is, that parents should personally educate their children. This view is totally illogical and holds complications and questions. The first point is that not all the parents would be willing to do it or would be able to do it. Secondly, this education needs a proper channel through which it should reach its required learners. There could be many possible problems in the families so they might not be able to take the role of a teacher in educating their children regarding sex. The demand of annulment of sex education from the schools is highly conservative.

Most importantly, there are many single parents, how would they take up this challenge of educating their children on their own? Parents can not properly educate their children about sex also because they lack details that qualified sex educators convey in schools. Thus, the stance of abolishing sex education in school is not a favorable thought. In many observed cases where parents or children are embarrassed about talking over sexual matters with each other, it is most likely to be uneasy situation at both the ends. This keeps the children from learning the answers to the questions they might have in their minds. This can be a great flaw of shifting the duty of sexual education from teachers to the parents. It will leave the children only half or less educated about the issue and as they say “Little knowledge is a dangerous thing”, this might end up in grave situations.

According to research, most of the parents also feel uneasy because they know that they are not equipped to provide the apt sexual information to their children. They also fail to comprehend what details and information should be concealed and what should be revealed, keeping in mind their children’s age. On the other hand, there might also be parents who would feel comfortable talking to their children about sexual matters, but only when the children bring the matter up.

Most parents, around the world, may also lack role models to look up to as they would not have talked over sexual issues with their own parents in their adolescent. This makes them inefficient to trigger their roles of educating their children in an effective way as the assigned teachers are able to do in schools.

Sex education is not limited to only a single branch of knowledge. This education focuses on a number of significant sexual matters that are offered with especially designed courses and programs. Sex education covers the education of relationships, sexual abstinence at a certain level and teaching to practice safe sex to the level of children who are thought to be sexually active. Therefore, its claim for being appropriate and guiding holds strong base.

At a certain age of adolescence, growing children have problems facing relationships and controlling their personal emotions. Conflicts related to such matters persuade many youngsters to commit suicides or take part in other immoral activities. Proper sex education in schools also concentrates in making the youngsters emotionally stronger and in educating ways to cope with relationship problems. This argument strongly shows the immense benefit of sex education in schools.

Sex education is an important health strategy and this cannot be denied. AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases can only be controlled if people are aware of precautions and have a vast knowledge in this case. This knowledge is conveyed through sex education, and if sex education is banned in schools and if parents have to educate their children, then it would not be as beneficial to the individuals and the society on the whole as teaching in school could be.

Sex education does not exist in all parts of the world. Asians are commonly regarded conservative when compared to westerners. It is not a part of their course in schools; this does not in any way mean that their teenage pregnancy rate is any lower if they are not exposed to sexual matters openly. In fact, this is one way how peers can mislead most of the youngsters and persuade them to bask in young age sexual relationships without any attempts for safety. This has resulted in serious problems such as the spread of fatal diseases like AIDS and has also increased rate of illegitimate births.

Researches have shown that the cause for ramification of STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) in the eras of 80s and 90s in the US and the UK is the lack of knowledge and information provided about sex in schools or home. Home and family has never and will never play an integral part in conveying sex education to teenagers, therefore to rely on the option of home, is to deceive your own self from the expected exigency in the future.

Some conservative groups assert that to discuss sexual issues openly is to devalue religion. No religion in the world abstain its followers from spreading the information that is so essential for human lives. Sexual behavior is natural and takes place through biological changes and this cannot be questioned as this is a part of human life. Thus people who take refuge under the religious shelter, to make their arguments strong, are misinterpreting religious ideas and laws.

Modern time is the time of internet and powerful media. Teenagers are exposed to Hollywood, TV and internet. These sources offer demonstration of sex which is highly thoughtless and casual; in this situation it is almost illogical to leave the teenagers on their sexual choices. They are young and fully excited; therefore they can not make a favorable choice. Sex education in school offers the information and knowledge they need to understand to know the responsibility that is accompanied by sexual relationships. The teacher in school helps the students to know the difference between a thoughtless and thoughtful sex. Having an urge for sex is not a problem; it is a natural process showing that the young people are developing to become adults; however the problem is having unsafe sex and hurting people through sexual choices.

People who claim that sex education in schools have more cons than pros, often come up with the statements suggesting that sex education in classroom should be avoided because the most effective tool for offering sex education, according to them is TV, films, magazines and media. Such people fail to understand that trained sex educators under especially designed programs teach sex education to children in schools. They are thus able to handle children’s problems and clear their ambiguities in the best possible way, whereas magazines, films, TV and other channels and mediums of providing sex education are be reliable. They are most of the times urging the young people by encouraging their sexual promiscuity rather than effectively teaching and educating them. This wrong approach damages the society and the individuals in disguise of ameliorating them.

People contradicting the notion insist that sex education always makes the learners have sex and experience it personally, once they learn about it in school. The reality is that sexual urge for any human being is a natural occurrence. When children reach to a certain age, whether they find people to educated them about sex or not, they do have natural instincts about it, and therefore if provided a chance they would surely want to satisfy their urge. This natural reaction can not in any way be related to the outcome of sex education in schools. In fact, the best time for letting sex education play its role is when the sexual urge increases and the teenagers want to find a source for its satisfaction. It offers individuals with the required knowledge so that they are careful. It is only then that they understand the consequences of sex leading to child birth as well as sexually transmitted diseases. Thus sex education is basically a warning and a caution for such children who are stepping into the phase of life where they would need to know all this.

Some people who go against the topic also argue that even though sex education exists, it has still not decreased the rate of teenage pregnancies. I would rather not go deep in to the moral issue of the topic, but it is important here to discuss and point out the shortcomings of our society. Social values that insist that being single, pregnant and teenagers is fine, is what has to be changed. Through educating the children and making them aware that it is just not ‘cool’ to be pregnant when single or teenager, and just because ‘others are also doing it’ does not in any way justify their actions, this change can be achieved. There are many sexual education programs that teach the learners about the grave consequences that can result in having early sex. This type of sex education in schools is helpful and makes the learners responsible and mature enough to understand the difference between morality and immorality.

People, who are against the notion, repeatedly state the question that why sex education is given so much importance when there are also many other issues connected with juvenile delinquencies such as drugs, drinking and aggressive bullying. No doubt, there are also many other issues to consider important enough to be taught in school for awareness but psychological researches show that behind most of the juvenile behavioral problems, one main reason is always the active sexual urge which drives the young people to indulge themselves in harmful activities like drug abuse and alcoholism. It is also commonly observed that young teenagers who indulge into such activities are unaware of proper sex education. Once they are given a true picture of sex and its consequences their mental status relaxes and they are easily able to cope with other social taboos.

Parents, who believe that sex education pollutes the minds of their children, have in large number taken their children out of schools promoting sex education. In this process of instilling in their minds their religious and family values, they forget that the media, their children are largely exposed to can also lead them astray. Sex education in schools does not in any way offers them an invitation to have open sex by making them aware of the risks; it just educates them about the matter in the best way.

Apart from educating the students about safe sex, sex education in schools is also helpful as it helps students to learn proper terminology for reproductive system, STDs and birth contraceptives rather than the street lingo that is commonly used by laymen. Sex education classes are gender based and that is why the young learners are not embarrassed and are only taught what is related to their gender. Early inclusion of classes also helps the teenagers to either become abstinent for some time or to become responsible if they are already active. Therefore, many sexual problems that occur in adulthood can be controlled if effective and apt sex education is given at the right time.

A proper sex education which is holistic, nonjudgmental and comprehensive never misleads or misguides the teenagers. Such a curriculum should be imposed in all schools around the nation; it is an answer to many social problems and conflicts. Would any parent leave their kindergarten kids to walk alone on the streets without letting them know how to walk safely? No parent would actually do that, in the same way, letting your teenager children socialize with their peers and fellows without any proper sexual education is nothing contrary to the analogy mentioned above. It is hazardous and risky for their lives. Thus, proper sex education in schools should be encouraged so that they learn all the significant facts through trained teachers, who help and supports them in these matters of highly crucial value. Sex education should be taken as a positive aspect which promises healthier and better life for the youngsters. It therefore should be taken as a subject taught in schools to enhance knowledge on the subject matter; something merely as human anatomy or biology class. Sex education should be given in all schools to educate the children for their betterment, avoiding it will only result in emotional, social and health problems.

Read my book here whispers of my heart.

Most people have a preference of whether or not they like their steaks rare, medium, well done, or anywhere in between. Yet, somehow, it seems that cooking a steak to fit these preferences is oftentimes difficult. But with some simple training and a bit of skill, it most certainly can be done. Cooking a steak does not have to be difficult, especially if you follow these few rules:

· Take into consideration the thickness of a steak. You must realize that cooking a steak is not an issue of just time. Whereas cooking one steak for 4 minutes might make it medium, cooking a steak that is slightly thicker may turn out rare or medium rare when cooked for the same amount of time.

· Also consider the pan temperature.

· The cook time is also very important.

· You must find a good balance between the three abovementioned things to get the results you desire.

· Other things to consider when cooking a steak is the tenderness and size of the cut. The presence of a bone can also change the cooking time as can the method of cooking (barbecuing, sautéing, etc.).

· If you have a sirloin or rump steak of 1.5 cm thick, then here are a few guidelines to follow when cooking it:

1. Well done, cook it for up to 6 minutes

2. Medium, cook it for about 4 minutes

3. Rare, cook it for just a couple of minutes.

Hold up for a minute… are you still confused as to what exactly “rare” is versus “well done?” Here is a guide on cooking a steak based off of what the steak should look like (of course, never cut open a steak to see if it is done! It looks tacky, and it causes the steak to dry out).

· Well done – the steak will be hot, and it will have very little moisture. The color will be a dark grayish. The steak will be firm when touched. There will be no hint of pink left.

· Medium well – the steak will also be hot, gray, and it will have a juicy center.

· Medium – a medium steak is light gray, warm, and it will have a juicy center. When touched the steak will offer some resistance. Pink juices will bead up on the surface of the seared side when the steak is turned.

· Medium rare – the steak will be light pink in color, warm, with a juicy center.

· Rare – the color will be pink, the temperature will be warm, and the center will be bloody and red! The steak will still feel soft when touched.

Know about the two different types of heat used when cooking a steak:

· Dry heat – this type of heat does not use liquid and it is used to cook some of the most tender cuts. Examples of cooking with dry heat are broiling, roasting, sautéing, pan-broiling, and rotisserie cooking.

· Moist heat – moist heat, on the other hand, uses steam or liquid. Moist heat cooking methods are soup-making, stewing, braising, and pressure cooking.

You must determine whether or not your steak is cooked based on touch, sight, and the clock. The firmer the meat, the more cooked it is. The lighter the color (from dark purple-red to pink), the more cooked the steak is.

Cooking a steak does not have to be hard, but it can take practice. If you do not get it right the first time, try it again! Be sure to have fun when cooking a steak!

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, fashion, and home decor. Her background includes teaching and gardening. For more of her articles on steaks and cooking, please visit Filet Mignon [http://www.bigskyfiletmignon.com].

PHP is a general purpose scripting language that is well suited for server-side web development. It was created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1995 and has been developing ever since. PHP originally stood for “Personal Home Page”. He used the sets of Perl scripts he called PHP to maintain his resume and keep track of how much traffic his page was getting. He wrote these as “C programming language common Gateway Interface” which allowed the ability to work with web forms and databases. It also enabled users to start developing dynamic web application. He revealed and released PHP/FI or “Personal Home Page/Forms Interpreter Version 1.0″ in June 8th 1995 to locate bugs and code improvement faster. This release had the functionality that PHP has today. The syntax was similar to Perl but more limiting and simpler.

PHP 2.0

A development team began to form. They spent months working and beta testing and released PHP/FI 2 in November 1997. Short after, the alphas of PHP 3 were released.

PHP 3.0

PHP 3.0 syntax to closely resemble of today’s PHP, created by Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski in 1997. After finding out that PHP 2.0 was way underpowered for eCommerce application. Andi, Rasmus and Zeev decided to work together and announced PHP 3 as the successor of PHP/FI 2.0 and development of it was stopped soon after. The strength of PHP 3 was strong extensibility features. It also provided end users a solid infrastructure for lots of different databases, protocols and API. Another feature was the introduction of object-oriented syntax support. Approximately 10% of web servers on the internet had PHP 3 installed by the end of 1998. PHP 3 was released in June of 1998.

PHP 4.0

By winter of 1998, Andi and Zeev started working on rewriting the PHP’s core. They goals were to improve the performance of complex application and modularity of PHP’s code base. This new engine called “Zend Engine”, met those goals and was announced in middle of 1999. PHP 4 was based on this engine. Additional features were added and were officially released in May 2000. PHP 4.0 included features such as support for many more Web servers, HTTP sessions, output buffering, more secure ways of handling user input and several new language constructs.

PHP 5.0

Today, PHP is being used by developers all over the world and installed on 20% of domains on the internet. The latest release PHP 5 was released in July 2004 and is driven by the Zend Engine 2.0 with new object model and tons of new features.

If your wanting to start learning PHP programming, come check us out at www.phpprogrammingforbeginners.com [http://www.phpprogrammingforbeginners.com].

The television is great at making you believe whatever the television wants you to think.  The television can make you act like a macho man or some badass from your favorite television show.  The 5 ways the television can influence you are:

1.  Ever wanted to be a talking parrot for you favorite news station on television?  Simply watch the news people on television enough and you will be parroting the exact lines of the people on the news who you listened to.

2.  Watch the show your favorite badass is in and emulate what he/she does on television in real life.  In no time, you will accept the values of that person on television as your own.

3.  Want to rave and talk about your favorite sports team(s) that appear on television?  Simply turn on the television and in no time, you will know more than enough about that team that appeared on television to tell your friends about what you are talking about on television.

4.  Do you like playing video games on your television?  The news is one way, but videos games are a surefire fun way to make yourself think how the characters on your television think.  It is common fact that people emulate what they see on television, and your no different.  Besides, video games put your television to good use, unlike some other television programs people watch.

5.  If the television was so hazardous, the authorities would have banned television long ago.  They did not, so the television is safe for everyone, from the television news media watching adults to the avid teens who use the television to play their favorite television-based video games.  No direction to go to?  Just let the television decide what to eat, let the television choose who to like and let the television choose what your listening to.

By the way, did you know that this article is a satire(I am joking around this time)

Samuel Nedia writes articles that make fun of the current state of affairs in today’s failing economy. These articles will be on a variety of topics, but Samuel will usually write about human behavior while making fun of it. Samuel says: “If there is a way to start breaking free from the chains in your life, it will never be because of some popular celebrity or any of the gurus floating about, for I can show you a way to get through that is very affordable.” All you need to do is Click Here [http://thebestmoneymakingnow.com/]

Blogging is as much fun as it is easy, and once you start to blog it can almost be addicting. Just what is a blog? A blog is nothing more than a web log that describes an Internet website that is dedicated toward the distribution of news, commentary, opinion, or other content by individuals and/or organizations.

Within the last few years blogs have gained momentum and blogging has somewhat taken over the Internet. Today it is relatively easy to find a blog about any topic that you can imagine, and many others about topics that you can’t imagine.

Not everyone is a blogger for money. Believe it or not, there are some people who blog for the sheer pleasure of writing. But most bloggers are business owners, whom having discovered that blogging is an excellent way to promote their business, blog because of the benefits that blogging affords. If you are among those who maintain a blog as a means of promoting your business you probably already know that your blog lets your readers learn about your business and its unique branding, value, products and services.

A blog is a blog, is a blog, right? Wrong! Back when I first began blogging I thought all blogs were the same too. But over the span of a few years I have learned that blogs are not all the same. There are average blogs and then there are successful blogs. An average “blog” is nothing more than a website with a legitimate URL that occupies space on the Internet and is chock full of information that no one knows about. On the other hand a “successful blog” is an informative website that reaches a huge reader base, develops a following, and builds a certain level of credibility while gaining the respect of that following.

Successful blogging is not difficult to achieve and it can be very profitable too, that is if you adapt and follow certain guidelines. There are basically 7 easy steps to successful blogging. If you want to have a successful blog you should implement these steps. You will see your blog go from unnoticed to most popular in no time at all.

Create a niche

This is the beginning step to successful blogging. But what exactly is a niche? The Webster Online dictionary describes a niche as “A place of employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best fitted.”

When creating your niche it should be something you enjoy. It doesn’t matter how lucrative a particular industry may be, if you are going to do a business in that industry, first and foremost, you must enjoy it. Your drive and motivation are determined by your happiness and contentedness and if you do not enjoy what you are doing you will not be motivated to continue doing it very long. Having a niche that you are excited about will insure that you will never be struggling for topics to write about and it will make your blogging experience a whole lot easier in the long run.

The success of your blog also depends on your knowledge level of the niche you have chosen. If you are unable to provide useful information that answers any questions your readers may have concerning your niche, you will soon lose credibility with them. Your niche should always be based on your knowledge, abilities and skills in order to achieve maximum success.

As long as an audience exists for you particular niche you can write and blog about it. If you present yourself well to your readers your blog can achieve longevity and even become one of the dominant forces within your niche. Just keep in mind that your niche can be about absolutely anything that you conceive; you can have a problem solving niche or a gossip niche, it doesn’t matter, just as long as you have reader approval.

Be unique

The second step to successful blogging depends on your ability to write unique content. People who read lots of material look for fresh new content in the words or topics they search, therefore, always be unique in your blog’s approach with respect to the articles you post. Writing unique content will also teach you a lot about branding yourself. This is why it is so important to develop your niche first. If your niche is something you like and know a lot about, writing unique content will be easy.

For example, your niche might be dogs, a fairly common topic today because a great majority of people has a dog. But your experience with dogs is unique and not like mine or anyone else’s. Therefore, no two people will write the same article about dogs, the same way.

In the beginning you may structure your articles and even your blog site after the pattern of another author or blogger, but as you grow, and if you continue to search for your brand in the confusion of your mind, soon your uniqueness will emerge. Just remember this one fact about being unique: unique content sells.

To help develop a level of uniqueness you should keep track of the keywords that are being searched on the Internet which will tell you how users are finding your website. When you write your blog titles it is a good idea to check to see whether or not they are SEO friendly and contain highly related keywords so that it will be easier for visitors to find your blog’s content.

Gain the respect of your readers

The third step to successful blogging is to gain the respect of your readers in your area of expertise. This is easily done by writing from personal experience rather than from research. People can generally sense whether or not you have experience in the area of your subject matter. Personal experience is unique and people looking for value and information will always gravitate toward it.

Write to your readers as if you know each one of them as a close personal friend. You would never tell a friend something that wasn’t true or mislead them in any way. Therefore, you should be very careful to thoroughly research everything you write on your blog before you release the information to your readers; remember, they are your friends and they are depending on your expertise, judgment and knowledge of the subject matter, and they trust that you are leading them in the right direction.

Grab the attention of your readers

This is the most difficult of the 7 steps to perform. You must grab the attention of your readers in the very first paragraph of your article. Writing is almost like listening to music. When you hear a song for the very first time you are very attentive. But if the song does not make you move, pat your foot, or give you something of value in the lyrics within the first few seconds of listening, then it is unlikely that you will want to listen to 3 minutes of a song that you don’t like.

Think of the articles that you post on your blog in the same way. You must command the attention of your readers within their first forty-five seconds of reading. If you do not, chances are will lose them and they may never return to your blog.

Post regularly

Here is where most bloggers get into trouble. They start a blog, write a couple of posts-on average two posts per week, for about three weeks, and when they don’t see traffic increase to their blogs they give up on blogging altogether.

If you are going to blog you must see it as a big responsibility and not as a hobby. Why? Whether you know it or not, people who visit your blog are depending on you to write and post something on your blog on a regular basis.

Your readers would like to know when they can expect new material from you. Regular posting is a part of the successful blogging routine that is so necessary to generate traffic to you blog. The way to get into the habit of regular posting is to develop a schedule. I like to refer to it as a content schedule.

If your goal is to attract loyal readers which will in turn generate steady traffic to your blog, you must create a content schedule. You have to determine how many days per week you will devote to your business of blogging. It doesn’t matter if it is two days or five days you must commit to it and be consistent. Your readers will soon notice your consistency and return to your blog on a regular basis, expecting fresh new content.

In order to achieve this you must set aside time to focus all of your efforts on your blog as if you were going to work, because in reality you are going to work for yourself and the success of your blog depends on this effort. As a result you will keep your readers updated to your niche activities and your website traffic will increase.

Market your blog site

Your level of success in blogging highly depends on the frequency at which you update the content on your blog. Your target should be to write at least one good quality article each day. Not that I did not say you should write at least on article each day, but at least one good quality article each day. It would be better if you produced two good quality articles per week than six articles per week that had no value to your readers.

If you post five good quality articles per week your blog will be more interesting and appealing to your readers and your blog will be their Online Newspaper. Your readers will actually look forward to reading your fresh article every morning while they drink their morning coffee.

Good blog marketing strategy involves optimizing the search engines correctly, better referred to as SEO or Search Engine Optimization. Search engines love blogs that deliver fresh content on a regular basis. The more information the search engine spiders can accumulate from your blog the higher you will move up in the search rankings.

To have a successful blogging site means that you must post fresh content on a daily basis, if possible or otherwise your popularity will plummet and your traffic level will drop off the chart. If this happens you are nearing the end of your blogging career.

Be persistent

It has been said that quitters never win, and winners never quit. This statement holds a lot of truth for bloggers. With the rapid growth of the Internet it is becoming more difficult to get noticed among all the cyber traffic and this can make it is so easy to become frustrated in blogging but if you quit you will never win. The ultimate step in successful blogging is that you be persistent.

You must constantly search for new ways to market your blog and there are lots of tools at your disposal. There is viral marketing, advertising, social bookmarking, networking sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and many other smaller sites like ISeeColor. You must submit your blog’s article content to the many hundreds of article directories on the Internet to help increase the traffic to your blog.

Regularly check your website’s statistics to get a better picture of who is looking at what area of your website and how often they are looking at it. You can do this by using tools like Google Webmasters and Google Analytics, two very important tools for research that will teach you how to optimize your website for better content use and conversion.

The bottom line here is simple: Be persistent and never quit. Because of the busy schedule that I once had in my life, it took me quite a while to comprehend the whole blogging and Internet perspective but I was persistent. Perhaps your schedule too, is a busy one and I am sure there are times when you feel like you are wasting your time, but you’re not.

There is nothing more rewarding than to know that you are providing something of value to someone who needs it. Blogging can afford you the vehicle to do this. So remember: If you never quit you will win; and once you win you will not want to quit.

Happy Successful Blogging.

Eric Dunbar is the owner and editor of Golden Entrepreneur [http://www.goldenentrepreneur.biz], where you will find online business tips, articles and great software tools to grow your online business. Eric Dunbar is also the author of THE FACE OF A DEMON, referred to by many as “The Recovering Addict’s Handbook”, and editor of X-JOURNAL Blog [http://www.blog.ericdunbar.com]

The blogosphere, made up of countless blogs from all over the world, is one of the most popular faces of the Internet. It’s not just for teenagers anymore. Several years ago, most blogs were run by kids who just wanted to keep in touch with their friends, or people who just wanted to talk about their daily life.

These days, almost everyone online has a blog.

Chances are, you have one – and if you don’t, you should.

Stay at home moms like to blog about their daily lives and raising children. CEOs of major corporations own blogs about the latest happenings at their company. Many celebrities run blogs, and they blog about their upcoming events, movies, and roles (not to mention scandals).

And marketers have blogs about every niche imaginable!

I’m confident to say I myself am part of the blogging culture.

Blogging is a great way to reach out to the people on the Internet. They can touch millions of lives, and spread your message like no other medium. You can say almost anything you want, and there will be an audience for almost every niche!

You can run a blog just for fun. If you want to talk about parties you attend, restaurants you eat at, places you go shopping, or where you go on vacation, someone will probably want to read about it.

Even if the only audience you have is your close friends and relatives, you’ll have fun and be able to say whatever’s on your mind.

More and more people are turning to blogging as a way to make money. Some people just want to make a few extra dollars for spending money, but others are actually making a full-time income with their blogs.

A few prominent bloggers even boast of making hundreds of thousands of dollars with their blogs (a la Perez Hilton, who parlayed his blogging fun into thousands of dollars in ad money each month, which delivered him his own TV show, podcast, and clothing line)!

There are plenty of ways to make money blogging. Whether you’re a college student who just wants to make a little extra cash for pizza and clothes, or you’re a serious marketer who wants to make a small fortune, it’s totally possible with blogging.

Blogs are big, even if they’re small. Some blogs get millions of hits per month. Blog traffic has been growing steadily for several years as consumers gain confidence from peers rather than trusting hard hitting sales pitches they find on the web.

With more and more people jumping onto the blogosphere bandwagon, it probably won’t slow down within the foreseeable future. If you’re thinking about getting into blogging, it’s a good idea to get started now.

It generally takes a few months to begin building up a following. And you really need regular visitors if you want to make money with your blog. You should work to gain subscribers to your RSS feed, because those people will come back often to read your new posts.

And remember to lend your own unique voice to your posts. One of the most important nuances in regards to why blogging is such a major global phenomenon is the fact that people really enjoy reading unique voices on certain topics.

They crave the differences in personalities. It’s refreshing to read information that has personality and isn’t stale or stuffy, which means it’s been translated by a single editor so that every voice is uniform. This is why columnist pages in local newspapers are so popular.

Your unique voice is the most important part of getting regular visitors to your blog. If you want to see examples of this, visit some of the most popular blogs you can find. You’ll see that one thing these blogs have in common is the fact that the bloggers make engaging, funny, or original posts.

That’s your key to making it big in the blogosphere!

Before You Blog, Build a Blueprint

A lot of bloggers put together a blog without any real plan for how they’re going to promote it or monetize it. Putting a blog together without a plan is like trying to build a house without a blueprint.

It’s possible, yes. But the end result is probably going to be shoddy, and the whole thing could fall apart at any minute.

You should create a solid plan of action before you even buy the domain. You need to develop a strong blueprint before you ever get started. Waiting until after you’ve already set it up and are getting traffic could mean a lot of extra work going in to correct mistakes.

Changing themes and adding plugins after you’re already getting traffic could interrupt your traffic. Sometimes new plugins and themes can temporarily break your blog, which could mean a loss of traffic (and money) until you’re able to fix everything.

The first part of your plan should be choosing a niche, of course. Part of choosing a niche is finding products you can promote. If a niche has no products available, you could create your own.

But if there are no affiliate products available, it could be because there isn’t enough demand there for a product. In this case, you’d have to do some careful market research in order to determine whether or not a niche is truly viable.

What’s your purpose for blogging?

Do you have your own product you want to promote?

Do you want to promote affiliate products?

Do you want to just put AdSense or CPA offers on your site?

You need to ask yourself questions like these so that you’ll know how you intend to monetize the site. If you plan to promote affiliate products, you should test the products yourself before you promote them.

If you don’t, your visitors could end up being very upset if you promoted a product of really poor quality and they bought it because they trusted you. Even worse, what if you end up promoting something that turns out to be a scam?

You don’t necessarily have to purchase every product you wish to promote. If you can prove you have a decent amount of traffic (and sometimes if you just ask), you may be able to get free review copies of some of the products you’d like to promote.

It doesn’t hurt to ask. Even if you don’t have any existing traffic yet, you can write to the owner of a particular affiliate program, tell them what you’re planning to do, and ask if you could get a review copy.

Some people won’t give you a review copy. Plenty of marketers get requests for review copies from those who just want to get a copy of their product for free. So if you run into a skeptic, or someone who’s been burned before, you may get turned down.

In this case, it’s probably best to just go ahead and buy the product if you really want to promote it. If it’s a scam or a really crappy product, just ask for a refund.

You can also consider using a donation button on your blog. If you can’t find any good products to promote, and you don’t have the time, money, or ability to create your own product, you can still put up a donation button. If your blog is very good, you may get donations.

Or, you can always sell ad space on your blog. If you start getting a substantial amount of traffic or you get a very high PageRank in Google, you could charge a lot of money for a link on your blog. You can also get paid for making posts on your blog that review other sites.

Should a Blog Topic Be Broad or Narrow?

There are two schools of thought regarding blog topics. Some people believe your topic should be very focused, because you can bring in a flurry of laser-targeted visitors. Plus, you have less competition in smaller market segments.

Another group of people believe that anything worth doing is worth doing big. They believe that the only way blogging can truly be worth it is if you’re bringing in massive traffic, and the only way you can achieve that level of traffic is by being very broad – casting a wide net, so to speak.

For example, you might have a sports blog that has broad appeal. You could talk about baseball, football, basketball, soccer, tennis, and golf. This would give you a much more broad appeal, and the potential for larger traffic.

But since there would be so much competition, it might take a lot longer to get more traffic coming in. Plus, the way I see it is, if I’m interested in golf, I really won’t care about the other parts of the blog, so the value of it plummets in my eyes.

But let’s say you choose golf as your broad topic. Even this is broad, although you just segregated it from the other sports in existence. There are many things you could write about golf – vacations, apparel, clubs, courses, techniques, etc.

You could choose an even more targeted niche like women’s golf or senior golf. This is a smaller segment of a small niche. This means you could get traffic faster, because there would be less competition.

Less competition means you have the potential to rise faster in the search engine rankings. Of course, women’s golf would get far less traffic from the number one spot of Google than the combined traffic of all of the other sports niches, but the chances of that traffic converting into a sale will soar.

So basically, it boils down to how you feel about your abilities. If you believe you have the ability to get one large blog to the top of the search engines rather quickly, then you might be able to handle a broad topic blog.

If you don’t believe your abilities are up-to-snuff, then you might want to stick with a smaller niche at first. Remember, you can always start other blogs later. You could either build a network of small niche blogs, or you could start out with one broad blog and then start multiple sub-niche blogs later. You could then link to all of your smaller blogs from your large blog.

You could also start with the smaller blogs, get them to gain some popularity, and then start a large, broad blog later. Once you start the larger blog, you’ll have several smaller blogs already getting traffic and already having PR that can link to the larger blog to get it started.

If you already have a lot of SEO experience and you’re confident in your ability to pull off some great search engine rankings quickly, then starting with a more broad blog might be a better option.

You can still get some of the benefits of having a smaller blog by having categories for each of the smaller niches on your broad topic blog. One last thing to keep in mind is that your traffic will be less targeted if you run a broad blog.

If you have a site about skin care, you may get a lot of traffic that’s just looking for information about the best lotions or skin creams. But if you start a blog about something specific, like acne, you’re more likely to get people who are ready and willing to buy something.

Where Will You Host Your Blog?

A lot of people start out by hosting their blog for free at one of the common blog hosting companies. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but it’s a much better idea to host your blog on your own domain if possible.

Let’s take a look at WordPress. WordPress is a very popular blogging platform. You can host your blog on their servers, or you can download the software and host your blog on your own domain.

There are a few reasons why you should host your own blog, rather than hosting your blog directly on WordPress.com. For one thing, WordPress doesn’t allow you to promote affiliate links on their domain.

So if you want to make any money with your blog, you can’t host it on their server, you’ll have to host it yourself. Another reason why you shouldn’t host your blog on WordPress is the fact that you can’t use the variety of plugins and themes that you could use on your own domain.

WordPress is very limited as far as the functionality, so don’t expect to have anything really cool on your blog if you host it there. You can find free WordPress tutorials to help you get started with your blog.

Now let’s look at Blogger. They do allow commercial blogs, so you can post affiliate links there if you want. But they’re also against what they deem as “spam blogs” or “splogs.” If they decide your blog is spam, or they decide it’s “too” commercial, or they just don’t like it, they can delete it for any reason.

There goes all that hard work you put into it!

You have to agree to those terms and conditions when you sign up. That means that even if you don’t actually break any rules, they could still delete your blog if they chose. That’s a pretty powerful motivator.

It certainly wouldn’t be a very pleasant thing to build a blog up to several thousand hits per day, only to have it deleted (and trust me, I’ve heard these horror stories). You’d lose all of that traffic, all of those backlinks, all of your reputation and your search engine rankings.

Imagine it all being wiped out overnight. That’s not a good thing.

It’s like having a fire rip through your brick and mortar store and you don’t have any insurance to rebuild.

Another very important reason to host your blog on your own domain is that it gives you credibility. If you host your blog on your own domain, you’ll appear more professional, and more like an authority figure in your niche.

People will automatically assume you’re more serious if you’re hosting your blog on your own domain, rather than putting it up somewhere for free. If you do decide to host your own domain, the first thing you’ll need to do is choose a domain that contains a few keywords related to your niche.

If your blog is about house cleaning tips, then try to get housecleaningtips.com. If that’s not available, go down your keyword list and find the next best thing. Then register the domain.

Next you need to find a host for your blog. You might want to choose a host that has Fantastico, which is a program that sits on the server and allows you to very easily install WordPress (and other scripts) without having to create and manage MySQL databases yourself.

Once you have hosting, you just need to go to your domain registrar and set up the name servers to point to your new host. Your hosting company’s support should be able to help you with this.

Blogging Is Big Business

More and more companies are starting blogs, and many people are even forming their entire companies around blogging. Customers really love blogs because they’re generally full of great (free) information, they offer a personal touch that generally isn’t found on a standard corporate website, and they’re not usually full of a lot of hype and hard sell tactics.

Another reason customers love blogs is that they offer a great medium for interaction. Visitors can leave comments and receive responses to their comments. This helps build loyalty to your blog and your company, and readers really enjoy this level of interaction with someone they consider an authority figure.

It helps them feel like they’re really being listened to, and like the company really cares about what they have to say – even if that “company” is an entrepreneur like you! Blogs are a fantastic way to build loyalty.

You can reach your audience in a very personal way, must more so than with a standard, stuffy stagnant website. Readers expect to see some personality coming out in a blog. If you really let your personality shine through, you can build a following that will subscribe to your RSS feed and come back often, eagerly waiting to hear more of what you have to say.

This is a great way to brand yourself and your business. Since you can get more personal with a blog, people start to get to know you a bit as a person. This makes you seem more real, and people begin to trust you and your messages more.

For some reason, people trust websites with identifiable people behind them.

Remember, when you’re blogging for business you should stay somewhat professional. It’s probably best not to post about your aunt’s cataract surgery or your grandma’s cat that died. You can get a bit personal – after all, that’s what really makes you stand out.

But most people who are reading your blog are there to find out information about the niche, seeking solutions to their needs. Keep your posts on topic, but get personal by providing your own voice within those entries.

Provide valuable information within your blog posts. People aren’t going to keep coming back to your blog over and over just to read about the new products you’re releasing, unless you’re releasing some really revolutionary stuff.

They’re going to want to read industry news, tips and tricks, special strategies, and other important information for free. While it’s perfectly fine to blog about new product releases, it’s also important to keep providing helpful information to keep your readers coming back.

Don’t ever lose sight of the fact that your readers are real people. You know what you enjoy reading in a blog, right? You want solid information – something useful. You probably don’t mind the occasional sales pitch on a blog full of great information, but you’d be pretty annoyed to reading nothing but pitch after pitch.

If you’re running a business blog, it’s important to keep your readers in mind. Give them the kind of quality information they’re hungry for, and they’ll keep coming back for more. In fact, the more you give them for free, the more loyal they’ll become, and the more likely they’ll be to buy from you in the future.

Blogging is all about informing and educating. If you can do that, your visitors will form a bond with you and they’ll be sure to spread the word about your blog so that your URL goes viral and it attracts an even bigger following within your niche.

Blogging can be very lucrative, not to mention it enhances your overall branding and networking on the ‘net. Here are the steps you need to take to get started RIGHT NOW:

1.) Pick a niche topic (my advice is to go narrow).

2.) Find a domain and buy it.

3.) Set up your WordPress blog using your Fantastico host.

4.) Pick a theme online – Google free WordPress themes and you’ll find millions you can upload.

5.) Set up your blog for categories, ad space, and stick an opt-in box in it to begin building a list.

6.) Start posting to your blog using keyword relevant titles and entries.

7.) Start bookmarking your blog and sharing that link to get it moving in the viral direction.

8.) Test the conversion of various products you promote on your blog and switch out those that aren’t working well for you.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog report. Feel free to pass it around and share it with others you feel it might help!

Bret Glick

http://www.Dragon-Adventures.com

Bret C Glick
Lindenhurst NY
11757
http://www.dragon-adventures.com

The ebb and flow of stock markets present opportunities to profit if an investor understands these cycles. Since 1900 we have had 27 bull markets with corresponding bear markets to make things interesting. Presently, we are experiencing the 6th longest and the 5th weakest stock market rally as measured by the Dow.

While this is interesting, it would be more helpful if we could better understand these cycles in the market. Well, the stock market does tend to move in cycles, short term (also called cyclical), and long term (also called secular). Secular markets typically can last between 10 to 20 years, while cyclical markets usually last between 2 – 3 years on average. Think of a secular market as the primary long term trend, while a cyclical market is simply a shorter term cycle within the primary long term secular market.

As investors and traders, we need to understand where we are within these market cycles, so we can be on the right side of the trend to enhance our success. For example, the market was in a secular bull market from 1982 – 2000, experiencing a strong primary uptrend where the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased over 10 fold from about a low of 800 to over 10,000. Of course, there were short term bear markets such as in 1987, however, the easy money was made on the long side as the primary trend was up.

However, here’s where the danger lies: The majority of investors today have only experienced a secular bull market, such as the one from 1982 – 2000. Most of us have not experienced a long term secular bear market where the primary trend is mostly sideways to slightly down. The last secular bear market lasted 16 years from 1966 to 1982. Just to give you some perspective, the Dow Jones hit a high near 1000 in 1966, and hit a low in the 800s during 1982. In other words, the Dow essentially was flat for 16 years. During this time, the ‘easy money’ was not made on the long or short side, but by being being a good stock picker identifying undervalued opportunities, special situation stocks, and sectors that are temporarily strong. Understanding whether we are in a cyclical bull or bear market greatly enhances our chances for success.

The problem is that the secular bull market that began in 1982 ended in 2000. Therefore, while the stock brokers advice to hold for the long term was good advice for a secular bull market, it is totally the wrong strategy for a new secular bear market. The market entered into a new secular bear market in 2000, and as history shows, this new secular bear market will probably last at least until 2010 or longer. The market rally from early 2003 until now is simply a cyclical bull market within the new long term secular bear market. Holding for the long term will not work in this new secular bear market.

Let’s look at each secular bull and bear market of the Dow over the last 100 years. As you can see, except for the secular bull market of 1921 – 1929, secular market cycles last on average 16 to 20 years.

- Secular Bull Market, 1982 – 2000, (18 years)

- Secular Bear Market, 1966 – 1982, (16 years)

- Secular Bull Market, 1949 – 1966, (17 years)

- Secular Bear Market, 1929 – 1949, (20 years)

- Secular Bull Market, 1921 – 1929, (8 years)

- Secular Bear Market, 1905 – 1921, (16 years)

Secular Bull Market, 1982 – 2000 (18 years)

Let’s work backwards, beginning with the last secular bull market, which lasted from 1982 – 2000. The Dow increased over 10 fold from a low of about 800 to a high in the 11,000s. The strong primary trend was up and the best way to make money was to be long in your positions. Only the nimble were able to take advantage of the few cyclical bear markets that occurred in 1987, 1991, and 1998. These pull backs were also opportunities to establish new long positions.

Secular Bear Market, 1966 – 1982 (16 years)

Prior to the last secular bull market, the market was in a long term secular bear market which lasted from 1966 to 1982. During this time, the market essentially went sideways for 16 years. For example, the Dow hit a high of about 1000 in 1966, and low in the 800s in 1982. If you would have followed your brokers advice to ‘hold for the long term’ you would have been greatly disappointed. Sixteen years is a long time to receive next to nothing in return on your money.

The chart of the Dow below from 1966 to 1982 is a classic example of what a secular bear market looks like. There were strong cynical bull and bear markets during this time that caused the market to essentially remain flat for 16 years. However, there were shorter term cyclical bull and bear markets that could be traded.

If you could use a time machine and jump forward 10 years from now, I think this how a chart of the Dow or NASDAQ might look. Both traders and investors will need to do their homework, seeking sectors and stocks that present great value opportunities.

Secular Bull Market, 1949 – 1966 (17 years)

The Dow was in a secular bull market from 1949 – 1966. Here the primary trend was up, which is typical for secular bull markets. The easy money was made by primarily remaining long throughout the cycle.

Secular Bear Market, 1929 – 1949 (20 years)

From 1929 until 1949, the Dow was in the famous secular bear market which also defined the Great Depression. After the nightmare crash from 1929 to 1932, the Dow essentially went sideways to slightly up for the next 17 years, but did not reach its old highs near 375 until the early 1950s. However, there were cyclical bull and bear markets during this long term secular bear market.

The Dow experienced the mother of all crashed from 1929 until 1932. Then from 1932 until 1937, the Dow nearly quadrupled from a low of about 50 to 200. Then from 1937 to 1942 the DOW lost about half of its value from near 200 to about 100 (cyclical bear). Then from 1942 to 1949 the DOW recovered (cyclical bull).

Secular Bull Market, 1921 – 1929 (8 years)

From 1921 until 1929, the Dow was in a strong secular bull market. Actually, from a chart perspective this period was very similar to the more recent 1982 to 2000 secular bull market. The primary trend was up, and the easy money was made by buying and holding for the long term.

Secular Bull Market, 1905 – 1921 (16 years)

The Dow was in a secular bear market from 1905 until 1921. This secular bear market was typical of most secular bear markets, such as the one from 1966 – 1982, composed of mostly vicious cyclical bull and bear markets that result in a mostly sideways long term movement.

Hopefully, you realize it is very important to know the market’s primary secular and cyclical trend. During secular bull markets, the easy money is make by staying long. However, during secular bear markets, staying long produces poor results at best and you could lose a lot of money. Stock picking and following the hot sectors is important for success.

Conclusion

The current market entered a long term secular bear market in 2000, and as history shows us, this will last at least until 2010, probably longer. As discussed above, during secular bear markets, the market trades in vicious cyclical bull and bear markets. Therefore, you have to be careful in the stocks you buy and be ready to sell them quickly should the market turn against you. Pull backs or cyclical bear markets will present opportunities to take new positions once they have run their course. It is also important to find value situations and play the hot sectors. You need to be defensive in our positions and for those who are willing to take the risk, you may want to take some short positions.

Trading and investing is much easier in secular bull markets, and much more difficult during secular bear markets. Since we are in a secular bear market for the next 5 to 10 years, it is going to be much more difficult to be successful in your trading and investing.

Currently, the cyclical bull market that begin in early 2003 is close to being over and a new cyclical bear market will begun that will last another 2 to 3 years. This means that the best plays will be on the bearish side for the next couple years, that is, until the next cyclical bull begins.

Hans Wagner runs a web site focused on stock market strategies and model portfolios for the investor and trader at: http://www.tradingonlinemarkets.com

In my last blog post, I explained the 5 signs of the fear of cooking that many people suffer from in deciding that they would like to learn to cook. Because the kitchen plays a particularly important emotional role in many people’s lives, not knowing how to cook can have devastating effects. Some people that have come to me to learn to cook have told me stories that not only explain their fear of cooking but have made it almost impossible for them to learn how to cook.

One of the ways that fear of cooking is intensified is through smells. Your sense of smell has a powerful links to your memories. In fact, I’m sure that most of you have memories that come flooding into your mind when you smell cookies baking or a pot roast. I have strong memories when I smell the chlorine from a pool that remind me of swimming and snack bar hamburgers.

Memories are not always positive. For example, I had one woman that came to my cooking school and told me that she can’t cook. Later in the evening as she was learning how to cook (funny how well cooking by method works), she explained to me that as a child, every time she went into the kitchen, her mother would scream, “Get out of the kitchen. You’re going to mess everything up. You’re going to ruin things. This is not a place for children.” No wonder she had a fear of cooking!

Let’s look a little more deeply into the 10 ways that the fear of cooking may affect your life

1. Anxiety – this can come from the thought of the “impending” meal and not knowing what to cook or how to cook.
2. Depression - eating the same things over and over again can cause depression and place a person in a lull where they lose the desire to learn to cook.
3. Lethargy - most often this comes from eating foods that aren’t good for us. In particular, eating empty calories or fast food over and over again.
4. Embarrassment - are you the person that always brings napkins to the pot luck? Not knowing how to cook can cause embarrassment when you never bring a meal to gatherings.
5. Loneliness - eating home cooked meals has the potential to bring families together. Without home cooked meals, there may be a sense of loneliness because so much conversation and socializing occurs over a cooked meal.
6. Non-Reciprocation – Have you been invited to dinner by your friends multiple times and never returned the favor? This can cause a feeling of being a “deadbeat”.
7. Poor provider – Not knowing how to cook can lead to a lack of variety for your family and feeling guilty from not feeding your children healthy foods.
8. Taker/not giver – Always depending on your spouse or partner to cook for you can make you feel like a taker and never being able to give back to the cook in the family.
9. Spend-thrift - Do you have kitchen gadget that were gifts or purchased that you don’t know how to use? Do you have a multi-thousand dollar range that makes popcorn? This type of guilt can intensify the fear of cooking.
10. Money stress – When one has a fear of cooking and doesn’t learn how to cook, there is a tendency to spend more money on take-out foods which can cause anxiety around money and cooking

You don’t have to suffer these effects of the fear of cooking! These are exactly the types of feelings and thoughts that drive me to continue to help people to understand how easy it is to learn to cook using simple cooking method. Having an understanding of how foods go together without using a recipe can not only make the fear of cooking go away, but will enable you to cook anytime anywhere with confidence. You will not only know how to cook but will never suffer from the devastating effects of the fear of cooking again!

Chef Todd Mohr is a classically trained chef, entrepreneur, cooking educator and founder of WebCookingClasses. You CAN learn to cook without written recipes by taking his FREE cooking class that will change the way you think about cooking forever!

What is the meaning of education?

Webster defines education as the process of educating or teaching. Educate is further defined as “to develop the knowledge, skill, or character of…” Thus, from these definitions, we might assume that the purpose of education is to develop the knowledge, skill, or character of students.

It is also defined in Oxford that education is the knowledge, abilities, and the development of character and mental powers that are resulted from intellectual, moral, and physical trainings. So, it can be said that someone who already got education will have additional knowledge, abilities and change in character and mental power.

While in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, it is stated that:

Education encompasses teaching and learning specific skills, and also something less tangible but more profound: the imparting of knowledge, positive judgment and well-developed wisdom. Education has as one of its fundamental aspects the imparting of culture from generation to generation (see socialization). Education means ‘to draw out’, facilitating realization of self-potential and latent talents of an individual. It is an application of pedagogy, a body of theoretical and applied research relating to teaching and learning and draws on many disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, computer science, linguistics, neuro-science, sociology and anthropology.

From the quotation above, it is assumed that education does not merely transfer knowledge or skill, but more specifically it trains people to have positive judgment and well-developed wisdom, better characters and mental powers. Through education, someone will be able to search through their natural talent and self-potential, empower them and finally will result in gaining their self-esteem and better life.

The history of education according to Dieter Lenzen, president of the Freie Universität Berlin 1994 “began either millions of years ago or at the end of 1770″. Education as a science cannot be separated from the educational traditions that existed before. Education was the natural response of early civilizations to the struggle of surviving and thriving as a culture. Adults trained the young of their society in the knowledge and skills they would need to master and eventually pass on.

The education of an individual human begins since he was born and continues throughout his life. Even, some people believe that education begins even before birth, as evidenced by some parents’ playing music or reading to the baby in the womb to hope it will influence the child’s development. For some, the struggles and triumphs of daily life provide far more instruction than does formal. Family members may have a profound educational effect – often more profound than they realize – though family teaching may function very informally.

Education: the purpose, function and in practice

Theorists have made a distinction between the purpose of education and the functions of education. A purpose is the fundamental goal of the process-an end to be achieved, while Functions are other outcomes that may occur as a natural result of the process- byproducts or consequences of schooling. To elaborate these terms, it can be seen in reality that some teachers believe that the transfer of knowledge from teacher to students is the main purpose of education, while the transfer of knowledge from school to the real world or the application of what has been transferred is something that happens naturally as a consequence of possessing that knowledge; it is called a function of education.

Here are some quotations taking from The Meaning of Education:

“The only purpose of education is to teach a student how to live his life-by developing his mind and equipping him to deal with reality. The training he needs is theoretical, i.e., conceptual. He has to be taught to think, to understand, to integrate, to prove. He has to be taught the essentials of the knowledge discovered in the past-and he has to be equipped to acquire further knowledge by his own effort” ~Ayn Rand

“The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think-rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with the thoughts of other men.” ~Bill Beattie

From the above information it can be said that the purpose of education is to prepare the students to be able to face their life by facilitating them to develop their mind and equip them with “hard skill” and “soft skill” to deal with reality. As the result of this education, they themselves will be able to think, to understand, to integrate and to prove their ability.

Talking about the purpose of education, there are some overviews about it. There are different outlooks between autocratic and democratic regarding education. It is quite clear that each type of world outlook demands its consistent type of education. The autocratic wants the education in the purpose of making docile followers. So, that is why they prefer a type of education whose purpose is to build docility and obedience. In the other hand, Democracy is different from them. Democracy wishes all people to be able and willing to judge wisely for themselves. The democratic will seek a type of education whose purpose is to build responsible, thinking, public-spirited citizenship in all people.

This is also different for the authoritarian society. For them, it is just enough for the leaders to know what they want without thinking about what their people want. It is quite in contrary to what a democratic society wants. For the democracy society, the leaders and the most important – the large majority of the people must see clearly the aims/purpose of the type of education they have. In other words, in a democracy it is essential that the leaders and people have clear philosophy of life and a clear philosophy of education.

Florida health insurance companies are now feeling the effects of the increased price transparency that the Internet brings. Now longer is it a process of days or even weeks to obtain multiple health insurance quotes from top Florida health insurance companies. The simplest and most efficient way to obtain health insurance in Florida is simply to make the top health insurance companies in the state (Golden Rule/United Healthcare, Aetna, and Humana) compete for your business!

If you cringe at the thought of a United Healthcare agent, an Aetna agent, and a Humana agent all clustering around you amongst a swarm of other Florida health insurance agents and trying to push their company’s policy upon you then read on; for health insurance shopping on the Internet has simplified everything. There are numerous Florida health insurance websites that offer Florida health insurance quotes but there are quite a few very important distinctions between the different types.

There are two main types of websites that offer Florida health insurance quotes to Florida health insurance shoppers: Marketing Organizations and Insurance Agencies.

Marketing Organizations do not sell insurance, are not regulated by any insurance department, and generally have no knowledge whatsoever concerning Florida health insurance. However, they can offer consumers a somewhat appealing service. How can they assist in purchasing health insurance?

They act as a middleman between Florida health insurance shoppers and Florida health insurance agents. When Mrs. Smith in Tampa, FL requests a health insurance quote then the marketing company sells her information as a lead to 5 or more Florida insurance agents.

Ignoring the privacy issues and the issue of the qualifications of the health insurance agents that will be purchasing your information there is the larger and more practical issue of do you really want to have 5+ insurance agents aggressively seeking your business?

Imagine that each health insurance agent is taught in their sales training to call you at least 5 times and email you at least 3 times before “giving up” on you as an insurance prospect: that means that you have received 25 phone calls and 15 emails from various insurance agents!

The second type of website that offers Florida health insurance quotes is the website that is run by an insurance agency (note that it is very important to find only an independent Florida insurance agency – meaning an agency that is not tied to working with only one health insurance company but can show you health insurance quotes from all of the top Florida health insurance companies. This is also why we will ignore the quasi third group of websites that offer Florida health insurance quotes: the health insurance carrier websites themselves. These can be a good service but very time consuming. There is a better way to shop for Florida health insurance. Read on-).

Most independent insurance agency websites offer a feature that will allow you to request Florida health insurance quotes. However, there is a much better way to shop for Florida health insurance! Rather than waiting for your request for health insurance quotes to be filled; look for a website that offers instant and LIVE Florida health insurance quotes from top Florida health insurance companies.

With instant LIVE Florida health insurance quotes you have the best of both worlds: you receive the benefits of competitive pricing by viewing the top Florida health insurance companies quotes side by side (the strong point of the marketing organization website model) as well as personal, expert help (the strong point of the insurance agency website model). Not to mention the added benefit of viewing the health insurance quotes from the different health insurance companies in the same format – enabling easy side by side comparisons of benefits. This allows for a true “apples to apples” comparison.

View up to 20 LIVE Florida health insurance quotes from top Florida health insurance companies like Aetna, Humana and Golden Rule/United Healthcare all in less than 20 seconds! View LIVE Florida health insurance quotes now and take advantage of the Internet’s price transparency!

Get free health insurance quotes by comparing all of the top health insurance plans in your zip code – in less time than it takes to brush your teeth!

Comparison shop multiple insurance companies instantly and in real time by viewing free Florida health insurance quotes: Aetna, Humana, United Healthcare and more.

Market Overview

The car rental industry is a multi-billion dollar sector of the US economy. The US segment of the industry averages about $18.5 billion in revenue a year. Today, there are approximately 1.9 million rental vehicles that service the US segment of the market. In addition, there are many rental agencies besides the industry leaders that subdivide the total revenue, namely Dollar Thrifty, Budget and Vanguard. Unlike other mature service industries, the rental car industry is highly consolidated which naturally puts potential new comers at a cost-disadvantage since they face high input costs with reduced possibility of economies of scale. Moreover, most of the profit is generated by a few firms including Enterprise, Hertz and Avis. For the fiscal year of 2004, Enterprise generated $7.4 billion in total revenue. Hertz came in second position with about $5.2 billion and Avis with $2.97 in revenue.

Level of Integration

The rental car industry faces a completely different environment than it did five years ago. According to Business Travel News, vehicles are being rented until they have accumulated 20,000 to 30,000 miles until they are relegated to the used car industry whereas the turn-around mileage was 12,000 to 15,000 miles five years ago. Because of slow industry growth and narrow profit margin, there is no imminent threat to backward integration within the industry. In fact, among the industry players only Hertz is vertically integrated through Ford.

Scope of Competition

There are many factors that shape the competitive landscape of the car rental industry. Competition comes from two main sources throughout the chain. On the vacation consumer’s end of the spectrum, competition is fierce not only because the market is saturated and well guarded by industry leader Enterprise, but competitors operate at a cost disadvantage along with smaller market shares since Enterprise has established a network of dealers over 90 percent the leisure segment. On the corporate segment, on the other hand, competition is very strong at the airports since that segment is under tight supervision by Hertz. Because the industry underwent a massive economic downfall in recent years, it has upgraded the scale of competition within most of the companies that survived. Competitively speaking, the rental car industry is a war-zone as most rental agencies including Enterprise, Hertz and Avis among the major players engage in a battle of the fittest.

Growth

Over the past five years, most firms have been working towards enhancing their fleet sizes and increasing the level of profitability. Enterprise currently the company with the largest fleet in the US has added 75,000 vehicles to its fleet since 2002 which help increase its number of facilities to 170 at the airports. Hertz, on the other hand, has added 25,000 vehicles and broadened its international presence in 150 counties as opposed to 140 in 2002. In addition, Avis has increased its fleet from 210,000 in 2002 to 220,000 despite recent economic adversities. Over the years following the economic downturn, although most companies throughout the industry were struggling, Enterprise among the industry leaders had been growing steadily. For example, annual sales reached $6.3 in 2001, $6.5 in 2002, $6.9 in 2003 and $7.4 billion in 2004 which translated into a growth rate of 7.2 percent a year for the past four years. Since 2002, the industry has started to regain its footing in the sector as overall sales grew from $17.9 billion to $18.2 billion in 2003. According to industry analysts, the better days of the rental car industry have yet to come. Over the course of the next several years, the industry is expected to experience accelerated growth valued at $20.89 billion each year following 2008 “which equates to a CAGR of 2.7 % [increase] in the 2003-2008 period.”

Distribution

Over the past few years the rental car industry has made a great deal of progress to facilitate it distribution processes. Today, there are approximately 19,000 rental locations yielding about 1.9 million rental cars in the US. Because of the increasingly abundant number of car rental locations in the US, strategic and tactical approaches are taken into account in order to insure proper distribution throughout the industry. Distribution takes place within two interrelated segments. On the corporate market, the cars are distributed to airports and hotel surroundings. On the leisure segment, on the other hand, cars are distributed to agency owned facilities that are conveniently located within most major roads and metropolitan areas.

In the past, managers of rental car companies used to rely on gut-feelings or intuitive guesses to make decisions about how many cars to have in a particular fleet or the utilization level and performance standards of keeping certain cars in one fleet. With that methodology, it was very difficult to maintain a level of balance that would satisfy consumer demand and the desired level of profitability. The distribution process is fairly simple throughout the industry. To begin with, managers must determine the number of cars that must be on inventory on a daily basis. Because a very noticeable problem arises when too many or not enough cars are available, most car rental companies including Hertz, Enterprise and Avis, use a “pool” which is a group of independent rental facilities that share a fleet of vehicles. Basically, with the pools in place, rental locations operate more efficiently since they reduce the risk of low inventory if not eliminate rental car shortages.

Market Segmentation

Most companies throughout the chain make a profit based of the type of cars that are rented. The rental cars are categorized into economy, compact, intermediate, premium and luxury. Among the five categories, the economy sector yields the most profit. For instance, the economy segment by itself is responsible for 37.7 percent of the total market revenue in 2004. In addition, the compact segment accounted for 32.3 percent of overall revenue. The rest of the other categories covers the remaining 30 percent for the US segment.

Historical Levels of Profitability

The overall profitability of the car rental industry has been shrinking in recent years. Over the past five years, the industry has been struggling just like the rest of the travel industry. In fact, between the years 2001 and 2003 the US market has experienced a moderate reduction in the level of profitability. Specifically, revenue fell from $19.4 billion in 2000 to $18.2 billion in 2001. Subsequently, the overall industry revenue eroded further to $17.9 billion in 2002; an amount that is minimally higher than $17.7 billion which is the overall revenue for the year 1999. In 2003, the industry experienced a barely noticeable increase which brought profit to $18.2 billion. As a result of the economic downturn in recent years, some of the smaller players that were highly dependent on the airline industry have done a great deal of strategy realignments as a way of preparing their companies to cope with eventual economic adversities that may surround the industry. For the year 2004, on the other hand, the economic situation of most firms have gradually improved throughout the industry since most rental agencies have returned far greater profits relative to the anterior years. For instance, Enterprise realized revenues of $7.4 billion; Hertz returned revenues of $5.2 billion and Avis with $2.9 billion in revenue for the fiscal year of 2004. According to industry analysts, the rental car industry is expected to experience steady growth of 2.6 percent in revenue over the next several years which translates into an increase in profit.

Competitive Rivalry Among Sellers

There are many factors that drive competition within the car rental industry. Over the past few years, broadening fleet sizes and increasing profitability has been the focus of most companies within the car rental industry. Enterprise, Hertz and Avis among the leaders have been growing both in sales and fleet sizes. In addition, competition intensifies as firms are constantly trying to improve their current conditions and offer more to consumers. Enterprise has nearly doubled its fleet size since 1993 to approximately 600,000 cars today. Because the industry operates on such narrow profit margins, price competition is not a factor; however, most companies are actively involved in creating values and providing a range of amenities from technological gadgets to even free rental to satisfy customers. Hertz, for example, integrates its Never-Lost GPS system within its cars. Enterprise, on the other hand, uses sophisticated yield management software to manage its fleets.

Finally, Avis uses its OnStar and Skynet system to better serve the consumer base and offers free weekend rental if a customer rents a car for five consecutive days Moreover, the consumer base of the rental car industry has relatively low to no switching cost. Conversely, rental agencies face high fixed operating costs including property rental, insurance and maintenance. Consequently, rental agencies are sensitively pricing there rental cars just to recover operating costs and adequately meet their customers demands. Furthermore, because the industry experienced slow growth in recent years due to economic stagnation that resulted in a massive decline in both corporate travel and the leisure sector, most companies including the industry leaders are aggressively trying to reposition their firms by gradually lessening the dependency level on the airline industry and regaining their footing in the leisure competitive arena.

The Potential Entry of new Competitors

Entering the car rental industry puts new comers at a serious disadvantage. Over the past few years following the economic downturn of 2001, most major rental companies have started increasing their market shares in the vacation sector of the industry as a way of insuring stability and lowering the level of dependency between the airline and the car rental industry. While this trend has engendered long term success for the existing firms, it has heightened the competitive landscape for new comers. Because of the severity of competition, existing firms such as Enterprise, Hertz and Avis carefully monitor their competitive radars to anticipate Sharpe retaliatory strikes against new entrants. Another barrier to entry is created because of the saturation level of the industry.

For example, Enterprise has taken the first mover advantage with its 6000 facilities by saturating the leisure segment thereby placing not only high restrictions on the most common distribution channels, but also high resource requirements for new firms. Today, Enterprise has a rental location within 15 miles of 90 percent of the US population. Because of the network of dealers Enterprise has established around the nation, it has become relatively stable, more recession proof and most importantly, less reliant on the airline industry compared to its competitors. Hertz, on the other hand, is utilizing the full spectrum of its 7200 stores to secure its position in the marketplace. Basically, the emergence of most of the industry leaders into the leisure market not only drives rivalry, but also it varies directly with the level of complexity of entering the car rental industry.

The Threat of Substitute

There are many substitutes available for the car rental industry. From a technological standpoint, renting a car to go the distance for a meeting is a less attractive alternative as opposed to video conferencing, virtual teams and collaboration software with which a company can immediately setup a meeting with its employees from anywhere around the world at a cheaper cost. In addition, there are other alternatives including taking a cab which is a satisfactory substitute relative to quality and switching cost, but it may not be as attractively priced as a rental car for the course of a day or more. While public transportation is the most cost efficient of the alternatives, it is more costly in terms of the process and time it takes to reach one’s destination. Finally, because flying offers convenience, speed and performance, it is a very enticing substitute; however, it is an unattractive alternative in terms of price relative to renting a car. On the business segment, car rental agencies have more protection against substitutes since many companies have implemented travel policies that establish the parameters of when renting a car or using a substitute is the best course of action.

According to Tracy Esch, an Advantage director of marketing operations, her company rents cars up to a 200-mile trip before considering an alternative. Basically, the threat of substitute is reasonably low in the car rental industry since the effects the substitute products have do not pose a significant threat of profit erosion throughout the industry.

The Bargaining Power of Suppliers

Supplier power is low in the car rental industry. Because of the availability of substitutes and the level of competition, suppliers do not have a great deal of influence in the terms and conditions of supplying the rental cars. Because the rental cars are usually purchased in bulk, rental car agents have significant influence over the terms of the sale since they possess the ability to play one supplier against another to lower the sales price. Another factor that reduces supplier power is the absence of switching cost. That is, buyers are not affected from purchasing from one supplier over another and most importantly, changing to different supplier’s products is barely noticeable and does not affect consumer’s rental choices.

The Bargaining Power of Buyers

While the leisure sector has little or no power, the business segment possesses a significant amount of influence in the car rental industry. An interesting trend that is currently underway throughout the industry is forcing car rental companies to adapt to the needs of corporate travelers. This trend significantly reduces supplier power or the rental firms’ power and increases corporate buyer power since the business segment is excruciatingly price sensitive, well informed about the industry’s price structure, purchase in larger quantities and they use the internet to force lower prices. Vacation buyers, on the other hand, have less influence over the rental terms. Because vacationers are usually less price sensitive, purchase in lesser amounts or purchase more infrequently, they have weak bargaining power.

Five Forces

Today the car rental industry is facing a completely different environment than it did five years ago. Competitively speaking, the revolution of the five forces around the car rental industry exerts some strong economic pressure that has significantly tarnished the competitive attractiveness of the industry. As a result of the economic downturn in recent years, many companies went under namely Budget and the Vanguard Group because their business infrastructure succumbed to the untenability of the competitive environment. Today, very few firms including Enterprise, Hertz and Avis return a slightly above-average revenue compared to the rest of the industry. Realistically speaking, the car rental sector is not a very attractive industry because of the level of competition, the barriers to entry and the competitive pressure from the substitute firms.

Strategic Group Mapping

As a moderately concentrated sector, there is a clear hierarchy in the car rental industry. From an economic standpoint, disparities exist from a number of dimensions including revenue, fleet size and the market size each firm holds in the market place. For instance, Enterprise dominates the industry with a fleet size of approximately 600,000 vehicles along with its market size and its level of profitability. Hertz comes in second position with its number of market shares and fleet volume. In addition, Avis ranks third on the map. Avis is among one of the companies that is having issues recovering its revenue margins from prior to the economic downturn. For instance, in 2000 Avis returned revenues of approximately $4.23 billion. Over the course of the next several years following 2000, the revenue of Avis has been significantly lower than that of 2000. As a way of reducing uncertainty most companies are gradually lessening the level of dependency on the airline industry and emerging the leisure market. This trend may not be in the best interest of Hertz since its business strategy is intricately linked to the airports.

Key Success Factors

There are many key success factors that drive profitability throughout the car rental industry. Capacity utilization is one of the factors that determines success in the industry. Because rental firms experience loss of revenue when there are either too few or too many cars sitting in their lots, it is of paramount importance to efficiently manage the fleets. This success factor represents a big strength for the industry since it lowers if not completely eliminates the possibly of running short on rental cars. Efficient distribution is another factor that keeps the industry profitable. Despite the positive relationship between fleet sizes and the level of profitability, firms are constantly growing their fleet sizes because of the competitive forces that surround the industry. In addition, convenience is one of the crucial attributes by which consumers select rental firms. That is, car rental consumers are more prone to renting cars from firms that have convenient rental and drop off locations. Another key success factor that is common among competing firms is the integration of technology in their business processes. Through technology, for instance, the car rental companies create ways to meet consumer demand by making renting a car a very agreeable ordeal by adding the convenience of online rental among other alternatives. Furthermore, firms have integrated navigation systems along with roadside assistance to offer customers the piece of mind when renting cars.

Industry Attractiveness

There are many factors that impact the attractiveness of the car rental industry. Because the industry is moderately concentrated, it puts new market entrants at a disadvantage. That is, its low concentration represents a natural barrier to entering the industry as it allows existing firm to anticipate sharp retaliations against new entrants. Because of the risks associated with entering the industry among other factors, it is not a very attractive sector of the marketplace. From a competitive standpoint, the leisure market is 90 percent saturated because of the active efforts of Enterprise to dominate this sector of the market. On the other hand, the airport terminals are heavily guarded by Hertz. Realistically speaking, entry in the industry offers low profitability relative to the costs and risks associated. For most consumers, the main determining factors of choosing one company over another are price and convenience. Because of this reason, rental firms are very circumspect about setting their rates and that generally force even the industry major players in the position of offering more to the consumers for less just to remain competitive. Hertz, for example, offers wireless internet to its customers just to add more convenience to their travel plans. Avis on the other hand, offers free weekend specials if a customer rents a car for five consecutive weekdays. Based on the impact of the five forces, the car rental sector is not a very attractive industry to potential new market entrants.

Conclusion

The rental car industry is in a state of recovery. Although it may seem like the industry is performing well financially, it is nonetheless gradually regaining its footing relative to its actual economic position within the last five years. As a way of insuring profitability, besides seeking market shares and stability, most companies throughout the chain have a common goal that deals with lowering the level of dependency on the airline industry and moving toward the leisure segment. This state of motion has engendered some fierce competition among industry competitors as they attempt to defend their market shares. From a futuristic perspective, the better days of the car rental industry have yet to come. As the level of profitability increases, I believe that most of the industry leaders including Enterprise, Hertz and Avis will be bounded by the economic and competitive barriers of mobility of their strategic groups and new comers will have a better chance of infiltrating and realizing success in the car rental industry.

Sources

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“Car & Truck Rental.” Hoover’s AB&D Company. Jan. 2005 . Hoovers. 04 Feb 2005. http://premium.hoovers.com.ucfproxy.fcla.edu/subscribe/ind/factsheet.xhtm. “

Rental car foes war on each other’s turf.” The Associate Press. Fall 2004. The Enquirer. 08 March 2005. http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/10/11/biz_rentalcars111.html.

“United States – Car Rental.” Data Monitor Industry Market Research. Nov. 2004. Gale. 12 March 2005. http://search.rdsinc.com.ucfproxy.fcla.edu/sessions?products=BNI.

“A synthesis of tactical fleet planning models for the car rental industry.” IIE Transactions. Sept. 2003. Gale. 12 March 2005. [http://www.fleet-central.com/arn/01stat3.cfm].

“Corporate travel plans moving to Web.” Crain’s Chicago Business. Apr. 2001. ProQuest. 12 March 2005. http://www.proquest.com.ucfproxy.fcla.edu.

“Tracy Esch.” “Car rental market leaders make rebound .” Business Travel News. May 2002. Gale. 12 March 2005. http://search.rdsinc.com.ucfproxy.fcla.edu.

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“Car rental market leaders make rebound.” Business Travel News. May. 2002 . Gale. 14 March 2005. http://search.rdsinc.com.ucfproxy.fcla.edu.

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Rodrigue Monestime has authored several articles. He holds a BS in Business Administration with high concentration in Management Information System (MIS). He is the founder of BizVita.com [http://www.bizvita.com], a site designed for busy professionals with an all-in-one approach to the daily facts of the global business environment.

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Imagine that white fluffy snow, ready for you to hit the slopes and enjoy a day on the mountains. It is time to go skiing. Everyone looks forward to that day. Now is the time to make sure you are prepared for that day that the snow is ready for you to enjoy. There is ski equipment and accessories that you want to make sure you have if you are going to go skiing so that it can be a perfect day.

Here is a list of some of the equipment that you will want to own or rent for the perfect day on the snow:

1. Skis

2. Ski Boots

3. Helmet

4. Ski Poles

5. Sunglasses

6. Gloves

7. Base Layer of clothing

8. Sweater or fleece

9. Ski Socks (you will want an extra layer besides the one pair)

10. Ski Pants

11. Hat, Headband or Helmet Liner

12. Ski Jacket

13. Hand / Foot Warmers

14. Lip Balm (your lips get really chapped and you will be glad you have it on hand)

15. Sunscreen / Windblock (it might seem like something you won’t need, but the snow and the sun can end up giving you a nice sunburn)

These are some of the necessary ski equipment items you will want to have to provide that perfect day on the slopes. Remember, several of these items could be layered to be sure you stay warm. It is always easier to remove layers of clothing than to add to the layers. Especially once you have gotten wet and want to warm up.

Park’s Sportman (http://www.parkssportsman.com/) is a sports shop selling outdoor and indoor sport clothing and ski equipments.

Ryan Coisson is a freelance writer.

The word “competition” brings to mind images of athletes or sports teams striving to do their best and working hard to accomplish significant goals. For most of us, achieving goals and enjoying life is at least partially dependent on working together and getting along with others. Many of these essential relational skills are learned in the developing years as children move from childhood through adolescence and into adulthood. Given the importance of these key life skills, our society would benefit greatly by ensuring that kids are provided with ample opportunities for working together and getting along with people. Such relational skills can be effectively taught (and caught) in the context of an organized sports program.

It seems that kids are born with an innate sense of competition and a desire to win. Our society, schools, and sports programs all cater to this inclination to compete with various games and challenges. Such challenges have been a part of human society from the beginning, and this competition develops a number of important skills for use throughout life.

As an example, the desire to be the champion and top dog often pushes people further than they would choose to go on their own. This dogged determination to win is what drives Olympic athletes, CEOs, and many leaders to attain to lofty positions. However, the downside of unchecked competition is that negative traits including roughness, a domineering attitude, and unsportsmanlike conduct can develop and can take over a person. Such negative traits can be very harmful, and if not kept in check, can lead to damaged and broken relationships.

This danger for unguided winners to develop poor attitudes is precisely the reason we should encourage children to get involved in team sports programs and other organizations where healthy competition is encouraged and promoted. It is often within these organizations that essential life skills are taught and where the development of proper attitudes can be nurtured.

By participating in organized team sports, kids can begin to truly experience the thrill of winning and the pain and discouragement of defeat. By experiencing these emotions in the context of their sports community, children can begin to understand the roots of their emotions and how their emotions can affect others. In addition, parents and coaches can observe how kids react and can provide encouragement and guidance as needed when and if inappropriate behavior and reactions are observed.

Within the context of an organized sports program, a skilled coach can help and encourage the winners to revel in the victory, and yet do so in a way that does not put down the losers. In fact, if the kids on the winning team can learn how to reach out and encourage kids on the losing team, they have learned an extremely valuable lesson that will serve them well throughout their lives. In the same way, the losers must learn the essential skill of losing well and not withdrawing in self-pity or lashing out at the winners, their teammates, or their coach. Winning and losing are a continual part of life, and developing key skills to cope with victory and loss will go a long way in helping young people cope effectively with the ups and downs of life.

In developing life skills, there is a significant difference between team sports such as basketball, baseball, and soccer and individual sports such as tennis and racquetball. Individual sports typically focus on developing the competitive side of an individual, but organized sports programs can teach so much more. On a team, the children learn to work together to accomplish things that they could never do on their own. In addition, the coach can provide encouragement and direction, and the kids themselves can encourage each other when they are down. On a team, kids can also develop the confidence to try new things that they might otherwise not try. Such an encouraging and supportive environment is rarely found in an individual sport, but can be commonly found on sports teams. Out of necessity, teams learn to work together to accomplish mutual goals and such skills will help carry them through life and work.

In summary, the competition and cooperation that occurs in organized sports programs can be very healthy and helpful for developing essential life skills. In a well-run program, team sports encourage children to work together, encourage one another, and get along with others. A quality and gifted coach can develop these skills in children, and our children would be well-served into adulthood and our society would benefit by having these skills engrained into our children’s character.

To run an effective team sports program, you need a good coach and some great sports equipment. We strive to bring you quality sports equipment for all of your team sports needs at affordable, discount prices. Come visit us at http://www.primosportsandgames.com/sports-equipment and check out our wide selection of gear for various team sports. We are continually adding to our collection, so please check back often if you don’t find what you are looking for.

Do you always dine out? Does it sabotage your weight loss goal? Having lunch with your client or enjoying a dinner with your partner in a restaurant should not make you feel guilty for not sticking to your diet.

Eating out is tempting because the scrumptious menus are laid in front of your eyes. The aroma of a mouthwatering dish can make you forget all your months of hard work and effort to keep off your weight from ballooning.

However, learning the smart ways to dine out can save you from sabotaging your diet.

Reduced-Calorie Menu

Most of the high end restaurants have an option in their menu for reduced-calorie selections. Take advantage of these options when eating out.

Non-Fried Selections

Not all restaurants offer reduced-calorie options. For this situation, always remember that non-fried selections are the best option when ordering for lunch or dinner. Opt for broiled or grilled meat and vegetables.

Be cautious of how your food is being cooked. Read the details in the menu and avoid deep-fried, batter-dipped, creamy, crispy, pan-fried and garnished with creams. These options are generally rich in fat and high in calories.

No to Buffets

Buffet is always a preferred choice because it offers more value to your money. However, its extensive selection from appetizer to desserts can be tempting to really overeat and sabotage your diet.

If you cannot avoid buffet, then choose wisely when filling your plate. Try to take more on plain salads with low-fat dressings and fruits.

Portion Control

After your order is served, cut it right away into two portions. This is a smart way to know whether you are consuming just enough or overeating already. Once you finish the first half-portion, try to eat fruits or salads in between. This helps you to less likely eat the remaining portion.

Also, fast food restaurants often offer your super-size option. For instance, a lunch meal of burger and fries can be super-sized to larger portion of burger and bigger serving size of fries. It can really be tempting because you will pay less but think again before you cave in for super-size order. Think of the calories and sabotaging your weight loss goal.

Dining out is always fun and it makes difficult to monitor your calorie intake. Regular dining in the restaurants can really balloon your weight if you do not dine wisely because it is easy to cave in to their scrumptious menu.

Now with these tips on how to dine out smartly, you don’t have to feel guilty anymore for dining with your friends and colleagues. Choose smartly and it will never be a hindrance to your weight loss goal.

Julie Brealy is the health manager at FitFarms Fat Camp, No. 1 Weight Loss Retreat and Fit Camp in the UK. She has been working for over 10 years in the weight loss industry advising companies in the US and the UK. Julie is also an experienced deep tissue massage therapist.

Go Kart Engine Diagnostics: Solid State Ignition Failure Detection

I have had a couple of times where I had some dramatic failures occur on my go kart engines. One time I had a chain snap and the chain made a ferocious clunk and then fell off the go kart. The funny thing is that the engine kept running, and I had to shut it off.

I replaced the chain and ran into a peculiar problem. The engine would not start.

This is where most of us, with NO engine experience just throw up our hands and kick the go kart and go away. Then we throw it in the back of the pickup and bring it over to “Smokin Joes Lawnmower Repair.” There we spend about $200 to have the engine fixed.

I am here to tell you forget about going to “Smokin Joes.

First of all a basic understanding of ignition systems is required. (I am assuming that you understand the Otto Cycle or 4 cycle engine theory, so I will dispense with that SnoozeVille explanation)

Ignition systems are basically partial generators. The flywheel has a magnet, and the Magneto has a coil of wire in it.

The theory behind electric current is that when a wire (a simple wire ) is passed through a magnetic field that an electric current is induced into the wire.

And conversely, when a wire is induced with an electric current it gives off a magnetic field.

The Magneto (the device that the spark plug wire comes out of) has a coil of wire in it plus a core of iron to attract or concentrate the magnetic flux lines into the wire.

The wire then gets an instantaneous jump in electricity as the magnetic field in the flywheel passes by it. The sudden increase in electricity is concentrated as high voltage which is released as a spark in the spark plug.

The timing, or the firing of the electricity to the spark plug is regulated by circuitry. This particular circuitry is activated by a small magnetic sensing switch (which looks like a small cylinder of steel tucked in with the coil). When the magnet passes by the magnetic field activates the switch. The switch then releases the coil energy into the spark plug.

The spark plug is nothing more than a glorified jumping bridge for electricity. We all are familiar with this static discharge when we scrub our feet against the floor and the reach out and touch somebody. A spark jumps when we get close, like .125 inches and closer.

The design of the spark plug is to keep the electricity isolated up to the bridge. Once the electricity from behind shoves real hard, it forces the electrons in front to jump. Kind of like getting pushed off of a bridge.

So the white part of the spark plug is non-conductive and an insulator. The metal part is isolated from the rest of the spark plug and only becomes integral when spark completes the circuit or jumps across the gap.

Obviously, sparks cause the right concentration of Oxygen and Combustible gases or even dust, to ignite. Ignition is the excited state of electrons jumping from one molecule to another. This excited state releases heat and light: we call that flame or ionized gas.

Next time we will discuss how to trouble shoot the ignition system so that you do not have to pay Smokin Joes what you just have learned…and will learn.

The Go Kart Guru is a Go Karting Design, Fabrication and Performance specialist. Topics ranging from Turbo Charged Go Karts to Wood Go Karts, the Go Kart Guru has something to say (that will help you!) about it. Visit http://GoKartGuru.com for more details.

And for those with Vertical Lawnmower Engines, there is a special section just for you! Don’t throw away that vertical engine just yet!

People like to shop online for gadgets, supplies and other items that can be a chore to bring home from a store or shopping centre. With more people realising the potential of online shopping, more types of dealers are setting up shop behind a website of their own, including numerous merchants within the pet supplies industry.

Pet supply stores can be low in number in your area and may not offer a very fine selection for your pet. Some people may not even know what supplies to get for their pet. Online shops provide greater options and can lead you to better products if you learn the basics on how to shop for these supplies. These tips should put you in the right direction to quality supplies.

Find Local Dealers

Finding local based dealers online should be your first step because the support teams behind the shop are more accessible and the shipping costs are most likely lower. Some of these pet supply stores may sell items that come from premium manufacturers while others may offer some of the products that you can only find internationally which could be even better if your budget allows.

Look for Product Reviews

No matter what types of supplies are being sold, you won’t be able to tell if these products are actually good. Don’t let the online store do the talking because they are more focused on making you buy as many pet supplies as you can. Some online sites may have a comment area where people can post their feedback on certain pet supplies. If comments aren’t available, do an Internet search on the product name and see what others have to say about these pet supplies.

Compare with International Dealers

You might find an international dealer that sells the same items that local dealers offer along with newer or more improved pet supplies. If the online retailer has a good reputation in selling quality pet supplies to international consumers, this may be the better dealer for you if the price difference isn’t much. Just keep in mind that items coming from international dealers may take longer.

Take Advantage of Voucher Codes

Some online pet supply stores drive attraction to customers in the form of voucher codes where a code needs to be inputted for some bonuses to take place such as discounts, free gift items, or free shipping. Taking advantage of several voucher codes can stack up to more savings that you can use to buy more pet supplies.

Concentrate on a Single Online Store

You might end up ordering from two different stores because they offer different supply products. While this method should be fine in getting exactly what you need, it is much easier to concentrate on a single store so you can easily fill up your shopping cart with everything you need and then enjoy a lower shipping cost for all of the goods combined.

With enough time dedicated to finding a good pet supplies shop and eliminating the rest, you can already cease your occasional visits to your local pet supplies store and do everything online.

Vincent Norman is a freelance writer living in the UK. He regularly contributes articles for The Online Shopping Centre, who offer the best range of top quality stores for Online Pet Stores.

What does a sports car say about you? The cars are fast performance cars that are sleek, fun to drive and give the impression of wealth and freedom. They are expensive and with that in mind it is imperative that they are kept sparkling clean and are protected with a custom car cover when not in use. It is not very often that you see someone driving a dirty sports car.

Cars initially got off to a sluggish start but as time progressed it became clear that the market would grow and as we know today they have become a necessity.

During WWII American soldiers got their first taste of the vehicles that Europe had to offer. These cars had been developed because of the type of roads and scarcity of gasoline overseas and therefore were entirely different from what they had left at home. They were much smaller rough riding and could negotiate the many winding roads more easily. That made them fun to drive. Many soldiers learned to love them and when they returned to America after the war, they yearned to continue the excitement that they had found with many of Europe’s fun to drive open sport automobiles. It was quickly discovered that they were still being offered the status quo from Detroit.

This new found demand for these more sporty type cars spurred a drastic increase in imports of foreign cars to meet the needs of these young veterans. The little MG became the hit of the early post war period. Still conservative Detroit didn’t get the message. It wasn’t until a lot of small specialist companies sprang up in the fifties that Detroit was finally prodded into making an attempt at building a sporty type car. General Motors was the first of the big three to bring out a sports car in 1953 made of the new material fiberglass. By 1955, Ford finally made the big push with an Americanized version of the sports car. That same year, General Motors almost scrapped their entire sports car project, after a bleak production of 590 Corvettes. They made last ditch effort in 1956 by adding a few creature comforts such as roll up windows and a removable hardtop to keep up with the more popular Thunderbird. Just the right amount of creature comforts added to the basic European sports car concept and GM. had a huge success on their hands. So was born the sports car as defined by American standards.

They started to become affordable, had additional comforts and functionality added for the everyday drivers. Today the modern sports car is made with beauty, performance and safety in mind

Technology has advanced at a pace, assisted by a growing obsession in fast sports cars. People have been attracted to and fascinated with sports cars since they were first designed. They are liked and admired for different reasons, the sleek sexy design, the powerful engines under the hood, perhaps the sound of the high powered engines and the distinctive noises they have. Even people who say they would never own one will often stop and turn to look as one of these sporty powerful machines pass by. Vehicles are now designed with aerodynamics at the forefront.

As with all items of joy protection is the key. Always protect your vehicle from the elements and prying eyes with a car cover to protect it when not in use. This will keep your pride and joy looking sharp for years to come.

Jack Labens works for Empire Covers, a leading provider of car covers such as Ford car covers and BMW car covers. Empire Covers can be found online at: EmpireCovers.com or at their blog EmpireCovers-Blog.com.

Anyone with the slightest interest in cooking would ultimately wish to become a professional in the field. What better way to learn than from well-known professionals themselves? There was a time when ladies were required to attend expensive finishing schools to acquire skills in gourmet cooking. Today, they have been replaced by gourmet cooking magazines which can provide everything that one needs!

The trick here is to get hold of just the perfect gourmet cooking magazine for you, because all may not prove to be equally satisfying though each one does provide some great ideas to cook wonderful meals and also gives a peep into insider tips. In fact, some of them are more advertisement-based than content-based. The one that you require should go into the details of cooking and convey information that will prove very useful to you.

Basically, how would you find the gourmet cooking magazine useful for you?

(1) Information about supplies needed for gourmet cooking is provided here. There would be advertisements indicating where good supplies can be found. Maybe you could purchase them through the gourmet cooking magazine itself. Who knows, you may have never known about them otherwise, you being a novice to the art still!

(2) A professional cook would also find the gourmet cooking magazine useful since the latest cooking methodology along with new gadgets on the market are displayed in it. The prices are also given.

(3) Beginner or professional, there are directions provided on the usage of supplies and gadgets presented here, along with tips on how they can be used to enhance your cooking skills.

(4) Not only supplies, but a choice of recipes is presented in a gourmet cooking magazine. There are old recipes, as well as fresh and new ones, including preparation of sauces, jams, etc. Tips on getting that sauce or jam just perfect are also provided. Hence, you slowly get to increase your bundle of recipes. To be noted is the fact that the recipes presented in the magazine are those used by professional chefs.

(5) Whether you are a beginner or a professional, cooking is always a continuous learning process. Articles on “how to” cook in 100% gourmet style are presented. Sometimes, they come in a series, making it easy to acquire the necessary knowledge step-by-step. Yes, the process is not easy and takes time, but with practice and guidance, you will become perfect!

Now that you are aware of what is meant by a great gourmet cooking magazine, the next question is – where can I find such a magazine?

Just do some scouting on the Internet. There are many magazines offered. Go through their reviews, select the right one for yourself, and subscribe to it. Some of them are designed very attractively! An additional advantage is online tutorials for learning and forums for discussion that are offered with the magazine, along with good discounts on products.

Abhishek is really passionate about Cooking and he has got some great Cooking Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 88 Pages Ebook, “Cooking Mastery!” from his website http://www.Cooking-Guru.com/770/index.htm. Only limited Free Copies available.

Camping and gourmet cooking seem like chalk and cheese – nothing common to be found between them. However, it is not out of the realm of possibility to think that you can have a delicious meal while taking in the sights and sounds of the great outdoors. Based on the kind of appliances that you cart along, your preferences and the recipes you unearth (which can easily be found in plenty on the internet) you could without a doubt relish these dishes to the fullest extent possible.

Your objective would be to come up with handy hints and simple ways that you could use to prepare gourmet dishes while camping and come out with flying colors. Whereas you could come across helpful recipes on the internet, bear in mind these essential rules when trying to locate them.

Rules to Finding Useful Gourmet Cooking Recipes

Rather than dismissing gourmet cooking as being too difficult to attempt while camping, take into account these vital rules and you will definitely triumph!

1. Begin with food safety. As most food needs to be refrigerated, just carry food that is not perishable and you can safely stock. In this case, you may have to take a camper or any other such unit with you in order to store food in a cold condition or alternatively, you can select recipes that incorporate food that do not require being refrigerated. Besides, being harmful to take along perishable foods, it can in addition have a detrimental effect on your dishes, as they may not turn out well.

2. Select the proper cooking technique. In case you wish to make food above an open fire, you have to remember to regulate the preparation temperatures and times of the gourmet recipes to go with your cooking style. Usually you can easily hang almost any cooking pan or pot above the open fire, which is not a difficult task to achieve. But, you have to give some thought to the proper way to cook certain gourmet dishes. You have the option of carrying a grill along, using the hot plate for cooking deliciously hot meals or cooking over the open fire if you so prefer.

3. Easy to cook, appetizing dishes will be appreciated by everyone. Following long hours spent in hiking, cooking food would be the last thing on your mind. However, if you can arrange for some wonderful gourmet crock-pot dishes with a rich aroma, there is nothing like it! Scan for recipes, which need minimal equipment, less ingredients and reduced cooking hours, if you just do not want to stretch yourself with a heavy workload.

Cooking gourmet dishes while camping is easy to take on if you spend time planning on them beforehand. You can prepare your most favored dishes exactly the way you want them!

Abhishek is a cooking enthusiast! Visit his website http://www.Cooking-Guru.com and download his FREE Cooking Report “Master Chef Secrets” and learn some amazing Cooking tips and tricks for FREE! Learn how to create the perfect meal on a shoe-string budget. And yes, you get to keep all the accolades! But hurry, only limited Free copies available! http://www.Cooking-Guru.com