Getting Your Interior Design and Decorating Started Right

Principles Are Principles Forever

Interior design and decorating is one of the oldest of all the arts . Properly understood, it can be very exciting and rewarding to engage in. All you have to do is apply the correct and appropriate formulas, then adapt them to your budget.

It is very important and necessary to find out what you really need and want. Follow a few age-old foundational principles in order to acquire the success that you're driving for. A few easily understood principles will enable you to work out combinations and arrangements that will be appropriate and therefore satisfying to you, no matter what type of room you are planning.

Make It Easy On Yourself

When designing or decorating a room or a whole house, you can help yourself a great deal if you make a careful analysis of yourself and your family before you begin. Take time to consider, reflect, and examine specifics of what you like, what you want, what you do, what you hope to do someday, etc.

Write everything down on paper. Be guided by this analysis in your choice of furniture, arrangements, color schemes, and accessories. Describe in words not only what you want it to look like, but what you want it to feel like as well. For me, a "look" without the appropriate feeling and ambiance is nothing.

Make The Right Decisions The First Time

The best way to do it right, once, the first time, is to have a plan. We begin our plan by making a diagram or sketch of the space, including the windows, doors, and archways, paying careful attention that it's all drawn to scale. It is critical that your room has a floor plan drawn to scale. Usually this means that 1/4 inch will equal 1 foot. If you want it larger, then draw it so 1/2 inch equals 1 foot. This means that 1/4 inch or 1/2 inch will represent an actual 12 inches or 1 foot of real space. You must do the same thing with your furniture, plants, and sculptures - anything that takes up square space space on your floor. If you choose to skip past this initial step, you'll definitely have a wrong perception of reality! Once all of your pieces are sketched to scale, carefully cut each one out, making sure each one is clearly labeled.

You must do everything to scale with your sketches. These paper depictions enable you to move representations of your furniture and other items around effortlessly within your environment on top of the floor plan. As you do so, keep in mind where and how the traffic will flow through the space, accommodating for this functional necessity. With patience and some time, you'll reveal various solutions that will come to your mind that you would never have thought of otherwise. Pre-planning allows you to have much more fun and freedom of expression.

Doing floor plans is the professional way to start. Amateurs skip this. Even if they call themselves decorators or designers, this is one of many fundamental reasons that they are amateurs. If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail ... whether you know it or not.

Eliminating "Paralysis of Analysis"

The preliminary analysis of your home interior design and decorating problems should include answers to several definite questions. Think of this as the Sherlock Holmes phase. You want to ask yourself the right questions, to get the right answers. That way, you can get the right results. Your answers to the right questions will have a determination impact on the various phases of your plan. Thinking things through will save you time, money, and energy, as well as preventing possible and probable disappointments with your results.

Some Words of Caution

Do not decorate or design in haste, and then later repent at leisure! Even if you have the money to carry out your whole design and decorating program, do not be rushed into buying anything which will compromise the effect you want.

Do not be discouraged if you have to operate on a budget. Decide what you can comfortably spend in the beginning, and put most of it into basic pieces that will be a permanent investment in your satisfaction and comfort. Then, spread the rest of it out over "pickshifts" which will do until they can be replaced. These pieces will be temporary until you can afford something better. Sometimes they turn out to be so charming and so useful that you will not want to give them up. You can allocate them to other areas of your environment.

As you work your plan, you may find that parts of it need altering as you go because you've found that they can be improved. However, make sure the contemplated improvements fit into the original plan or concept. Remember, it's not only about the look. It's the look and the feel, or ambiance, that you are after.

Do not be tempted for the sake of a bargain, or any other reason, to spend time or money on a single piece or article which will not add to the effectiveness of your preconceived design or decorative scheme, as you have outlined it from the beginning. Also, remember: Proper, prior planning prevents poor performance!

It's vital that you realize that you can spend a great deal of money or a comparatively smaller, realistic sum, and get very pleased results if you have a plan and knowledge.

An Important Closing Comment

Once you work things out on paper, be sure that you have included your floor plans and the written documentation of both your questions and your answers. The rest of the steps must continue to translate that information into action. Always look at the colors and designs in the environment where they are going to be used, and under the lighting conditions there, both natural and artificial. Color is how you light it! Therefore, never guess how textures, colors, designs, or fabrics, etc., will go with each other. Always make your final decisions within the final environment they will be staying in.

The Importance of Graphic Design in the Company

The term graphic design can refer to a number of artistic and professional disciples which focus on visual communication and presentation. Graphic design is a combination of images, texts, etc .. to convey a message of some colors. Graphic designs are commonly used in marketing purposes and are used in the commercial promotional tools. Brochures, advertisments, business cards, flyers, etc .. were made with eye-catching graphic designs. For marketing campaigns, visual presentation is very necessary. If an appropriate design is used for campaigns, then it would definitely be a success.

The target audience adore visual presentation for promotional activities. They may be attracted by the presentation of advertisements on television, Internet or colorful pictures or advertisements outdoors. Graphic design is no longer restricted within a mixture of colors and abstract patterns. It has become a difficult task for designers. Intensive use nowdays graphic designs is also visible in the website design. The target market responses to these campaigns graph that is bold, different and attractive.

The role of design in the company logo and strengthening the brand is huge. This is the logo graphic that creates a deep impact on the minds of the target market. Each company or organization is looking for models of innovative products attract potential buyers. Before the publication of a campaign on the market, it is tested a number of times and many changes are made. Campaigns tend to use these graphic images catchy but simple can be easily recognized. Often striking shapes and colors are used to easily draw the viewer's attention on the ads.

How to Make Email Marketing Works for Your Business

Topic 1 ~ Your Email Subject Lines ~

How To Write A Good E-mail Subject Lines That Works?

Here are the 5 tips:

1. Ask a question. One of the best ways to get a reader's attention is to ask a question. But like a trial lawyer questioning a witness on the stand, make sure it 'll get you the response you're looking for. "What's the best way to grow your business?" is a great subject line for business owners. After all, what business owner would not want to grow his or her business? Or let's say you run a health club. An e-mail with the subject line, "How can you lose 5 pounds in one month?" would certainly be compelling. It's important your question to be relevant to your audience.

2. Be a tease. A clever subject line can be enticing. When it's done right, reader curiosity is piqued. They want to know more - and they'll open your e-mail. Writing a teaser-style subject line requires some creativity, and your content needs to deliver. A company that sells high-definition TVs could use the subject line, "You're not going to believe your eyes" as a teaser to introduce a new addition to their product line.

3. Tell it like it is. Often, what works best is to say exactly what you want your reader to know. Examples of this straightforward approach are, "Sale on all sweaters this weekend," "Master jazz pianist plays live this Friday" and "The seven secrets of a profitable business." This just-the-facts approach works especially well when you can appeal directly to your audience's interests. It's also the best approach to use when you send a newsletter.

4. Remember "WIIFM". When a person gets your e-mail, the first thing they consider is "what's in it for me?" They have a decision to make. Do they open your e-mail, leave it for later or delete it? If there is not something about the subject line that lets them know why it's worth their precious time to see what's inside, then the choice will be clear. Keep WIIFM in mind when creating every aspect of your e-mails, including the offer, content, images - and most definitely the subject line. It's all about them. They know that; just make sure you know it, too.

5. Get personal. The more you can make each contact feel you're speaking directly to them, the more effective your communication will be. Whatever style of subject line you use, you can make it personal by using the word "you." Professional copywriters know the secret of using this powerful little word. Just look at the advertisements, mail and e-mail you receive. A few examples are, "Find the right swimsuit for you," "You can save 50 percent on travel," and "You're look phenomenal in a custom-tailored suit." "You" is ideal, but "your" works too.

6. Not sure which approach is right for you? Try them all, and then show a friend or colleague to get their feedback. Pick the one you believe will be most effective for your audience. Whichever approach you choose, it's always worth spending the time and effort to write a great subject line. Because if your readers do not open your e-mail, they'll never have the chance to read the important message you've created for them inside.

Topic 2 ~ Increase Click-Through Rate (CTR) ~

How to Increases Click-Through Rate (CTR)?

Here are some guidelines:

1. Include a feature, a benefit, and an advantage in the opening. This needs to be used in a subtle way, but in the opening you're really doing a small marketing job for this issue of your email newsletter. Highlight an article or two that are important, explain what you're providing the readers that they will not get elsewhere, and tell them what the benefit will be. A great example is something like "Nokia and Sprint announced second quarter earnings today. Learn what our Wireless Week experts say about the results, and what effect you can expect them to have on the industry at large."

2. Put the email newsletter in the context of your readers' day. This goes hand in hand with the last point. Your readers are busy, and if you can make a compelling case for why they should stop what they are doing and take a few minutes now to read your email newsletter, you'll get them in. We recommend editors reference important events, upcoming trade shows, or other things that say to the reader "You will find it worthwhile to stop and read this email newsletter now, because the information in it will help you stay on top of your business."

3. Keep it fresh. Do not craft a "perfect paragraph" and use it issue after issue after issue. One of the keys to success is to keep the copy fresh and highlight items in that issue of the email newsletter. If you use the same generic language repeatedly, people will stop reading it and it'll be a waste of your time.

4. Keep it short. This is critical. We recommend no more than two to three sentences - just enough to get them interested and pull them in to read the rest of your email newsletter.

Try it out and see the results! This is just one of the simple things you can do to engage your reader and optimize your CTR.

Topic 3 ~ Killer Email Sales Letter ~

How to Write Killer Email Sales Letter That Get Results?

Here are what we've found works best. Use these tips correctly and your results will skyrocket.

1. Your email "from" sender line should be your brand name or company name and stay consistent. Use your own personal name only if that is your brand image.

2. Send emails only when you have something to say that will benefit the reader. No fluff. No filler. You must be relevant. If you can not be, do not send an email until you have something beneficial to say.

3. Start your emails with the specific benefit the reader can get from your message. You have no more than 3 seconds to pass the crucial "what's in it for me?" test.

4. The copywriting tone and language should be personal and conversational, instead of stuffy and "corporate".

5. Make a specific offer to the reader and, if possible, include a short deadline by which he must respond to get it.

6. Use as much copy as is needed to fully pile on all the benefits the reader will get by ordering, answer objections, create urgency, and close the sale.

7. Test your subject lines and offers on small segments of your list before you send the email to your entire list.

8. Include "Email this to a friend" service in all your communications for pass along and viral marketing.

Topic 4 ~ Good Call-to-Action ~

Get More Clicks With a Good Call-to-Action!

The call-to-action is a determining factor of your click-through rate. It is an important component of your email copy because it answers three important questions for the recipient. They are:

1. What you want them to do

2. Why they should do it, and

3. How to take that next step.

Whatever action you want your recipients to take, you can make it happen more often with a good call-to-action. First, decide what you want them to do:

1. Buy something

2. Sign up for a service

3. Fill out a form

4. Read an article or get more information

5. Visit your website or store

6. Make an appointment

Etc ...

Then, make sure you incorporate these 6 characteristics to get the results you're looking for. Make your call-to action:

1. Visible - People read, react, make decisions and take action differently. Some make decisions right away ("You had me at hello.") And some need more details ("I'm from Missouri."). Place call-to-action links in the beginning, middle and end of the email so that recipients can click whenever they are ready.

2. Clear - Stick to simple words, short phrases, bulleted benefits and paragraphs of 1-3 short sentences. Include appropriate graphics and cut the clutter by making effective use of white space.

3. Compelling - Use action-oriented verbs and phrases: "buy now," "call today," "save" and so on.

4. Rewarding - Offer an incentive or reward for action. For example, "Act now and also receives ...," or "the First 100 responders will be entered into a raffle to win ..." The giveaway, or prize, you choose should be closely related to your product or service. That way, you will be targeting customers who are interested in what you have to offer, not just the latest gadget.

5. Urgent - The longer an email sits in an inbox, the less likely it is to be acted on. Create a sense of urgency to get a more immediate response. Try limiting the offer to a specific time period, to the "first 50 customers," "while supplies last," etc.

6. Direct - Your call-to-action links should go to the appropriate page on your website with more details on the specific product or service you're promoting. If you do not have a website, the call-to-action might be store locations to visit or a number to call for an appointment.

Keep in mind that, in addition to repeating your call-to-action, you can vary your call-to-action to appeal to different types of buyers (and to fit your sales cycle). For example: "Click here to buy now" will naturally work better with loyal customers. The softer, "Click here to learn more" may be better for newer prospects.

Topic 5 ~ Avoid Common Pitfalls ~

Read Your Email Message Backwards to Avoid Common Pitfalls

Here are some common problems to look out for:

1. Misspelled words - It's a good idea to spell-check a document, but it's not enough. A spell checker will not catch every error.

2. Wrong word used - This is why a spell checker is not enough. A spell checker will only flag words it does not recognize. It can not tell if a legitimate word is used incorrectly. Some words commonly confused: accept, except; your, you're; then, than; there, their, they're; cite, site, sight; lay, lie; loose, loosen, lose. Also, look out for missing "r" in the word "your." It's easy to overlook a sentence such as "Visit our Web site now to receive you free copy."

3. Grammar error - Again, if you know you're not a good writer, have someone else look your writing for grammatical errors. Mistakes make you look bad.

4. Punctuation error - This is another area where you'll benefit from a review by someone who knows their stuff. If you're determined to do it yourself, purchase a good grammar or style book. One of the most common punctuation problems: Too many stupid commas!

5. Vague or confusing statement - Make sure every sentence is crystal-clear. You do not want your promotional message to raise more questions than it answers.

6. Ilogical statement - Read over what you have written slowly. At the end of each paragraph, ask yourself: "Did that make sense?" Rewrite so that it does.

Topic 6 ~ Frequency of Sending Emails ~

How Often (Frequency) Should You Send Email?

There's no quick answer to the frequency question. It depends on the goals for your email and the type of content you send. Some rough guidelines:

1. Mail at least once a month. Mail less often than this, and you risk being forgotten by recipients. Monthly is the bare minimum if you want to keep your brand or company name top of mind (a common email goal).

2. Let content be your guide. Look at what you provide readers and you'll get a feel for proper frequency. Analyze how often the information changes and how quickly readers must receive it to act on it.

3. Work within your resources. A daily email requires many more resources than a monthly. Better a well-done monthly email than shoddy weekly or daily. It's recommended to start with a monthly. Once that's going smoothly, they can think about moving to weekly. You need to walk before you can run!

4. Watch for trends. Declining response, open, and click-through rates can be signs of list fatigue. Although some decrease is normal, watch carefully and cut back frequency if you see a problem. Do not assume if the unsubscribe rate is stable you're OK. Many people prefer to forward email directly to their delete folder rather than unsubscribe.

Topic 7 ~ Understanding Spam Filters ~

Understanding Spam Filters to Avoid Your Emails Get Junked!

If you send email campaigns long enough, you will inevitably run into spam filter issues. On average, you can expect 10-20% of your emails to just get lost in cyberspace, mostly due to overzealous spam filters. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix. If you want to avoid getting your emails junked by spam filters, you have to understand how they work.

Generally speaking, spam filters look at a long list of criteria to judge whether or not your email is junk. For example, they might look for spammy phrases like "CLICK HERE!" Egypt "FREE! BUY NOW!". They'll assign points each time they see one of those phrases. Certain criteria get more points than others. Here's a sample of criteria from Spam Assassin, one of the most popular spam filters out there:

o Talks about lots of money (.93 points)

o Describes some sort of breach (.32 points)

o Looks like mortgage pitch (.297 points)

o Contains urgent matter (.288 points)

o Money back guarantee (2.051 points)

o Why Pay More? (1.249 points)

It's easy to use "spammy" keywords in your email without even knowing it. Here are some common ways marketers unwittingly trigger spam filters with their campaigns:

1. Using spammy phrases, like "Click here!" Egypt "Once in a lifetime opportunity!" too many times in your email. Sometimes, you can not avoid phrases like "FREE SHIPPING!" but use them sparingly, and do not do anything else risky.

2. Going crazy with exclamation points !!!!!!

3. USING ALL CAPS, WHICH IS LIKE YELLING IN EMAIL

4. Coloring their fonts bright red, or green

5. Coding sloppy HTML (such as converting a Microsoft Word file to HTML)

6. Creating an HTML email that's nothing but one big image, with no text (since spam filters can not read images, they assume you're a spammer that's trying to trick 'em)

7. Using the word "Test" in the subject line (agencies run into this all the time, when sending drafts to clients for approval)

Topic 8 ~ Why Email Marketing Does not Work? ~

If Your Email Marketing Does not Work, Think Again Why?

Before you arrive at the faulty conclusion that email marketing does not work, let's look at this from a different perspective for a moment that would make your emails ineffective.

First there's what you are writing in the body of the email. If this is your first attempt to get in touch with a prospect, what are you putting in the email? A dissertation? If it's longer than one or two paragraphs, it's too long. Look at your emails like an initial cold call. You need to laser in and deliver a compelling opening statement that's going to grab their interest and stimulate a conversation. Because there's no one to cut you off in an email or stop you from persistent pontification, people have a tendency to ramble on and on in an email, giving the prospect the life story of the product or service they want them to consider. Keep it short and focus on the one or two benefits, opening up the opportunity to have a dialogue. That's it.

Second, are you sending attachments in the first email? No attachments! It's hard enough sending an unsolicited email to a prospect. Now you're adding more barriers and increasing the opportunities of your email winding up in their spam box or junk email folder. Some people have filters on their email that if an attachment is sent it automatically gets deleted. No attachment until that information in the attachment is solicited by the person.

Third, html or text? Once again, with all the email filters people use today, you will increase your odds by sending a text message only rather than trying to get fancy with formatting, graphics and pictures. The prospect really does not care about how beautiful your email looks; they care about the core message. Beside, they will never even get a chance to see your beautiful masterpiece in an html email if it's winding up in the trash.

Finally, you are using way too many spam words. As mentioned, the largest enemy to email marketing or selling via email is the additional security that companies and individuals have on their network or computer. As such, the specific words you are using in the body of the email can be the culprit who is sending your email directly into the trash or spam box. In other words, you are using words that are often identified is spam and in turn, you email is getting flagged and deleted. Not even eye contact! The prospect is not getting a chance to, at the very least, see your email let alone read it and have a chance to respond accordingly.

Ending ~ Please Forward ~

2 Surefire Big Ticket Home Money Makers

I am going to be frank. This article is not for the unsure, green, and computer struggling work from home professional. This is for the ones who are familiar with the lingo. Who are familiar with the daily actions and mindset to be successful!

Reason being if you can not do it right the first time you'll end up losing a lot of money!

Direct Sales
This is what it's all about. A company with a product that yields you $ 500 or more per sale. and that same yield or more when someone on your team makes a sale! Yes it's harder to make a sale but if you ever wanted to be apart of that "get rich quick" crow, you would love direct sales!

Ask yourself, which one will take longer ... "700 $ 7 Sales or 7 $ 700 sales." The truth is, it's a lot easier to market and sale 7 $ 700 sales, but most need that daily success to keep confident and progressive! If you can withstand not making a sale every day until your marketing budget grows than you make a lot of money in direct sales.

Online Coaching
This is my favorite. Because once you've made money marketing other people's products, it's time to start to market yourself. Your accomplished. And people will pay a lot more for your help on a one on one basis. It's comforting. You do not have to be in the "make money from home" niche. If you have a expertise that you can deliver online, set up a online coaching! We have marketers delivering do 4 tel-seminars a week for then you could be making $ 1000 a person every single month.

The Easiest Way Grow Your Online Business Opportunity With Article Marketing

Whether your website is selling a product or a service you need constant exposure to get new visitors to your site. The only way you'll move up the search engine ladder is to learn how to grow your online business opportunity with article marketing. It's really an easy way to find new customers and make more money on the internet!

Search engine optimization, also known as SEO, is essential for moving your site into the top ranked postings on every popular search engine. After all, what's the point of listing keywords and key-phrases associated with your business if you're not going to optimize them?

Your friends are right! Article banks are filled to the brim with back-linked articles that not only get more visitors to the originator's website or blog, but also serve to increase and optimize their site's all important search engine rankings. Aside from providing a greater chance for your business to turn into a viral online success story, marketing through social networks and article data banks just makes good sense.

Article marketing began to gain strength as more business owners began using self produced prose to help promote their business. News editors began frequenting article databases for story leads and the number of hits to the sites grew to enormous proportions.

Article marketing services will write and post informative prose for you all over the web! You won't have to become an internet or SEO-guru to figure everything out. Article marketing services can have the articles written for you and post them to all of the popular article banks.

In fact, simply by providing a keyword or key-phrase, these fee-based services can have a professional writer prepare your articles in as little as twenty-four hours for proofing. Then the article marketing service does the rest of the work.

In fact, there are many services available now that will write your articles and post them for you. All you need to do is supply a small fee and a keyword or key-phrase and Voila! In a day or two your articles are appearing all over the web and your search engine rankings increase accordingly.

You'll get all of the important backlinks needed to get your site noticed for just a few dollars. It's like getting big business level assistance for the price of a few Venti Lattes! What could be better than that?

Article writing and submission services range from $15 per unposted article to as much as $3,500 or more per posted article or prepared press release. There is a service to fit every budget and meet every unique marketing objective.

Whether your enterprise is large or small, you can grow your online business opportunity with article marketing. If you know how to write using keywords and key-phrases properly, the process can cost you nothing more than a little time. But if you would prefer to concentrate on your core business, there are many cost-effective article marketing service approaches that are available.

Option Trading Basics

Options trading can increase the profits you make when trading Stocks if you understand how to use them and know what you are doing. Options can be a very useful tool that the average investor can use to enhance their returns.

This article - Options Trading Basics, looks at what options are and discusses some of the options trading strategies traders can use with these versatile instruments.

Options - An Overview

Options give the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy (a call option) or sell (a put option) the underlying Stock or futures contract at a specified price up until a specified date.

In other words, options are like tradable insurance contracts.

An investor can purchase a Put option as insurance against a decline in the Stock price or a Call option in case the Stock rises. Buying an option gives the purchaser time to decide whether they will buy or sell the underlying Stock. The price is locked in until the expiration date, which in the case of LEAPS can be years into the future.

Options trading has several advantages that every Stock Market investor should be aware of, such as high leverage, lower overall risk than owning the physical security, more versatility and the ability to generate extra income from a current Stock portfolio.

An option of value fluctuates in direct relationship to the underlying security. The price of the option is only a fraction of the price of the security and therefore provides higher leakage and lower risk - the most an option buyer can lose is the premium, or deposit, they paid on entering into the contract.

By purchasing the undering Stock of Futures contract itself, a much larger loss is possible if the price moves against the buyers position.

An option is described by its symbol, whether it's a put or a call, an expiration month and a strike price.

A Call option is a bullish contract, giving the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy the underlying security at a certain price on or before a certain date.

A Put option is a bearish contract, giving the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to sell the underlying security at a certain price on or before a certain date.

The expiration month is the month the option contract expires.

The strike price is the price that the buyer can either buy call) or sell (put) the underlying security by the expiration date.

The premium is the price that is paid for the option.

The intrinsic value is the difference between the current price of the underlying security and the strike price of the option.

The time value is the difference between current premium of the option and the intrinsic value. The time value is also influenced by the volatility of the underlying security.

Up to 90% of all out of the money options expire worthless and their time value primarily Declines until their expiration date.

This clue offers traders a very good hint as to which side of an options contract they should be on ... professional options traders who make consistent profits usually sell far more options than they buy.

The option contracts that they do buy are usually only to hedge their physical Stock Portfolios - that this is a powerful distinction between the punters and small traders who consistently buy low priced, out of the money and close to expire puts and calls, hoping for a big payoff (illegally) and the guys who really make the money out of the options market every month, by consistently selling these options to them - please read the rest of this article.

The seller of the option contract is obliged to satisfy the contract if the buyer decides to exercise the option.

Therefore, if he has sold Copped Call options over his Shares, and the Stock price is above the option strike price at expiration, the option is said to be in-the money, and the seller must sell his shares to the option buyer at the strike price if he is exercised.

Sometimes an in-the-money option will not be exercised, but it is very rare. The option seller (or writer) has to be prepared to sell the Stock at the strike price if exercised.

He can always buy back the option prior to expiration if he chooses to and write one at a higher strike price if the stock price has rallied, but this results in a capital loss as he will usually have to pay more to buy the option back than the premium he received when he originally sold it.

Many option writers simply get exercised out of the Stock and then immediately re-buy more of the same or another stock and simply write more call options against them.

The buyer of an option has no obligations at all - either either sells his option later at a profit or a loss, or exercises it if the stock price is in-the-money at expiry and he can make a profit.

The vast majority of options are held until expiration and simply decay in price until there is no point in the hapless buyer selling them. Very few options are actually exercised by the buyer. The vast major expend worthless.

Having said all this, lets look at an example of how to use options to gain leverage to a Stock price movement when the trend does go in our favor ...

For this example we will use MSFT as the underlying security. Let's assum MSFT is trading for $ 24.50 a share and it is early January. We are bullish on this Stock and based on our technical analysis we think that it will go to $ 27.50 within two months.

In this example, we will ignore Brokerage costs, but they do have an effect on the percentage returns. The prices and price moves of the Stock and the options are hypothetical - they are intended as a guide only.

Buying 1000 physical shares will cost $ 24,500 and if we sell our position at $ 27.50 a share, we will make a profit of $ 3,000 or a 12% return on our capital. We will have $ 24,500 at risk if we take this position for a potential of 12% or $ 3,000 profit.

Instead of using cash to buy the physical Stock, we can buy 10 call options with an expiration that is at least three months into the future and a strike price that is close to current price of the underlying security.

10 contracts represent 1000 shares of the stock, a call option is bullish, three months until expire gives us some time for a quick move, and buying an option with a strike price that is close to the current price of MSFT allows us to get the full potential of the intrinsic value.

We buy 10 MSFT $ 22.50 April Call options. These options are currently selling for $ 2.80 and they are in the money.

$ 24.50 (the current price of the Stock) minus $ 22.50 (the strike price) is $ 2.00, which is our Intrinsic value. $ 2.80 (the option premium) minus $ 2.00 (the Intrinsic value) gives us $ 0.80, which is the Time value.

If the price rallies to $ 27.50, as we believe it will, the intrinsic value of these same options at that point will be $ 5.00 ($ 27.50 - $ 22.50). That means that if the Stock gets to $ 27.50 a share, our option premium would be at least $ 5.00 plus a small amount of time value, depending on the remaining time until expiration.

Ten option contracts will cost us $ 2,800 ($ 280 times 100) and if MSFT goes to $ 27,500, we could sell our option contracts for at least $ 5,000 ($ 500 by 10 contracts), maybe more.

We will have $ 2,800 at risk if we take this position, rather than the full price of the Stock ($ 24,500) for a potential of 80% or $ 2,200 profit, plus whatever time value is left in the option, probably another $ 100.

Our options buying strategy cave us a much larger percentage profit with a much smaller potential risk. Do not forget that, for us as the buyer, these options will expire worthless if not sold or exercised by the expiration date.

The option seller or writer simply has to sit back and wait until expiry to see if he is going to be exercised. If the Stock price is below the strike price at expiration, it keeps the premium and can write another option over the same Stock.

If the Stock price is above the strike price, he will most likely be exercised and will have to sell his shares if he does not exit the position by buying his options back on the open market (quite often at a higher price than he originally sold them for).

The downside of buying the option over the physical Stock is that if you bought the Stock itself, even if the price had not moved, you would still own it, but by buying the option, if the price does not move in the desired direction , you lose part of your trading capital.

To make options trading work, the undering security must move fairly quickly in the direction you expect, or you will lose money at an ever increasing rate as the expiration date draws nearer.

As you can see, options strategies can offer much higher percentage returns with less risk for the same trade. The majority of your cash is still safely in your trading account rather than being exposed to the market.

This is just one example of using options trading to increase your Stock Market returns. There are many more strategies and ways to use options and I encourage you to explore them further.

All options expire worthless if they are not in-the-money at expiration, so the buyer must close out or exercise his position on or before the expiration date or he will lose the entire premium.

The time value portion of the option premium decreases periodically until expiration date. The closer to expire, the faster the time value decreases, as there is less time for the option to move in the desired direction for the buyer.

For buyers, top traders advise never to hold an option with less than 30 days to expire due to the exponential rise in time decay during this period.

For sellers, it is usually most profitable to write options that have 30 days or less to expire, due to this same time dece effect ... the buyer of these options has the odds stacked against them and will require a large price movement in his desired direction to make a profit - remember, the vast majority of options expire worthless - so this is the side of these instruments the wealthually find themselves on - just a thought ...

There are many other intricacies of options trading that investors and traders should be aware of. This article is only an introduction to options trading and there is a lot more information for you to learn.

For a more in-depth look at the various Options strategies available, visit AcornTrader.com.

This page has a series of articles on options trading and outlines some of the strategies merchants can use to profit from these extremely flexible vehicles.

We encourage you to study these instruments carefully if you decide to trade them. Then use the trend trading strategies outlined in these stories and articles to position yourself on the right side of the market - whether as a buyer or a seller.

To Your Trading Success,

What Can Auto Sales and Leasing Courses Do For You?

Do you already love being around cars? Do you get that excited feeling just being near a new car? Why not make car sales and leasing a career?

To earn a sale and - even more important - earn referrals and repeat sales, dealerships need expert sales staff who have the skills required to achieve extremely high levels of customer service and satisfaction. Anyone who can deliver this performance is going to be in high demand because potential employers understand their long-term success depends in large part on building and maintaining a strong sales force. With all the restructuring in the automotive industry, some people are asking whether it still pays to train for a car salesman job. They could not be more wrong. There is still strong demand for well trained car salesman, as car sales continue to grow. Salesmen, in fact, can earn a very high paying salary for a rewarding career.

There's more good news, too, for anyone searching for auto sales training. Economic forecasts indicate that sales and service sectors are the leaders in new job creation and will account for 31% of all new jobs in the next decade. It's also important to know that Japanese and European auto assemblers have become well established in North America, creating even more need for well-trained car salesmen.

You know what happens when demand for a specific job goes up? Salaries also go up too. Overall, there are three key factors that will drive up the alert potential of a qualified car salesman salary: a shortage of effective well-training automotive sales professions; an economy-wide shortage of sales reps in all industry categories; and the fact that 45% of the individuals in Sales and Service, and Business, Finance and Administration jobs are expected to retire in the next five years, according to Service Canada.

So what's the bottom line? A car salesman salary could be very attractive and top performers can expect to earn as much as $ 60,000 per year - or more.

Auto sales and leasing courses cover every aspect of the sales process from the "meet and greet" to automative sales and legal considerations. Graduates of these programs will be very well positioned to start a career, learning how to sell both new and pre-owned cars and trucks by expertly assessing a customer's wishes and needs.

The best auto sales & leasing programs will cover:
• Sales Consultants Role in the Dealership
• Retail Selling Performance Standards
• The Professional Selling Process
• Effective Presentation Skills
• Maintaining Customer Satisfaction

Find an car sales and leasing program today, and turn your passion for cars into an exciting career.