Managing your finances is not always easy. It is a time consuming task to keep track of all your bank accounts, credit cards, mortgages and various other details of your personal finance. Traditional way of book keeping doesn’t solve your problem and most good personal accounting software comes at a price.However, the good news is that there are better and free ways to keep track of your finances. What I am talking about here is free online personal finance management tools which not only help you manage your finances by making it easy for you to keep track of your bank accounts and other financial details but also makes it easy for you to take financial decisions wisely by providing sophisticated analysis. These online tools if used properly can be of great help as apart from tools to manage your various accounts they also offer tools which helps you to analyze your spending, project your savings etc..If you are still clueless about what I am talking about or have heard about online finance management tools for the first time, you may like to take a look at Mint.com. Mint is perhaps the most popular online personal finance management tool at the moment. It is a free service that integrates all your bank accounts, credit card accounts at one place which makes it easy for you to keep track of them. This saves you the trouble of keeping track of your bank accounts manually which can be quite time consuming if you have multiple bank accounts (we all have right?). Imagine all your bank accounts being tracked for debit/credit and being updated for you to view it on the same place. Sounds quite convenient, isn’t it? These online personal finance management tools provide you with exactly the same thing.Moreover the online personal finance management tools also provide you with customized analysis of your spending and projection of savings thereby enabling you to make better financial decisions.Security has been always an issue with financial matters, more so when it comes to trusting a third party website with your bank account details. But most of these websites works by authenticating your bank accounts in a standard secure way which doesn’t require them to store your account credentials and it is verified using standard gateways. This makes them more secure to use.These online tools only make your life simple by providing you with easier ways to manage your personal finances. You can try out any of these free online tools and know for yourself. There are many online personal finance management tools available today for you to take advantage of them. Just choose any of these services and manage your finances in a better and easy way
History and Developments in Internet Advertising
Internet advertising is growing at a rapid pace, and is growing faster than any of the traditional methods. Even though it has been around since 1994, and is 18 years old, Internet advertising has gained immense popularity, and today it has become a necessity for every business owner to use it as a means of advertising, promoting and selling their products and services online. Let us take a look at the history and developments in Internet advertising that took place in these 18 years.History of Internet advertising:• Internet advertising or online advertising started in the year 1994.• In mid 1990s, when the Internet was new to people, there was a misconception that it is only useful to the scientists and students who are pursuing computer related academics.• The Internet became very common and easily available to people during 1996 and 1997. Then, slowly people started understanding that, the Internet can also be used in various ways.• In 1994, HotWired first sold spaces on its website for advertisements to many businesses. This was the start of the Internet advertising.• Advertisers began buying spaces on the popular websites where their company’s brand would get noticed by the visitors.• Number of websites started growing in thousands and millions, and advertisers felt that it was not good to stick to one popular website. Then the advertisers started buying spaces from many popular websites, and made their brands visible to many audiences.Developments in Internet advertising:• During early 2000s, Internet users started identifying the benefits of commercial services on the Internet. This lead to the craze of having a website for businesses/organization, so that the presence of their company is felt in the Internet.• Since the start of Internet advertising, there was a constant growth till 1998 ($1.9 billion in annual revenue). But there was a huge growth in 1999 ($7.6 billion in annual revenue) and the momentum is still continuing. The revenue is increasing every year.• But the companies were not sure whether the user would visit the company’s website directly. Then came the concept of “banners” or “banner ads”.• A banner is a small note located at one side of the website with some information and link to the company’s website. When clicked on that link, the user goes directly to the company’s website.• Internet advertising actually got noticed by the common people in 2007 with the help of Google. Google in 2007, brought a revolution of Internet advertising.• As years passed on, developments in technology and animation advertisements increased, where the use of technologies like flash player, etc. came into existence.• Animated advertisements are small videos or movies that attract the user easily.• Animated advertisements make banner ads more lively and attractive.• After 2010, with the introduction of smart phones and advanced mobile phones in the market, it became easier for businesses to promote their products/services to the people. These high end phones provided access to the Internet, and this is how Internet advertising market grew further.• Social networking sites made targeted audiences closer to the companies and the interaction between them has become more simple.Online advertising has become a global phenomenon, and in the years to come, there are a lot of surprises in store that will make online advertising platform easier to use.
The Joy of Creating Your Own Online Business
There has been a steady increase of the amount of people looking into the option of starting a business of their own. One main reason for this is that any type of job security is becoming a thing of the past. On top of this, wages for the average worker is dropping, work hours are being reduced and benefits are being slashed. All this adds up to a lot of financial insecurity and discomfort for a lot of people. As a solution to alleviate this, some people are considering starting a business of their own.If this is a direction you are thinking of taking, you should look into an online business first. An online business fits into most people’s lifestyles since they are not necessarily obligated to spend eight hours or more a day on them. This also makes them a very convenient way to secure one’s future by being able to work around everything else you are already in.Here are a few things that you should consider first.Choosing an Online BusinessThere are thousands of business models that you can choose from, which on one hand, will make it a bit easier for you to find something you would be well suited for. The down side to this is that it can get very confusing looking at so many options, that unless you have a general idea in place first, you could end choosing something that isn’t quite what you wanted. You should start with a list of some important things to ensure you only consider an online business that will work best for you.How Much Time Do You Have To Devote?Each online business can be different…some are more time-intensive than others. You will need to be sure to find one that will fit into the amount of time you have to devote to it. If you can only devote an hour a day, you need to make sure not to choose something that will need you to spend five hours per day responding to shipping a product or answering emails.You might need to find a business that is flexible to how much time you give it daily. While you should devote time every day to your business, if you can find one that won’t fall apart if you have to leave it alone for a day or two, this is your best option.How Much Money Will You Be Able To Invest?While it is possible to make money online without an up front investment, the hard truth is that it will be nearly impossible to make a decent living online without investing into it. You need to figure out how much money you have to put into your business up front, and how much you can put in monthly.You probably won’t have much trouble finding a business model that won’t cost a lot of money, but knowing your financial budget will help you choose the right business to venture into.What Are You Interested In?While you do want to make money, it will help to have an interest in the niche you choose. If you aren’t a little passionate about the subject, you are going to have a harder time building your business.There is almost any niche you can think of that you can make money with, be it health, hobbies, pets or teaching others how to operate their own business, so there is little reason why you have to get into a niche you don’t care about.Work Hard and You Will Be RewardedWhen you decide to start your own business, you are putting yourself in position to reap a lot of rewards. Ultimately, you will have to work hard to grow an online business and make good money, but when the business is yours you will get a lot more benefit and satisfaction from the work you put into it. And when you can focus on this venture full-time, it will never make you feel like you’re “working” again.