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Everyone online knows that landing on the first page of Google can reap some heavy income in Adsense revenue because of the larger audience seeing your offers. However, landing on the first page of any social news site, like Digg.com, can also lead to huge exposure and better earnings in the long run. While Search Engine Optimization strategies work with Google, other soft skills are required to land the first page at Digg.com and other sites. Here are a few things to consider.

What Works

• Know Your Audience – Every site attracts a different audience demographic and it is up to you to understand their interests and desires so that you can write to them. Generating content that doesn’t match the main interests typically fails.
• Be the Flavor of the Day – Sites like StumbleUpon have enormous traffic-driving capabilities, but finding the note of interest for the day is key. Just like an ice cream shop has a “flavor of the day,” some sites have topics of interests that peak on one day and not another. If you post those topics on those days, you tend to get more attention and rise faster to the top of the first page.
• Match Styles – Digg and Reditt are both news sites, so news stories will rank higher. Pinterest works well with home social articles like recipes and small informational articles that appeal to the average person. Whether you are on Facebook or Twitter, always match your style to the site in question. On Twitter, you can post your article many times a day and no one cares. If you do this on Facebook, you are bound to lose friends.

What Doesn’t Work

• Don’t Be Too Flashy – Slide shows and applications are great unless a person feels that they are “trapped” in them once they start the presentation. Gimmicks can work, but only when they provide a similar experience of freedom that articles present for the reader to walk away.
• Poor Content – Since the Google Panda updates it is even more important to deliver good content. It should be easy to read, grammatically correct, and interesting to your audience. It should seek to be original, but still address the main topics of the day.

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A centuries old French bank has decided to do the unthinkable: Forgive old debts.  The Credit Municipal de Paris, also known as the Mont-de-Piete, has a 375-year history of offering loans to the poor who pawn their items to the bank for an ethical loan that averages 4 to 8.9 percent interest per year.  Anyone could use the bank to get quick cash in desperate moments by bringing in an item, and notables like Claude Monet and the third son of King Louis-Phillipe were clients along with thousands of Paris’ poor.  In celebration of that 375-year history, the bank has sent out notices of debt forgiveness to some of their poorest clients and told them to come in and pick up their valuables for free.

Non-Profit Banks and Pawnshops

The non-profit bank was started by a philanthropist by the name of Théophraste Renaudot who wanted to offer the poorest Parisians a way to borrow money without large interest rates.  In comparison, other lenders of his day were charging 130 percent interest on small loans, making a small debt balloon uncontrollably when left unpaid.  In addition, it offered the public a way to obtain funds by pawning items they might have on hand like jewelry, silverware, tools, or linens. In fact, one such loan went to a woman who pawned her mattress daily to buy potatoes and then sold them at a profit to generate enough money to buy her mattress back at night.  The bank’s business model was so successful that it started a trend that was sanctioned by the government, offering banks the rights to monopolize small loan pawnshop services. To this day France is a country without commercial private pawnshops.

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A Spike in Pawn Services

The recession created a spike in demand of 29 percent from the end of 2010 to the last quarter of 2011. The bank has continued to offer small loans for those most in need and is a valuable service during times of financial austerity.  For this year, 2012, economists are worried all of Europe might end up in another recession, including France. However, France is ready to meet additional demand in small loans by way of the Mont-de-Piete. In good times, the bank says 90 percent of borrowers using their pawnshop model buy back their items in about a year. In a recession, that length of time can go up to two years. Despite the additional time needed to pay off the loan, the bank says it continues to have a 90 percent success rate.  The bank stored more than a million objects at its headquarters, with 93 million euro outstanding for pawnshop-type loans in 2010.

Community Services

The bank operates as a non-profit so any profit that is obtained through the pawnshop services is assigned to help the community. At the end of 2010, the profit was used to help improve homeless shelters for Parisians in need.  As part of its mission to help the needy, the bank has offered debt forgiveness as a way to celebrate their rich 375-year history. Many people in France are facing large financial burdens due to unemployment, which has almost reached 10 percent in the country, but they can still count on their local community non-profit bank to help in a pinch.

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The irony of the last few years is that when mortgage rates were high and housing over-valued, customers were lined up around the block to sign on the dotted line. Now, with a 3.88 percent fixed rate on a 30-year mortgage waving in the wind lenders are having trouble finding customers. A deal that good may never come back again, as the economy rebounds, but that doesn’t matter when high unemployment, tighter lending criteria, and just plain homebuyer fear rules the housing market. Gone are the years when a piece of property was seen as a solid investment. Many buyers and banks are seeing it for the risk it can bring also in overleveraged debt and falling prices. However, in the last recession, it has become obvious to the public that they carried more than their fair share of the risk while the banks got a huge bailout and few negative consequences for their actions.

Refinances Also Affected

New home sales have plummeted, but the market for refinancing is also taking a hit for a variety of reasons. Even with all the talk of frantic homebuyers with adjustable rate mortgages desperate to refinance to fixed rates, it doesn’t mean that they can qualify to refinance. Many people who bought at the top of the market are now facing a loss of equity so severe that they become “underwater” on their mortgages and owe more than the house is worth. Most of these people have already lost their homes and will be unable in the near future to buy a new one. Those that could refinance have already done so. Others have faced new situations like declining income due to cut hours or the loss of a job that made them no longer attractive customers to mortgage lenders who are requiring more stringent guidelines to refinance. Lastly, of those that have a house and are not underwater, the idea of a home as an investment no longer holds. Therefore, they are not going to invest in it with large remodels or even attempt to refinance it if the cost of refinancing may be deemed “unrecoverable.” If the market is tanking in their area and they fear that they will never recoup the amount of money the house costs, no deal will be enough to entice them to sink even more money into a house that is now a losing proposition. Home owners are very aware that there are fewer home buyers out there that qualify for a loan and of those that are in the market, they expect rock bottom prices while receiving top-of-the-line merchandise. Unfortunately, the person who ends up paying for that deal is the homeowner, not the bank. If unwilling to sell under those conditions, they will opt for a strategic default under duress or holding on for better times, rather than shelling out thousands more for a potential sale that can cave in at the last minute. No one, not even the homeowner, is willing to put money into housing right now, and it shows.

New Terms, New Fees

One item that has not been dealt with much in the media is the idea of trust. After witnessing the cold-blooded foreclosures and robo-signing scandal of many of the major leading banks, any new deal is subject to public cynicism. There is a perception in the marketplace that banks take little of the risk if the home market declines in value instead of appreciating. They will just get big government to bail them out if worse comes to worse. However, the homebuyer won’t get a similar bailout and is required to carry negative marks on their credit for years afterwards, affecting their credit, their jobs, and their livelihoods – not to mention the potential for losing their homes – all for economic circumstances that they had little to do with in the first place.

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Many people believe that the deal is set up to benefit the bank and to make the homebuyer carry an unfair portion of the risk. The bank will require a variety of fees upon signing, including points used to drop the interest rate further. This can amount to 1 to 3 percent of the total loan value. Not only does refinancing require new fees and a new appraisal but it can constitute new terms in the contract that can easily favor the bank and put the homeowner out on the street after the document is signed and the 20 percent down payment made. At the very least, it will stretch out the repayment schedule. With fewer people trusting major banks on any large ticket item deals, they are likely to feel that the devil they know is better than the devil created later with a new contract, even if the contract is billed as a “home modification loan.”

Home refinancing is just as complex as buying a home and can be lengthy, invasive, and humiliating if your application ends up being turned down. While there is pent-up demand for housing, much of it is being serviced by rentals right now. Home owners are looking into strategic defaults, renting their homes, or simply carrying the mortgage until they see signs of life in the market again that might make it worth their while to invest money in refinancing or remodels. There has been an increase of 6 percent in mortgage applications, but that is coming off historical lows. It remains to be seen if the banks can restructure their mortgage deals in a way that regains the public trust or whether they will be stuck with a large inventory of houses they foreclosed on and no buyer willing to make a deal ever again no matter what rate is offered on the market.

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Of the oddest items to actually help consumers this year, the mild winter may be the biggest boon. Severe weather patterns have caused insurance losses and financial disaster as freak snowstorms, hurricanes, and tornados have hit unexpectedly. For once, Mother Nature’s whims are causing a financial windfall for many households that do not have to pay high heating costs this winter.

More Disposable Income

Every winter households, especially low income ones, have to struggle to find extra cash to pay the winter’s heating costs. This can eat into the monthly budget and affect consumer spending, particularly if the winter is severe. However, now with temperatures remaining high and winter off to slow start, these same families are finding a spare bit of cash in their pocketbooks. This can be used to pay off overdue energy bills or add a spur to the economy by increasing consumer spending.

Government Assistance Cut

The federal government has gotten stingier with heating subsidies for those that are low-income. They used to put aside $4.7 billion, but the new budget only allows for $3.5 billion. Fears of a lack of funding for people in need of heating assistance have not materialized with the above average temperatures. Instead, agencies say they have enough money to give despite the slash in funding. Even so, the winter I not over and Mother Nature has been known to be fickle time and again.

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Businesses Enjoy Warm Season, Too

Unless your business is a ski resort, it’s likely you are also enjoying the warm winter season. Businesses pay less in energy costs, too, but can also expect to have a bit more money floating around to buy their products and services. They don’t have to pay additional costs for snow removal and there are fewer missed days of work due to weather-related problems. Other companies that may not be as happy about the weather are home heating oil and propane gas companies. Even in Maine, one of the coldest areas of the country, home heating oil companies are reporting a drop in demand of 25 percent.

Demand for Assistance High

All weather factors seem to be smiling for a large portion of the United States. Regardless, the country is still suffering record unemployment and job instability. Those that are working may have had their hours cut or are working lower-paying jobs. Home heating costs may have dropped, but the need for heating assistance programs and funding remain as long as the economy is slow to start up again. Agencies expect that if the weather turns cold, they will still end up flooded with calls looking for home heating assistance. Some households in Minnesota have seen their energy grants drop from a high of $600 to $400, leaving some wondering how they will make up the difference if it starts to get cold again. The state of Minnesota saw an increase in demand along with a decrease of 23 percent in federal payments. However, it appears that this year at least, the weather fairies are going to help by doing their part and providing Americans with a needed break in their energy costs.

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Too big to fail may mean too big to be left alone when it comes to governmental oversight. New government rules are being put in place to make sure that next time a financial crisis hits, it won’t be as unexpected and there will be plans in place to resolve the issue, hopefully without a taxpayer bailout. Bank regulators are currently overhauling rules for banks that have over $10 billion in assets, making them submit to yearly exams that will monitor their financial health.  These new regulations are a part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law that requires significantly more oversight for banks and their operations. The first of these tests are due in either 2012 or 2013.

Looking Over Their Shoulders

The financial crisis of 2008 almost brought the United States to its knees and signaled a heightened awareness of the need for more direct oversight. If the government had known they would have been held responsible for the tab due on reckless fiscal behavior, they would have been far more interested in the bank workings years before. Just like disaster response teams imagine serious disasters to build plans that will help them respond in the event of a major disaster, now regulators will create scenarios where the worst happens and banks must respond with a plan on how to deal with all the scenarios given based on their current financial standing. These are being referred to as “stress scenarios.” These plans will be submitted to the appropriate regulatory agencies that will also help strategize potential solutions to fiscal disasters that have not yet taken place. Included in the new regulations is the requirement for a “living will.” Just like an individual who is ill may decide to create a plan whereby the disposal of assets and decision on care are pre-planned in the event of death, now banks are being required to create a living will for the disposal of their assets and management decisions should the bank fail.

A New Plan

In the past, the major way to determine a bank’s health was through capital tests.  If the bank had sufficient capital it would relate to how much dividends might increase for investors and is thought to clearly align with the health of the bank. While those tests continue to help regulators determine whether a bank might be in trouble or not, it does not address the potential for failure. New rules are being set up to plan in the event of bank failure instead of assuming that most banks will not fail due to government intervention.  With the first of these rounds of stress tests schedule for late 2012 or early 2013, it may yet prove to be an apocalyptic year (at least on paper) for many major banks. Now, they have to prove they can not only run their business in a good year, but also take care of business in the event of a major financial disaster. This may mean a more conservative approach to banking with a focus on the bank’s accountability to limit their liability and having an exit strategy should they fail. It might also lead to requirements for higher reserves or a limitation on the types of risky financial behavior that led to the financial crisis of 2008.

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Americans love their fast food, but one thing that makes it slightly inconvenient is that you have to drive to your local burger joint to get it. Now, fast food may get faster if Burger King has their way by offering delivery, also, in the states of Virginia and Maryland. Burger franchises like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s are always creating new ways to deliver the same fast food in creative ways, but mainly focusing on food offerings. Burger King is now raising the bar by focusing on customer service by rolling out a test sales region for delivery of orders that reach the minimum of $8 to $10. The company is pricing the delivery service at $2 and hopes it will drive sales upwards.

Differentiation

The strategy is a way to differentiate between the main competitors in the fast food business that currently relies on walk-ins and a drive-through to service their customer base. By rolling out a trial phase, Burger King can assess whether the strategy is profitable at driving sales without creating too many expectations and expenses. For customers that may end up spending more than $2 on gas just to make their burger run, it could prove to be a good incentive to order from Burger King than a similar burger place down the road. However, it may end up costing Burger King more than they bargained for if the cost of gas gets so high that it affects their profit margin.

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Technology Helps

Take-out and fast food places are just now learning how to incorporate high technology with good old-fashioned customer service to provide their customers with the best of both worlds. In Burger King’s case, they are offering the ability to place your order online or by phone. Once the order is placed, you can ask it to be delivered for an extra $2 charge if it meets the minimum price. There are some limitations to the delivery service. Breakfast foods, milk shakes, fountain drinks and coffee are not included in the delivery service. As more consumers become Internet-savvy the ability to reach a wider audience through this technology is key to grabbing market share and growing the business.

Fast Food Rules

The recession has caused many restaurants to fold under financial pressures and dwindling demand. However, that is not the case with fast food which continues to offer a cheap meal that almost anyone can fit into their budget. Burger King has seen an increase in revenues 1.4 percent last year in the third quarter as compared to the previous year. That totaled to $608.1 million, proving that when it comes to fast food, investment in new ways to generate sales can be highly profitable. Once Burger King tests the new service, it can decide whether the model will be something that it wants to expand nationwide. Should Burger King decide to expand across America, you can expect its leading competitors to also start seeing dollar signs by offering the same service. In the highly competitive world of fast food, when one chain finds a niche, the others are soon to follow.

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Greece is going back to its roots, but some people see that as a step backwards. Cultivating the land has always been a tradition for developing countries, but those nations that see themselves as “developed” or “industrial” may find a slight bias against changing careers from engineering to farm work. However, with unemployment high and austerity measures making even the jobs available even less attractive, an entire generation is rethinking the way to survive and thrive in Greece with a nod back towards agribusiness.

Farming

Farming in America has been a great business during the recession as food prices have risen and the demand for organic produce with it. While many other businesses saw a loss of demand, farming and gardening experienced a surge in interest from buyers and homeowners seeking to develop a piece of land to help pay the grocery bill. Similarly, Greeks are seeing the advantages of having a piece of land to farm to create an income where other businesses have dried up. Couples that have trained as teachers, or men who worked as engineers, are seeking out land in Greece to develop in crops that are either native to the area or that have a potential for tourism. Luckily, in Greece, many families own land that gets handed down from generation to generation so that one does not have to be rich to own a plot of land. Even those who come from low income families may find they own a pocket of land that can be developed.

New Commerce

Land being developed can be used for not just vegetables, but also unique crops like edible snails and mastic from native trees used to create liquors, food, soap, or candles. New entrepreneurs in agribusiness are not just looking to the mainstream fruits and vegetable basket of goods. They are looking for unique crops with a high potential for profit and also to attract farming tourism. While the parents of these innovative entrepreneurs may cringe at going back to the land, it is being done in a way that brings the skills learned in other professions back to the farm. This can create new ways to farm the land and make it profitable and reduce the need for manual labor. With so few choices for Greeks now to make money, the farming business is one of the bright spots still left in an economy besieged with bad news all around.

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The rough economic landscape has caused many companies to go bankrupt, but some only emerge from bankruptcy just in time to file again. A predecessor company of Hostess called Interstate Bakeries had filed for bankruptcy in 2004 and was just getting out of it in February, 2009, and now Hostess is seeking bankruptcy protection. At issue are legacy costs for pensions and medical benefits that have been promised to workers, but that make the company less competitive on the global marketplace.

What another Bankruptcy Means

For the 19,000 employees that work for Hostess, it may mean a restructuring, but operations should not be interrupted despite Hostess having a business presence in 49 states. For union employees, the bankruptcy proceedings will force both management and union representatives to the table in an effort to hash out a collective bargaining agreement that will make the company stronger. While management may argue that the benefits offered in the past are no longer sustainable if costs are to be cut, union membership may not be willing to give up needed medical and pension benefits they have had in the past.

Money Problems

Hostess has declared its biggest unsecured creditor to be Bakery & Confectionary Union & Industry International Pension Fund. In its bankruptcy filing Hostess estimates it owes the pension fund $944.2 million. The second largest unsecured creditor is another pension plan that is owed $11.8 million. The company’s assets only total $500 million to $1 billion. With liabilities that exceed the maximum amount of estimated assets, Hostess claims it has no choice but to file bankruptcy once again and try to reorganize. Despite the dire situation and the fact that it will have to bargain with the union to get necessary concessions to bring its cost in line, Hostess has managed to $75 million in financing to help keep it open and operating while it tries to restructure the entire company.

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If you didn’t notice Google’s somber mood a couple of days ago, you’re not online enough. Google, along with many other Internet companies, darkened their home pages to protest two pieces of legislation that will put a chill on Internet innovation.  One bill is being pushed as a Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) while the other is the Protect IP Act (PIPA).

Free Internet

The Internet has always had a premise of being a free place to congregate with little censorship. Internet companies protesting the acts state that these two bills would essentially establish censorship online, and making the democratic Internet zone more akin to a dictatorship ruled by government agencies. These agencies would have the power to filter out content on the web and also keep tools that would unfilter content away from the public. At issue are trademark and copyright infringements that should be shut down, but usually is done only after due process is served. With the establishment of these two bills, the government agency can shut a site down first and ask questions later.

SOPA and PIPA are also being blamed for bringing more litigation into the World Wide Web by allowing the government to sue them arbitrarily. Internet payment processors that are competing with banks are finding themselves squarely at the center of the government’s cross hairs. Despite the name, Internet businesses argue that they won’t deter website piracy acts. It will only slow them down as pirates set up other IP addresses to do their bad deeds.

Other Options

Google has argued that a better approach to stopping online piracy is to block funding for foreign or domestic sites that are found to engage in that behavior. This would limit the amount of censorship for law-abiding sites, while targeting pirate sites where it hurts the most: In their pocketbooks. Google has put its own money on the line by investing $60 million in the fight against rogue sites. In the end, if the government does approve SOPA and PIPA, many website companies will have plenty to fear as they wake up one morning to find their own sites not available online anymore. To call attention to the urgency to act now to stop these bills from passing Congress, numerous other online companies are their pages to draw attention to their plight.

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When one system falls apart, another steps in to take its place out the sheer force of vacuum left behind. “System D” a catchphrase coined by Robert Neuwirth for the black market activity that does not include gun-running, drugs, and human trafficking, but is still illegal. What makes it illegal? Often, governments that are experiencing economic problems will enact laws to try to regulate trade, causing hardship on segments of the population who will turn to the black market to get their wares instead. In the informal economy that System D represents, business owners can bypass strict taxes, duties, and regulations, while customers have access to needed goods or services. System D accounts for $10 trillion of economic activity and it is growing more and more.

Informal Market Dynamics

While there is a stigma to black market operations in that they are illegal, not all deal with shady or underworld themes. An operation can bootleg clothing through ports and that is seen as part of System D, while human trafficking has different dynamics. System D is still illegal, and customers often know their purchases come from illegal activity, but when the laws make it difficult to obtain a needed good or service, then System D flourishes and the question of morality becomes skewed in favor of System D. Instead of viewing the workings of an informal market as immoral, many of these backstage entrepreneurs see it is feeding their families, providing jobs, and goods and services, where the regular economy has failed them. The global recession has been a major factor in the rise of System D, making people look to other resources than government-controlled economic activities that basically price them out of the market and provide no employment. By some accounts, System D employs half of all the world’s workers.

Mutually Beneficial Business

Part of the dynamic is also the age-old business paradigm of a mutually-beneficial transaction between seller and buyer. When countries undergo financial turmoil, as in the last year, some goods may be taxed to try to make other goods more appealing or to raise revenue for the government. This is not beneficial to business or to the customer. As a third entity, the regulation becomes unwelcome and both businesses and customers revolt and turn to the black market to freeze out government controls. It is expected that countries that may undergo financial austerities and/or excessive government intervention will automatically create a ripe environment for black marketeering. When a law becomes so unwelcome that it adds to a population’s misery and is seen as not being of benefit to the community, the moral dilemma of whether it should be obeyed simply because it is encoded as a law becomes a moot point. People bypass laws they feel are unfair and there is a level of acceptability when many people refuse to obey an unjust law, as in the example of conscientious objectors who refuse to be drafted even when they are ordered to go to war. The stage may be set for a global economy, but to the local business owner and customer, the transaction is still local and they make the buying decision.