It is a good day for consumers as important components of the "CARD" legislation have gone into effect. As of today, February 22nd, all credit card companies must do the following:
- Keep all due dates the same on your credit card: Now you can better plan for your credit card payments each month without fear of being late because they have arbitrarily changed the grace period.
- Provide you 45 days notice before they raise rates: While there are no limits as to how high the rates can go and they can still jack up your interest rates, at least you now have much more time to prepare for these rate increases.
- Younger adults under the age of 21 will find it much harder to obtain a credit card: I used to have a portion of my workshop for college freshmen that cautioned them against credit card companies that solicited their business... that practice will severely be limited because of this age restriction.
- No more double cycle billing: Card companies used to be able to charge interest on a debt that had already been paid in a previous month. As wrong as this practice was it was legal... not anymore.
- No more over limit fee transactions unless previously approved: If you have a500 limit and charged505 there used to be a fee for going over your limit. You must now give consent to make this possible and issuers cannot charge more than one of these fees per billing cycle.
- No more paying to pay: This is huge because the credit card companies took advantage of the ease of which you can pay your debt if you use the internet or phone to pay your debt. It never made sense to me to have to pay a fee just to pay my debt... this practice is now over.
- Longer notice: Companies were required to send statements 14 days in advance; they are now required to send statements 21 days before a payment is due.
That being said, I want to reveal a piece of groundbreaking news to you that might floor you so make sure that you are sitting down before you read this next statement. The news is: Credit card companies like to make money!
Did I shock you?
Of course I am being facetious but the bottom line is peoples always seem to be shocked when they find out that credit card companies are lobbying, bending rules, and manipulating as many people as possible to increase their bottom line. These rules still leave a lot of loopholes that you can be sure the credit card companies will try to exploit. They are not in the business of making payments easy for you, but to make as much money as possible. Therefore, these rules do not negate the need for personal responsibility. It is preposterous that people have items piling up in their garage collecting dust that they don't use but they are still paying for on their credit cards! If it is not an emergency (no a new video game system for a crying child who feels he deserves it is not an emergency) or you are not using the card to establish credit history (i.e. making payments at the grocery store with a credit card and paying it off within the week to establish a good history of timely payments) then DO NOT use your credit card.
An individual who uses a credit card will spend 35% more at the time of purchase. The average purchase costs 112% more when using a credit card verses using cash after you factor the interest rates and other fees. The credit card companies, who could give a darn about your personal financial situation, are steadily trying to find ways to get into your pocket... let's not make it easy for them and start planning and using credit cards wisely.
New York Times Now Making Money
The New York Times Co. made money last year! A $20 million profit for 2009. Revenue fell more than 11% in the fourth quarter—but it's declining less than last year. Silver linings! Celebratory year-in-review internal memo below.
From: NYTIMES MAIL
Date: Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 10:31 AM
Subject: On the Record from Arthur and Janet
To: NY TIMES INTERNETVol. 2 2010: Ending the Year Profitably
We are delighted to report that as a result of your dedication, courage and innovation, our Company ended the year profitably. As you can see in our earnings press release, 2009 ended far better than it began, with advertisers increasing their rate of spending across our newspapers, Web sites and other platforms during the fourth quarter. As we reported, operating profit increased both for the quarter and year.
Our fourth quarter and year-end numbers were a result of countless difficult decisions and sacrifices that were made at The New York Times, New England and Regional Media Groups and the About Group to restructure our cost base. We had to say goodbye to many colleagues and found ways to do our work more efficiently and productively.
As a result of all these actions, we have continued to reposition the Company to grow as a business while enhancing our ability to achieve our core mission: providing our audiences with high-quality news and information.
You have our gratitude for all we were able to achieve last year.
The fourth-quarter improvement in advertising trends was, of course, only part of the story. We also continued to aggressively pursue a long-term strategy that enhanced our Company financially and journalistically while providing new ways to compete in a media industry with proliferating news and information options. Specifically:
* We secured strong performance on costs by focusing relentlessly on increasing productivity and efficiency, achieving approximately $475 million in operating cost savings in 2009.
* We reduced the Company's debt by over $290 million to $769 million from its balance at the end of 2008. This means that our debt load is now far more manageable.
* We continued to diversify our revenue streams by introducing an array of new products and extending our reach to new audiences. Constant innovation and reinvention are core competencies for the Company, and we see examples of this wonderful digital creativity at all of our Web sites.
* We leveraged our brand strength to grow profitable circulation revenue, as we believe – and have been proven right – that continued strong user demand for our high-quality news and information is a testament to the value they provide.
* We also sold WQXR, our New York City classical radio station, for $45 million, and used the proceeds to reduce our outstanding debt.
With of all this said, revenues were still down for the quarter and year, and we are still in the midst of a challenging business environment. In almost every On the Record, we have talked about making the transition from a company that operated primarily in print to one that is increasingly digital and multiplatform in delivery. With that in mind, we wish to point out that online revenues are becoming a more important part of our mix, with Internet businesses contributing almost 14% of our total revenues and 22% of our ad revenues in 2009.
Last month, we announced that NYTimes.com has decided to introduce a new metered model in 2011 to create a second online revenue stream. We are already hard at work at executing this plan, and it is our expectation that this new effort will improve our ability to grow our Company.
Of course, the metered model will be one of our major 2010 initiatives, but there is more to do. While it would be helpful to have a greater sense of where the economy is heading, we are confident that we can build on our increasingly solid foundation. We will continue to streamline costs, strengthen our balance sheet and enhance our digital businesses. We recognize that the quality of our journalism is at the heart of our Company's success, but we also acknowledge that quality journalism can only survive as part of a profitable business organization.
For more information about our fourth-quarter earnings, please see the Company's release, available at http://www.nytco.com/investors.
Arthur and Janet
Send an email to Hamilton Nolan, the author of this post, at Hamilton@gawker.com.
Google adsense is a good program for those who want to monetize their web site or blog. It is relatively easy to implement on your site or blog by simply installing a bit of code into the page. Google provides this code and it generates ads on your page according to the textyou already have in that page. For instance, if the text on yourpage is about the latest dog food scare from China, the google adsense ads will also be about dog food.
The first step is to get signed up for google adsense. Google makes this easy from their home page. Just click on "Advertising Programs" on the google hompage, follow from there, and you will be able to gather all the information needed to get started. As you get acquainted with customization of your google adsense ads, you will begin to wonder about colors and placement of the ads on your own page.
Its best to keep to a blended look of the ads with the color of your page. You probably are like me and do not really look to be "pitched" to when you are seeking information on the web. More than likely your readers are the same. If you can think like your readers, your google adsense ads will be more effective.
If you were to ask the so called "gurus" on the web your question of; "How do I make money with google adsense ? ", more than likely you will find some basic similarites in their answers. One answer would be; "Do not design your site around google adsense.". If you want to start a web site solely for putting google adsense ads on it and making money, there are plenty of people already doing that as you read this. Google designed their adsense program as an option to monetize your web site, not as a stand-alone money maker for a web site.
There are no hard rules against building a site around google adsense, but most people, including myself are much more likely to go somewhere else when a site is dominated by ads instead of useful information. Google has the last word, of course, as to who gets to use their adsense system.
What is a perfect site for google adsense ads ? One that is already getting moderate, targeted traffic on a popular category. What is a popular category ? "A.T. and T cell phones" is one. There are many others, and you will want to do your own search to see if your particular site is one that would have the high paying google adsense ads.
If you are a Webmaster, take the time to do a thorough search in your range of interests. More than likely you can optimize at least a few of your pages to coincide with those higher paying google adsense ads and drive some of your visitors to those pages. Yes, they will be leaving your site, but you will also be making money.
As a summary, money can definitely be made with google adsense, but the best way to do it is to look for related top-paying categories for your own existing site
or blog. That way you can stay focused, and it will be more likely that your readers will also become repeat visitors as well.
It is a good day for consumers as important components of the "CARD" legislation have gone into effect. As of today, February 22nd, all credit card companies must do the following:
- Keep all due dates the same on your credit card: Now you can better plan for your credit card payments each month without fear of being late because they have arbitrarily changed the grace period.
- Provide you 45 days notice before they raise rates: While there are no limits as to how high the rates can go and they can still jack up your interest rates, at least you now have much more time to prepare for these rate increases.
- Younger adults under the age of 21 will find it much harder to obtain a credit card: I used to have a portion of my workshop for college freshmen that cautioned them against credit card companies that solicited their business... that practice will severely be limited because of this age restriction.
- No more double cycle billing: Card companies used to be able to charge interest on a debt that had already been paid in a previous month. As wrong as this practice was it was legal... not anymore.
- No more over limit fee transactions unless previously approved: If you have a500 limit and charged505 there used to be a fee for going over your limit. You must now give consent to make this possible and issuers cannot charge more than one of these fees per billing cycle.
- No more paying to pay: This is huge because the credit card companies took advantage of the ease of which you can pay your debt if you use the internet or phone to pay your debt. It never made sense to me to have to pay a fee just to pay my debt... this practice is now over.
- Longer notice: Companies were required to send statements 14 days in advance; they are now required to send statements 21 days before a payment is due.
That being said, I want to reveal a piece of groundbreaking news to you that might floor you so make sure that you are sitting down before you read this next statement. The news is: Credit card companies like to make money!
Did I shock you?
Of course I am being facetious but the bottom line is peoples always seem to be shocked when they find out that credit card companies are lobbying, bending rules, and manipulating as many people as possible to increase their bottom line. These rules still leave a lot of loopholes that you can be sure the credit card companies will try to exploit. They are not in the business of making payments easy for you, but to make as much money as possible. Therefore, these rules do not negate the need for personal responsibility. It is preposterous that people have items piling up in their garage collecting dust that they don't use but they are still paying for on their credit cards! If it is not an emergency (no a new video game system for a crying child who feels he deserves it is not an emergency) or you are not using the card to establish credit history (i.e. making payments at the grocery store with a credit card and paying it off within the week to establish a good history of timely payments) then DO NOT use your credit card.
An individual who uses a credit card will spend 35% more at the time of purchase. The average purchase costs 112% more when using a credit card verses using cash after you factor the interest rates and other fees. The credit card companies, who could give a darn about your personal financial situation, are steadily trying to find ways to get into your pocket... let's not make it easy for them and start planning and using credit cards wisely.
New York Times Now Making Money
The New York Times Co. made money last year! A $20 million profit for 2009. Revenue fell more than 11% in the fourth quarter—but it's declining less than last year. Silver linings! Celebratory year-in-review internal memo below.
From: NYTIMES MAIL
Date: Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 10:31 AM
Subject: On the Record from Arthur and Janet
To: NY TIMES INTERNETVol. 2 2010: Ending the Year Profitably
We are delighted to report that as a result of your dedication, courage and innovation, our Company ended the year profitably. As you can see in our earnings press release, 2009 ended far better than it began, with advertisers increasing their rate of spending across our newspapers, Web sites and other platforms during the fourth quarter. As we reported, operating profit increased both for the quarter and year.
Our fourth quarter and year-end numbers were a result of countless difficult decisions and sacrifices that were made at The New York Times, New England and Regional Media Groups and the About Group to restructure our cost base. We had to say goodbye to many colleagues and found ways to do our work more efficiently and productively.
As a result of all these actions, we have continued to reposition the Company to grow as a business while enhancing our ability to achieve our core mission: providing our audiences with high-quality news and information.
You have our gratitude for all we were able to achieve last year.
The fourth-quarter improvement in advertising trends was, of course, only part of the story. We also continued to aggressively pursue a long-term strategy that enhanced our Company financially and journalistically while providing new ways to compete in a media industry with proliferating news and information options. Specifically:
* We secured strong performance on costs by focusing relentlessly on increasing productivity and efficiency, achieving approximately $475 million in operating cost savings in 2009.
* We reduced the Company's debt by over $290 million to $769 million from its balance at the end of 2008. This means that our debt load is now far more manageable.
* We continued to diversify our revenue streams by introducing an array of new products and extending our reach to new audiences. Constant innovation and reinvention are core competencies for the Company, and we see examples of this wonderful digital creativity at all of our Web sites.
* We leveraged our brand strength to grow profitable circulation revenue, as we believe – and have been proven right – that continued strong user demand for our high-quality news and information is a testament to the value they provide.
* We also sold WQXR, our New York City classical radio station, for $45 million, and used the proceeds to reduce our outstanding debt.
With of all this said, revenues were still down for the quarter and year, and we are still in the midst of a challenging business environment. In almost every On the Record, we have talked about making the transition from a company that operated primarily in print to one that is increasingly digital and multiplatform in delivery. With that in mind, we wish to point out that online revenues are becoming a more important part of our mix, with Internet businesses contributing almost 14% of our total revenues and 22% of our ad revenues in 2009.
Last month, we announced that NYTimes.com has decided to introduce a new metered model in 2011 to create a second online revenue stream. We are already hard at work at executing this plan, and it is our expectation that this new effort will improve our ability to grow our Company.
Of course, the metered model will be one of our major 2010 initiatives, but there is more to do. While it would be helpful to have a greater sense of where the economy is heading, we are confident that we can build on our increasingly solid foundation. We will continue to streamline costs, strengthen our balance sheet and enhance our digital businesses. We recognize that the quality of our journalism is at the heart of our Company's success, but we also acknowledge that quality journalism can only survive as part of a profitable business organization.
For more information about our fourth-quarter earnings, please see the Company's release, available at http://www.nytco.com/investors.
Arthur and Janet
Send an email to Hamilton Nolan, the author of this post, at Hamilton@gawker.com.
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