Will it cost tens of thousands of dollars to create a website? Not necessarily. There are plenty of excellent websites that are produced for well under $10,000 and can help drive new customers to your business. However it is true that the more pages there are on your site, the greater is the investment but with today’s Internet technologies, you could just get a dynamic site developed and then add pages to it yourself, hence, cutting web development cost significantly. 

Business plans are a critical part of the business development process.  You need to plan production, management, marketing everything beforehand and include a website in your marketing plan. Most companies ignore this process and react to what is right in front of them.  This will not get you to your goals.  A business plan will highlight the corporate goals and plot a path to achieve them.  Take the time to Plan. 

For more tips on business plans please visit www.SmallBizMaster.com

• Extend payment terms. Concerns about cash flow might stop your business customers from buying from you. Make it easy for them to do business with you by offering extended credit terms, such as 60 or 90 days payable instead of the usual 30. However, be sure to keep an eye on your customer’s financial health and their ability to pay. You can buy commercial credit reports on your clients at www.dnb.ca.

• Shorten customer commitments. Unsure of the year ahead, your commercial clients might balk at making any long-term purchase commitments with you. Instead, suggest shorter project-based contracts, or offer a six-month contract instead of your usual 12-month one. You can always go back and extend the deal once the economy improves.

• Position your business as a need. In tough times, customers stop spending on items and services they deem unnecessary. It’s your job to position what your business sells as an essential need. Focus on your ability to help your customers either make money or save it.

• Be prepared to bargain. If all else fails, you may have to lower your prices slightly. Most customers simply want suppliers to “share the pain” with a token cost reduction. A lower selling price will be easier to swallow if you first tighten up your own internal expenses. That way you can offer your customers a better price while maintaining your profit margin.

By Small Business Expert Roger Pierce

First rule is to make buying ETFs as inexpensive as possible by using firms that give you access to a wide range of ETFs for,  well, free.  Yes, free.  Thanks to all the competition of ETFs, you can now buy them without having to pay commission. 

The major advantage of ETFs appears to be the fact that you are not buying into just one company, but a sector with many companies.  Never a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket so ETFs are advantageous for that reason.  Moreover, you can invest in areas such as precious metals or foreign exchange to attain even greater portfolio diversity.

ETFs are easy to use which explains their continuing popularity and  why I buy ETFs on a monthly, ongoing basis and perhaps, you should add ETFs to your portfolio as well.

• a long-term investment, or
• a way to implement market timing strategies.

ETFs Advantages:

• Generally have lower marketing, accounting expenses & other fees
• Flexible in purchasing times (ie. any time of day)
• Tax effective
• Market exposure – introduce your portfolio to a variety of markets
• Usually lower than other financial investment products

I think i managed to list all the advantages.  If not, please post your comments and let me know what you think.

The Biggest advantage of ETFs is that they are a convenient and cost-efficient alternative to purchasing all of the underlying securities of a particular index. Structured as a single security, traded on an exchange just like a stock, ETFs empower investors to access entire indexes in one go. Clearly, investors may wish to go for stockpicking funds, but this can be a risky approach, as you might fail to pick the right fund manager. Much of the interest shown in ETFs has come from the realisation that the vast majority of returns in any given investment portfolio result from long-term asset allocation decisions rather than short-term market timing expertise. In fact, academic evidence indicates that the majority of fund managers underperform their benchmark indexes. This is especially true during periods of high market volatility, for which emerging markets are noted. ETFs simplify the asset allocation process by giving low-cost access to particular indexes. This makes them the perfect ‘beta’ investment for investors who implement a ‘core-satellite’ investment approach. ETFs can also be used to give effective exposure to particular emerging market countries or regions, with the ability to rotate this exposure as and when required.

The big question mark now, whether in the next few years it would be a good move to take a stockpicker approach to emerging markets. At a roundtable discussion held by Lyxor ETFs on emerging markets, Robin Griffiths, a fund manager at Cazenove Capital Management and a noted technical analyst, pointed out that because emerging markets are going through an ‘awesome’ secular trend then this lends them to ETFs: if the secular trend is stronger than the cyclical one then a passive stance is better, while if the reverse is true, then it is better to have an active stockpicking approach. Market conditions in favour of owning ETFs are likely to change only slowly over several years, he said.

The growing of ETFs to access them can be seen from Lyxor’s own ETF data. The number of shares outstanding in Lyxor’s leading emerging market ETFs collectively increased by 86 percent over the twelve months ending June 30, 2009, especially impressive considering the extreme levels of volatility in these markets over the same time period.

Some misconceptions about ETFs is that they are best suited for “plain vanilla” investor portfolios: those holding (approximately) 65% equities (split between domestic and international funds), 20% fixed income, 10% real estate, and 5% cash. While the majority of ETF assets are allocated to traditional investment strategies and asset classes, there has been a great deal of innovation to the industry in recent years, resulting in ETFs that implement increasingly complex and unique investment strategies. Financial advisors managing accounts of very high net worth individuals have a tendency to dismiss ETFs as a viable option for their wealthiest, most risk-hungry clients. Anyone who does so risks overlooking investments that may be excellent matches for high net worth individuals.

ETF Database recently launched ETFdb Pro, a line of premium content including all-ETF portfolios, ETFdb Category research reports, a monthly ETF newsletter, and monthly mailbag session with ETF experts.

Quantitative Analysis

For investors looking to do more in-depth research into potential ETF investments, expense calculations, asset correlations, investment outlooks, and fund ratings may be of particular interest. There are several free resources that allow investors to quantify the impact the addition of certain ETFs will have on their portfolio and objectively analyze investment opportunities.

1. AssetCorrelation.com: Enables construction of custom correlation tables to show the strength of the relationship between various ETFs and asset classes.
2. Macro Axis: Allows investors to construct 30-day moving average correlation tables and clouds with up to 15 ticker symbols.
3. XTF.com ETF Ratings: Provides ratings, on a scale of 1 to 10, for ETFs based on several criteria, including structural integrity, risk-adjusted performance, and yield.
4. Rydex Trading Expense Calculator: Helps investors compare the costs of investing in ETFs versus no-load mutual funds. Investors enter a few inputs and this resource computes which trading route will be the cheapest.
5. ETF Investment Outlook: This site features breadth charts and rankings for more than 100 ETFs to help investors find the next up or down movements.
6. Master Data: Ranks ETFs and indexes by specific key statistics such as price change and volume, as well as breadth statistics such as number of constituents above moving averages and constituent uptrends.
7. Morningstar ETF Snapshot: This screen presents style box details, valuation metrics, asset allocations, and sector weightings for hundreds of ETFs.
8. TradeRadar Stop Calculator: Calculates stop levels for leveraged ETFs, an essential tool for any investor using these investments in their trading portfolio.
9. ETF Total Return Calculator: This tool allows investors to quickly calculate the total return they earned on any ETF investments.
10. ETF Heat Map: Provides a visual representation of daily ETF price movements and volume.

X-Ray Tools

One of the most appealing factors of ETFs relative to traditional actively-managed mutual funds is the transparency they offer by disclosing their holdings on a daily basis. But when investors have a complete portfolio of ETFs, calculating exposure to certain investment styles and regions becomes more challenging. Fortunately, there are tools that can do the work for you, providing an “x-ray” of ETF holdings.

1. ETF Desk: Provides information on the underlying holdings of ETFs, access to fact sheets, related funds, and ways to play each ETF.
2. TD Ameritrade Instant X-Ray: Users enter ETF tickers and holding values and this tool reports the asset allocation, sector breakdown, style box diversification, expense summary, and regional allocations.

Portfolio Trackers

Many investors are curious to try out their skill at portfolio management with ETFs before jumping in with their hard-earned cash. For those interested in either tracking their actual ETF portfolio or managing a virtual portfolio of funds, here’s a few free tools to track ETF holdings.

1. Fidelity ETF Tool: Allows users to customize, analyze, and trade an ETF portfolio. This resource also includes “market lenses,” broad market indexes that can be broken down into mutually exclusive components.
2. Kaching: Allows investors to create and manage a virtual portfolio, track other users portfolios, and join social investment groups.
3. MarketWatch Virtual Stock Exchange: Test your ETF investment strategy with this virtual portfolio center that allows you to track returns, access news and research reports from various sources, and utilize other free research and analytical tools.

Social Media

Social media has become a valuable tool for investors looking to gauge market sentiment, pick up actionable investment ideas, and hear the latest news on the Street. While there are a number of sites offering discussion boards and forums to discuss investing news, these sites offer a little something extra to set themselves apart.

1. Tip’d Social Tickers: This resource tracks stock and ETF tickers across the social web, featuring the latest Tweets, blog posts, and stories for each company or fund.
2. StockTwits: Self-described as “Bloomberg for the little guy and gal,” StockTwits is an open, community-powered investment idea that allows traders and investors to swap tips and ideas.
3. Board Central: Brings together financial message boards and stock-related tweets to provide one of the largest online financial communities. Check out their BuZZ pages to see this most-discussed tickers.
4. Motley Fool Ticker Pages: Compiles the latest news on ETF tickers, as well as user-generated performance polls and bull and bear cases for each ETF.

ETF Charts

Any thorough quantitative analysis includes historical performance charting. Again, there are a number of sites offering charting capabilities, but these few provide investors with several options for time periods, presentation style, and metrics graphed (i.e., these can show more than just simple price movements).

1. ETF Database: Chart any one of 850 ETFs in a variety styles (including simple lines, candlesticks, and directional bars) over customized time periods.
2. Quote.com: Apply more than a dozen studies to ETF performance charts, including momentum, directional movement indexes, exponential moving averages, and historic volatility.
3. ETF Desk Charts: Includes an option to graph any ETF relative to major indexes, including the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq.

Research Tools

For investors looking to learn more about the ETF industry, particular issuers, or more general classes of ETFs, there are several research tools available that efficiently categorize and present this information.

1. American Stock Exchange Option Chain Finder: Displays options chains available on exchange traded products, along with the ticker(s) for the options.
2. Monthly NSX Data: The National Stock Exchange provides monthly data on the ETF industry, including changes in asset size and fund flows. The NSX data provides data for individual funds, fund families, and investment styles.
3. Morningstar ETF Filings: Access prospectuses, annual reports, and other regulatory filings for hundreds of ETFs from Morningstar.
4. ETF Zone: Offers asset class reports with ETF analysis, ETF detail, and comparison of ETF performance including charts.

Screeners

The ETF industry may have started small, but it has expanded rapidly in recent years, and the number of exchange-traded products available to investors has swelled to more than 850. With so many funds, finding the ETFs that are right for your individual circumstances can be a daunting task. Fortunately, there are a number of robust ETF screeners available that allow users to sort through all the product offerings by dozens of different criteria.

1. Bloomberg ETF Screener: Allows users to search for ETFs traded in dozens of countries around the globe. This ETF screener also allows users to sort by expense ratio and recent performance.
2. Index Universe ETF Data Query: Allows users to sort primarily by performance metrics, including one month, three month, year-to-date, and ten-year returns.
3. MarketWatch ETF Screener: This resource provides a number of screening criteria, including beta, average daily volume, and fund price.
4. Fidelity ETF Evaluator: This user-friendly screening resource features a style/capitalization box and a region selection map for choosing international ETFs.
5. ETF Guide’s ETF Database: ETF Guide’s Index Strategy Boxes allows investors to select from three security selection strategies (quantitative, screened, and passive) and security weighting (capitalization, fundamental, and fixed weight).
6. ETFScreen.com: This resource provides a comprehensive list of performance measures and technical analysis indicators.
7. ETFdb Screener: This free ETF screener allows users to filter the universe of ETFs by a variety of criteria, including asset class, industry, region, issuer, and expense ratio. Unlike many screeners, the ETFdb screener uses proprietary technology to prevent users from selecting options that will not return any results.
8. Morningstar ETF Screener: Allows users to graphically apply screening criteria to narrow the ETF universe by expense ratio, return metrics, index correlations, and exposure to particular stocks.
9. Schaeffer’s Investment Research ETF Center: This handy tool allows investors to find ETFs that are trading above or below their moving day average for a variety of different time periods, from 10 to 200 days.
10. ETF Connect Fund Sorter: Allows users to screen both closed-end funds and indexed ETFs by a number of criteria, including premiums to NAV and distribution rate.
11. Yahoo! Finance ETF Center: Filters all ETFs into a “best fit” category, such as Large Cap Blend, Emerging Markets, and Long-Term Government Bonds.
12. NASDAQ ETF Screener: Provides users with five categories for screening exchange-traded funds to find the one that is right for you. Options include size, style, returns, and share price.
13. ETFdb Category Pages: Offers a list of approximately 65 “best fit” categories that contain the universe of all available U.S.-listed ETFs. ETFdb Categories stretch across all asset classes, and even include leveraged, inverse, and multi-asset funds.
14. ETF Tips: Provides a number of ways to sort available ETFs, including by industry, investment style, and region. ETF Tips includes information on ETFs traded on global stock exchanges.
15. ETF Research Center: Offers a variety of screening fields, including fundamental criteria such as sales and earnings growth and valuation criteria such as price-to-sales and price-to-earnings ratios.
16. ETF Trends Analyzer: The ETF Analyzer at ETF Trends allows users to sort funds by ticker symbol by clicking on a letter. ETFs can also be sorted by a variety of different criteria.
17. ETF Experts Screener: Has capabilities to search for ETFs by investment philosophy, index composition, asset class, and region.
18. TheStreet.com ETF Screener: This screener includes a field that allows users to filter funds by recommendation and risk ratings.

Comparison Tools

Even within particular asset classes and investment styles, investors are often provided with multiple ETF options for acquiring the exposure they seek. When trying to decide between multiple ETFs, there are a number of tools that allow investors to compare ETFs by various criteria, including expense ratio, size and liquidity, market exposure, and others.

1. NASDAQ ETF Comparison Tool: Allows investors to see the best and worst performing ETFs over a number of time periods, from one day to five years.
2. ETF Database Expense Ratio Comparisons: Displays a list of the 25 ETFs with the highest expense ratio and the 25 funds with the lowest expense ratio.
3. Vanguard ETF Comparison Tool: This resource from Vanguard allows potential investors to compare ETFs offered by different sponsors on a number of different points, such as expenses, total assets, and historical returns.
4. Largest ETFs By Volume and Market Cap: Liquidity is a key concern for any investor. These tables allow users to view the largest ETFs available by either average daily volume or total market capitalization.
5. ETF Table: Allows users to rank ETFs by various criteria, including historical returns and moving average crossovers.
6. Best and Worst YTD ETF Performers: This ETF Database tool allows investors to view the best and worst performing ETFs year-to-date.

ETFs have many strengths, but individual investors should be wary of investing in small amounts. Transaction fees cannot be avoided with ETFs as they can by going directly to a traditional no-load mutual fund, because ETFs must be bought and sold like a stock through a brokerage house. For substantial purchases, this transaction fee is an insignificant percentage, but for small purchases it becomes unreasonable. Investors are encouraged to save until they can invest at least $1,000 per ETF trade.

This popular ETF Tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average, a benchmark of 30 blue chip stocks selected by The Wall Street Journal. The index is highly subjective and rather antiquated in its formula but serves as a good barometer for very large old-line US companies.

iShares S & P 500 (IVV:AMEX)

Barclays’ slightly less expensive version of the SPDR tracks the S&P 500 index, which is widely regarded as the standard for measuring large-capitalization U.S. stock market performance. Some selectivity by Standard & Poor’s surrounds an otherwise methodical list of the 500 largest traded firms.

Total Stock Market VIPERs (VTI:AMEX)

The Vanguard Group’s core portfolio ETF tracks the Wilshire 5000 broad market index, which is one of the broadest index for the U.S. equity market, measuring the performance of the vast majority of all U.S. headquartered public companies. Considered an excellent proxy to the US economy as a whole.

iShares SmallCap 600 (IJR:AMEX)

Tracks the S & P SmallCap 600 index, which measures the performance of the small-capitalization US companies.

Consumer Services Select Sector SPDR (XLV:AMEX)

One of the many sector ETFs from S & P, which tracks consumer services companies selected from the S&P 500 index.

Standard & Poor’s MidCap 400 SPDRs (MDY:AMEX)

Tracks the S & P MidCap 400 index, which measures the performance of the mid-size company segment of the U.S. market and complements the S&P 500 seamlessly.

iShares Russell 2000 (IWM:AMEX)

Tracks the Russell 2000 index, a popular benchmark for mid- and small-cap companies. The Russell 2000 Index represents the second tier of U.S. equities, or companies with market values between $20 million and $300 million, which account for approximately 8 to 9 percent of the total market. Russell’s methodology leads to relatively high turnover.

iShares MSCI EAFE (EFA:AMEX)

The iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund tracks the MSCI EAFE Index, the top non-US large capitalization index that includes all major economies (except US) and no emerging markets. A popular way to gain foreign exposure.

Standard & Poor’s 500 Index Depository Receipts (SPY:AMEX)

The first and still the biggest ETF, this inexpensive fund (pronounced Spiders) tracks the S & P 500 index, which is widely regarded as the standard for measuring large-capitalization U.S. stock market performance. Some selectivity by Standard & Poor’s surrounds an otherwise methodical list of the 500 largest traded firms.

Nasdaq-100 Index Tracking Stock (QQQ:AMEX)

Tracks the Nasdaq-100 index, which includes 100 of the largest companies listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market based on market capitalization. It is widely perceived as a technology benchmark and includes computer hardware and software, telecommunications, retail/wholesale trade and biotechnology. It does not contain financial companies or investment companies.

The three biggest exchange-traded funds as of Feb. 29, 2008, were the $66 billion S&P 500 SPDR, managed by State Street, the $46 billion iShares MSCI EAFE and the $26 billion iShares MSCI EM, both managed by Barclays, according to data compiled by State Street.

To decide whether it is best for you to invest in ETFs or mutual funds, the first step you need to take requires you to understand active versus passive investing strategies. If you believe in active management over passive management (i.e., you think there is value to someone choosing particular stocks over a broad-based index), then you will prefer mutual funds (Yes, there are several actively-managed ETFs, but not enough to choose from at this point).

Exchange-traded funds charge lower fees than actively managed mutual funds and offer investors a wide range of sectors, geographies and strategies. Investors in ETFs pay average annual expenses of $25 for every $10,000 of assets, compared with $91 for actively managed U.S. stock funds, according to Morningstar Inc. in Chicago. Investors pay a brokerage fee when they buy or sell ETFs, a drawback for active traders. Commissions can range from as little as zero for certain customers to $25 a trade.