ABCs of Web Design

Accessibility - refers to how easy to use or 'accessible' your website is, in particular to less able users such the visually impaired.

Breadcrumb trail - often also known as a pathway, the breadcrumb is a (usually) horizontal list of links which display the path to the current page from the homepage for example the breadcrumb trail to this article may be:

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CSS - Cascading style sheets usually referred to as CSS are a markup language used to tell web browsers what a web pages should look like for example what colours, font styles, sizes and positions a page should use. CSS files have the file extension.css

Domain names - A domain name is the names used to find a website in a web browser for example EzineArticles.com. Domain names can also have subdomains such as blog.ezinearticles.com

Embed - A term often used generally to describe elements such as video or flash which can be 'embedded' into a page. An embedded element is usually something which does not run natively in a web browser and required additional plugins to be installed such as a flash player.

Favicon - Short for 'favourite icon' the favicon is the small image displayed next to the url in most web browsers. It gets its name from a time before search engines were commonly used to find websites and favourite lists were important features. The favicon would sit next to favourite bookmarked sites.

GUI - Graphical user interface or GUI refers to the operating system which allows a visitor to get information from a computer in visual form without entering code. In its any website is a GUI although in web design this terminology usually refers to more advanced web based applications and games.

HTML - Hypertext Markup Language or HTML is the main language of the web and what most web pages use to structure their content. not strictly a programming language HTML is a very basic set of commands which a web browser can interpret to help lay out a web page.

Image map - An essentially outdated style of web design where a single image has clickable sections which link to different web pages. Image maps are rarely used in modern web design as they are considered somewhat inaccessible

JPEG - JPEG or JPG are the most common file type used for displaying images on the internet. GIF and PNG images are also popular.

Keywords - Keywords are used by search engine optimisers (SEO's) to help search engines to understand what a page is about and return that page for relevant search results. SEO's used to place keywords inside meta keyword tags although this practice is now outdated and keywords are now most effective if used in the page title, headings and within the copy of webpages.

Link - Links or Hyperlinks are the navigational systems of the internet allowing visitors to move between web pages and web sites. Links are coded in HTML using the a href tags but a link can also be created using javascript and flash.

Meta data - Meta data on web pages refers to additional information about the page contained in the area of the HTML which is not displayed to visitors but is instead used by machines readers such as search engine crawlers.

Navigation - Any system which allows visitors to 'navigate their way around a website may be referred to as a navigation system. the most common navigation on websites are menus, search functions, breadcrumb trails and sitemaps

Open source - Refers to software where the source code can be accessed and edited to make it behave in a different way. The most popular open source software in web design today is the WordPress blogging platform which anyone can download, install and edit. Open source typically makes web design faster as its often easier to start with someone else's code than to write your own from scratch.

Permalink - permanent link's or permalinks are usually used in blogging terminology to describe the absolute link to a post or page which does not change over time. As blogs are time based with new content being added regularly the permalink of a post is where the post will still be found after it gets pushed off the homepage by newer posts.

RSS - Really Simple Syndication or RSS is a type of XML file which simplifies the contents of a website into a content 'feed' which can be easily published on other sites or accessed by applications such as RSS readers. Using RSS a sites contents can be read without ever having to visit the website itself.

Subdomain - A subdomain sits underneath a domain name in the hierarchy of the web. The subdomain is the part of a web address which proceeds the domain name. for example in blog.ezinearticles.com the 'blog' part of the address would be the subdomain while EzineArticles would be the domain. Subdomains are useful for hosting different types of content under the same domain name.

Tracking code - Code added to web pages to allow visitors to be monitored by Web Analytics tools like Google Analytics is called tracking code. Usually tracking code is a small piece of javascript code which is not visible on a web page to normal visitors but communicates information about the visitor back to the web analytics server.

URL - universal resource locator or URL is the address of a webpage on the internet which is displayed in the address bar of a web browser.

Valid XHTML - refers to the code of a webpage which 'validates' against standards set out by the W3C (see below). This is an industry standard among web designers.

W3C - World Wide Web Consortium or W3C are a group who define 'standards' for web design technology.

XML - eXtensible Markup Language or XML is a type of markup language used to create a simple structure for online documents such as RSS feeds.

John McElborough wrote this article for Brighton web design company Bright Site who build search engine optimised and standards compliant websites for customers in Brighton, England and across the UK. This article is an introduction to some of the main terminology used by web designers. Web design can be a complex area, it can also be relatively simple if you choose the right company. Look for a web design agency who aim to cut out the jargon and explain things to you in simple terms. For a good web design agency Brighton see the Bright Site website.

Web Design & Development

Designing a web page entails modeling, conceptualizing, planning and executing media content in electronic form and delivering it through the Internet by the use of technologies like markup languages and it is suitable for the presentation and rendering by the web browsers or other GUIs that are web based. Web design is used generally to mean or describe any of the tasks that are involved in the creation of a web site. In web design, there are two fundamental aspects that are located in any web page that is on the Internet. The first aspect is the presentation in which the user has to interact with, which is usually in visual form. The second one is the back-end which has information for the browsers that are non-human. Web design uses a fundamental markup language utilized in the browser to inform it of how presentation of information is carried out and it is known as the HTML or Hyper Text Markup Language.

Also, in web design, there is a stricter version of this HTML and it is also widely used known as the XHTML, denotation of extensible Hyper Text Markup Language. A person designing a web design is known as a web designer and this individual uses the XHTML or the HTML to be able to inform the browser of the layout of the web page. A web page should be created with some items like text, bit-mapped images and forms. These items are placed with the use of XML, XHTML and HTML tags. So that complex media can be displayed, such as animations, sounds, vector graphics and videos, there is usually the requirement of the browser incorporating optional plug-ins like the QuickTime, Java and Flash Player. Other plug-ins are embedded in the web pages with the use of the XHTML or HTML tags. Technically, a web design can be quite a difficult procedure. This is because of the HTML having various variable factors.

In web design, not all browsers can be able to interpret the HTML in regard to the standards created by the World Wide Web consortium, which can also be called W3. By this, they mean that a piece of web design will appear exactly as the web designer designated in one type of browser and it may come out quite differently in another browser type. The solutions to these types of problems are numerous so that they may circumvent the browser-specific bugs. This task in web design is a very tenuous business at best. The improvements in the different compliancy of browsers that have the W3C standards then initiated the widespread acceptance of the XML and XHTML together with the Cascading Style Sheets for manipulation and positioning of the elements of a web page. The new standards from W3C and the proposals intend to deliver accessibility and media options in a wide array to a client without the need of employing any plug-ins. The possibilities available for the web design are considered limitless even though at a particular point, they were very constrained with the browser boundaries.

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What Is A Stock Market?

We have to first know 'what is a market' in order to understand 'what is stock market.' The word 'market' brings up a vision of a place where the buyers and sellers assemble to trade the goods in exchange for money. We have the examples of fish market, vegetable market or cloth market and so on.

Market, in short, is a kind of arrangement where the sellers and buyers voluntarily exchange goods or services with money. There are two pre-requisites for the market to function; there have to be the sellers and the buyers. Both these parties try to achieve an optimum deal. The seller wants to sell the product and earn the maximum profit, while the buyer wants to buy it at an optimum price.

The chief function of the market is to discover the right price.

Going by the definition of the market, stock market is also a place where the buyers and the sellers of the companies' stocks assemble to do the trading. But this trading takes place in prescribed premises called stock exchange. Technically speaking, a stock exchange facilitates the exchange of securities among the sellers and the buyers. American Stock Exchange -AMEX-is one such example of a stock exchange where the stock trading takes place.

With the passage of time and the advancement of computer technology, the concept of the traditional stock exchange has undergone a sea change. Now we have virtual stock exchanges. The best example of a virtual or electronic stock exchange is National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System or NASDAQ.

In earlier days, the stock traders would use what was called an outcry method in the physical stock exchanges. They would yell and gesticulate wildly to make their point.

Now the stock trading is performed on a central computer which can be accessed by every stock trader at his personal computer through a telecommunication network. The central computer takes the orders of the buyers and sellers and matches them. If the quantities and the prices are commensurate with each other, the order is executed. The whole process takes place within a fraction of a second.

The unit of trade in a stock market is called share. A share represents your ownership of a company whose stock you are dealing with.

Suppose someone with technical expertise wants to start a large scale company, but does not have sufficient funds. He advertises his plans to open the company and provides the details of its feasibility and success through a kind of prospectus. He thus invites the public at large to invest in the company by buying its shares. This is called an IPO or the Initial Public Offering. Anyone who buys its shares, obviously, becomes the share holder of the company.

But once you buy the shares you would not like to hold them indefinitely. You would want to sell them away either at profit or at loss depending upon your needs.

The company meanwhile lists its stock with a stock exchange. Once the stock of the company is listed, the shareholders can sell the shares of the company and buy the shares of another company. This kind of trading of shares through the stock exchange is called secondary market, while the sale and purchase of the shares at the time of the IPO is called primary market.

The stock exchange provides a platform that facilitates the trading in shares of the listed companies. It also regulates the conduct of the listed companies through certain rules and regulations.

The shares that are traded on stock exchange are received and delivered electronically and entered into the records of the buyers and the sellers. The whole process takes place through a brokerage firm which is also called a depository company. The whole process of transaction, as mentioned earlier, takes place within a matter of seconds. The sellers sell their shares and get the money and buyer get their shares immediately.

Despite the huge ups and downs associated with the stock market, the brokerage firms honor their commitments to their clients.

Stock market is considered as a barometer of the country's economy. The companies listed on stock exchanges collectively contribute to the country's GDP. When the prices of the shares rise, there is a corresponding increase in the index of the stock market. The rise in stock market index indicates the growth of the country's economy. So if you participate in the stock market, you are partaking in the economic growth of your country.

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Stock Market Quotes

The stock market is the realm where all businesses survive. In fact all interactions including the buying and selling of stock are done on the stock market, which enables businesses to regulate their profits. However, if you are a beginner in the realm of the stock market, you would figure as a dummy in the stock market jargon. Stock market trading is all about organizing them and living with the risks of stock trading. As a dummy investor, it is necessary that one should know-

Stock market operations
The right stocks to invest in
Risk management and
Relationship management with the brokers and clients

These are just some of the factors that will enable easy stock market trading. Moreover, guidance for stock market operations can be taken through stock market consultants, who can advise the dummy investors about the right stocks to invest in.

What is a Stock Market?

The stock market is the place where the trading of stocks and bonds takes place. This trading involves the buying and selling of stocks that enable investors to make a profit. In the stock market investors gain information about price fluctuations, Depending on the difference in prices investors can make profit or incur losses. However, not every investor is sure about market conditions. In order to gain better understanding of price fluctuations and the right stocks to be sold at a particular price, the services of a stock broker are essential as he advises about the right time to invest in stocks. If you are a dummy investor, following certain tips about stock market operations will enable you configure your place in the stock market. These tips are as follows-

Stock quotes - Before investing in any stocks, it is necessary to read the stock quotes as they enable an understanding of what the stocks are and what their price, is.


Stock brokers - These are the professionals of the stock market who enable investors to have first hand knowledge of the stocks that are to be bought and sold. Moreover the stock broker enables the investor to choose from the stock options that are available to the investor.


Price control mechanism - Through the buying and selling of stocks the stock market regulates the overall price mechanism, which has an impact on the overall economy of a country. Most stock markets around the world are independent of government control.

How do dummies figure their way through the stock market?

Stock trading is not as hard as it looks. As an amateur you have to make your presence felt on the stock market through which other investors will be able contact you. The following points will enable dummy traders to better knowledge of trading stocks:-

Choosing a broker- Choosing the right stock broker is essential for you in order to invest in the right stocks.


Risk management- Try to maximize your profits by investing in stocks that your business exclusively deals in.


Build a Portfolio- Building a balanced portfolio is absolutely necessary in order to have a good business profile.


Therefore stock trading can be easily figured through knowing the workings of the stock market and utilizing the services of the stock broker. However as a dummy investor, it is necessary to manage risks so as to enable better investment strategies.

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Stock Market Entering a New Bull Market

My take on the stock market changed last week, because I started to buy and recommend some stocks, something I haven't done in a long time. The economy is still bad and I don't see any signs of a real recovery yet and certainly not a sustainable economic expansion, but it appears that the stock market is just going to keep going higher anyway. I do not need to know why to make money. You make money in the market by staying aligned with the market trend until the market proves you wrong. And it looks like the overall intermediate-term trend is up.

Being overbought right now doesn't matter.

The stock market is entering a confirmed cyclical bull market. That's a big thing for me to say when I've been calling this a bear market since October 2007 and even during the past few months, but last week changed my views. I'll explain why in a second.

First you have to understand that cyclical bull markets are different than secular bull markets, because they do not lead to all time highs, but are big 8-24 month moves within a secular trading range, like you saw after the bottoms in 1974 and 2002. Once the bull market ends the market averages then go back down towards the secular lows or go into some sort of sideways trading range.

Overall such a market is tough for investors in mutual funds over the long-term, because they end up holding for big losses at times and then just sit there and make their losses back when things turn around only to lose them again. While the typical buy and hold forever guy just spins his wheels money is made either trading the averages or by buying individual stocks outperforming the market averages instead of trying to buy the market as a whole.

I have no idea how long the bull market will last or how high the market will go from here.

What I do know is that it will provide an opportunity to finally make a lot of money in individual stocks in a easier fashion than we've experienced over the past year and a half and do not worry if you are not long you haven't missed anything, because the money to be made isn't in chasing the market averages higher, but in individual stocks when they line up to go up.

There is only one S&P 500 to buy, one DOW, and one NASDAQ, so yeah if you want to get the ETF's it is easy to "miss out." But with individuals stocks there are literally thousands of ones to choose from and the risk to reward is better in them. With ETF's to make HUGE money you really need to go on margin hence the popularity of the ultra-ETF's, but with individual stocks there is need to margin yourself to make a good return, because when you buy the right ones it is easy to make big gains in them.

In fact you see it happen all of the time. For example one stock I bought last week rallied over 14% on Friday alone. I'm sure you may have a stock you don't own that you wish you bought. Don't worry about individual stocks and missing out, because there is always another one around the corner. Never chase anything.

Let's look at the stock market and what has caused me to change my view of it.

In the Fall of 2007 I started to point out all of these signs that we were probably in a bear market. Then in December 2007 I said the bear market was now confirmed by the 150 and 200-day moving averages.

In bear markets these moving averages act as resistance and in bull markets they act as support. However, if the moving averages peak and start to turn down and the market stays below them for more than six weeks then you are in a confirmed bear market. In fact this is my DEFINITION of a bear market - not some fixed percentage the stock market has to go down, but the overall price action of the bear market, which the moving averages make totally clear.

You can turn this around too though - if the moving averages are acting as resistance and then start to flatten out and the market goes above it and stays above it for more than six weeks then you are beginning a bull market during which the moving average will become support.

This is exactly what we have seen happen in the past few weeks. At the March lows I thought the market was oversold and we were going to get a bear market rally that would eventually fizzle out and lead to new lows. Since you want to stay aligned with the big trend to make money and I thought that was still down I tried to short several times only to get stopped out. I also had no fear of being wrong about the market in the sense of "missing out" on a rally, because I know that in a bull market the big money is made in individual sectors and stocks and not the market averages.

When it came to them what I saw by June were lots of sectors that looked like they may have bottomed, but were just going to go sideways for the next several months if that were the case anyway. If the market were really bullish they would provide good entry points then. That's where we are at the moment actually.

By June though after getting stopped out on the short side a few times I started to wonder if I was on the wrong side of things, but still thought even if I was we'd still get a nice correction. The market started June above the 200-day moving average. I said that if it stayed above it for six weeks then the action would be confirmation that all of the people saying we are in a bull market are right. However, if it fell below it and then went into the 800-850 range by early August then they would probably be wrong and we should expect to eventually see the lows of March test or broken in the Fall.

We got one down to the 870 area on the S&P 500 at the start of this month and it looked like the correction could last even longer. But then the market held that support level and rallied straight up to make a new high last week. The strength of that rally last week is what has changed my views from being bearish to seeing this as a cyclical bull market. The S&P 500 has been above its 200-day moving average now for six weeks.

To me this is a confirmation moment just as the price action in December of 2007 confirmed that we were in a bear market this price action confirms that we are in some sort of bull market. Yeah I didn't get in on the March low, but almost everyone who was bullish in March were bullish throughout most of last year two and held all of the way down in fear of "missing out".

Back in 2007 I pointed out how the moving averages were saying we were in a confirmed bear market to people and had dozens of people get angry and give me a list of reasons why this couldn't be so. Some said the Fed would never allow the market to drop. They noted that they were lowering rates like crazy. People on CNBC said we were just in a short-correction. The economy seemed to be fine. I don't want to name names, because this one guy threatens lawsuits against anyone who says anything critical, but one famous name would say it is a bull market and if you sell you'll miss out on everything so a lot of people were simply scared death that if they sold they would miss out on gains.

But the market action is all that mattered then. And it is all that matters now. I'm not going to make the same mistake that the people who denied the bear market did myself right now. Who knows why it is going up - it just is. It could be that the stock market is looking at the coming bottom in real estate prices a year from now and is going up ahead of some positive GDP quarters. It could just be the Fed is printing so much money. Who knows, until the trend is over it is what the cause is. There is simply more money going into stocks than going out.

And you may not know it, but I've wanted to get bullish on the market for a long time. I've been looking forward to going long individual stocks, because a lot more money can be made in them then in playing the ETF's - which had been my primary strategy for making money in the stock market since the bear market started - and is one I am now abandoning.

As long as the market is in a cyclical bull market the money to be made is in individual sectors and individual stocks. We really don't need the market to go up a whole lot to make money in them. It is tough to really tell how high the market may go up or for how long, but my guess is that we'll at least see it go up into the first quarter of 2010 and we could easily see the S&P 500 go into the 1150-1250 by then. 1150 would be a 50% retracement of the high of the Fall 2007 and the March 2009 low after that who knows. In the 1970's the market traded all of the way back up to its secular highs after the 1974 bear market thanks to huge inflation. If we get a ton of inflation in a year or two from now something similar to the 1970's could be in the cards.

Or we could just go up for a year from here and then start a new bear market in a double dip recession as interest rates go up back up.

Truth is you really cannot predict those kinds of things. All you can do is invest along with the overall trend of the market and adapt when it is clear that the overall trend has changed. You don't need to get in or out at exact tops. If you got out of the bear market in December of 2007 you would have saved yourself a lot of money. And the same thing is true here, even though I didn't go long in March on the bottom by adapting to what the market is saying - and is making clear to us - we can still make a lot of money for at least the next year by going long in individual stocks poised to outperform the stock market. Some of them will go up huge.

So this is now an exciting time in the stock market and should be a lot more fun than the past year and a half. Even though I personally made a lot of money last year it is much easier to make money in a bull market in stocks than shorting or market timing.

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Stock Market and Investing Myths Part 2 - Five MORE Investment Myths Exposed!

In Part 1 of this series on investment myths I exposed 5 commonly held beliefs about investing that are preventing many people from making as much money as they could with their investments. They are:

The stock market must go up to make money.
Stock market investing is risky.
Over 20 years the stock market always goes up.
The best way to make money in stocks is to buy and hold.
News and research groups have the hot stock picks.

I dispelled each of these myths and explained that they are the result of miseducation. The problem with miseducation is it leads to false understanding of the truth, and as many people have learned over the last year in the world of investing, not knowing the truth can be financially devastating.

In this article I am going to expose 5 more myths about the world of stocks and investing and share with you how you can not only correct your mistaken understandings but also profit from your new knowledge.

Myth #1: Investing in Stocks is Like Gambling

The myth that investing in stocks is like gambling is one of the oldest, most pervasive myths surrounding the stock market. In fact many people do not even realize they hold this belief. Yet unknowingly it appears in their words when they say things like, "You're betting the stock will go down" or "You're betting the stock will go up."

The idea that a smart investor is betting is ludicrous. Yet it has crept into an uneducated public to the point that many religious groups and social networks opposed to gambling have led their followers to believe the stock market is so riddled with gambling one would be better off playing the lottery. In fact nothing could be further from the truth.

The real fallacy here is the assumption that the investor is betting. As one who spends his life in the investment community, let me assure you no smart investor would ever bet. Betting is the exact opposite of what investors do. Investors spend their life learning and educating themselves about the investment they are about to make. Then they proceed to invest, trusting that their education was correct. If the investment goes against the investor, the honest investor still will not say, "I bet wrong." The honest investor will say, "What can I learn from this?"

Anyone who proceeds into any area of life without being properly educated could be seen as a gambler. But the more appropriate term would be foolish. To illustrate this point, let's take a person learning to drive a car. If the person has never ever driven a vehicle before, they may assert, "Since lots of people do it, so can I." But the foolishness comes when the person gets behind the wheel of a car and attempts to drive without first learning anything about driving a car. We could easily say that this person was gambling with his life, but the truth is it's simply foolishness.

Investing in the stock market is the same way. Millions of people hear how large amounts of money are made in the market. They see ads on television for cheap stock brokers, and one day think, "I can do that too." Truth is they CAN do it too-but only after they learn HOW to do it. For the educated investor, putting money into the stock market is an educated, analytical, thoughtful decision. And yet for the uneducated investor doing the same action is... well, foolish. Becoming educated first is the best way to successfully invest in the stock market. Myth: BUSTED

Myth #2: "Predicting" the Stock Market Is Impossible

On the heels of the assumption that investing in the stock market is gambling comes a follow-up myth: "Predicting the stock market is impossible." Again this fallacy comes down to the lack of education. For YOU to predict the stock market may be impossible, but not specifically for every person. In fact since the beginning of the stock market many investors around the world have successfully "predicted" the next moves. The author of this article is one of them (that would be me!). Predicting the stock market is not nearly as mystical as one might think. In fact the market moves in very predictable, repeating patterns, over and over again. And once a person is trained to watch and recognize those patterns, that person can also predict the next move with reasonable certainty. Myth: BUSTED

Myth #3: Mutual Funds Are the Safest Way to Make Money in the Stock Market

I suppose to dispel this next myth one must define what "safe" is. My definition of "safe" in regards to investing is an investment that has the ability to be profitable, not because of market conditions but in spite of market conditions. In other words, if the market goes up, I want an investment that can make money. If the market goes down, I want an investment that can make money. Yet mutual funds are not one of those investments. It boggles my mind as to why financial advisors continue to sell these investment vehicles to unknowing would-be retirees. It's an investment that can ONLY make money if the market moves higher. And to cover the weakness of the investment the sales pitch goes like this, "Over 20 years the market always goes higher..." Well what if I need to retire in 19 years and that's not an up year?

To me the most foolish investment a person can make is one that is confined to profit by the direction of the market. As such I believe mutual funds to not only be a poor choice for a safe investment, but I consider a mutual fund a very risky investment. If you do not believe me, just ask the majority of Americans who have lost about 50% of their retirement recently how things are working out for them and if they feel mutual funds are a safe, secure choice for investing. Myth: BUSTED

Myth #4: A 24% Annual Growth Is an Outstanding Return

Okay... I'll give you this one. Twenty-four percent annual rate of return is exceptional-if you're used to putting your money in a bank savings account. But a smart investor would never tie his/her money up for an entire year just to make a 24% return! Can you imagine any investor who would be willing to put up venture capital for a business that only promises 24% on the money? Of course you can't! And the stock market should be no different. In fact that's kind of what you're doing when you invest in the market. You're lending investment capital to the company while they continue to do business. But I guarantee you their business is bringing in more than 24% profit each year. The odds are that business is bringing in close to 100-200% profit EACH MONTH! And if you're fronting capital, you certainly deserve your fair share of that profit.

Mutual funds and investment services are loaded down with fees, transaction costs, and sales bonuses for the people who get you to give up your money for them to invest. And they get paid even if they do lose money-and YOU are the one who pays for all of it. By the end of the year, you're lucky if you have 24% left over. And those sales people who are getting paid from you? Well their job is to sell you the idea that 24% is a great return.

I myself would never make such an investment. When I place trades in the market I look for steady monthly cash flows that amount to a return that would stagger your mind if I told you. And ALL smart investors look for the same type of return. How much? Hmmm, let's just say investors think in terms of monthly returns, not annual returns, and we'll leave it at that. Myth: BUSTED

Myth #5: Learning to Make Money in the Stock Market Takes Years of Education

Of all the myths I dispel, this is probably the saddest. It's sad because people truly believe they are unable to learn how to make great monthly income in the market. They ask questions like, "Well, if it's so simple why isn't everyone doing it?" This is probably the most logical and natural question. The only answer I have is, "They don't know how." But I have seen hundreds of my own students learn to make consistent money in the stock market after only 2-3 months of focused training. How much training? Generally 4-8 hours a week. That's less time than the average American spends trying to build a network marketing business that seems to go nowhere.

The truth about investing is this: successful investing comes down to nothing more and nothing less than education. For the person who takes the time and spends the energy to learn, becoming a successful investor is not that far out of sight. In fact I believe pretty much anybody can learn how to successfully invest in the stock market in a year or less.

Just think-one year! That's less time than it has taken for most Americans to watch their stock portfolios fall while trusting the "all-knowing" financial advisors. One year-that's less time than it takes to earn a master's degree. One year-that's all it would take for a person like you to learn how to invest successfully as well. Myth: BUSTED

I hope you have seen how these 10 myths may have helped form your ideas of the stock market as a risky place to invest. I hope next time you hear your favorite Uncle Jimmy, or some announcer on TV, perpetuate these myths you will be quick to dismiss them as such and say to yourself, "I know better!"

How to Learn More

If what you have just read makes sense to you and you'd like to learn more, the best place to start is Trade Smart University's free workshop called the Foundations of Stocks and Options http://tradesmartu.com/site/index-foso.html You don't want to miss this free online workshop!

Jeremy Whaley is co-founder of Trade Smart University, an education company dedicated to helping everyday people learn to trade the stock market for consistent profits. If you would like to learn how to trade your own money for steady profits, visit http://www.TradeSmartU.com and experience affordable, accessible stock market education.

Risk in Stock Market - Stock Market Risk Management

Risk in the stock market is everywhere. Investing in the stock market is fraught with worry, for good reason. If you lose half of your investment, you must double your return to just breakeven. Warren Buffett, considered by many to be the world's greatest investor, states his first rule of investing is "do not lose money." Unfortunately, the risk in the stock market of losing your money is always a possibility. However, without taking some risk there is no reward. Therefore, successful investors employ stock market risk management strategies to minimize their losses. Managing risk in stock market starts with identifying the type of risk and taking action to mitigate the impact of the risk on your investment portfolio.

Risk in the stock market comes in many forms and each can lead to a loss. The most common is the overall trend of the market. Approximately 60 % of the move of an individual stock is attributed to the trend of the stock market. If the stock market is rising, it takes with it most of the other stocks, though not in equal amounts. When the stock market falls, stocks sink with it.

Another big risk in stock market lies with owning an individual stock. While owning the stock of a company can offer greater rewards, it also entails the risk that something might go wrong that can cut the price of the company's shares in half. It might be news that sales have suddenly fallen due to a new competitor, or a product liability issue has arisen. For whatever the reason, individual stocks are subject to risk associated to them alone.

While there are other risks in the stock market, these encompass the vast majority of the ones you will encounter. Fortunately, investors can employ several strategies as a part of their stock market risk management program.

First, they can invest with the trend of the market. Following the trend is a proven method, though it is not as easy as it sounds. Trend following tries to identify and then align with the underlying trend of the market. The assumption is the market will be in a trend that could last a day, a week, a month a year or multiple years. Generally, short-term trends cycle within longer term trends. Depending on your time frame, you can align your stock position with the trend once you have identified it. When you follow the trend, you are able to reduce the likelihood your stock will fall when the market trend is rising.

Another proven risk management strategy for owning stocks is to diversify your portfolio across several different companies, sectors, and asset classes. By owning several different stocks, you reduce the impact of a loss in any one company. Moreover, if the stocks you own are from several different industry sectors you mitigate the impact of any one sector have causing a loss. Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) offer an excellent way to add diversity to your portfolio as they hold shares of companies based on an index. The index can be for the whole market, or any segment of the market. When using ETFs, be sure there is sufficient liquidity (plenty of shares trading) or you will create another unwanted risk.

Many investors size their stock position based on their tolerance for risk. Dr. Van K. Tharp performed an experiment on position sizing in his book Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom. As Dr, Tharp found adjusting the size of your stock position using percent risk or volatility greatly increases your returns. By adjusting the size of your position based on the risk, you are willing to assume, you lower your potential of a loss and increase your probability of solid gains.

Should the price of your stock turn down, wouldn't it be nice if you could exit your position before the price fell further. Stop loss or trailing stops are tools used by many investors to close their position should the price fall by a specified amount. Most brokerage firms allow the use of stops using a set number of points below the price or a percent below the price. Trailing stops follow the price up by an amount you set and then hold that price level on any turn down. The idea of this stock market risk management technique is to leave enough room for the stock price to fluctuate within its up trend, but be ready to sell should it fall below a pre-determined level. Some investors use mental stops, which work well as long as they have the self-discipline to sell when their stop price is hit.

Many people believe equity options are risky investments. It is true that options can be risky as they increase your use of leverage. However, professional investors use certain options to reduce the risk of their portfolios. Covered call options are an excellent way to create some down side protection while increasing the potential return of your portfolio. Covered calls are suitable for IRA accounts, indicating that the authorities consider them a low risk investment strategy. Protective put options are another method to lower risk of a portfolio. Similar to insurance, protective puts provide security should your long positions suddenly fall in price. When that happens the put option guarantees you will receive the agreed upon price for your stock no matter how far it falls.

Managing risk in stock market is a matter of doing all you can to avoid losing money. Fortunately, there are several strategies to help you to achieve this important goal. The most successful investors employ all of stock market risk management strategies that recognize how important it is to avoid making a mistake while investing in the stock market. Do your portfolio a favor and use the available stock market risk management techniques to your advantage.