A student loan is a kind of loan that students can avail of to help them in paying for their professional education. Student loans are guaranteed by the government and typically have lower interest rates than other kinds of loans.Sometimes, one loan is not enough to finance all of your educational expenses, including tuition, books and school supplies. This can force you to borrow several student loans from different lenders, which can be quite confusing and even more expensive. To prevent this, you should consider student loan consolidation.WHAT IS STUDENT LOAN CONSOLIDATIONStudent Loan Consolidation is the process of combining all of your student loans into a single new loan with one repayment plan issued by one lender. The balances from all your previous student loans are paid off by the new loan. This allows you to pay only one loan instead of multiple loans.The interest rate for the consolidated student loans is computed by averaging the interest rates of your current loans.You can also consolidate your student loans with the loans of another person, such as your spouse. However, this is not advisable. This is because if you need deferment, both of you have to meet the necessary criteria. Also, you will still have to repay the loan even if you separate or divorce.Most federal loans, such as FFELP and FISL loans, can be consolidated. Some private loans can also be consolidated. Various banks and student loan lenders typically offer loan consolidation options. You can also go directly to the Department of Education to consolidate. Both students and their parents can avail of loan consolidation.ADVANTAGES OF CONSOLIDATIONAside from simplifying your payment responsibilities, another benefit of student loan consolidation is that you are able to decide on the structure of your loan. Typically, consolidated student loans require smaller monthly payments than the original loans. If you’re having trouble making your monthly payments, then this option may just be for you. You can also convert your variable interest rate to a lower fixed rate, which can save you a lot of money. You can also extend your repayment term from the standard 10 years for federal loans to reach up to 30 years. There is no maximum amount that you can consolidate, and interest you pay may be tax deductible. Consolidated student loans also have flexible repayment options, including no prepayment penalties, allowing you to pay more than your monthly payments.DISADVANTAGES OF CONSOLIDATIONOf course, there are also disadvantages to consolidating your student loans. By lowering your monthly payments, you will have to extend the repayment period, which, in the end, can result in more interest. However, since there are no prepayment penalties, you can pay more than the required payments so that you can repay the loan faster. Another disadvantage to consolidation is that once the student loans have been consolidated, you may not separate them again. You may end up losing benefits, such as loan deferment. You can also only consolidate once. Thus, it is essential that you research thoroughly for the best consolidation options before going through with the process.AM I ELIGIBLE FOR CONSOLIDATION?There are certain criteria you have to meet before you can consolidate your student loans. For federal student loan consolidation, you can only consolidate if your current loans amount to more than $10,000. You must be within your 6-month loan grace period after graduation or you should have already started repaying your loans. In order to be eligible, you also should have no previous record of loan consolidation. If you’ve gone back to school after your initial consolidation, then you are still eligible for a new one.WHEN SHOULD I CONSOLIDATE?Once you have started repayment or you are within the grace period, you can already consolidate your student loans. It is advisable to consolidate during the grace period, since this usually results in a lower interest rate.HOW TO CONSOLIDATEIf you’ve decided to consolidate all or some of your existing student loans, the first thing you have to do is look for a bank or lender with the best offer. Student loan consolidation plans have different interest rates, fees for late payments and repayment terms. There are websites, such as FinAid, that can provide you with a list of lenders and their offers. Some websites can also help you arrange the consolidation. You can also consult a qualified loan counselor to help you determine whether consolidating your loans will truly be beneficial for you or not. They can help you in calculating the costs of your existing loans and compare it with the cost of the single consolidated loan. They can also explain to you your other options, such as income contingent payments, extended repayment and graduated repayment. By doing this, you can make an informed decision regarding student loan consolidation, and save a good deal of money in the long run.

Forming a partnership to deliver Search Engine Optimisation services (SEO) to your clients demonstrates your commitment to providing access to a vital range of techniques that ensure their online presence is taken to the top of the search engine rankings.Search engines drive the world-wide-web, dominated by Google, Yahoo and MSN who account for 70% of all searches and how you rank in them dictates the traffic visiting your site and ultimately the revenue generated. Clients with an online presence that is not optimized for the search engines will simply be ignored by prospective customers looking for their products and services, unless they rank on the first page of a search a prospective customer is unlikely to find their site at all. If you rank on page 3 or less, your online presence may as well be a billboard in the middle of the Sahara.Affiliate programs provide a potentially lucrative partnership for referring clients for SEO services with a commission structure based upon the level of referrals. You benefit not only from generating an untapped source of revenue from your clients but also from an enhanced perception of your ability to deliver immediate and continuing business results that are simply and easily demonstrated and measured.As e-commerce continues to gain momentum and acceptance, and we are nowhere near the potential that has yet to be unleashed, businesses have to look to where their future customers are going to come from. I recall reading something recently that made the glib comment “NBC is laying off people as fast as Google is hiring them” and this reflects the economic reality that increasingly consumers are turning to the internet to source products and services, and of those who do; a majority are using search engines such as the Big 3 to find suppliers.Something else that is coming out of the empirical research on who is doing what, where, when and why on the internet is that consumers not necessarily looking for e-commerce sites when they are searching – very often a search will be “Attorney Daytona” or “Plumber Binghamton” – what almost three quarters of consumers are doing is searching for a service that is local to them so they can make direct contact and obtain a quick divorce or fix the leaky bathroom (source Kelsey Group).This is all great news for local business as hardcopy media is overtaken by the adoption of the internet as a means for obtaining information. So for those who provide businesses with support and professional services, there is a window of opportunity to add value to existing relationships by forming a partnership with an SEO provider affiliate program.So this all sounds great and fantastic, where do I sign up?Not so fast, let’s take a look at the market and see what is currently on offer and let’s also take look at some of the do’s and don’ts. Simply placing “SEO reselling” into your search engine will uncover a list as long as Route 66 of SEO service providers and some form of affiliate marketing or reselling program. The reason for this is simple, over 50% of internet traffic is generated by the search engines and consumers are using search engines to source products and services more than any other form of online marketing activity.What you will find is dazzling array of SEO providers, but first you need to exercise a degree of simple business common sense. Keep to the forefront of your mind that if you are going to partner with an SEO as an affiliate they are going to be delivering a service to your business customers who will be relying on the relationship they have with you to stop them from being oversold, overpriced and avoid failure of service delivery – their success will give you credit but failure can be damning.First principle, identify an SEO with a market reputation that stands up – any SEO will be quite happy to provide you with references and a detailed schedule of the services they provide with a clear charging structure for work performed. If they can’t or won’t, avoid them like the plague, if they can’t provide basic supporting collateral to you as a potential business partner what will they be like let loose on your customers?There are also some unethical SEO techniques which companies may use that you should be aware of. Methods such as using link farms, “hidden” text where the printed content is the same color as the background and even some tactics take a user to a webpage completely different from the one they wished. These techniques are referred to as “Black Hat” and search engines may penalize a site that uses such methods or eliminate them from the search engine altogether – in February 2006, Google removed BMW and Ricoh in Germany for use of deceptive Black Hat practices.A “White Hat” practice refer to techniques that are not considered to be unethical or deceptive and conforms to the guidelines and terms of service as laid down by the search engines themselves. White Hat is about providing content for site users not for search engines per se and promotes accessibility and usability of a client site.Make yourself aware of exactly what SEO methods are being delivered by an affiliate program before you commit to signing up to it. The decision to use Black or White Hat methods revolves around your sense of ethics and your own view of your business reputation.The affiliate programs that are available all appear to be embryonic at this stage; this is an immature concept for which it is highly likely we will see continuing development. Some affiliate programs are free requiring minimal registration while at the other extreme fees of $750.00 can be charged before you can refer potential clients to them. I have even seen one program that simply states we have no affiliate program but will pay 15% commission on any referral.This leads onto the topic of money and payment for client referrals. How much can be made out of SEO reselling. Clearly there is an opportunity to add value to existing client relationships by SEO reseller affiliation but the remuneration and commissions do vary though the average appears to be something between 5% to 15%. Volume of referrals and type of referrals also factor heavily in the commission structures, with high volumes attracting greater levels of commission and bonus payments as does the ability to refer larger sites and online enterprises as opposed to a local restaurant downtown.There is a wide discrepancy in the quality of SEO providers, not only between those who practice Black and White Hat processes, but in the ability to appreciate that SEO is not a simple, single skill set that operates on a stand alone basis. SEO providers who genuinely practice a holistic marketing methodology are actually few and far between. Such holistic SEO practitioners believe that search engine marketing is actually part of a larger range of online marketing methods that need to be combined and tailored to suit the business goals of the client. The SEO affiliate programs available vary widely in the apparent ability of the offerings to deliver services alongside SEO such as public relations activities, email campaigns, blog consulting, web trends, and online media buying.Clearly SEO affiliate programs will develop and the market will respond to the good and the bad, but in the interim arm yourself with at least a basic understanding of what SEO consultants do and the value added they can provide.

When you want to purchase a car, one of the main considerations is financing. This is because many people do not have the initial high amounts of money, which are required to meet the cost of the car. One thing you should note about Car financing is that it is very hard to quantify, it is determined by many other factors such as the type of car that you want to purchase, the price tag and the possibility of a trade-in. All these mean that you will be offered different finance packages by different organizations, and it is your duty to choose the most appropriate one.The best way to approach car financingWith all the factors involved, Car financing becomes a very complicated issue, which needs proper understanding of the financial world. Since most of us do not posses such skills or information, the best approach would be to involve the services of a car finance broker. The broker will assist you in all the areas associated with car financing. Remember car financing, just as any other form of financing will require various paperwork. In most cases, people are already overwhelmed by their daily lives, it is therefore better to leave the broker to fulfill the formalities helping you secure the loan.Some people obviously benefit more than others do from this arrangement. One of the groups that will benefit mostly from the services of a car-financing broker is those who are self-employed. This is because most of them cannot produce satisfactory historical profit figures to satisfy the financial provider. The duty of the broker is therefore to find institutions, which are more likely to offer better terms. The broker is also going to help you negotiate for better terms just like those offered to people who provide sufficient history of profitable trading.Since car financing brokers deal in only one type of financial product, they have a clear understanding regarding the product. They also use specialized tools such as car loan calculators, which will help you, understand the long-term effects of the loan that you take. Remember a loan might seem cheap now but present adverse effects later on. You will therefore enjoy more piece of mind depending on the advice provided by such specialists.Apart from using the services of a broker, you can also source your car financing online. This method presents you with various banking institutions to source your financing from. In order to exploit this dimension fully, you need to have a clear understanding of what sort of deal you are getting into. Luckily, there are certain tools, which you can utilize to help you gain a deeper understanding of the loan you are acquiring. They include:• Car finance calculator- this will help you get a clear picture of what you will be paying every month. It will also help you understand how long it will take before you can repay the loan.• Chattel mortgage calculator- you can also utilize this calculator, which acts the same as the car finance calculator but on terms, attached to chattel mortgages rather than general loans.