Collection Of Recent Articles....

How to Design a PopUp Window to Boost Opt-Ins

What would your online business look like if you didn't have to chase clients? How much easier would it be if clients came to YOU instead? Imagine how great it would be to not only build VALUABLE online assets, but to simultaneously build BUZZ for your brand, your blog, your business and your bank account to boot?

The truth is, you CAN do exactly that with elegant and expeditious ease, and building an authority site in your niche is probably the absolutely BEST "underground" strategy for creating both a COMMUNITY, and generating clients for your online marketing "agency" at the very same time.

In my own business, in 2014... this is pretty much my exclusive focus.

First - creating online ASSETS using the authority site model that have empirical value in a niche that I feel a powerful sense of passion and purpose around.

Next, leveraging that content, and the community that emanates from it, to connect with, and cultivate clients for my own online marketing agency.

For example?

You can create a hyper local BuddyPress social networking community in YOUR local marketplace, where you currently live and work, that focuses on news, events and happenings in your city, town or municipality.

 

You are not only building a site that has PUBLIC value to the people who live local to you, but you are simultaneously positioning yourself as an expert, or authority, in the online marketing landscape by virtue of the fact that you own a site that is locally known.

Or, consider creating a "YELP" like business directory in your niche, industry or marketplace, or in one that you would love to be perceived as an authority or expert within. Not only does this give you some "power" in your niche, it gives you the opportunity to sell additional services "behind" the scenes, from premium placements on your directory, to featured listings, to more conventional high value offers like web development, blog building, web design, newsletter and email marketing, social media marketing, content creation, or just about any other offer that has interest to you.

 

You can build this sort of authority site using WordPress... and very simple, specialized templates of all types and stripes that literally cost no more than a few hundred bucks, and build a 6 figure business from SCRATCH, out of thin air, doing work that you love, AND simultaneously building an online asset that has empirical value, starting today. (no gimmicks, and no "gurus required)

How to Design a PopUp Window to Boost Opt-Ins

I get many emails a month from people asking how to go about designing a popup window to extract the maximum number of opt-ins from visitors to their web site. In this article I outline the seven essential steps you should take in your design of a successful popup:

1. PAY your subscriber

Okay, not literally PAY them, but you generally need to give something back in return for the visitor's name and email address.

For example, a free course, a free book, a free consultation, anything that's of VALUE to your visitors and of RELEVANCE to your web site or business. I see so many popups that just say 'Type in your name and email address here:' without giving anything in return for these details.

2. Make your headline SELL

The headline of your popup is incredibly important, as it's often the first part of the popup window that the visitor's eye is attracted to. If it doesn't interest them, they'll shut down the popup immediately.

What can you do to improve your headline?

You need to focus strongly on the BENEFIT to the potential subscriber - tell them exactly how are they going to BENEFIT from giving you their name and email address. For example, the following are all headlines suitable for my own site that offer a clear benefit to the reader:

"Boost your Subscribers by 535%"

"Discover Secret PopUp Techniques"

"FREE Report: Exit PopUp Boosts Sales 110%"

You could emulate this type of benefit-laden headline for your own site.

3. Make it load QUICK

A slow loading popup is going to be a quickly closed popup! No visitor to your web site is going to sit around while your elaborate popup loads all your fancy graphics, they're just going to close it straight away - it's your job to CAPTURE THEIR INTEREST as soon as possible, and thereby prevent closure of the window before you've made your offer, and hopefully get them to type in their details.

Some graphics are usually more effective than none, but minimize your use of them, and optimize the graphics files before uploading to your server.

4. Use an effective TITLE

I see many popups where the title of the popup window (i.e., in the title bar, set by the HTML title tags) is completely inappropriate. For example, 'popup page' or 'popup1'. At best, this looks unprofessional, so try to make your title relevant to the offer you are making to the visitor, and mirror your headline in some way.

5. BALANCE the popup page

The page you display in the popup window should at the very least look pleasing to the eye. This means the fonts on the page should be consistent and not look out of place, the colors should provide high contrast and make it easy to read, and the alignment of the text and any images on the page should not make any element look out of place.

6. Offer a way to CLOSE the popup window

You can easily add a button or a link to your popup page that allows visitors to close the popup window if they wish. You can do this easily by adding the code onclick="self.close();return false;" to your link or button tag.

7. KEEP IT SIMPLE

Overall, the best rule you can follow is just to keep to the point and Keep It Simple - this way you can capture the attention of your visitor quickly and easily and not distract their attention from your main aim which is to get their name and email address. And of course, once you've got their email address, treat it well and keep their interest.

By following these seven essential tips, you'll definitely have all the basics in place. The trick then is to keep on tweaking and testing your popup to try and optimize on your results.

Want to Earn 100K Online in 2014? Take THIS 3 Question Quiz and Watch Your Income Explode!

 

Want to know the easiest way to know whether you've got what it takes to succeed online? It's NOT seeking out gimmicks, gadgets and gurus. It's NOT jumping from one shiny thing to the next... always looking for that one "underground" success secret that's going to take you to the top. It's not going to be found in an eBook or success seminar either, or any of the obvious places most folks stumble and fumble online.

Instead, it lies within you - right now, at this very moment and only waits for you to mine the entrepreneurial "genius" that doesn't take discovering at all.

The single best success "secret" I've ever been given came from a Tony Robbins coach get together a bunch of years ago. The secret he said, is simple. Ask yourself EMPOWERING questions that make you come alive. Ask yourself, not others... what it is that you love, and then reverse engineer a life (and a living) around a few core concepts, and you'll NEVER chase success ever again. You'll live it - embrace it and understand it i a way that most will never know. (and that advice turned out to be MORE true than anything I had ever tried, and led to a litany of "light bulb" moments that changed my life, and my living... forever)

I'm going to give you a few very simple questions that you can ask yourself right now... to have the same sort of success, and to FINALLY break through of the continuous cycle of struggling for scraps that most online marketers, and aspiring entrepreneurs face each and every day.

I'm simplifying this for space of course... as it's hard to convey in a few paragraphs the power of this process, but these 3 questions will get you on your way!

1 - Do you have what it takes to COACH, teach, train, or empower others in a niche, market or industry that you have PASSION and a sense of purpose? Why? Because coaching, be it life coaching or more specific types of coaching industries have the highest AVERAGE income of just about any entrepreneurial endeavor under the sun. ($160 an HOUR for full time life coaches... and over $300 an hour for many speciality coaching practices)

So... What is the #1 thing you are uniquely qualified to teach? What do you have experience in, expertise with and enough authority that your words will have weight... and your advice, importance?

2 - What do you value MOST? How do you define success? And does the idea of focusing on CONTRIBUTION make you as excited as generating cash?

The truth is, the MOST successful life coaches, are those that are in "outward facing" niches, markets or industries that are much more about making meaningful connections, than they are about marketing or money, have the highest self described job satisfaction in the world.

Lastly... as yourself these 5 questions, and you'll never wonder, waiver or struggle to find clients ever again. This is your statement of PASSION and purpose, and how you are going to wake up the world with your work.

1 - Who am I?
2- What do I do?
3 - Who do I do it FOR?
4- What do they NEED?
5 - How do their lives change, improve, transform when I do what I do BEST for them?

If you arm yourself with the empowering questions above, and simply dive in deeply and discover what you truly have to offer others, earning 7 or 8 or 10K a month, even from scratch... is FAR easier than you'll ever know. From personal coaching sessions, to group teleseminars, to eBook and audio product publishing, to selling higher end affiliate products in return for complimentary coaching... the road map to making it happen has been written by thousands before you.

What Is an Infographic and How Useful Is It?

 

Infographics are very popular today and are widely used as a marketing tool. Businesses are utilizing this as a way to effectively communicate their complex message in visual and easy to understand manner.

Statistics show that in only two years' time from 2011-2013, the volume of infographic search via Google have gone up by more than 800 percent.

What is an Infographic?

An infographic refers to a combination of information and graphics featuring charts, diagrams, photos and stylized text. It is an effective way of creating a story in a more interesting and eye-appealing manner.

It has been said that moderns humans are more visual in that they prefer to view images rather than read long text. Experts confirm that people are often attracted to photos first before they read through the text on a site they visit. It is because the visuals are processed by the brain 60,000 times faster than text.

Businesses and publishers using infographics are reaping the benefits today. Primarily, they are able to grow their web traffic at an average of 12 percent compared to those who don't use the infographic.

Tips in Making an Infographic

Making an infographic requires creativity and planning. It's more than just putting text on an image.

Firstly, you need to come up with an objective and pick a topic. Determine what you want to achieve with your infographic and focus on that. Your goals will help you create a story that will engage your followers.

Next, gather as much data as you can on the topic you have chosen. Numbers and text will be most useful.

From there, you can proceed with sketching your idea to determine how you'd like your information to flow. Choose colors that are pleasing to the eyes but avoid the very bright ones and those that will beautifully blend together.

In creating an infographic, you have two options - hire a graphic designer or do it yourself. The first option is for busy business people who don't have the time to plan and build their own infographic. With a professional to work with, you can just provide all the data you want included and wait for the initial drafts from the graphic designer.

If you're the creative and hands-on type of person, however, you can opt for the do-it-yourself route. Even with little or no background on graphic design, you can still create the infographic that you want using some free tools including the drag and drop types available online. Most apps allow users to create their infographic for free but requires a small fee for downloading the finished product.

Once you're done building your infographic, do share it on your social networking sites and if possible, create a smaller image if you want to display a specific section for easy viewing.

The Risks And Rewards of Operating An Online Business

 

With a majority of the world's population now being online, having a good reputation on the internet has become one of the major goals of most businesses. Since being online means reaching out to your potential customer without the physical costs, it is a popular marketing method among both small and large businesses. Most of these aim to create and maintain an intriguing website that will complement their business or product in general. However, the question arises when you talk about businesses that solely exist on the internet and do not have any physical existence. What are the benefits and risks of such online businesses?

For one, being online allows you to connect with your customers very easily. All you need to do is to provide them with a platform, like a website forum or a social media page, where they can post their queries. You can then hire employees solely for the purpose of managing these platforms and responding to queries. The internet eliminates the need for having to schedule face to face meetings in order to solve problems, and customers can simply post comments and complaints on the internet. This also means that access to information is easier, and people do not have to call the store repeatedly if they want to know something.

Secondly, existing online allows convenient sales. Customers do not have to shop at a certain time and place, but can log on to the website at any time from any place. This obviously means that you can reach out to a larger number of customers, since there are no geographical boundaries. A local store, for instance, will only be accessible for people living around that area. Therefore, being online means opening up your business for a larger number of people and increasing the number of potential sales.

Operating an online business, however, does have its risks. For one, it is very difficult to make sure that this method of connecting with customers does not become impersonal. Some people may not like having to send an email and then wait for the response. They would instead like to go to the store and have a direct conversation with whoever is responsible for the problem. Therefore, if you don't manage the communication process highly efficiently, you may lose customers very fast.

Secondly, having an online business often means that people will not be able to get information about your products in person. Some of them may want to examine samples in person, which may make online shopping difficult for them. To manage such risks, you must pay specific attention to the content of your website and make sure that you provide all the important information in an easily comprehensible manner.

Important Hints for Smart and Aggressive Content Marketing

The primary focus for every business person as far as online marketing and lead generation is concerned is smart and aggressive content marketing. Here are some important hints:

Combine infographics with blogging
As much as blogging is itself a very effective way of communicating with your target audience and attracting more traffic, it works wonders when you blend it with infographics.

Infographics are eye-catching and can send more information faster than blog posts. They are made by mixing text content with striking graphics and are quite effective in obtaining more backlinks. Google uses backlinks as one of the important indicators to rank a website in search results.

You can use free online infographic tools to create your infographics or hire a graphic designer to do it for you. Infographics will definitely be helpful in differentiating you from your competitors.

Create viral videos in order to boost your brand
Social networking era is here in full flow making viral video marketing one of the best forms of content marketing. Apart from videos getting shared more often than other forms of content, they tend to bring in more referral traffic from other websites.

However, addressing the issues of your clients in a very engaging and interesting way is the secret behind creating viral videos. You need to indirectly communicate your message in a light manner. This is great in boosting your brand image and announcing yourself globally.

Make use of the strength of B2B trading portals
B2B Trading Portals have been so much overlooked yet they are a very effective way of passing your content to your most appropriate readers. Online B2B trading portals such as TradeBanq.com, QualityTrade.com, etc. have numerous registered business users that are aggressively looking for relevant suppliers and buyers. Since these portals have millions of products listed on them with much content, they enjoy very good reputation with search engines.

This means, in case you register with them as a free supplier, post a couple of products and add reasonable quality content which includes backlinks to your website, you are likely to get a higher ranking on search engines. Besides, your content will be placed in front of thousands of highly interested and relevant readers thereby instantly building your credibility as a serious business owner.
Make short presentations to build credibility
Creating short text and visual presentations is another form of content marketing that can be helpful in attracting additional search engine traffic as well as establish you as an industry professional.

You can use summaries of your blog posts, turn them into bulleted points and upload their versions of PDF or PowerPoint on websites such as Slideshare.net. Such presentations send more referral traffic and can frequently act as more proof of your credibility and industry knowledge.

Utilize social media marketing advantageously
To ensure this:
Create your official profiles on social media websites and integrate the sharing buttons across your website and blog. Use services such as AddThis and encourage your visitors to share your content.
Promote your content aggressively across 2-3 major social networks. Mostly,Google+ and Facebook are the two platforms that can ultimately impact your search rankings highly.

Sticking determinedly to this strategy long enough will sooner or later help you attract not only more traffic from search engines but also a greater number of conversions through your website.

The Different Types of Bars That Can Be Hired Using Mobile Bar Hire

There are many different types of bars that can be hired out. People might think of a bar as a static object which will probably stay in the same place for years and years. But this doesn't have to be the case. In many venues bars are actually hired out and this is ideal for things like events which only happen every so often and don't need a bar situated in the same place for a long period of time. Bars can easily be moved around and they come in a variety of different types which will be talked about in more detail below. Services offering mobile bar hire can be used to provide these types of bars.

You might think a bar is just as it is and can only come in one particular shape, style or colour. Many establishments, such as pubs, use stationary type bars but there are many other places as well as events and occasions which are ideally suited to using mobile bar hire services. Bars for these types of places can be tailored to suit exactly what it is the customer is after. Bespoke bars are offered so customers are not only limited to bars which are of a particular style or shape.

People don't tend to want the same thing and sometimes having something slightly different can make your event stand out and make that special occasion even more special. Events are a great time to let your inner creativity come out and a bar is often something that should be suited to the theme of a particular event. It might be that your event is themed around ice and this is a great type of bespoke bar that can be provided by services offering mobile bar hire. The style of ice can be catered for and this makes it specific to your event.

Alternatively if you're happier having a simpler solution you can get some that come in standard shapes and sizes such as straight or circular. Straight ones can conveniently fit in amongst other furniture because they can be placed against a wall. Circular bars are a good way for the bar to stand out as the centrepiece of an event by being placed in the centre with access from any area of the event location.

On the other hand you might not want something quite so simplistic. Services providing mobile bar hire offer glowing bars which use LED lights to create a glowing impact across the whole bar. This can help a bar stand out and make your event more spectacular.

Some people choose mobile bar hire providers that offer branded bars. These types of bars have brand images and logos on them. They are good for the brand because they create more awareness amongst potential customers. They are also good for consumers because a brand that is expected to be sold behind the bar can easily be displayed and a good quality brand image can be portrayed about the event itself.

An Awesome Career Graph of the Music Magician David Sylvain

As an artist, Sylvain has a shadow that has stretched across 30 years of music history; his immaculately written lyrics have provided inspiration for a number of artists with his songs of spiritual and emotional quest, singer and composer David Sylvain really occupies his own musical space. David Sylvain is a former English singer-songwriter and musician born in Backenham on 23 February 1958. He is a son of a plasterer and a housewife. He was educated at Cat Ford Boys' School, at Cat ford, and South East London. In his 16 years of age, he along with his brother Steve planned to form a band, which lately became famous in the name of Band Japan.

Their other comrades of that band were guitarist Rob Dean, bassist Mick Kern, keyboardist Richard Barbieri and Sylvain's Brother Steve Jansen as a drummer and this group starts their dream journey as a group of friends. A changed had been coming to the band Japan after they signed the contract with renowned Hansa, and therefore, they move fast and grab the number-one spot of rock band ranking in all over the Europe and its surrounding areas. The band suffered from personal and creative clashes, particularly between Sylvain and Kern. And that clash became bigger after Sylvain's relationship with Kern's former girlfriend Yuka Fujii, a photographer, artist and designer. The band Japan was one of the leading bands of the New Romantic movement at the start of the 80s.

Before dissolving, Japan played their final concerts in December 1982. The demise of Sylvain's band in Japan has led him on a more adventurous path that saw him delivering deeper into the worlds of avant-garde, jazz, ambient and improvised music. Furthermore, in this year Sylvain released his first solo joint effort with Ryuichi Sakamoto. Sakamoto's first contribution to Sylvain's work though was as a co-writer of "Taking Islands in Africa."

Sylvain's debut solo album, Brilliant Trees in 1984, got some critical acclamation, and it featured the UK Top 20 single Red Guitar. The time span of between 1980 and 1990 David started to concentrate into his solo career. In 1985, Sylvain released an instrumental EP Word with the Shaman, in collaboration with Hassel, Jansen and Czukay, a recording that re-released the same year as full-length album Alchemy: an Index of Possibilities. The album contained important contributions from renowned guitarists Robert Fripp of King Crimson and Bill Nelson of Be-Bop Deluxe. In 1990, Sylvain collaborated with Russell Mills and Ian Walton on the elaborate multi-media installation using sculpture, sound and light titled Ember Glance - The Permanence of Memory.

Furthermore, in 1990, Sylvain reunites with the former members of Japan for a new project. A restless soul and a poet, he became one of the shapeliest-shifting artists in a modern form of music. In the early 1990s, guitarist Robert Fripp invites Sylvain to sing with progressive rock stalwarts King Crimson. Sylvain declines the invite, but Sylvain and Frappe recorded the album 'The First Day' released in July 1993. He released his next album in the year of 1999, by the name of "Dead Bees on a cake", which was his first proper solo album after the "secret of the beehive".

After that, Sylvain reached to the limelight for several times with his wonderful experiments in music, but all those times he came along with some collaboration. Their skills along with Sylvain's voice tune made those collaborations memorable for all the time. Though after 1999, he released only two albums under his name, one of them is "Blemish", which was based on Sylvain's new invented creation of music on 'Samadhi sound', and that album became more popular due to that experimental town in the year of 2003. After Blemish, Sylvain's fans were lucky to beat him for one time more in 2009, the album name was Manafon. This is an average hit till today.

Increasing Passion

In order to have a passionate relationship in the bedroom, it is important to establish adult - adult relating patterns. When people start wagging their fingers at their partners, telling their partners how to think, feel or behave they have moved into a parent - child style of relating. The parent - child style of relating is not sexy and tends to dampen rather than excite libido.
 
True passion involves vulnerability - completely surrendering to each other and to the moment. It is difficult for a couple to feel open and vulnerable when they have been bickering. If a husband or wife feels like they have to pick up after and take care of their partner like one of the children, how likely are they to be breathlessly waiting to roll into bed with their partner? The same question applies, if a partner feels that they are being treated like a child?
Increasing passion can be a challenge in committed relationships. Carefully and honestly examine your behavior in your relationship. Are there times when you behave more like a parent or a child than a mature adult?

• Do you lecture or scold your partner?
• Do you whine and complain to or about your partner?
• Do you demand that you get your way, now?
• Do you take responsibility for things that should be your partner's responsibility?
• Do you have temper tantrums or volatile reactions to criticism?

The more couples approach their relationships as two mature adults, the more they will be willing and able to be vulnerable with each other. Emotional maturity allows partners to approach the bedroom in ways that enhance, rather than erode their love life. Emotionally mature couples are more likely to feel aroused by their partner and have a satisfying love life.

When partners are emotionally mature they are more able to be fully present during lovemaking. They are more open to being creative, adventurous and respectfully enjoying one another. They are willing to share what they enjoy and happy to learn about their partner's preferences, wants and desires.

Mature partners can easily accept and respect when their partner chooses to say "no" or is uninterested in sex. They do not assume that this means there is something wrong with them or the relationship or that their partner does not love them. To them, sex is something to be enjoyed by choice not out of duty or obligation. They recognize that obligatory sex is one sure way to dampen libido.

Emotionally mature couples are secure in themselves. They are able to be vulnerable and to easily express and receive love. They are considerate and empathetic and are willing to make sacrifices for each other.

Increased awareness of those times that you may slip into the parent - child, rather than adult - adult relating style, will increase your ability to make a different choice. As you increase the maturity of your interactions with each other, you may also notice increased heat in the bedroom.

Is It Time to Give Your Business a Good Spring Cleaning?

https://www.article.com/ I'm sure you're aware of the old term, "spring cleaning"? Mother nature reminds us that before you add more to your life, it's always a good idea to let go of what no longer serves you. Like the leaves that fall from trees in autumn, room is made for the new growth that occurs every spring.

I'm finding many women entrepreneurs feeling this way right now (including yours truly: -)). Evaluating your business is a smart move, as long as you're willing to ask yourself the right questions and give yourself honest answers:

1. What's Working? So many times, we can forget to look at what's going well in our business as we have the tendency to focus on problems or challenges. Look through the lens of appreciation and make a list of what is working well. For example, do you have an assistant or team support that is inspired by your business vision and committed to doing their best? Is your business profitable each month?

2. What's Not Working? Spend some quality time making a thoughtful list of any challenges or concerns one-by-one so you can visually see areas that need improvement. You'll also want to identify what I call the "gaps" in your business - the place where some sort of breakdown is happening. For example, if your cash flow is inconsistent, either your marketing isn't attracting potential clients or your sales conversations aren't converting people into becoming paid clients. Or maybe, you're chained to the desk, working way too hard and on the way to burnout. In either of these examples, it's time to take a serious look at making some changes.

3. What's New? This is what entrepreneurs love! We are creative beings that enjoy new products, programs and services. The blood rushes through your veins at an electric pace when you are creating! This is where you need to be careful. There's this affliction that entrepreneurs suffer from called "Bright Shiny Object Syndrome" that can wreak havoc with your business (and income) if you aren't careful. It's great and necessary to stay up to date on the trends and come up with new, fresh ideas BUT, in the process you want to make sure you don't eliminate those products and services that your clients love and pay you for generously!

If the arrival of spring has given you an itch to shake things up in your business, set aside some time and ask yourself the three questions above and really give honest answers. Appreciate the great work you're doing and all that's going well. Give some serious thought to what's not going well and set a deadline to get the issue resolved. Finally, get your creative juices flowing and design a fresh, new service or product that you know your ideal client is craving.

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THE TRUTH ABOUT AUTOGRAPHS

Before I get into the nitty gritty of autograph collecting and dealing I want to give you some background on why anyone should listen to my opinion. For many years, I was a wholesaler of genuine "in person" autographs to a number of large retail outlets. I sold thousands of autographs in this way ranging from Cary Grant to Brad Pitt. My sources have been very reliable and all of the material I sold was fully authenitcated. I did not sell any "autographs" that had been obtained through the mail. Because I was a wholesaler, I did not attract or look for publicity. I had a steady market and I was content with that. The following comments will not be popular with many autograph dealers but they represent the real story that is rarely expressed in the industry. I think it is important that the dark side of the business is exposed. It is unfortunate that the questionable practices of many dealers damages the crediblity of the hobby and the honest dealers.

Autographs obtained through the mail
The reason I do not sell autographs that have been obtained through the mail is that I believe a huge percentage of those that are sold as genuine are clearly secretarial. There are a number of dealers who have teams of workers who send letters to hundreds of celebrities. They use a number of different PO Boxes and bascially pose as genuine collectors. They receive a great many responses - ranging from signed index cards to signed photos and then sell these as genuine autographs. Now, you really dont need to be a brain surgeon to work out that celebrities receive a huge number of requests for their signature. The more famous the celebrity the more requests. I spoke to Chris O'Donnell recently and he told me that he had no way of keeping up with the demand.
 
Think of the mail Tom Cruise would receive. Can you really imagine that these celebrities sign everything that is asked of them? You would have to be incredibly naiive to think that that is the case. It is more likely that many of the responses are secretarial or autopen or printed signatures - basically signed by someone other than the star in a manner that looks genuine.

So how can you determine if they are genuine or not?
Of course it is true that some stars genuinely sign some material through the mail. The problem is that if you did not see the star sign the item there is no way you can be 100% certain that the signature is genuine. Staff of various celebrities become extremely skilled at signing autographs. This is where the dealers come in. Many dealers are quite happy to provide a Certificate of Authenticity for an "autograph" that has been obtained through the mail. They argue that they have years of experience in authentication and that they can tell a genuine autograph from a secretarial version. Thats how they make money. The fact is that in most cases it is impossible to be certain that an autograph is genuine unless it was obtained "in person". It is, however, very easy to provide a C of A and pass a questionable signature off as genuine. The truth is that any dealer who obtains signatures through the mail should NEVER provide a C of A.

Autograph Magazines and periodicals
There are a number of publications where dealers can advertise and where the hobby of autograph collecting is discussed. Articles providing information on addresses of celebrites and events where celebrities have signed appear. There are tasteless exposes on the best signers and the worst signers as if celebrities have a contractural obligation to sign anything that is placed in front of them especially when a large percentage of autograph hunters are dealers posing as fans. Over the years these publications have listed advertisements from hundreds of dealers advertising autographs ranging from Lincoln to John Wayne to the Beatles. Anything is available for those who have the money. The problem again is that many of the autographs that are offerred by dealers in these magazines are fakes. How can I be so sure of this? You need look no further than the FBI investigation of a company which sold thousands of fake "autographs" many of which were advertised in the prominent autograph magazines. I became concerned when they were offering as many John Wayne autographs as you wanted for less than the going price. I contacted one of the magazines with my concerns and they never responded, running ads for at least a year after my first letter raising concerns. The amount of people who were ripped off by this unscrupulous company must be huge but I believe that the magazines which ran the ads also carried a responsibility and that their crediblity has been scarred.

Autograph clubs and alliances
There is always a need for a hobby to have a forum or a club where collectors can compare notes and find others who have similar interests. The problem is that many dealers use these clubs as a form of Approval. They list their memberships of vaious clubs in their advertising as if that means something. The fact is that membership of these organisations does not mean that the dealer is reputable, honest or trustworthy. It simply means that they are a member of a club where membership is available to anyone who is prepared to pay the joining fee.

Authentication
I was amused to read recently that a prominent autograph dealer was giving courses in authentication. It is a fact that your signature will change and evolve with time. There are times when a signature is little more than a scrawl and times when it is discernably different to other occasions. It is simply impossible to determine absolutely positively that an item is genuine or not unless you saw the act of signing. Unfortunately many dealers who did not see the item signed "in person" are happy provide a certificate proclaiming a "lifetime guarantee of authenticity" when they should be saying something along the lines of "in my opinion the signature appears to be genuine". Of course they know that the less certain they appear in the certificate the less autographs they sell. They also know that it is hard to challenge any opinion.

The Major Auction Houses
There are a number of auction houses that regularly have autographs sales. Many of the items auctioned are vintage pieces where the star or celebrity has been dead for many years. These auctions do not provide certificates but rather use the coded phrase "some secretarial or printed facsimile" to describe lots. This is a form of disclaimer, where they are not being specific. It is, however, a more honest approach and generally the autographs have been obtained from fairly reliable sources - they have some "provenance" that gives them crediblity. Of course many dealers purchase these autographs and then resell them with Certificates that proclaim a "lifetime guarantee of authenticity". These certificates are little more than educated guesses.

There are some honest dealers
There are some reputable dealers who obtain their autographs in person through hard work. They attend major events where stars and celebrities are likely to be and are honest in selling their wares. Unfortunately, these dealers are few and far between. The majority of dealers sell autographs that have not been obtained "in person". They buy large collections, they buy at auctions though the mail, etc etc. No matter how good their intentions are the larger and more diverse their stock, the more likely it is that there will be fakes or non genuine material sold. In many cases they make honest mistakes but the problem lies with their Ceritificates. If they are not 100% certain they should make that clear.

So what should you do?
If you are buying an autograph from any dealer there is a good chance that it will not be genuine. That is the sad reality. You are taking a gamble and if you cant be sure about the authenticity then what is the point of buying? I would love to have a self portrait/charicature signature of Alfred Hitchcock. Up until recently these items were extremely hard to obtain. Since the introduction of eBay, they have suddenly become available on a regular basis.
 
It is likely that many are fakes (including these two) and I am certainly not prepared to risk my hard earned cash on something that is unlikely to be genuine. There is too much greed in the hobby where the lure of the dollar has become irresistible to many and the Certificate of Authenticity has become an easy umbrellla to hide under.
 
The old axiom always applies