How to Choose the Best VPN for You

Nowadays, the use of VPN (virtual private networks) to connect to the internet has become commonplace. Just a few years ago, there was a time when only government agencies, large corporations and professional programmers would use VPNs to securely browse the confines of the internet.

Today, due to the huge supply and variety of VPNs available in the market owing to widespread internet use and technological availability, consumers now have a nearly virtually unlimited supply of options to choose from - both paid and free.

Basically, VPNs function as extra networks in between a normal networked connection between a client and server providing additional functionality, security and in many cases, more encryption. The technology uses various tunneling protocols to encrypt online connections allowing IP addresses to be disguised or altered.

The true origin of VPN even to this day remains a topic of debate. The majority of sources credit the discovery of the innovation to then Microsoft employee Gurdeep Singh-Pall who invented PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol) in 1996 as a method of implementing a private network. By 1999, the specification was published to the general public and the technology was quickly adopted by government agencies and corporations to access data securely from remote locations. 

Currently, VPNs are most popularly used for such activities like circumventing geo-restrictions and censorship from their home countries and also to protect their personal identities and location from tracking websites and applications. 

With the pervasiveness of mobile devices, dozens of VPN services have cropped up over the years to cater specifically to mobile phone users. Additionally, browser-specific VPN extensions have also become very popular in recent years. 

To help you make an informed decision in choosing a VPN, we have shortlisted the best paid and free VPN in our opinion so you can start browsing right away more securely and anonymously!

Basics of Binary Options Trading

Binary options are basically financial products that provide a profit or loss depending on if a particular asset/option's price will go up or down. 

They are based on the options trading of securities conducted by large companies, banks, institutional investors and brokers who are daily transacting billions of dollars worth of options as a means of risk management and hedging. 

The simplicity of binary options is, you have essentially a 50/50 chance of making the right decision (ie a yes/no proposition) and all you need to do is identify if the particular asset you are trading is will be going up or down in price.  

The three basic types of options are high/low options where you predict whether the asset's price will end higher/lower as compared to the initial price; one-touch options that you decide will either go up or down; range/digital options where you determine which range the price will strike at.

"In the money" (ITM) refers to when the asset has a favorable strike price (price when the option is closed) relative to the current market price of the underlying asset. 

For example, you would have an ITM call/buy option when you buy an asset below the current market price. Conversely, you would have an ITM put option when you sell the asset above the current market price. In both cases, you would be making a gain from the price differential (however other factors like cost of buying the option and fees would also need to be considered).

At the time of the strike/expiration price, you need to make sure that the asset is on the "correct side" of the strike price in order to profit. The option is exercised when the stipulated time period - which can be as short as sixty seconds to as long as one month!

It's important to note that the outcome of  a binary option will either be a gain or a loss. Traders will either receive a fixed amount profit payout if the option expires in the money or they will incur a loss if it expires out of the money. 

The beauty of binary options, apart from the simple yes/no proposition, is that you can trade in a wide variety of assets ranging from currency pairs (forex), stock prices, cryptocurrency, gold, silver, oil, bonds, indices and also ETFs. 

It is quite possible to generate consistent returns of 80-90% or even more from your investment, but the caveat is that you will need to test out the best strategies for you in order to have the best chance of trading successfully to win more and lose less. 

That's why it's always a good idea to start trading using demo accounts in order to "test the waters" and make sure you don't lose any money at the outset.

We have narrowed down the 2 best binary options websites/platforms in the market where you can start trading instantly for free using demo accounts. Please be sure to thank us later on!

Email marketing revisited: Is it still worth it in 2020?

From the very origins of email, marketers have seen the potential of using the medium of email to spread their messages across and convert general audiences from mass consumers to specific customers of the company's products and services without any need to even leave their seats. 

Fast forward to the turn of the millennium with the development of faster internet speeds and 3G mobile communications heralding a 'golden age' for tech companies from San Francisco to Shanghai, companies found like never before how powerful email marketing could potentially be. An explosion of new companies emerged harnessing email along with ancillary support companies like internet marketing, search engine optimization and online consultancies. 

We previously discussed in an earlier post regarding the merits of email marketing (The Power of Email Marketing) and how it can be used to convert leads to actual customers in order to 'close' the sales funnel.

A few telling statistics from GetResponse recently reveals that despite what many think, email marketing is definitely not dead - rather, still as crucial as it was years ago.

Every day, 294 billion emails are sent daily - with Gmail by far being the dominator - with more than 425 million ACTIVE users. 

As for marketing products and services through email, an amazing 82% of respondents mentioned they opened mails from companies and spend 138% more than those who do not receive any promotional mails. Out of the same group, 44% mentioned that they purchased at least once from a promotional mail. 

The infographic mentions a few important pointers for companies and internet marketers to be cognizant of. Namely, you need to make your emails more engaging by limiting the word counts, 'spicing up' the subject line, personalizing the mails (ideally by actually mentioning the respondent's name!), and using the correct keywords and time slots for email sending.

You should also be aware of applying certain psychological devices like using odd numbers, question numbers, personal pronouns (you, your), percentages and scarcity.

Lastly, your aim should be to get your mailing list to actually read and respond to your messages by making your messages as short and to the point as possible, compatible with smartphone/tab screen viewing and always aim for a personal touch to your emails to be as "human" as possible!

The bottom line is that email marketing remains a staple of most online (and even offline) companies' budgets despite the prominence of more "softer" methods of inbound marketing which leverage the power of pull marketing attracting customers towards the company rather than the other way around.

Review: Leveraging Leverage

Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.

- Archimedes

This is the first post on this blog in ages. Already I feel like I'm fighting off the spider webs that have amassed since we've been gone!

During our sojourn, we've done a lot of soul searching and gone through that 'midlife crisis' phase only to return back to our origin - that is, writing about freelancing and marketing. We will also start to write more about other topics too - including personal finance, economics and self development. 

Our first article on this new arena will be an e-book review on the book 'Leveraging Leverage' which is available at Amazon Kindle. We have always been staunch believers of personal development and aggressively watch the latest YouTube videos on anything having to remotely deal with self improvement and gain. That's why when we read this book, we felt it touched a nerve and really connected with us in another level.

Without getting into too much detail, the premise of this book is quite simple - since the dawn of civilization, humans have always strived to use the concept of leverage wherever they could - from inventing the first manual levers to lift heavy objects otherwise impossible to carry - to devising complex but convenient financial tools like mortgages, margin trading and IPOs - all in an effort to harness the power of leverage. 

After a long time, Frontier Freelancing is finally back!

It has been a long time coming. Strangely, we have COVID-19 to thank us for getting 'back on the saddle' and writing again due to the extra free time.

Keep on the lookout for fresh content touching on all areas of freelancing, marketing and general business in the coming days!

Till then, we wish you all safety and security in these challenging times!

Best Regards,

Red