Marketing

An electronic marketing business can be a enterprise about a reputation in addition to add-on of such advertising and marketing solutions in many different marketing movements. Currently over and over again escalating specialised customs, you should put it off along with 1 another with the development on the electronic digital more streamlined to be able to capably along with very well functionality an enterprise. By simply push this know-how of an a digital promoting bureau, you possibly can make sure the deal is actually for the edge associated with innovative technologies, and tiny proportion in the electronic revolt. Throughout putting, searching for promoting organization can help your own business for making dynamic model understanding willing for you to achievement and also section ones purchasers.




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Oracle Marketing and advertising is probably the major promoting providers in great britain. The business employs primary marketing and advertising because they recognize oahu is the just approach that's measurable and also scalable.




Oracles Promotion has learned of which to be able to lure potential customers primary advertising and marketing is the greatest method while it makes sure highest roi. This provides the flexibleness to get hold of the customers in addition to shoppers in addition to enhance merchandise within constrained funds. The organization usually takes an additional considered to approach his or her practices in addition to develop direct time frame plus preparing to press goods already in the market.




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Clover Promoting provides inside of a shorter amount blossomed because main professionals while in the one on one advertising field which has a clientele this helps to keep improving each and every day. This company is incredibly sensible for the occupation associated with raising brand name understanding in addition to giving their own clients quantifiable effects therefore maintaining these folks often fulfilled. Like a corporation which usually is higher than the particular goals with their buyers, Clover Promotion beliefs the particular laugh on the shoppers looks considerably above all else and also as a result provides assisted subsequently acquire prosperous incentives.




Clover Advertising and marketing provides continually caused the interest as well as strength this also to your superb level possesses held the firm continue. Preserving support services regarding purchasers towards the largest stage, the corporation offers were able to produce pertaining to themselves a brandname identify and also a looked upon situation from the strong marketing and advertising area that will almost no bench craft companyproviders inside their group include achieved.




It's not necessarily solely consumers which adore the corporation to its devotion along with support services to all of them. The firm is actually liked by simply it's personal workers to the unlimited prospects to get advancement how the firm treats. Clover Promotion thinks inside teaching passionate employees to accomplish excellent altitudes plus throughout escalating in addition to all of them. Staff members, whom operate the a number of alternatives, chose the enterprise a sufficient destination to subsistence its ambitions of the good employment.




This company has got wonderful firearms - increasing in order to brand-new areas, acquiring break-through methods plus reaching some sort of 5 hundred % progress pace in barely in excess of half a year. Primary promoting can be shortly turning out to be just about the most recommended processes associated with advertising and marketing as well as coupled with this; Clover Marketing and advertising has grown probably the most desired immediate promoting enterprise also. By using professionalism and trust, hard-work, endurance as well as eagerness staying this 4 trolley wheels which generate a chariot from the firm plus the crew, Clover Advertising and marketing without a doubt features a considerable ways to travel.






It is a basic part of any business. A big portion of a businesses finances are allotted to advertising, to promote and market that businesses goods, whether it be a good or service. Without marketing, it is difficult to get new customers and make sales. When sales are slow, as they are in this slow economy, companies have less to spend on marketing which in turn slows down business even more. It is a destructive cycle.

Radio advertisements, even with a large audience (at sometimes during the day), are largely ineffective because listeners may easily change the station when the music stops. Classifieds in newspapers may work if a reader is looking specifically for your product or service. And television can be simply impractical for small businesses. With all of these, you pay high advertising costs and wait to see what results they may yield.

With most businesses slowing in this economy, many businesses should re-evaluate their advertising methods. The amount of money being spent may not be the only problem, if that's the problem at all. The medium that your business is using to advertise may be the problem. Internet businesses have many outlets to market and promote, such as forums, blogs, online classifieds etc. However, just like advertising in a newspaper, small businesses are struggling to not be outshined by big expensive advertisements by larger companies.

As anyone who has looked for marketing solutions online has undoubtedly seen, there are many "marketing firms" that guarantee X amount of visitors to your website for a low price. If your website were to receive 10 million hits a day, it all is worthless if they do not buy anything, or not even read your content. A lot of businesses who promise hits without any mention of performance, will simply make your site a pop-up and your "visitor" will not spend more than three seconds on your site in most cases.

Online businesses have an advantage over other traditional businesses in its ability to work with a sort of 'pay for performance' approach to there advertising. As a business, you would pay advertising fee based solely on how effective it turns out to be. This model has potential to better for both parties. If your product generates great revenue due to marketing, the website or wherever you implemented your marketing could earn more than a flat rate you would pay traditionally.

As this may be more difficult for traditional brick and mortar businesses, online business may implement an affiliate program into their businesses quite simply. Affiliate programs enable a business to have an unlimited amount of independent promoters who are paid a percentage of the sales they bring to your company. These independent promoters spend their own money on their marketing efforts, saving your business a great deal of over heard.

There are many businesses, that should you be able to find easily with a quick online search, that will set-up your companies affiliate program. The affiliate program has and will continue to be a must for online business with an online presence. You pay for sales and nothing else, after your business has one implemented, you will undoubtedly see a great increase in cash flow. And what business does not need an increase in cash flow?

Comparing Granite and Marble Countertops: Which A person Should You Choose?

Granite and marble are both equally stones meaning these are each durable, large, and astonishingly challenging. At the same time, mainly because the two these stones can seriously very last a life time, they can be each equally high priced and incredibly challenging to polish and install. Because they may be both stones, they can be by natural means patterned, consequently, you might get granite or surface encounters marble that is certainly not really identical on the layout from the catalog that you ordered so it will be ideal to actually see the actual solution when selecting the kind of layout and pattern that you simply want as a substitute of relying only on photos. The two are heat resistant plus they do not scorch when placed even using a extremely warm material this sort of as iron pots and pans.



However, granite is way tougher than marble and it truly is additional resistant to scratches and major impacts compared to marble. At the same time, granite is much more defiant to acids this kind of as vinegar, lemon juice, and tomato juice, together with other products with superior ranges of acidity. That will help you greater fully grasp the strengths of equally stones, allow us consider a nearer search as to how they had been shaped. Marble, and all its stone family members - onyx, travertine, and limestone on the onset had been sediments built of shells, plant subject, animal skeletons, and silt which all settled for the bottom of bodies of drinking water and soon after years of currently being soaked in water, they solidify and turn out to be stones/ Marble’s key element is calcium and that's the purpose why it's a tendency to react to acids these as vinegar together with other beverages that include citrus. Granite, then again, is built up of crystallized minerals formed while in the earth’s mantle at substantial temperature. The end result is a challenging, extremely resistant stone. Marble could be scratched and etched by acids because it is built of calcium carbonate which can be a great deal like chalk however the only variation is surface encounters marble is compressed and in the crystallized kind. Within the same way, marble has less designs, in fact it can be much more commonly marketed in its white shade so stains and mars may well stand out more uncovered in marble. Granite includes a far more complicated pattern that will cover the stains far better. Concerning styles even so, marble contains a finer, a lot more stylish search than granite. The crystal formations in marble are more satiny and finer in nature which makes it appear far more luxurious. Granite has larger, pea-sized crystals which are coarser towards the eye.



Ultimately, with regards to longevity, the granite countertop could be far more sturdy and much more resistant to stains and scratches whilst the seems to be are won by marble. Marble nonetheless is inexpensive than granite but it surely demands greater maintenance. So, it all boils down to what you genuinely want as being a countertop. Would you settle for your countertop which is really hard-wearing and however not as quite since the other a single, or would you trade beauty for sturdiness and strength?

New Employ Criminal Background Examine

An employment records search is now generally carried out not only to possible employees but to present employees for promotion as well. It's generally carried out to validate information found on an employee's resume or software type. It is also carried out to identify the best suited possible employee among the applicants. Also with what has happened on September 11, 2011, employers are actually extremely worried with the type of workers they employ.

A track record investigation consists of criminal, arrest, imprisonment, and intercourse offender documents. This is really a kind of examine exactly where state data are examined to research if a potential employee or present worker has been convicted or charged with any crime against the state.

Citizenship, immigration and legal working standing checks are also done because American businesses are barred from employing illegal employees from the Division of Homeland Security and its Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Division.

Litigation records will also be checked. Workers who frequently file discrimination instances might be identified as being a risk to a business thus employers resort to litigation checks. Also, these companies who do company with the government do not wish to employ whistleblowers who file qui tam fits.

Driving and vehicle records are also component with the background check, especially when a possible employee is applying for a driver position. Employers appear for workers who have clean driving data or those who don't have any data of vehicular accidents or traffic tickets.

Drug test records are also being checked. An employer wouldn't want to employ drug addicts in his company because of company ethics, employee performance will probably be affected and improve of workers' compensation premiums.

Education data are also part of the online background check investigation. This is carried out to verify academic attainment with the possible worker and occasionally to examine if applicant has had misdemeanor records in class.

Previous employment records might also be checked particularly in the event the applicant will fill a sensitive place in the business. This is usually carried out verbally.

Financial information can also be checked especially if the position becoming crammed demands somebody to handle large quantity of cash.

For professionals, licensing data are checked for grievances, disciplinary actions and investigations.

Medical, psychological and physiological files are also checked simply because a potential employee might not be fit to work for health reasons. A written consent in the applicant should be procured prior to heading through the entire procedure.

Social safety quantity examine is also done because identity theft is fairly rampant. A past existence might be concealed or an applicant might not have fulfilled the citizenship necessity may be verified through the social safety number.

Even though most the over data are public data and may be procured from various authorities agencies in the Usa of The united states, it is nonetheless very inconvenient for employers to do background examine on its potential employees and even present workers. There are numerous personal investigators who provide the support. Also, you will find 3rd celebration companies who also provide exactly the same type of support. There are also available online data banks which can offer the necessary info about individuals. What they do is they buy U.S. public records and provide them online for a fee.

Credit score Range: Determines a Potential Borrowers

Much more and more lenders, employers, landlords and insurance businesses are checking your FICO score as part of their process of approving your mortgage, landing a job, having your own house to reside, or good rates given for any kind of insurance coverage which you may have utilized for. To attain all of those issues that you are dreaming of accomplishing developing a great free credit score online history is the initial factor which you need to do if in case you got 1 having a bad background.

Credit score scores begin from a reduced 300 towards the cream of the crop 850. A normal consumer includes a credit score assortment of 600 to 700 but some may have more than this. A FICO score is the foundation of most loan companies and credit score bureaus of computing your creditworthiness. A good credit score score falls on an average of 720 and above. Where does one get the info on their respective credit score scores? By law this really is offered for free as soon as a year coming in the three main credit score bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Your scores and credit score history shows your current and closed accounts also as your payment history.

Loan companies do generally have a appear on your free credit score background because the foundation on whether or not they will grant your loan at a good rate of interest or deny this completely. If right now you're interested on applying for a home loan that necessitates a substantial credit score then it could be best to use for FICO score monitoring which usually gives you an update on your scores on the weekly basis. Subscribing to this online service alerts you whenever you have attain your high score goal so long as you setup a threshold for it. Some would go so far as sending you an sms to inform you whenever your scores have alter for your better or for the worst.

To help you develop a better credit score and history here are some easy recommendations to adhere to:

Request a copy of one's credit report as needed if not wait around for it as soon as a year but do monitor your background for just about any mistakes. In the event you see discrepancies then you are able to dispute them by going through your reviews completely.

Spend your expenses on time. Include some much more on the minimal quantity that you generally spend since this would trigger your credit score to rise and could be noticeable for many loan companies which you are a great borrower simply because you pay on time and is also sincere in settling your bills.Steer clear of maxing out on your credit limit. This may surely trigger your credit scores to drop that quick. Cancel credit cards that you are not using or don't require and pay on time for the credit card bills.

Making Money Software

After months of tense negotiations, Alibaba Group, Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Softbank announced on last Friday evening that they had signed an official agreement on the transfer Alipay. After examining the structure of the deal, the end result is as if Alibaba Group CEO Jack Ma took advantage of the licensing requirement to create a management buy-out (MBO) structure for Alipay.

To compensate the Alibaba Group for the loss of the Alipay property, in the case of a ‘liquidity event’ Alipay’s holding company will offer the Alibaba Group a “one-time payment of 37.5% of equity value, no lower than $2 billion or higher than $6 billion.” The Alibaba Group will also receive 49.9% of pre-tax profits until such a liquidity event.

The turbulent, drawn-out ownership transfer incident has finally been settled down. Let’s examine the solution as well as the procession of the negotiations.

The above chart shows Alipay’s ownership structure before the transfer of its business.  Alibaba Network Company Ltd (a Hong Kong-listed company (1688.HK) that is in charge of Alibaba Group’s B2B business) disclosed information showing that Yahoo held 43% of Alibaba Group’s shares, Softbank 29%, and Alibaba Group CEO Jack Ma, management and staff 28%. At that time, Alibaba Group had 100% control over Alipay’s business. Yahoo and Softbank, as big shareholders of the group, deservingly benefitted from the growth of Alipay.

Let us take look at the situation after the ownership transfer and the agreement.

At present, the holding company for Alipay is Zhejiang Alibaba E-commerce Company Ltd, which is 80% owned by Jack Ma and 20% owned by Shihuang Xie. As the holding company, Zhejiang Alibaba and its shareholders are responsible for making payments in the event of a “liquidity event.” This refers chiefly to the previously mentioned “37.5% of equity value and not lower than $2 billion or higher than $6 billion.” Zhejiang Alibaba and Alipay will also be responsible for paying property right licensing fees and service fees for software technology to Alibaba Group at the time of the “conversion.”

Also, according to the equity transfer agreement, an independent APN Company Ltd (IPCo) needs to be founded with a special purpose. IPCo will be owned by Mr. Ma and Mr. Cai and in existence until the liquidity event. It will issue a $500 million, 7-year-long, interest-free promissory note to Alibaba Group. Mr. Ma and Mr. Cai will put 50 million shares of Alibaba Group common stock into IPCo to back the promissory note.

After investigating the roles Zhejiang Alibaba and IPCo played in Alipay’s equity transfer, I think the end result is as if Mr. Ma took advantage of the licensing opportunity to create a management buy-out (MBO) structure. It’s admittedly a very unusual MBO, unlike the standard deal where money is exchanged to close the deal.

Of course, the only shareholder of Zhejiang Alibaba and IPCo are, respectively, Mr. Ma and Mr. Xie, and Mr. Ma and Mr. Cai. As a next step, when Alipay’s related call center services are divested, it is hard to say whether or not there will be more in Alibaba Group’s management team or staff that invest in Alipay or Zhejiang Alibaba.

If I had to guess as to the result, I’d predict the two dotted lines in the second chart above will become solid, and the outline of the ‘MBO’ by Alibaba’s management team will become clearer.

Original Chinese Article

(By Yuming Wang, iChinaStock.com)

Read more posts on iChinaStock »

internet reputation management

Language Log » <b>News</b> Flash: BBC Admits Error

Update #2 — Google News Archive has nothing for AptiQuant, and LexisNexis yields 26 hits, all from 7/29/2011 or later. This is additional evidence that AptiQuant is a hoax, though it doesn't tell us what kind of hoax it ...

Language Log » <b>News</b> Flash: BBC Admits Error

08/03/2011: U.S. Department of Justice, EPA to Hold <b>News</b> <b>...</b>

3, 2011) - Representatives of the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will hold a news conference at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow, Thursday, Aug. 4, in St. Louis, Mo., to discuss a significant ...

08/03/2011: U.S. Department of Justice, EPA to Hold <b>News</b> <b>...</b>

<b>News</b> attacks — Crooked Timber

I've received the ultimate accolade from News Corporation, graduating from snarky asides and dark mutterings in which I'm identified only indirectly to a full-length hit piece in our only national (general) newspaper, ...

<b>News</b> attacks — Crooked Timber

Whos Making Money

Investing legend Paul Merriman, shares the lessons learned and secrets discovered over more than 40 years as one of the world’s leading investment professionals.

John Nyaradi:

Hi, everyone, I’m John Nyaradi, publisher of Wall Street Sector Selector, a financial media site specializing in exchange traded funds and global financial and economic analysis. Today, I’m pleased to welcome our special guest, Paul Merriman. Paul, welcome to Wall Street Sector Selector.

Paul Merriman:

Thanks John, it’s great to be with you.

John Nyaradi:

Paul is one of the true giants of the investing and financial management business. He is founder of Merriman Incorporated, an investment advisory firm based in Seattle, Washington, that manages approximately $1.6 billion for thousands of families across the country.

Paul is a widely respected expert on mutual fund investing. He’s editor of the FundAdvice.com website and his podcast, “Sound Investing,” was named the best podcast in 2008 by Money Magazine. He’s author of a highly acclaimed book, “Live it Up Without Outliving Your Money: Getting the Most from Your Investments in Retirement,” by John Wiley and Sons and is widely quoted in major financial magazines and media.

Paul, let’s start out with your company’s motto, “Invest wisely and live fully.” I like that a lot. Can you give us a sense of what you mean by that, “Invest wisely and live fully?” How do you do that for people?

Paul Merriman:

My view of investing wisely is simply to do the smart, savvy things with our money to maximize our return without getting greedy. And I think one of the wisest things we can do is to invest within our risk limits. Investing wisely also means minimizing expenses and taxes. We believe in massive diversification. We believe that the more stocks you have in the portfolio, the better you will do, not the more average you will be.

The live fully aspect means that not only do you have enough money but that you are also able to enjoy it. Too many people have way more money than they need but find it difficult to enjoy it.

I just spoke with a client who’s down in Mexico. He’s been a client for over 20 years, and I know he’s got more money than he needs. He wants to buy a second house in Mexico. He must have talked to me five times about whether the purchase makes sense. And every time I spoke with him, his burning question was, “Now Paul, are you sure we have enough?” We convinced him, yes, he does have enough…and he’s making the offer, closing the deal, and that is what we think living fully is. Not just having enough, but feeling secure so you can spend it and enjoy it.

John Nyaradi:

That’s got to be a rewarding work especially in today’s environment after the post crash environment we’re in and the pain everybody went through.

Paul Merriman:

John, would you mind if I comment on what you just said?

John Nyaradi:

Please, go ahead.

Paul Merriman:

A lot of people complain about the emotional and financial pain of the 2007-2009 bear market. I think the problem was compounded by going through two big bear markets in 10 years, each of them about the same as the 73-74 decline. That much pain without an extended bull market in between is hard for people to digest and build confidence in the market. It has been one hell of a 10 year period.

John Nyaradi:

Yes, it really has been…you’re a unique animal, Paul, I think, because people tend to be either buy-and-hold people or market timing people, but you do both in your portfolios. I’ve read about what you call “the ultimate buy and hold strategy,” could you give us a little insight into that?

Paul Merriman:

Well, “the ultimate buy and hold strategy” is the title of one of my favorite articles to help people build a better buy and hold portfolio. The term “ultimate,” sounds like a big promise, but it simply means it’s the best I’ve been able to find.

As you know there are thousands of ways to build a portfolio using different asset classes. What we’re looking for are asset classes that have an absolute record of success, and a record of high units of return per unit of risk.

Now, obviously, I can’t know, nor do I try to predict, the future. But what I do have is 80 plus years of evidence that these asset classes have produced great returns. Sure, they don’t go up all the time, but not a one of them has ever failed. Not one has declared bankruptcy. Not one has ever experienced a permanent bear market.

John Nyaradi:

Right.

Paul Merriman:

All of these asset classes qualify as being survivors on a long term basis. So once we determine which asset classes qualify to be in the portfolio we have to decide how much we should invest in each one. I have tried to make that easy by giving people exact percentages in each asset class and funds that offer those asset classes.

John Nyaradi:

I think you said at one point that the choice of those assets is responsible for 95% of your return. How do you fine tune these allocations?

Paul Merriman:

For over 15 years we have recommended a very simple equity allocation. Half U.S., half international, half large, half small, half value and half growth. The equity part also includes REITS and emerging market asset classes.

Then it’s simply a matter of finding the right balance of fixed income to go along with exposure to the equity asset classes. I find most investors are unwilling to accept the risk of an all equity portfolio so we need to find the right balance of fixed income that produces the needed return within the risk limits of each investor. I am always looking for the combination that will produce peace of mind with a reasonable piece of the action.

John Nyaradi:

Sure.

Paul Merriman:

I’ve tried to help investors by building a tabIe of many combinations of fixed income and equity asset classes. The table is in, “Fine Tuning Your Asset Allocation,” at Fundadvice.com. And John, all my work comes with a guarantee. I guarantee if you follow my advice, you will lose money. That’s not the guarantee investors want to hear, but it’s the reality of any risk oriented investment.

John Nyaradi:

Sure.

Paul Merriman:

We should all know what level of risk we’re taking. And I don’t mean some generic risk that is indefinable. I’m looking for a number. The table covers over 40 years of data. It gives an investor a real time relationship between risk and return. If you’re willing to lose 5% to 50% of your money the table shows the likely return you will get over the long run.

John Nyaradi:

Could you talk a little about the market timing in your portfolios?

Paul Merriman:

To start with, I want to make sure that your audience understands that I’m not advocating timing over buy and hold. I know buy-and-hold is a lot easier emotionally. And it’s also a lot more tax efficient.

But there are a lot of people who will simply not accept the idea of holding equities without an exit strategy. Some advisors will tell investors, “You’ve got 50% of your money in bonds so why should you worry about stocks going down? They always come back.” And the investor’s response is, “Hey listen. This is my money, buddy, and I don’t want to sit and watch it decline without some way of protecting it.”

It’s really the catastrophic decline that most people are worried about, and so we use timing with almost the same view philosophically as we use for buy-and-hold. We market time funds in dozens of asset classes. We market time equity funds as well as bond funds. Each account is built to the same risk tolerance test as the buy and hold investors.

Most of the timing we do uses traditional trend following strategies. We never predict where the market is going, only follow the trends. A lot of timing critics think market timers are trying to predict the future. We believe there are trends and they stay in place one way or the other for long periods of time. Those trends can make you decent money on the upside but the most important work is protecting against some terrible losses on the downside.

John Nyaradi:

I hear the word “risk” over and over in our conversation. In your list of 18 mistakes people make, I thought it was really interesting that mistake number 3 is taking too much risk, and mistake number 4 is taking too little risk. That sounds like a conflict.

Paul Merriman:

Well, too much risk is normally a challenge for people who are over confident and think they have more control over their investments than they do. Also, people who take too much risk are not aware how much risk they need to take. If you found out that you could achieve all your financial goals with half as much risk as you’re taking right now, I’d have to challenge you to why are you taking all of that risk?

John Nyaradi:

Sure.

Paul Merriman:

For some the higher risk comes because the investor thinks their friend appears to doing better than they are. By the way, I’ve yet to find an honest amateur investor when it comes to reporting returns. And so we have to be so careful what our benchmark is and how we measure our success.

But then people can also be scared to death of almost any risk. I’ve met people with 10% of their portfolio in stocks, and when they’re down during a bad bear market, they jump to the conclusion that it’s happening to their whole portfolio.

I know it doesn’t sound reasonable to feel that way, but that’s the way a lot of peoples’ minds work. They hate losing money. The fascinating part is if we can just get those people to commit 20 or 30% of their money to stocks, they can literally double their return in retirement. Just a little bit of additional risk. They don’t have to go 50% or 60%. Just to get up to 20%, or 30% can make a huge, huge difference.

John Nyaradi:

Paul, we’re taking in July, 2011, and looking ahead over the next few months, what do you see is the biggest dangers for us as retail investors and the biggest opportunities?

Paul Merriman:

Well, it looks to me like the last 45 years. I have been a chicken for as long as I’ve been in the investment business. I call myself an aggressive chicken, but a chicken nonetheless.

But the fact is there’s always list A, the good news and there’s always list B, the bad news. Both of those lists exist at all times. I have always tended to look at the bad list and to be cautious, so I’ve probably been more defensive as an investor than I needed to be. But what I really worry about is not about me because I have found 100% peace of mind with my investments. I’ve saved enough that I can quit working anytime and have plenty of income in retirement. So that worry is behind me.

John Nyaradi:

Sure.

Paul Merriman:

But here’s what I worry about. I worry that people who have learned the right things, the smart things, the wise things about investing will somehow get spooked by the market and either jump to some ultra safe situation, and as you know, typically at the wrong time, they’ll be enticed into putting their money into something like a guaranteed equity index annuity or some other terrible security that will cost a fortune in fees and be difficult or expensive to liquidate.

John Nyaradi:

Well, folks, it has been a real honor today to have been talking with one of the real giants of the industry, Paul Merriman, founder of Merriman Incorporated in Seattle, Washington and editor of FundAdvice.com. To learn more about Paul and his work, just follow the link at the end of this interview, and that will take you to his website, Merriman.com.

Paul, thanks so much for joining us and we’re all looking forward to talking with you again soon.

Paul Merriman:

Thank you, John, very, very much.

Visit Merriman Incorporated.

 

(This interview edited for length and clarity)

(CNN) – Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's presidential campaign said Wednesday it will aim to raise $50 million for his campaign to win the Republican presidential nomination.

"We intend to raise $50 million and more for the primary campaign, and we're off to a very good start," campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in a statement.



The statement was released after Politico reported a Romney

fundraiser had sent an email in late December stating $50 million was the campaign's initial goal for the first half of 2011.

Earlier on Wednesday the Romney campaign announced it had raised $18.25 million in the past three months, putting the former Massachusetts governor far ahead of his GOP rivals in the battle for campaign cash.

Romney's campaign also reported that as of July 1 they have $12.6 million in the bank, and that all the money raised in this year's second quarter is for the primaries rather than the general election.

The campaign added that funds were raised in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

"Voters are responding to Mitt Romney's message that President Obama's policies have failed and that we need new leadership in Washington. Our fundraising for the second quarter represents the strong support Mitt Romney has across the country," said Romney for President National Finance Chairman Spencer Zwick, in a statement.

More than half of the money raised in the April through June period was brought in or pledged during a one-day phone bank fundraiser held in Las Vegas on May 16. Last week Romney aides predicted the campaign would bring in between $15-$20 million.

Romney's figures put him far ahead of his rivals who have reported their second quarter numbers. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who's making his third bid for the White House, reported raising $4.5 million. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty reported bringing in $4.2 million, with former Utah Gov. and former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman raising $4.1 million. Huntsman didn't announce his candidacy until June 21, late in the second quarter. Nearly half of haul was a donation of his own money. Former Godfather's Pizza CEO and radio talk show host Herman Cain reported raising $2.46 million, which also included some self funding.

Romney did not make any personal contributions to his campaign during the past three months. In first bid for the GOP nomination four years ago, he raised $65.1 million and in addition loaned his campaign $42.3 million.

Romney's $18.25 million brought in the past three months is lower than the $23.4 million (including a $2.35 million personal donation) he raised in the first three months of 2007, a comparable quarter from his first run for the presidency.

Among those who have yet to report their fundraising numbers are Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who has jumped in the polls since her performance at a CNN/WMUR/New Hampshire Union Leader presidential debate last month. Bachmann's campaign says they'll reveal their figures on July 15, the filing deadline for the second quarter.

Besides his large fundraising haul, Romney should also be helped by a super political action committee formed by some of his former advisers, which is independently working to assist Romney's battle for the GOP nomination. The super PAC, called "Restore Our Future," announced Tuesday that it had brought in $12 million the first six months of this year.



– Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @PsteinhauserCNN

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