In this course, you will learn all about Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency, how they work, why they exist and what kind of technology is behind Bitcoin. Be sure to review the various resources listed at the end of this course.

English

In this lesson, you will learn all about Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency, how they work, why they exist and what kind of technology is behind Bitcoin.

What Is Bitcoin?

Lesson 2 covers how the value of Bitcoin is determined.

How Is The Value Of Bitcoin Determined?

Lesson 3 covers the different techniques that can be used to acquire Bitcoin.

Different Techniques To Acquire Bitcoin

In this lesson, we’ll cover everything there is to know about Bitcoin mining.

Everything You Need To Know About Bitcoin Mining

This lesson covers methods of safely storing your Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.

Storing Your Bitcoin And Cryptocurrency Safely

This lesson covers aspects of trading and selling Bitcoin for profit.

Trading & Selling Your Bitcoin For Profit

This lesson discusses utilizing Bitcoin as an investment strategy. DISCLAIMER: This course is not intended as investment advice. Do your research and due diligence prior to investing in any type of cryptocurrency or Bitcoin.
 
Trading and investing in cryptocurrencies (also called digital or virtual currencies, crypto assets, altcoins and so on) involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor. The valuation of cryptocurrencies and futures may fluctuate, and, as a result, clients may lose more than their original investment. The highly leveraged nature of futures trading means that small market movements will have a great impact on your trading account and this can work against you, leading to large losses or can work for you, leading to large gains.
If the market moves against you, you may sustain a total loss greater than the amount you deposited into your account. You are responsible for all the risks and financial resources you use and for the chosen trading system. You should not engage in trading unless you fully understand the nature of the transactions you are entering into and the extent of your exposure to loss. If you do not fully understand these risks you must seek independent advice from your financial advisor.
 
All trading strategies are used at your own risk.

Using Bitcoin As An Investment Strategy

This lesson covers how to accept and use Bitcoin in your business.

Accepting & Using Bitcoin In Your Business

This lesson covers how to protect yourself against fraud and theft.

How To Protect Yourself Against Fraud & Theft

This lesson discusses the future state of cryptocurrency.

The Future Of Cryptocurrency

In this section, please refer to these additional learing resources about cryptocurrency.

Course Resources

What Is Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency?

Digital Strategist

Tier 3

You can write about anything that interests you, with billions of people on the planet, someone needs your book idea.<div> </div><div>In this presentation you will learn how to:
</div><div>
</div><div>* Publish your own book or start a publishing business
</div><div>* Submit publications to the Library of Congress and why this is important to your literary legacy
</div><div>* Purchase your own ISBN and why you need it for each format of your book
</div><div>* Learn the 'Set it &amp; Forget it' strategy to earning royalties
</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>If you need help walking you through from start to finish, please sign up for a consult with this exclusive presentation.</div><div> </div><div>*Disclaimer: Course information applies to the US market</div>

4 Simple Steps to Self-Publishing

Super Agent® and Professional Agent Trainer

Tier 1

Productivity

Personal Development

Error

Tier 35

Other

Strategy

Real Estate

Business

Sometimes I hear or read something that stops me in my tracks, usually a short powerful phrase or statement that I find motivational and inspiring. A case in point came across my monitor the other day as I was sifting through some email. I was reading a message from a woman who was writing to me because she was moved to take action by some advice I had given to another woman who was in an abusive marriage. As fate would have it, the author of the email had been in a 10-year abusive marriage herself but had found the strength and self-respect to escape that humiliating prison and create a better life. In her message to me, she wrote the following, “It was hard for me when this relationship ended, but I am 38 years old and more cautious of who I allow in my life because I now know that I am worth more than that. I have a very dear friend who literally reminds me every day not to let anyone steal my sunshine… I am a human being and I have worth!” Amen! I couldn’t have said it any better myself, and that phrase regarding sunshine just jumped out at me like a neon sign on a cold dark night.

In a way, that incredible spark that makes the human spirit so unique and so special is a lot like sunshine. After all, it’s the sun that gives the earth all of its warmth, beauty, and wonder. So I think it’s appropriate to refer to that wondrous bundle of uniqueness that is YOU as sunshine as well. And the daily advice that this woman’s friend provides her is a precious and powerful mantra to have in your day. So, my wellness message to you today is borrowed from a friend that I have not yet had the pleasure of personally meeting. If you want to live a healthy life that is rich, satisfying, and full of contentment, don’t ever let anyone steal your sunshine!

The true wonder of life can only be found in the present moment. The same can be said about change. For those of you who are working to leave the unhealthy habits of the past behind you and create a brighter and healthier future, progress can only be made in the present moment. For example, I know that some of you had a tough night recently. You stuffed yourself with fattening and unhealthy foods and now you are ruthlessly and relentlessly beating yourself up about it. If you happen to be one of these people, please don’t throw in the wellness towel.

This is not the time to give up. This is the time to dig in. In the spirit of living in the present moment, it is what you do NOW, at this very moment, which matters the most. As a matter of fact, the only thing that truly matters is what you do in the present moment because, in the end, it all comes down to this: There is one moment - one incredibly powerful moment when the decision to eat is made. If you can manage that moment, you can solve this problem.

What’s your purpose in life? Really, I know that’s quite a serious question to begin today’s message with, but I’m asking it nonetheless. There are those who say that, if you don’t have a purpose in your life, you simply wander through your life aimlessly. As a matter of fact, there is an entire field of study in psychology that studies this concept called Purpose In Life (PIL). This is a concept from a theory put forth by the late Dr. Victor Frankl and, in simple terms, it means the following: Those who have a purpose live a more meaningful life. The message here is this: The simple seed of purpose can bring meaning to your life. What a powerful thought that is! The bottom line is that without purpose there is little need for motivation, and without motivation, well, very little can be accomplished. This is particularly true in weight loss and wellness but it is true no matter what your goal. Because when the going gets tough it is a motivation that pushes you forward in the face of adversity. So I ask you today, what is your purpose in life? Finding purpose will bring greater meaning to each day and improve the quality of your life!

Sometimes I hear or read something that stops me in my tracks, usually a short powerful phrase or statement that I find motivational and inspiring. A case in point came across my monitor the other day as I was sifting through some email. I was reading a message from a woman who was writing to me because she was moved to take action by some advice I had given to another woman who was in an abusive marriage. As fate would have it, the author of the email had been in a 10-year abusive marriage herself but had found the strength and self-respect to escape that humiliating prison and create a better life. In her message to me, she wrote the following, “It was hard for me when this relationship ended, but I am 38 years old and more cautious of who I allow in my life because I now know that I am worth more than that. I have a very dear friend who literally reminds me every day not to let anyone steal my sunshine… I am a human being and I have worth!” Amen! I couldn’t have said it any better myself, and that phrase regarding sunshine just jumped out at me like a neon sign on a cold dark night.
In a way, that incredible spark that makes the human spirit so unique and so special is a lot like sunshine. After all, it’s the sun that gives the earth all of its warmth, beauty, and wonder. So I think it’s appropriate to refer to that wondrous bundle of uniqueness that is YOU as sunshine as well. And the daily advice that this woman’s friend provides her is a precious and powerful mantra to have in your day. So, my wellness message to you today is borrowed from a friend that I have not yet had the pleasure of personally meeting. If you want to live a healthy life that is rich, satisfying, and full of contentment, don’t ever let anyone steal your sunshine!
 
Manage the Moment
 
The true wonder of life can only be found in the present moment. The same can be said about change. For those of you who are working to leave the unhealthy habits of the past behind you and create a brighter and healthier future, progress can only be made in the present moment. For example, I know that some of you had a tough night recently. You stuffed yourself with fattening and unhealthy foods and now you are ruthlessly and relentlessly beating yourself up about it. If you happen to be one of these people, please don’t throw in the wellness towel.
This is not the time to give up. This is the time to dig in. In the spirit of living in the present moment, it is what you do NOW, at this very moment, which matters the most. As a matter of fact, the only thing that truly matters is what you do in the present moment because, in the end, it all comes down to this: There is one moment - one incredibly powerful moment when the decision to eat is made. If you can manage that moment, you can solve this problem.
 
Purpose in Life
 
What’s your purpose in life? Really, I know that’s quite a serious question to begin today’s message with, but I’m asking it nonetheless. There are those who say that, if you don’t have a purpose in your life, you simply wander through your life aimlessly. As a matter of fact, there is an entire field of study in psychology that studies this concept called Purpose In Life (PIL). This is a concept from a theory put forth by the late Dr. Victor Frankl and, in simple terms, it means the following: Those who have a purpose live a more meaningful life. The message here is this: The simple seed of purpose can bring meaning to your life. What a powerful thought that is! The bottom line is that without purpose there is little need for motivation, and without motivation, well, very little can be accomplished. This is particularly true in weight loss and wellness but it is true no matter what your goal. Because when the going gets tough it is a motivation that pushes you forward in the face of adversity. So I ask you today, what is your purpose in life? Finding purpose will bring greater meaning to each day and improve the quality of your life!

Personal Coach

Sometimes I hear or read something that stops me in my tracks, usually a short powerful phrase or statement that I find motivational and inspiring.

Don’t let anyone steal your sunshine

There are many ways to improve the inbox delivery of your e-mails. Here are some more important approaches:

Every e-mailer will eventually be accused of spamming and appear on a blacklist, a list of supposed spammers when an irate recipient complains that you are spamming - whether you actually are or not. Of course, you want to make sure your Email Service Provider (ESP) isn't on a blacklist (unlikely), but it's vital that you try to get off any blacklists that your domain name may appear on, especially the blacklists routinely used by the larger ISPs. You can check your status by using the free MX Toolbox or by subscribing to a monitoring service, such as Blacklist Monitor that e-mails you whenever your domain appears on or is removed from a blacklist. 

The most frustrating task is to find a way to contact a blacklist administrator so he will remove your domain from his particular list. Blacklist Monitor comes with current instructions to get delisted, but blacklist administrators are notoriously difficult to reach. Good luck. This is one reason you may need a good ESP to go to bat for you.

Too often, spammers will insert your e-mail addresses in the "from" field, pretending that their e-mail is from you, in order to trick the ISPs. As a result, are now ISPs beginning to employ methods to determine whether a particular e-mail is sent by a legitimate sender from your domain or by a spammer spoofing your domain with a bogus "from" address.

SPF (Sender Policy Framework) was created to prevent spoofing of your e-mail address. The ISP checks a line in your domain information to determine whether the sender is authorized by you to e-mail using your domain name. SPF is quite technical. Ask your ESP for the exact SPF entry that indicates that they are authorized to send your bulk e-mails. There is an SPF Setup Wizard that can provide some help, but you'll probably need to ask your web hosting service to insert the proper line in the DNS (Domain Name Service) information for your domain.

DomainKeys is a newer approach that includes an encoded digital signature in the e-mail message. This allows the ISP to verify whether or not the e-mail originated from the purported domain. Hopefully, your ESP will have implemented this, since increasingly the major ISPs are equipped to check DomainKeys signatures. ISPs will often route bulk mail correctly to a recipient's inbox without proper SPF records and DomainKeys. But bulk e-mails from domains that do follow these protocols are significantly more likely to pass through the spam filters unscathed.

Some popular spam filters use a challenge-response approach, such as Spam Arrest, EarthLink, and others. A whiny e-mail comes back: "I don't want to receive spam. So if you want to e-mail me, you'll need to click on a link and type in a code before I'll get your e-mail." This creates a chore for legitimate bulk e-mailers, since the first time you send an e-mail to a particular recipient, the system requires a human being to read and type in a CAPTCHA graphic before forwarding the e-mail to the recipient. However, since millions of e-mail recipients now employ such techniques, it's vital that you check your e-mail bounces after a bulk mailing and respond promptly to each of the e-mails requesting your response.

There are many ways to improve the inbox delivery of your e-mails. Here are some more important approaches:
 
Monitor Blacklist Reports
 
Every e-mailer will eventually be accused of spamming and appear on a blacklist, a list of supposed spammers when an irate recipient complains that you are spamming - whether you actually are or not. Of course, you want to make sure your Email Service Provider (ESP) isn't on a blacklist (unlikely), but it's vital that you try to get off any blacklists that your domain name may appear on, especially the blacklists routinely used by the larger ISPs. You can check your status by using the free&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120514131207/http://www.mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx">MX Toolbox</a>&nbsp;or by subscribing to a monitoring service, such as&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120514131207/http://www.wilsonweb.com/afd/blacklist.htm">Blacklist Monitor</a> that e-mails you whenever your domain appears on or is removed from a blacklist.&nbsp;
 
The most frustrating task is to find a way to contact a blacklist administrator so he will remove your domain from his particular list. Blacklist Monitor comes with current instructions to get delisted, but blacklist administrators are notoriously difficult to reach. Good luck. This is one reason you may need a good ESP to go to bat for you.
 
Employ SPF and DomainKeys
 
Too often, spammers will insert your e-mail addresses in the "from" field, pretending that their e-mail is from you, in order to trick the ISPs. As a result, are now ISPs beginning to employ methods to determine whether a particular e-mail is sent by a legitimate sender from your domain or by a spammer spoofing your domain with a bogus "from" address.
 
SPF (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120514131207/http://www.openspf.org/">Sender Policy Framework</a>) was created to prevent spoofing of your e-mail address. The ISP checks a line in your domain information to determine whether the sender is authorized by you to e-mail using your domain name. SPF is quite technical. Ask your ESP for the exact SPF entry that indicates that they are authorized to send your bulk e-mails. There is an&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120514131207/http://old.openspf.org/wizard.html">SPF Setup Wizard</a> that can provide some help, but you'll probably need to ask your web hosting service to insert the proper line in the DNS (Domain Name Service) information for your domain.
 
<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120514131207/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DomainKeys">DomainKeys</a>&nbsp;is a newer approach that includes an encoded digital signature in the e-mail message. This allows the ISP to verify whether or not the e-mail originated from the purported domain. Hopefully, your ESP will have implemented this, since increasingly the major ISPs are equipped to check DomainKeys signatures. ISPs will&nbsp;often&nbsp;route bulk mail correctly to a recipient's inbox&nbsp;without&nbsp;proper SPF records and DomainKeys. But bulk e-mails from domains that&nbsp;do&nbsp;follow these protocols are&nbsp;significantly more likely&nbsp;to pass through the spam filters unscathed.
 
Respond to Challenge-Response Requests
 
Some popular spam filters use a challenge-response approach, such as&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120514131207/http://www.wilsonweb.com/afd/spamarrest.htm">Spam Arrest</a>, EarthLink, and others. A whiny e-mail comes back: "I don't want to receive spam. So if you want to e-mail me, you'll need to click on a link and type in a code before I'll get your e-mail." This creates a chore for legitimate bulk e-mailers, since the first time you send an e-mail to a particular recipient, the system requires a human being to read and type in a&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120514131207/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captcha">CAPTCHA graphic</a>&nbsp;before forwarding the e-mail to the recipient. However, since millions of e-mail recipients now employ such techniques, it's vital that you check your e-mail bounces after a bulk mailing and respond promptly to each of the e-mails requesting your response.

Marketing manager

There are many ways to improve the inbox delivery of your e-mails. Here are some more important approaches.

Best practices that improve e-mail deliverability

Local businesses come in many sizes and shapes, from small mom and pop storefronts to chain stores of Fortune 500 companies. In the past, many local stores have been slow to advertise online because they didn't have a website or because the online local world was confusing and they didn't know where to start.

Fortunately, Google has created advertising options that are locally focused. In this article, you will explore different options for local businesses to advertise online. We'll start with the basics, and move to more advanced topics in later articles.

For those who don't want to be bothered with actively managing a PPC campaign, but still want to drive visitors to their site via paid search marketing, Google provides a non-managed PPC advertising option called Google AdWords Express (GAE). Google AdWords Express was formerly called Google Boost. With GAE, a locally-focused business sets a budget, creates some ad copy, and defines a landing page for the ad. Google estimates the traffic based on the budget defined, and the advertiser only pays for clicks through to the site. If the business owner does not have a web site, Google will guide him/her through the process of creating a Google Places account to which the ads will drive traffic.

There are some potential advantages of using GAE, including being quick and easy to set up, having an easy learning curve, and a high level of automation. GAE advertising will also change the pushpin color of their Google Places from red to blue, allowing the company listing to stand out from the crowd.

If you are reading this column, then you are most likely more interested in the marketing process for your business, and this basic-basic service will likely not satisfy you. Advertisers have little control over the placement of the ads, and the set-it-and-forget-it approach may not provide the targeting and reporting that you would like.

One of the secrets for successful online marketing is to find ways to get in front of your target audience at the least possible cost. You don't want to waste your advertising budget by displaying ads to people who would never buy from you. For example, if you build swimming pools, you likely only build pools within a certain mile radius around your business. In this case, it would only make sense to advertise nearby and not across the country. Geotargeting is a fancy name for selecting a defined geographic area where you display your online ads. Within the Google AdWords program, there are several options to define the region where you want ads to display.

The geotargeting within AdWords is done at the campaign level. So, if you have different areas where you want ads to display, you will need to set up separate campaigns for them. To define a geographic area, you go under Settings and select Edit under the Locations and Languages section.

Local businesses come in many sizes and shapes, from small mom and pop storefronts to chain stores of&nbsp;Fortune&nbsp;500 companies. In the past, many local stores have been slow to advertise online because they didn't have a website or because the online local world was confusing and they didn't know where to start.
 
Fortunately, Google has created advertising options that are locally focused. In this article, you will explore different options for local businesses to advertise online. We'll start with the basics, and move to more advanced topics in later articles.
 
Google AdWords Express (GAE)
 
For those who don't want to be bothered with actively managing a PPC campaign, but still want to drive visitors to their site via paid search marketing, Google provides a non-managed PPC advertising option called Google AdWords Express (GAE). Google AdWords Express was formerly called Google Boost. With GAE, a locally-focused business sets a budget, creates some ad copy, and defines a landing page for the ad. Google estimates the traffic based on the budget defined, and the advertiser only pays for clicks through to the site. If the business owner does not&nbsp;have&nbsp;a web site, Google will guide him/her through the process of creating a Google Places account to which the ads will drive traffic.
 
There are some potential advantages of using GAE, including being quick and easy to set up, having an easy learning curve, and a high level of automation. GAE advertising will also change the pushpin color of their Google Places from red to blue, allowing the company listing to stand out from the crowd.
 
If you are reading this column, then you are most likely more interested in the marketing process for your business, and this basic-basic service will likely&nbsp;not&nbsp;satisfy you. Advertisers have little control over the placement of the ads, and the set-it-and-forget-it approach may not provide the targeting and reporting that you would like.
 
Geotargeting
 
One of the secrets for successful online marketing is to find ways to get in front of your target audience at the least possible cost. You don't want to waste your advertising budget by displaying ads to people who would never buy from you. For example, if you build swimming pools, you likely only build pools within a certain mile radius around your business. In this case, it would only make sense to advertise nearby and not across the country. Geotargeting is a fancy name for selecting a defined geographic area where you display your online ads. Within the Google AdWords program, there are several options to define the region where you want ads to display.
 
The geotargeting within AdWords is done at the campaign level. So, if you have different areas where you want ads to display, you will need to set up separate campaigns for them. To define a geographic area, you go under Settings and select Edit under the Locations and Languages section.

Google has created advertising options that are locally focused. In this article, you will explore different options for local businesses to advertise online. 

Effective online advertising: geotargeting

There are a lot of strategies that serious mailers must pursue in order to achieve high inbox deliverability of their bulk e-mails. Here are the remaining best practices:

Anyone who mails to a sizeable list will be accused of spamming. Yahoo, America Online (AOL), and Cloudmark, for example, make it particularly easy for users to declare an unwanted e-mail message as spam by just clicking a button. You the sender will never know. In fact, it's often easier to mark an unwanted e-mail as spam than it is to unsubscribe. As a result, e-mailers must (1) keep e-mails continually relevant so they will be perceived as valuable, (2) make unsubscribing clear and easy, and (3) respond quickly to spam complaints that they do receive. When your web hosting service, ISP, or a recipient ISP accuses you of spamming, immediately respond to protest your innocence. Prepare a standard e-mail that explains how you carefully follow all the e-mail best practices. Don't put off your response when there is a complaint. Do it immediately. It is one small step in maintaining your reputation as a responsible e-mailer.

Contract with a Reputation Service Provider

Larger companies should consider contracting with one of the services that authenticate legitimate senders. Unfortunately, some smaller businesses may find that they can't afford the stiff prices charged. These are the leading e-mail reputation service providers:

- Habeas places its clients' domains and IP addresses on the Habeas SafeList, a whitelist against which several of the leading ISPs check their incoming e-mails. To take advantage of this, however, e-mails must be sent from a unique, dedicated IP address, not through an Email Service Provider's usual bank of IP addresses.

- Sender Score Certified of ReturnPath (formerly marketed as Bonded Sender) provides a whitelist of clients that adhere to strict standards of e-mail best practices.

- Goodmail (www.goodmail.com) has developed relationships with some of the biggest ISPs such as AOL, Yahoo, Comcast, RoadRunner, and AT&T. While many large ISPs will disable links and images on bulk e-mails, Goodmail clients' e-mails are delivered to participating ISPs with links and graphics intact. Goodmail CertifiedEmail is identified with a unique, cryptographically secure token. A number of the more expensive Email Service Providers (ESPs) are equipped to send CertifiedEmails for their clients.

Don't assume that all recipients on your list prefer to receive HTML e-mails. In order to prevent viruses from getting behind corporate firewalls, a number of large corporations, as well as government agencies, routinely strip HTML codes from e-mails and only deliver a text version. A few recipients might even use e-mail programs that don't read HTML e-mails properly. Give your recipients a choice between HTML and text e-mails. Even though I make HTML e-mails the default radio button, I find that about 16% of my subscribers select text-only messages. Those who make it a point to select text-only know they need it. Being responsive will increase the deliverability and readability of your e-mails.

Establish Relationships with the Major ISPs

Finally, bulk e-mailers should work to establish relationships with the major ISPs. Many won't be responsive to smaller businesses. But a few of the larger ISPs do provide a way for your business to be recognized as a legitimate e-mailer and get on internal whitelists by affirming that you follow important e-mail standards. For example:

American Online Postmaster allows you to set up a Feedback Loop (FBL) that informs you immediately when AOL members mark your e-mails as spam.

Windows Live Hotmail will allow you to get on a Junk E-mail Reporting Program by filling out and submitting a questionnaire.

Yahoo! Mail Whitelist Form provides a way for your domain to be considered for whitelisting. E-mail from your domain is monitored for a probationary period. If you don't have too many spam complaints, you may be whitelisted so that your e-mails get to the recipient's inbox by default.

It is difficult for individual mailers to keep in touch with the top 20 or so ISPs, but better ESPs make a point of building and maintaining these relationships. That's why their clients' e-mails tend to be delivered to inboxes at a higher rate than that which individual mailers can achieve by their own efforts.

So there are various ways that will help you improve inbox delivery of your e-mails and avoid the dreaded black hole where spam filters send bad little e-mails. Getting a high delivery rate doesn't require just a single modification of your behavior, but a careful implementation of as many of these deliverability best practices as possible. 

There are a lot of strategies that serious mailers must pursue in order to achieve high inbox deliverability of their bulk e-mails. Here are the remaining best practices:
 
Deal Quickly with Spam Complaints
 
Anyone who mails to a sizeable list will be accused of spamming. Yahoo, America Online (AOL), and&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120514131332/http://www.wilsonweb.com/afd/cloudmark.htm">Cloudmark</a>, for example, make it particularly easy for users to declare an unwanted e-mail message as spam by just clicking a button. You the sender will never know. In fact, it's often easier to mark an unwanted e-mail as spam than it is to unsubscribe. As a result, e-mailers must (1) keep e-mails continually relevant so they will be perceived as valuable, (2) make unsubscribing clear and easy, and (3) respond quickly to spam complaints that they&nbsp;do&nbsp;receive. When your web hosting service, ISP, or a recipient ISP accuses you of spamming, immediately respond to protest your innocence. Prepare a standard e-mail that explains how you carefully follow all the e-mail best practices. Don't put off your response when there is a complaint. Do it immediately. It is one small step in maintaining your reputation as a responsible e-mailer.
 
Contract with a Reputation Service Provider
 
Larger companies should consider contracting with one of the services that authenticate legitimate senders. Unfortunately, some smaller businesses may find that they can't afford the stiff prices charged. These are the leading e-mail reputation service providers:
 
- <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120514131332/http://www.habeas.com/">Habeas</a> places its clients' domains and IP addresses on the Habeas SafeList, a whitelist against which several of the leading ISPs check their incoming e-mails. To take advantage of this, however, e-mails must be sent from a unique, dedicated IP address, not through an Email Service Provider's usual bank of IP addresses.
 
- <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120514131332/http://www.senderscorecertified.com/">Sender Score Certified</a> of ReturnPath (formerly marketed as Bonded Sender) provides a whitelist of clients that adhere to strict standards of e-mail best practices.
 
- <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120514131332/http://www.goodmail.com/">Goodmail</a>&nbsp;(www.goodmail.com) has developed relationships with some of the biggest ISPs such as AOL, Yahoo, Comcast, RoadRunner, and AT&amp;T. While many large ISPs will disable links and images on bulk e-mails, Goodmail clients' e-mails are delivered to participating ISPs with links and graphics intact. Goodmail CertifiedEmail is identified with a unique, cryptographically secure token. A number of the more expensive Email Service Providers (ESPs) are equipped to send CertifiedEmails for their clients.
 
Offer a Text Alternative for Subscribers
 
Don't assume that all recipients on your list prefer to receive HTML e-mails. In order to prevent viruses from getting behind corporate firewalls, a number of large corporations, as well as government agencies, routinely strip HTML codes from e-mails and only deliver a text version. A few recipients might even use e-mail programs that don't read HTML e-mails properly. Give your recipients a choice between HTML and text e-mails. Even though I make HTML e-mails the default radio button, I find that about 16% of my subscribers select text-only messages. Those who make it a point to select text-only know they need it. Being responsive will increase the deliverability and readability of your e-mails.
 
Establish Relationships with the Major ISPs
 
Finally, bulk e-mailers should work to establish relationships with the major ISPs. Many won't be responsive to smaller businesses. But a few of the larger ISPs do provide a way for your business to be recognized as a legitimate e-mailer and get on internal whitelists by affirming that you follow important e-mail standards. For example:
<ul>
 <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120514131332/http://postmaster.aol.com/">American Online Postmaster</a>&nbsp;allows you to set up a Feedback Loop (FBL) that informs you immediately when AOL members mark your e-mails as spam.</li>
 <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120514131332/http://postmaster.msn.com/Services.aspx">Windows Live Hotmail</a>&nbsp;will allow you to get on a Junk E-mail Reporting Program by filling out and submitting a questionnaire.</li>
 <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120514131332/http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/postmaster/bulk.html">Yahoo! Mail Whitelist Form</a>&nbsp;provides a way for your domain to be considered for whitelisting. E-mail from your domain is monitored for a probationary period. If you don't have too many spam complaints, you may be whitelisted so that your e-mails get to the recipient's inbox by default.</li>
</ul>
It is difficult for individual mailers to keep in touch with the top 20 or so ISPs, but better ESPs make a point of building and maintaining these relationships. That's why their clients' e-mails tend to be delivered to inboxes at a higher rate than that which individual mailers can achieve by their own efforts.
 
So there are various ways that will help you improve inbox delivery of your e-mails and avoid the dreaded black hole where spam filters send bad little e-mails. Getting a high delivery rate doesn't require just a single modification of your behavior, but a careful implementation of as many of these deliverability best practices as possible.&nbsp;

There are a lot of strategies that serious mailers must pursue in order to achieve high inbox deliverability of their bulk e-mails. Check out the best practices.

Proven ways to achieve high inbox deliverability

When someone makes a purchase through your shopping cart, the typical payment transaction process has three steps:

A customer offers credit card information.

This information is verified in real-time.

The transaction is accepted and the customer sees the "thank you for your order" screen.

This article will explain step 2 of this process - verifying credit card information in real-time - which requires the use of what is called a "payment gateway," that is, a secure Internet connection to your merchant credit card payment processor.

Of course, you can set up your shopping cart to allow for manual approval of credit cards. For example, if you have a credit card authorization system in your brick-and-mortar store, you can take the credit card information from your online store and then check it manually. But this creates several problems:

Entry errors occur often when you manually enter numbers.

Efficiency is reduced when you do something manually that can be done automatically.

Merchant credit card accounts secured for brick-and-mortar purchases sometimes don't allow Internet purchases, which are charged at a different discount rate.

So nearly all online merchants set up a way to get credit card approval online in real-time, automatically.

As mentioned above, a payment gateway is a secure, Internet interface with a payment processor, the company that makes sure that transaction is okay. The payment gateway has two functions:

To transmit the credit card information securely to the payment processor

To transmit the approval code and any confirmation details back to your shopping cart program.

The payment processor is usually a third-party company that is under contract with the merchant's bank to provide authorization and settlement services for any credit card transactions at the merchant's store. Typically, when an order is initiated, the credit card information is transmitted to the payment processor. The processor then checks to see if:

The credit card number, expiration date, and security code information are correct and up-to-date.

There is sufficient credit available in the purchaser's account.

Then the processor either authorizes the transaction or declines the transaction based on what it finds. For an additional fee, it can check the numbers in address and ZIP code fields to see if they conform to those on file for the customer's credit card, then report back to the merchant. This is called AVS (Address Verification Service). All this information is transmitted back to your shopping cart within a few seconds using the payment gateway. At the end of the day, the payment processor will "settle" the funds, that is, withdraw funds from the purchaser's credit card account and deposit funds into the bank account designated by the merchant credit card account contract.

Payment gateways use very secure means of transmitting sensitive information over the Internet so long as they are installed properly. I've never heard of a problem where hackers have been breaking into the secure payment gateway connection. Hackers look for low-hanging fruit, not heavily encrypted messages that take massive resources and time to decrypt.

Shopping Carts Can Take Only Certain Payment Gateways

Each payment gateway has its own proprietary method of connecting and passing data. Thus it takes special programming and testing to set up a shopping cart for a particular payment gateway. As a result, each shopping cart will offer only a limited number of payment gateway choices for which this programming is built-in. Be sure to check your shopping cart to make sure your preferred payment gateway is available.

Why would you spend more? While inexpensive payment gateways will meet the needs of most small online merchants, you may need to spend more in order to get:

Greater programming flexibility for custom ordering system applications.

Fraud monitoring risk management systems that cut losses for stores selling products or services with high amounts of credit card fraud.

Specialized payment method availability, such as e-checks, bill later, recurring billing, etc.

Most payment gateways these days currently offer some degree of fraud detection and risk management for an extra fee. Risk management systems often work on a point system, assigning points for such warning signs as:

High ticket purchases made in the middle of the night

Less than perfect AVS matching (address verification)

Customer computer IP address locations that don't correspond to the shipping address given

Mistakes in entering credit card information

Different shipping address from a billing address

The more points a transaction accumulates, the higher the chance it is fraudulent. According to the rules that you designate, high risk transactions aren't approved immediately, but flagged for manual approval. Among others, CyberSource has developed an excellent reputation for Internet credit card fraud detection.

What I've described above are payment gateways that are separate from your merchant credit card account. However, there are payment gateways built into several popular alternate payment methods. Some of these are:

Amazon Simple Pay and Checkout By Amazon

If you're starting an online store from scratch, I recommend the following sequence of decisions:

Shopping cart selection. Your most important choice is a shopping cart designed to meet your needs. It shouldn't be an after-thought.

Payment gateway selection. Once you've selected shopping cart software, then see what payment gateways are available to you. But don't secure the payment gateway yet.

Merchant credit card account selection. Finally, shop for a merchant credit card account that offers good terms and bundles with it a payment gateway compatible with your shopping cart. Order your payment gateway along with the merchant account. Your bundled price is typically a full 50% less for the payment gateway that the price advertised on the payment gateway's website.

As you're trying to decide on a shopping cart and payment transaction system, remember the payment gateway. I recently canceled a high quality, high priced payment gateway in favor of a transaction system with a built-in payment gateway. What convinced me? Calculating the total costs with each system and weighing those against advantages and disadvantages. What is best for one business won't necessarily be best for another.

Hopefully, this article will have armed you with enough information so that you can find the payment gateway that's right for your online commerce application.

When someone makes a purchase through your shopping cart, the typical payment transaction process has three steps:
<ol>
 <li>A customer offers credit card information.</li>
 <li>This information is verified in real-time.</li>
 <li>The transaction is accepted and the customer sees the "thank you for your order" screen.</li>
</ol>
This article will explain step 2 of this process - verifying credit card information in real-time - which requires the use of what is called a "payment gateway," that is, a secure Internet connection to your merchant credit card payment processor.
 
Manual Entry
Of course, you can set up your shopping cart to allow for manual approval of credit cards. For example, if you have a credit card authorization system in your brick-and-mortar store, you can take the credit card information from your online store and then check it manually. But this creates several problems:
<ul>
 <li>Entry errors occur often when you manually enter numbers.</li>
 <li>Efficiency is reduced when you do something manually that can be done automatically.</li>
 <li>Merchant credit card accounts secured for brick-and-mortar purchases sometimes don't allow Internet purchases, which are charged at a different discount rate.</li>
</ul>
So nearly all online merchants set up a way to get credit card approval online in real-time, automatically.
 
What Is a Payment Gateway?
 
As mentioned above, a payment gateway is a secure, Internet interface with a payment processor, the company that makes sure that transaction is okay. The payment gateway has two functions:
<ul>
 <li>To transmit the credit card information securely to the payment processor</li>
 <li>To transmit the approval code and any confirmation details back to your shopping cart program.</li>
</ul>
What Does a Payment Processor Do?
 
The payment processor is usually a third-party company that is under contract with the merchant's bank to provide authorization and settlement services for any credit card transactions at the merchant's store. Typically, when an order is initiated, the credit card information is transmitted to the payment processor. The processor then checks to see if:
<ul>
 <li>The credit card number, expiration date, and security code information are correct and up-to-date.</li>
 <li>There is sufficient credit available in the purchaser's account.</li>
 <li>The card has not been reported stolen.</li>
</ul>
Then the processor either authorizes the transaction or declines the transaction based on what it finds. For an additional fee, it can check the numbers in address and ZIP code fields to see if they conform to those on file for the customer's credit card, then report back to the merchant. This is called AVS (Address Verification Service). All this information is transmitted back to your shopping cart within a few seconds using the payment gateway. At the end of the day, the payment processor will "settle" the funds, that is, withdraw funds from the purchaser's credit card account and deposit funds into the bank account designated by the merchant credit card account contract.
 
Security Level
Payment gateways use very secure means of transmitting sensitive information over the Internet so long as they are installed properly. I've never heard of a problem where hackers have been breaking into the secure payment gateway connection. Hackers look for low-hanging fruit, not heavily encrypted messages that take massive resources and time to decrypt.
 
Shopping Carts Can Take Only Certain Payment Gateways
Each payment gateway has its own proprietary method of connecting and passing data. Thus it takes special programming and testing to set up a shopping cart for a particular payment gateway. As a result, each shopping cart will offer only a limited number of payment gateway choices for which this programming is built-in. Be sure to check your shopping cart to make sure your preferred payment gateway is available.
 
Reasons to Look Beyond Cost
Why would you spend more? While inexpensive payment gateways will meet the needs of most small online merchants, you may need to spend more in order to get:
<ul>
 <li>Greater programming flexibility&nbsp;for custom ordering system applications.</li>
 <li>Fraud monitoring&nbsp;risk management systems that cut losses for stores selling products or services with high amounts of credit card fraud.</li>
 <li>Specialized payment method&nbsp;availability, such as e-checks, bill later, recurring billing, etc.</li>
 <li>High volume pricing.</li>
 <li>Canadian processing.</li>
 <li>International payments.</li>
</ul>
Fraud Detection
Most payment gateways these days currently offer some degree of fraud detection and risk management for an extra fee. Risk management systems often work on a point system, assigning points for such warning signs as:
<ul>
 <li>Suspect customer IP addresses</li>
 <li>High ticket purchases made in the middle of the night</li>
 <li>Less than perfect AVS matching (address verification)</li>
 <li>Customer computer IP address locations that don't correspond to the shipping address given</li>
 <li>Mistakes in entering credit card information</li>
 <li>Different shipping address from a billing address</li>
</ul>
The more points a transaction accumulates, the higher the chance it is fraudulent. According to the rules that you designate, high risk transactions aren't approved immediately, but flagged for manual approval. Among others,&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120504084419/http://www.cybersource.com/">CyberSource</a>&nbsp;has developed an excellent reputation for Internet credit card fraud detection.
 
Built-in Payment Gateways
What I've described above are payment gateways that are separate from your merchant credit card account. However, there are payment gateways built into several popular alternate payment methods. Some of these are:
<ul>
 <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120504084419/https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_wp-standard-overview-outside">PayPal Website Payments Standard</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120504084419/https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_additional-payment-overview-outside">PayPal Express Checkout</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120504084419/http://checkout.google.com/">Google Checkout</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120504084419/https://payments.amazon.com/">Amazon Simple Pay</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120504084419/https://payments.amazon.com/">Checkout By Amazon</a></li>
</ul>
Sequence of Decisions
If you're starting an online store from scratch, I recommend the following sequence of decisions:
<ol>
 <li>Shopping cart selection. Your most important choice is a shopping cart designed to meet your needs. It shouldn't be an after-thought.</li>
 <li>Payment gateway selection. Once you've selected shopping cart software, then see what payment gateways are available to you. But don't secure the payment gateway yet.</li>
 <li>Merchant credit card account selection. Finally, shop for a merchant credit card account that offers good terms and bundles with it a payment gateway compatible with your shopping cart. Order your payment gateway along with the merchant account. Your bundled price is typically a full 50% less for the payment gateway that the price advertised on the payment gateway's website.</li>
</ol>
The Bottom Line
 
As you're trying to decide on a shopping cart and payment transaction system, remember the payment gateway. I recently canceled a high quality, high priced payment gateway in favor of a transaction system with a built-in payment gateway. What convinced me? Calculating the total costs with each system and weighing those against advantages and disadvantages. What is best for one business won't necessarily be best for another.
Hopefully, this article will have armed you with enough information so that you can find the payment gateway that's right for&nbsp;your&nbsp;online commerce application.

As you're trying to decide on a shopping cart and payment transaction system, remember the payment gateway.

All about shopping carts: payment gateways

Few can say that life has never let them down. Maybe it’s a job layoff, the loss of a loved one, or just a general slump that has the gray clouds rolling in. Whatever the cause, at one point or another, all of us get depressed. But when feelings of sadness and hopelessness persist, understanding the melancholy – its nature, symptoms, and causes – is crucial to let the sunshine back through again. Here is a primer on what the blues may be doing to you. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), men and women may experience depression differently. Women tend to highlight feelings of sadness, worthlessness, and/or excessive guilt. Men, on the other hand, are more likely to acknowledge fatigue, irritability, loss of interest in activities, and problems sleeping. While more common in women, depression is experienced by people of all ages from childhood to mature adulthood. But according to NIMH, depression is not a normal part of aging and can improve with proper treatment at any stage of life.

Depression is a serious illness that affects both the mind and body. It is characterized by a sustained period – two weeks or more – of predominant sadness or loss of pleasure, or both. Depression goes beyond having “the blues” or a couple of bad days, says Josh Klapow, Ph.D., associate professor of health care organization and policy at the University of Alabama in Birmingham and co-author of Living SMART: Five Essential Skills to Change Your Health Habits Forever (DiaMedica, 2007). Depression is an illness, Klapow says, not a frame of mind someone can simply snap out of. Feeling down and being clinically depressed are distinct states of mental well-being, the latter requiring treatment for recovery. Without treatment, people suffering from depression can remain depressed for years. And even with treatment, some people will recover from depression only to eventually experience a relapse. However, most people can be helped with proper treatment. 

Depression affects nearly 20 million people, or 10% of Americans, annually. It is the most common complaint of people seeking counseling.

Helping to bring depression out of the shadows, more and more well-known figures are speaking publicly about their battle with the illness. Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide. 

1. Persistent feelings of sadness, anxiety, or emptiness

3. Insomnia, early-morning awakening or oversleeping

6. Feelings of hopelessness and pessimism

7. Feelings of worthlessness, helplessness, or excessive guilt

8. Loss of interest or pleasure in once enjoyable activities

9. Difficulty concentrating, remembering, and making decisions

10. Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide

The most serious type, the symptoms of major depression can interfere with a person’s ability to eat, work, sleep, and engage in activities that were once pleasurable. Depression doesn’t always manifest itself as sadness, however. People can also feel irritable, Klapow says. Or simply lose interest in doing anything for several weeks at a time. A clinical diagnosis of major depression would include at least six of the 10 symptoms listed previously. Although people may know something is wrong, they often don’t recognize the symptoms that signal major depression. If you lose interest in activities you once enjoyed, have problems concentrating and sleeping, and feel worn out – all changes from how you normally feel – it’s possible you are depressed.

A less severe form of depression, dysthymia is marked by chronic, mild-to-moderate symptoms that may not be disabling but persist for at least two years. Many people with dysthymia also experience major depression. 

Characterized by symptoms of depression during the winter months, season affective disorder occurs when there is less natural light. However, SAD typically lifts during spring and summer. Light therapy may improve symptoms of SAD in about half of those experiencing symptoms. Antidepressants and psychotherapy used alone or in combination with light therapy, can also help.

Also called manic-depressive illness, bipolar disorder consists of both periods of depression and elevated moods known as mania. The illness is characterized by mood swings from severe highs to extreme lows. People who have not experienced the full cycle of both depression and mania may be mistakenly diagnosed as depressed. But bipolar disorder is distinct and requires different treatment than depression.

Women are twice as likely as men to experience major depression. Age, income, health, and traumatic life events all influence risk.

Research suggests that genetic and biological factors also affect a person’s risk of depression. Significant stress due to loss, trauma, and poor health can trigger an episode as well. Usually, a predisposing set of circumstances has engulfed a person’s life: moving, a new job, a big birthday, or the loss of a relative can all be stressful events that trigger depression. The risk increases, even more, when an individual has a poor support network, a family history of depression, and physical illness. The culmination of events, circumstances and biology can contribute greatly to the development of depression.

If you suspect you may be depressed, the first step is to see a doctor who can rule out any medical conditions that may be causing your symptoms. There is no blood test for depression. So you have to tell your doctor about your symptoms just as you would symptoms of any other medical problem. Tell him how you’re feeling, the same as you would about pain in your stomach. Fortunately, depression is highly treatable. According to Klapow, medication, and cognitive behavioral therapy, used separately or in combination, are the most effective treatments.

Antidepressants work to relieve depression by slowing down the removal of certain types of chemicals called neurotransmitters from your brain. Those chemicals – serotonin and norepinephrine – are associated with a sense of well-being and feeling good. Boosting their levels in a person who’s depressed can help elevate mood. You can also enhance your treatment and recovery by getting adequate exercise and sleep and eating a healthy diet. Reaching out to others for support and to simply cut through your sense of loneliness and isolation is also helpful.

Few can say that life has never let them down. Maybe it’s a job layoff, the loss of a loved one, or just a general slump that has the gray clouds rolling in. Whatever the cause, at one point or another, all of us get depressed. But when feelings of sadness and hopelessness persist, understanding the melancholy – its nature, symptoms, and causes – is crucial to let the sunshine back through again. Here is a primer on what the blues may be doing to you. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), men and women may experience depression differently. Women tend to highlight feelings of sadness, worthlessness, and/or excessive guilt. Men, on the other hand, are more likely to acknowledge fatigue, irritability, loss of interest in activities, and problems sleeping. While more common in women, depression is experienced by people of all ages from childhood to mature adulthood. But according to NIMH, depression is not a normal part of aging and can improve with proper treatment at any stage of life.
 
What is Depression?
Depression is a serious illness that affects both the mind and body. It is characterized by a sustained period – two weeks or more – of predominant sadness or loss of pleasure, or both. Depression goes beyond having “the blues” or a couple of bad days, says Josh Klapow, Ph.D., associate professor of health care organization and policy at the University of Alabama in Birmingham and co-author of&nbsp;Living SMART: Five Essential Skills to Change Your Health Habits Forever&nbsp;(DiaMedica, 2007). Depression is an illness, Klapow says, not a frame of mind someone can simply snap out of. Feeling down and being clinically depressed are distinct states of mental well-being, the latter requiring treatment for recovery. Without treatment, people suffering from depression can remain depressed for years. And even with treatment, some people will recover from depression only to eventually experience a relapse. However, most people can be helped with proper treatment.&nbsp;
 
Prevalence
Depression affects nearly 20 million people, or 10% of Americans, annually. It is the most common complaint of people seeking counseling.
Helping to bring depression out of the shadows, more and more well-known figures are speaking publicly about their battle with the illness. Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide.&nbsp;
 
10 Symptoms of Depression
Common symptoms of depression include:
 
1. Persistent feelings of sadness, anxiety, or emptiness
2. Decreased appetite and weight loss
3. Insomnia, early-morning awakening or oversleeping
4. Restlessness
5. Diminished energy and fatigue
6. Feelings of hopelessness and pessimism
7. Feelings of worthlessness, helplessness, or excessive guilt
8. Loss of interest or pleasure in once enjoyable activities
9. Difficulty concentrating, remembering, and making decisions
10. Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide
 
4 Types of Depression
 
1.&nbsp;Major depression
The most serious type, the symptoms of major depression can interfere with a person’s ability to eat, work, sleep, and engage in activities that were once pleasurable. Depression doesn’t always manifest itself as sadness, however. People can also feel irritable, Klapow says. Or simply lose interest in doing anything for several weeks at a time. A clinical diagnosis of major depression would include at least six of the 10 symptoms listed previously. Although people may know something is wrong, they often don’t recognize the symptoms that signal major depression. If you lose interest in activities you once enjoyed, have problems concentrating and sleeping, and feel worn out – all changes from how you normally feel – it’s possible you are depressed.
 
2.&nbsp;Dysthymia
A less severe form of depression, dysthymia is marked by chronic, mild-to-moderate symptoms that may not be disabling but persist for at least two years. Many people with dysthymia also experience major depression.&nbsp;
 
3.&nbsp;Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
Characterized by symptoms of depression during the winter months, season affective disorder occurs when there is less natural light. However, SAD typically lifts during spring and summer. Light therapy may improve symptoms of SAD in about half of those experiencing symptoms. Antidepressants and psychotherapy used alone or in combination with light therapy, can also help.
 
4.&nbsp;Bipolar disorder
Also called manic-depressive illness, bipolar disorder consists of both periods of depression and elevated moods known as&nbsp;mania. The illness is characterized by mood swings from severe highs to extreme lows. People who have not experienced the full cycle of both depression and mania may be mistakenly diagnosed as depressed. But bipolar disorder is distinct and requires different treatment than depression.
 
Risk factors
Women are twice as likely as men to experience major depression. Age, income, health, and traumatic life events all influence risk.
Research suggests that genetic and biological factors also affect a person’s risk of depression. Significant stress due to loss, trauma, and poor health can trigger an episode as well. Usually, a predisposing set of circumstances has engulfed a person’s life: moving, a new job, a big birthday, or the loss of a relative can all be stressful events that trigger depression. The risk increases, even more, when an individual has a poor support network, a family history of depression, and physical illness. The culmination of events, circumstances and biology can contribute greatly to the development of depression.
 
Getting Help
If you suspect you may be depressed, the first step is to see a doctor who can rule out any medical conditions that may be causing your symptoms. There is no blood test for depression. So you have to tell your doctor about your symptoms just as you would symptoms of any other medical problem. Tell him how you’re feeling, the same as you would about pain in your stomach. Fortunately, depression is highly treatable. According to Klapow, medication, and cognitive behavioral therapy, used separately or in combination, are the most effective treatments.
 
Treatment Options
Antidepressants work to relieve depression by slowing down the removal of certain types of chemicals called neurotransmitters from your brain. Those chemicals – serotonin and norepinephrine – are associated with a sense of well-being and feeling good. Boosting their levels in a person who’s depressed can help elevate mood. You can also enhance your treatment and recovery by getting adequate exercise and sleep and eating a healthy diet. Reaching out to others for support and to simply cut through your sense of loneliness and isolation is also helpful.

Few can say that life has never let them down. Whatever the cause, at one point or another, all of us get depressed. It is not a standard and it can improve with proper treatment.

Depression: facts behind the blues

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