Here’s an example of advice from a recent article on CNN, who made some suggestions to a small brick and mortar operation building an online presence:

“When people shop in your store, good customer service can make up for poor merchandising, out-of-stock items, and non-competitive pricing,” says Pamela Swingley, founder of Savvy Internet Marketingin Orinda, Calif. “But online, you can’t step in and make the sale right. You have to automatically deliver a welcoming customer experience, or shoppers will click away to your competitor.”

Expanding your abilities to accept payments from customers can also help to garner more sales. Many businesses offer the ability to add ACH Processing or the ability to accept checks by phone. The more convenient it is for your customers to make a purchase, the more likely they are to go forward with a buying decision.

Whether it’s learning how to make money online or brushing up on your investment strategy, it’s important to realize that you don’t want all of your income tethered to your current job. As recent history suggests, it may not be as secure as you think, and you’ll want those income cushions to keep you afloat should anything go wrong.

Utilizing a voice broadcast service does provide some unique benefits despite it’s somewhat tarnished reputation. Being able to get your message directly to potential customers even for a few brief moments can generate a number of sales and provide other advantages to an organization that you may not have had otherwise.

Of course, judging by recent volatility, it’s still much too early in the day to decide whether this rally has legs. I’m also curious to find out how the markets will react to the winner of the presidential election. Although historically speaking Democrats are better for the economy in the long term, Democrating nominees tend to cause downturns in the short term in the market, likely due to the fear of increased regulation and government intervention. Although given the current slew of government take overs and bailouts, I’m sure that’s a muted fear at this point.

Some analysts, like Matt King, chief investment officer of Bell Investment Advisors, sounded particularly optimistic:

“It’s pretty typical of how bear markets end, “The stock market recovers well ahead of the economy.”

Let’s hope so.

If you happen to be one such consumer who’s running into debt troubles, you’re not alone, and there are solutions out there. There are a number of debt consolidation services that will help negotiate with creditors and organize your payments into a manageable sum each month. Debt counseling is an important service for consumers that are hitting the end of the rope as the easy credit era is rapidly coming to an end.

Today’s stampede for the exits is due to retail sales data, which came out much worse than expected. It’s not just investors who are scared, everyone is. As a result we’re much less likely to step up and purchase anything. From getting an auto insurance quote to putting a recent purchase on a credit card, we simply don’t have the spending capacity that we used to, and I believe that will reflect upon the upcoming holiday season as well.

• Treasuries: Treasury notes and bills are debt securities provided by the US government, allowing Uncle Sam to borrow the money from investors with the promise to pay it back within a specified time frame. If you happen to bail out when everyone else is, you’ll see less interest being paid as more demand is present for the safety of government securities, as we see with our current economic scenario.
• High Yield Savings Accounts: Pioneered by banking institutions like ING, many banks now offer higher yield accounts for consumers to place emergency money that they may need. This allows them to earn some interest while also receiving FDIC insurance on their money and supreme liquidity. With the recent boost to FDIC coverage from $100,000 to $250,000, it’s likely that many more investors will flee to such accounts to wait out the market volatility.
• Certificates of Deposit: These are notes that banking institutions sell to customers in order for them to build a capital base and in exchange promise a specified rate of return to the consumer. These tend to pay higher interest due to the loss of liquidity, as certificates can not under most circumstances be easily converted back into cash until the specified time frame has expired.

“By coming together on this legislation, we have acted boldly to prevent the crisis on Wall Street from becoming a crisis in communities across our country,” Bush said less than an hour after the House voted 263 to 171 to pass the bill.

Not everyone was so optimistic, many Republicans like Senator Ron Paul raised concerns about what long term effects this bill could have for inflation and the value of the dollar. At a time when the government is already running the largest deficit in history, that seems to be a valid concern, but most politicians stressed that the crisis was severe enough to warrant it.

The new bill puts in some important changes to the market place. Most importantly it allows the Treasury Secretary to purchase up to $700 billion in “troubled” assets in order to free up the credit markets that have been paralyzed by mortgage securities that no one wants. No one apparently, except Uncle Sam.

Henry Paulson said that there would be swift action to put the bill into place and to carry out the plan as quickly as possible to get the money where it needed to go. The bill passed despite wide criticism by many Republicans thanks to “sweeteners” designed to entice votes from various states. These included a number of unrelated pork projects like tax breaks on wooden arrow makers and breaks for rum producers.

The Taxpayers for Common Sense also reports that the proposal includes such mouthwatering morsels as these:

• Creation of a seven-year cost recovery period for construction of a motorsports racetrack: Track owners currently follow a seven-year depreciation schedule and write each year’s depreciation off their taxes. The IRS wanted to increase the depreciation timetable to 15 years, which would mean the track owner’s depreciation would be cut in half. The measure in the keeps the seven-year depreciation schedule for two years and would cost taxpayers $100 million.
• A refund of excise taxes to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands for rum: A $13.50 per gallon excise tax is placed on rum imported into the United States. The measure extends to December 31, 2009, a refund of $13.25 per gallon tax back to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, which are both U.S. territories. The refund has been in place since the early ’90s. The measure would cost taxpayers $192 million.
• Income averaging for amounts received in connection with the Exxon Valdez litigation: The measure would allow the plaintiffs who won damages from Exxon Mobile for the oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez to average the award over three years rather than treating it as income in a single year. The measure was backed by Alaska Rep. Don Young and would cost taxpayers $49 million.
• Secure rural schools and community self-determination program: The program replaces revenue rural communities used to enjoy from the sale of federal forest land. The measure is sponsored by lawmakers from Oregon and Idaho. The program would cost taxpayers $3.3 billion.
• Deduction of state and local sales taxes: The measure allows citizens who do not pay state income taxes to deduct the amount of sales tax they pay over a year from their federal income tax for two additional years. States that benefit include Texas, Nevada, Florida, Washington and Wyoming. The measure would cost taxpayers $3.3 billion.
• Provisions related to film and television productions: In order to keep movie production in the U.S., production companies would be allowed to deduct the cost of producing the films from their taxes. Rep. Diane Watson, D-California, has been one of the program’s biggest supporters. The measure would cost taxpayers $478 million over 10 years.
• Extension and modification of duty suspension on wool products, wool research fund and wool duty refunds: The measure helps U.S. worsted wool fabric makers and clothing manufacturers. The bill extends provisions through 2014 or 2015 that were originally sponsored by Reps. Louise Slaughter, D-New York, and Melissa Bean, D-Illinois, in 2007. The measure would cost taxpayers $148 million.
• Extension of economic development credit for American Samoa: The measure would extend for two years provisions meant to help economic development in the U.S. territory of American Samoa. The measure would cost taxpayers $33 million.
• Transportation fringe benefit to bicycle commuters: The measure would allow employers to provide benefits to employees who commute to work via bicycle, such as help purchasing and maintaining a bicycle. The measure would cost taxpayers $10 million.

Credit also remained very tight, and Treasury prices continued to jump in price as more investors looked to lessen their appetite for risk. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped about 348 points. The S&P 500, for it’s part, fell about 4%.

The continuing concern is that even if the House manages to pass the bailout will it have enough of an in impact to free up an increasingly choked off credit market. A lot of experts have thrown their weight behind the bailout, including master investor Warren Buffett. If it fails to pass, he joked morbidly, “I may go back to delivering papers.” That helps to explain the gravity of our economic situation.