Hello everyone! I hope your week went well, and I hope you have the time now to take a walk down the oftentimes rocky path of investment into HYI programs with me. If you're joining for the first time I suggest you take the time to acquaint yourself with what the Weekly Walk is by taking a look at our First Edition, so you understand everything we're talking about here.
Today we're going to meander over to the HYIP-LIST and check out the program Optimum Pride. Now, Optimum Pride has been monitored for 67 days, at the time of this writing, and has been paying without issues since it was first listed. It's important for me to note that I don't have an investment with Optimum Pride, and am writing this column as an outside observer, giving my opinions on the program. The first thing I do is contact the administration of the program to let them know I'm writing an article about their program. I received a fast response from Optimum Pride's support department telling me they had no problem with me writing about them. This is a good sign as it shows me that the program is answering emails in a timely manner, and is thus available to answer potential investors' questions.
1.) Optimum Pride: News, Participation and Appearance (NPA)
The first thing we look at on our weekly walk is communication. Optimum Pride has a News Page on their site, but unfortunately it hasn't been used since July. The lack of regular news updates just doesn't convey the type of communication we're looking for in a long-term program, and actually deters new investment into the program due to a lack of information. For example, digging into the program a bit, I found that Optimum Pride offered a sort of luck-based short-term program of 103% after 1 day. Nothing is mentioned about this program on the website, so I'm guessing it no longer offers this plan? Optimum Pride, may be keeping its investors up-to-date with email newsletters, but unfortunately as a potential new investor, I don't receive this information and feel forgotten.
Talking about appearance I feel I should note the Facebook and Twitter links on the program's site. I've seen more and more HYIP programs list Facebook or Twitter links, but feel that unless the admin is actually actively updating, linking to the accounts can actually deter new investors. For example Optimum Pride has 1 follower and 2 tweets on their Twitter account. The link on the main page to this Twitter account is utterly useless and provides nothing for investors.
NPA RANK: 2/5
2.) Program Traffic
In the above forum statistics, we can see that yesterday there were a total of 13 replies made across 4 of the major forums. In addition there have been around 950 total replies and around 9,000 total page views. The forum popularity for Optimum Pride, is decent at best, and I feel is a traffic source that is not currently being taken advantage of. There are several options Optimum Pride has that could increase forum participation. The admin could begin to actively participate in the threads, or could look at paid banner ads or even a sticky thread to increase public view and advertise the program. Anyway, lets move on and take a look at their Alexa graph:
Now the above Alexa graph is a pretty typical one. A spike is apparent in the first days of investment where investors are interested in and checking out a new program, then after the initial appeal wears off traffic settles. Unfortunately, we're not seeing much, if any, growth with the program since things settled, but there has been steady traffic without much change. A program in our industry cannot survive for the long-haul without new sources of investment and some growth.
While Alexa graphs are an imperfect science, we use the trends shown as indicators of how the site is doing. At this time we'd like to see a upward trend begin, as the signal of some growth, no matter how small, in a long-term HYIP is a sign of a healthy program. I realize I've been a bit rough on Optimum Pride, so far in this Traffic section, but I do want to talk about some of the major positives. Optimum Pride is listed on a number of the larger HYIP blogs in the industry along with their listing here at HYIPNews.com, definitely a positive sign as it shows investors that they want an honest view of their program made available to potential investors. In my opinion utilizing different blogs in the industry appeals to a large range of investors and is of more benefit that paying regular monitors. I'm biased, of course, but that's my personal opinion.
Traffic RANK: 3/5 
3.) Risk Factor
Red flags, red flags, red flags...At this time there aren't really any red flags. Optimum Pride hasn't started any new investment plans that I'm aware of and from what I can see is just steadily trotting along making payments. All high-yield investment programs are high risk and have the potential for loss, but I see nothing with Optimum Pride that makes me believe it is of higher risk than the average long-term investment program. On the contrary, I believe it has a bit less risk than the average program as the administration has taken the time and spent the funds to list with some of the larger sites in our industry that talk about HYIP programs. They made a change early on and dropped their promotional lottery short-term option (at least I believe they did?) however since then the program has been progressing nicely with no signs of non-payment.
Risk Factor: 3/5
Optimum Pride's total walk score is 8/15.
Optimum Pride has a lot of untapped potential that with a little urging and effort from the administration could be realized. Really the only downside I've seen with the program is a lack of public view, or participation. In fact, going back through this weekly walk, I believe that EVERY negative point I've mentioned about Optimum Pride could be fixed if the administration would be a bit more open to potential new investors and give them some information. Post news updates, participate in the forums, let the investors know that your program is going to be around for some time. Other than that we have a pretty strong program in my opinion with a good secure site and sustainable investment options.
Well, that's my current opinion on Optimum Pride. I believe there is a lot of potential here that with some optimization could result in some real growth for the program. I guess we'll see what, if any, changes the administration makes in the near future. Anyway, I'll see you all next week when we look at another HYIP-LIST program; until then, keep walking through the world of HYIP investing!
