Oct
07
The 7 Hottest Copywriting Words
“Top 7 Attention-Grabbing Words to Help You Attract Clients” was an email title by Tammi Metzler that certainly got my attention and obviously got yours, too. Tammi Metzler started a company called Write Associate and offers website design along with copywriting services. Like she says, “Honestly, who cares if you get 100 visitors per day if no one’s buying?” Her prices are quite reasonable, and her work testifies for itself.
Here are the Top 7 Attention-Grabbing Words:
1. Free - could have guessed that one!2. New - why can’t we resist this?
3. Last chance - this gets people moving NOW.
4. Easy – Staples uses this in their ad campaigns…now you know why.
5. Revolutionary - and all it’s synonyms
6. The truth about… Alternatives include *revealed*,
*startling*, and *exposed*. I don’t think this need explanation (just repent).
7. How to… We all like to know how to do everything ourselves, don’t we?
If you’d like to read more about Tammi’s copywriting tips and sign up for her newsletter yourself, go to Write Associates.com. (BTW, Tammi, your new glasses look adorable!)
Another top blog that would be an excellent part of your homeschool is CopyBlogger-a must-read.
Oct
07
A Curriculum-Worthy Game
I received an email today from NFIB, an amazing agency that works with at-risk youth in big cities and teaches them how to start their own business. They encourage teachers to incorporate the business simulation game Johnny Money into their lesson plans. Johnny Money was developed with a grant from the Gates Foundation, and is much, much more than just another computer game. 
If you tried this game in the past and had problems, try again. Recently updated, all the kinks seem to be worked out and several new options have been added. One of the best features you will like is the accompanying teacher’s manual that you can download and use. Over 100,000 businesses have been created on Johnny Money by almost 60,000 students. It’s one of the best educational games available online and the best part is it’s FREE!
This is one homework assignment you won’t have to tell them twice to do. Johnny Money>>
If your student is taking studying business or taking Entrepreneurship 101 this semester, have them read this blog post on NFIB’s blog on how KFC went global. Explains the many details that you wouldn’t expect to encounter when a big company goes global:
The World Is Flat #3: How KFC Went Global>>
Oct
07
Learn Affiliate Marketing The Easy Way – before Christmas
Affiliate marketing is really one of the best ways to teach online business to your teens, and you can learn it together. It’s not something that will make you rich overnight, like some websites like to claim, but you can make a decent income if you do it right.
Do it right. That’s the key. It’s staggering the number of programs out there trying to claim they have the magic ‘key’, and they all will say what ever it takes for you to buy their program. I know. I’ve bought waaaay too many of them over the years. What I learned is that it IS a science, and it IS work. However, you have two big advantages over my experiences from years gone by:
1) You don’t need to be an expert website builder any more.
I’ve bought so many different programs over the years, from those that include a ‘ready-made website’ (what a joke!) to those that said you don’t need a website. The inconvenient truth was the better you were at creating professional looking websites, the better your income would be. In the last year, some excellent alternatives have become available that can shave 6-12 months off your learning curve.
Free websites aren’t always your best option, and I’ll try to cover why in future posts. However, free websites can be
used and actually look good if done right. It’s a great choice if you are doing this as a family learning project and you are still not sure it’s a long term activity yet. If you can, at least buy your domain name so it can be aging (the longer a domain name is active, the more Google likes it and higher it will be ranked).
Web hosting that has a good site builder can be almost as good as hiring a professional designer. Caution, some site builders still look like their designs are stuck in the 90′s, so be sure to ask for a demo of their builder before you buy. If it’s not available, then keep looking. A site builder is a program within your webhost’s plan that is made available to their customers to make it easy for them to build their own website based on pre-done templates. It’s easy to put online, usually with one click. Perfect for beginners.
One & One has the easiest to use and best built in sitebuilder we’ve seen with a huge selection of up-to-date templates.You can also put a self-hosted WordPress blog on your host and take advantage of the thousands of free templates available for WordPress. They also have the best price for domains (we have close to 50). For those of you that don’t need a website builder, Host Gator offers you 4500 free (awesome) templates. They do have a site builder, too – it’s just not the best one we’ve seen.
2) You have me to tell you what NOT to do.
You may or may not want to rely on this advantage, but one of my ‘vows to self’ was if I ever got my business off the ground (which I did) I would help others avoid the headaches I suffered learning the trade. There is plenty of good information out there now, but 5-6 years ago there was very little help except for the scammers – who seemed to dominate the field. As much great information as there is out there, please do NOT try to piece it all together yourself, trust me, you will regret it later.
It’s still a little tricky to tell the scammers from the honest affiliate teachers, but sometimes it’s not so much a judgement call as who to trust with your time. I’ve found two major problems with the majority of information on affiliate marketing:
1) Waaaaay overpriced. Apart from paying for a one on one teacher, learning the art of affiliate marketing is the same basic information in the $47 course as the $997 course. There may be a few more perks, but try a $47 one first.
2) Waaaay too MUCH information. I’ve signed up for courses that had so much information that it was difficult -AND time consuming – j
ust to sort through it all. It’s become quite a trend, err . . . ‘sales technique’, to see who can offer the most BONUS ebooks to entice you to buy their program. Unless you have nothing else to do, learning affiliate marketing will take enough of your time, let alone reading extra ebooks. All those programs that offer free graphics are usually (not always) garbage.
So, if you’re wondering if I was going to sell you my ebook on affiliate marketing, my answer is no. Actually, I took notes over the years in hopes of eventually offering up the easiest way to do it, but found that there are a couple of ebooks already out there that are far better than anything I could write. These are written by veterans in the field that I have closely scrutinized for years and have come to completely trust in their knowledge, experience, AND ethics.
Yes, ethics. If you’ve ever heard the term ‘black hat’ SEO, it’s unethical SEO practices. Unfortunately, I’ve seen black hat, or ‘grey’ hat practices promoted as the magic bullet by many so called great affiliate marketers. So, be sure you know who you are buying from.
One more comment – when I said the ‘easy way’ in the title, it’s because one of my BIGGEST mistakes was trying to teach myself the ropes. It’s so much more economical to learn from someone else that knows what they’re doing, not only in dollars saved, but time. Think about it, if you make just $40,000 in a year with affiliate marketing (which is a very low figure) and you save just 6 months time, that $20,000! Sometimes we just don’t think it though (guilty as charged!). There are so many little tricks of the trade that will make it so much easier for you than if you go it alone.
Tomorrow I’ll try to give you several different options for the most direct route to learning affiliate marketing, but for today, here is my #1 choice. If I could turn back the clock and start all over again, I would use Rosiland Gardner’s “Super Affiliate Handbook”* before I did anything else. Out of all the coursest’s the most easy to follow, step by step, instructional manual for learning everything you need – without information overload. I did notice the upsell she has created recently, and can’t recommend that because I have not seen it. Stick to the basics, set aside some time every week, and you will be on your way to a second income that can replace your J-O-B in less than a year if you work hard. I’m also not sure of the refund options on upsells. (you have a 56 day iron-clad MB guarantee on the basic course) What a great skill to learn with your teen! I’m also happy to answer your questions by email.
Do you know of another ebook or course that you think is worthy of recommending? If you’ve had experience personally with a course that you think would be a good way to learn affiliate marketing with teens, please share it with us! Comment it or email me. Thanks!
*Disclosure-just wanted you to know that if you purchase Rosiland’s course with my link, I do get a commission-but if I was recommending it for the money-there are FAR more lucrative offers that I could’ve chosen! I truly believe this is your best starting place. Your purchase does help support this blog, what my husband refers to as ‘my public service project’! Thanks!
Oct
06
Get Your Website Graded
Here’s a free SEO tool you can use to see how your website measures up and details on what you can do to improve your “grade”! (It’s free, and takes a minute or two, max). This site received an 85 . . . looks like I have some homework to do.
Oct
05
Start Your Own Affiliate Store
Most of you have heard the term ‘affiliate’, but have also heard it can get pretty complicated to set up your own affiliate site. While that is partially true, BizKidz.com gives you a easy way to set up your own affiliate store. For about $4/month you can create a mock store front and offer the products of your choice. There is a free trial you can take advantage of, too.
It’s really quite simple to do, but the key is getting traffic to that site. However, with the holidays coming, you can ask family members and friends to make their online purchases through you and you will get the commissions. The percentages are small, but it all adds up! Combine your store with a blog that reviews the products you are offering, and you could do even better.
OR . . . you could start that review blog and offer your products on your site with your own affiliate link and receive the full commission. It’s really easier than most people realize, it’s that TRAFFIC issue that most people have the biggest problem with. In the next week, we are going to be covering much of what you need to know to start earning extra money with an affiliate site for the fast approaching holidays!
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