Tag: Marketing
Sep
06
Marketing To Homeschool Families? Try This Convention Hot Spot
So, exactly how many homeschool in America? In 2007, the National Center for Education Statistics (nces) estimated there were 1.5 million homeschool students in America. The Old Schoolhouse Magazine estimates there are currently over 2 million homeschool students. They both also estimate that the expenditure for each student is between $500-$600 each year. That translates to over one billion dollars spent on homeschooling each year. That’s a pretty healthy number that has peaked the attention of marketers everywhere.
The internet has truly leveled the playing field for everyone that wants to start a business. In addition, the homeschool in America is maturing, coming of age you might say. Choices in curriculum have multiplied exponentially and improved greatly along with information online. That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for more. Now that their children are grown, many moms are retiring from homeschooling and entering the market with what they know. These moms also have the advantage of knowing how to reach other homeschoolers – in an big way.
Of all the many places to reach homeschool families, one of the best ways to reach the largest number in a very short time is at a homeschool convention. If you have homeschooled very long, I would be surprised if you had not attended one by now. Giant halls filled with curriculum vendors and every homeschool product you can think of including healthy bread baking products! Coupled with workshops and speakers to encourage and inspire you in your educational journey, it’s no wonder it’s the highlight of the year for most homeschool families.
Some areas of the country are much more active than others, but the hot spot seems to be in Cincinnati, Ohio. I’m sure California does pretty good, too, but for some reason it seems that the numbers for the convention in Ohio tops the charts. So, why Cincinnati, Ohio? It might be the central location in the heart of the Midwest where homeschooling thrives-hence more homeschool families.
I think the sheer size of the convention contributes to the draw, after all, bigger is better, right? Granted, the size of the convention won’t guarantee quality, but it will guarantee information overload! However, the super size of this convention does provide better funding for better keynote speakers and facilities. It makes a difference.
Regardless of the reason, the organizers of this mammoth event have recently added 3 more locations to their selection and now call themselves “Great Homeschool Conventions”. Next year there will be events in Memphis, TN, Philadelphia, PA and Greenville, NC in addition to the one in Cincinnati. Extremely affordable for any homeschool family, it’s a great place to rent a table (booth) and share your homeschool-related product.
If you have never been to or done anything like this before, be sure to visit one before you actually take the exhibitor leap. Look at other exhibitors like yourse
lf and see what catches your eye. You will come away with a zillion ideas, I promise! You may also want to start at a much smaller convention to get your feet wet.
There are several places to find conventions in your area. Your state or regional homeschool site always has the latest local information. If you aren’t sure of your local homeschool organization, HSLDA has a list you can find at http://www.hslda.org/orgs/default.asp
Ann Zeise’s Homeschool’s Cool has a page with event listings for many states.
My favorite place to find conventions is Great Stuff Convention Bags. It’s also a place to find a very cost effective method to “display” at the convention without actually going! You supply the flyer and they will include it in the goody bags made available (free) at your designated convention. I’m sure there are many conventions not included on Great Stuff’s list, so don’t assume it’s a catch-all convention listing.
If anyone knows of a comprehensive list of all conventions, please let me know. I thought there would be at least one website that had them all in one place, but did not find one. There is an idea for a blog!
Happy marketing! (no links in this post are affiliate links, BTW)
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Feb
03
Do We Really Make Our Own Decisions?
I thought I’d share an interesting video I watched this morning about behavioral economics. Before you click onto another site, hear me out. This guy is funny, and illustrates how our mind often makes irrational decisions based on the choices offered. It’s less than 20 minutes and well worth the time. Who knows? It could save you an irrational decision! Of course, the intention is to help you market your business more …uh, irrationally?
A little background:
I found this video on a highly informative website, Mark Flavin’s Internet Marketing Blog. He offers a decent “best traffic tips” download free (for the price of your email address, of course) which is very worthwhile.
TED, in case you haven’t discovered this as a resource for your homeschool high school, is a library of the best speeches (majority under 30 minutes – which is well over the average American’s attention span!). You can do a search for the subject at hand, or use it to help with form, etc in your own “speech class”! Check out TED, “Ideas Worth Spreading”.
Oct
24
4 Tools That Reveal How You Rank Online
Wondering if your website or blog is going anywhere? Your traffic goes up and down, but do you ever check your Alexa rating? During our blog contest someone asked me how they could increase their traffic and exposure, and she was (pleasantly) surprised when I told her that her Alexa rating was fairly good. She had never checked it before and was judging her blog’s growth simply by her traffic.
I have this nifty little toolbar that I absolutely love because it tells me at any given time where my websites and blogs rank. The really neat part is that it also tells me everyone else’s ranking, too! Having a serious case of business geek in me, I love to watch how different websites grow. It also helps me to know who is doing what is right and who isn’t, my inbound links and keyword density. Does anyone else thinks that’s pretty cool?
If you’ve never checked your Alexa rating, just go to http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo and type in your site’s domain (no need for http or www) and you should be able to see your results. If your site is brand new, then you can register it on Alexa and you’ll show up soon.The best part of watching your Alexa ranking is you can tell what is working on a daily basis. I’ve read that simply having the toolbar installed on your site can increase your Alexa rating…somehow that makes me question how they calculate their stats…
However, the toolbar I recommend is a Firefox plug in called SeoQuake. It gives you much more than an Alexa rating, but it gives you several other nuggets of info – some of which will not make any sense to you at all, but some will be very helpful. You can get your keyword density (and those of similar sites) with can really help with your search engine ranking.
Another excellent tool to find out what you need to do to fine tune your stats is Website Grader. This is another free service that will tell you what you are doing right and exactly what you can do to correct your shortcomings.
I’m not sure how accurate this tool really is, but it’s fun to see if you are really richer than you think you are. Again, I’m sure the factors that increase the dollar value are the same factors that will give you a good grade on the Website Grader. Actually, the data for this widget is primarily taken from Technorati, so if you don’t do much there, you’re worthless (as this widget goes, at least!)
So, traffic is what we all strive for, but isn’t always your best measure of your site’s status in the online world. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t like what you see, do some of the suggested improvements and you might see some dramatic results!
Here’s DoshDosh’s 20 Ways to Increase Your Alexa Rating if you’re desperate!
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.
Sep
25
Market Your Business With Videos
One of the fastest ways to spread the word about your business is to get your name on a top ranked website – and YouTube is about as top-ranked as you can find. With an Alexa rating of 4 – yes, you read that right – the traffic there is phenomenal. OK, I realize getting your video viewed is quite another feat, but let’s take this one bite at a time.
First, if you aren’t savvy with video taping and the like, then this may seem like an impossible task. However, there are these flip-cams that are relatively inexpensive and are perfect for the job. They also have a built in feature that automatically uploads your video to YouTube, all you need is an account (free) with YouTube, and an internet connection.
My son has one of these, and it is as easy as it says it is. His camera is a Kodak Zi6 and came with a mini tripod (so you can tape yourself if no one else is available), a battery charger and the two AA rechargeable batteries it requires. The newer Zi8 version is more expensive and takes a special battery, so I’m not sure what the updated features are, but I like to save the money and stick with easy to find AA batteries. Amazon has the Zi6 for about $123, no tax or shipping.
This is a great ‘school tool’ and could make a nice Christmas or birthday present. You could even consider it a business expense if that is your purpose for use. Making commercials for your business, creating teaching videos, or the many other ways to promote your business will return your investment cost quickly! Not to mention the fun you’ll have with it!
Of course, there is the option in this video that explains how you can use a free online program called CamStudio to make a “video” without a video camera. I’ve used another free program called Jing to do basically the same thing, but both of these limit you to what you can put up on your computer screen. Which isn’t such a bad thing, just use your imagination!
One important point to remember in putting your video online is to consider the keywords you use in the title and categories you list under. This will make the difference between becoming a disappearing drop of water in the ocean, or making a big splash. If you sell a product that teaches, TeacherTube is a fantastic venue.
You’ll also want to make your video engaging. DO NOT just stand there and talk – do something different, fun, and make an impact. The use of writing on individual cards has become popular and couldn’t be easier. Do your due diligence and look at other videos in your category and see what pops and what does NOT. Many of the videos from the Entrepreneur of 2009 contest are great examples. If you watch them all, you’ll also be able to see what NOT to do. Here’s one that used the card concept:
The Young Entrepreneur Society is running a video competition and will feature the winners on their website. Not the biggest prize, but it is a great place to start. All you need to do is make a 30 second video on why you have the next big idea and post it on YouTube. Find the details here:
http://www.youngentrepreneursociety.com/forum/topics/why-should-we-feature-you-as
We’ll feature you, too….if you are a homeschool student. Anyone for a homeschool entrepreneur video contest?
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