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Internet Marketing for homeschool or living books
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Ok, I have two friends that have new products that are needing some help with marketing and while I have general ideas for them, I need some help getting them the specifics. One friend has a brand new DVD art curriculum – it’s AMAZING! http://www.creatingamasterpiece.com
The other purchased a printing/publishing business and they take old classics and then bind them in beautiful leather hardbound bindings. http://gryphoneditions.com/ I’m including the links so you can check them out if that’s helpful in offering suggestions.
I’ve talked with both of them about doing affiliate programs to drive people to their websites, but I’m wondering for those of you that blog and are affiliates – how do you choose what companies you want to work with – do they contact you? or did you find them? What is a reasonable commission for the affiliate programs you’re a part of?
My second suggestion is to have some of the big bloggers “review” their products. But I’m not really sure who those big bloggers are. I know the Old Schoolhouse does that, but who else? Do you have suggestions for homeschool blogs? What about blogs that would pertain to people who want to read conservative/classic literature? When someone wants you to review their products do they just send the product for free? Or do they contact first to ask if you’ll review it and then send it?
Thanks so much for your suggestions! I’m not sure why my friends are seeking me out, but I’d love to be able to help them as opposed to them having to pay for all that marketing.
Blessings,
Rebekah
On a side note, I was able to review a DVD from Creating a Masterpiece and was very happy with it. I’m planning to recommend her DVDs for art instruction. Thanks for introducing us, Rebekah!
Rebekah – Thank you for the art curriculum. It looks great. We may have to try it. I’ve bought Artistic Pursuits and fizzled both times. I am not artistic, but I think the video instruction will be a success here. Christie
For some reason I can’t watch the clips on my Mac – something of mine isn’t updated. Would this appeal to boys as well? Some of the picture samples look a little girly – I can’t imagine my boys being excited to sketch some flowers! I’ve been like Christie, I have GREAT aspirations but no talent and I’ve fizzled at everything I’ve tried. But all of my boys love art and spend as much time as they can drawing.
Christie – Sharon says that kids can’t learn to do art from a book, especially super artistic children. They need to see it being done. I’m not at all artistic either, but I wish you could see the beautiful pastel I did from watching the video. Sharon is a super accomplished artist (used to sculpt dolls for HSN and Danbury (sp) Mint!!!) and she felt like the next best thing to personal instruction (she has a three to four year waiting list for her art classes) is the DVD. Kids can see exactly how it takes place and what to do – I love it, because there’s no teacher’s manual to read – just pop the DVD in and they’re off!!
Crazy4boys – we’re working on getting the video clips more user friendly – Doug from SCM told me what we need to do, I just need to follow through and make sure it gets done. But basically, what you see on the cover of each DVD is the project the boys are going to do. I’d have them start with the pastel landscape – it’s GORGEOUS – even my super bouncy 6 year old did a super job with it. Once they have done that level one landscape pastel, the next level is a Rooster! Much more boyish. Also, don’t loose heart, more masculine projects are in the works – Sharon will be filming new DVDs in August, covering more media – like silk painting, water color pencils, and Batik (sp??). We’re thinking perhaps a boat, a train and a horse will be among the next subjects!!! (I can’t remember if we were just joking or if it’s real, but the boat might even be a pirate ship! hahaha!)
Sonya – I’m SO glad that you enjoyed it, especially thinking highly enough of it to recommend it to others – what an honor! It definitely reminded me of SCM’s crochet video the first time we went through it – very straight forward, simple enough for a child to follow along, yet producing beautiful results.
Well girls, I’m so glad that you might be interested in pursuing Sharon’s curriculum – if you come up with any great ideas for spreading the word – I’d love to hear them!
Blessings,
Rebekah
Rebekah,
I am trying to view a sample of the DVD and it won’t load for some reason on my Mac? I would love to see a sample if you know how I can get it to work!
Thanks so much!
The only thought I have for spreading the word is to ask The Old Schoohouse Review Team and the Timberdoodle team to review it. Some of the other bigger names of individual bloggers (that I know of) are Homeschool Creations, Pioneer Woman, Confessions of a Homeschooler. Perhaps Rainbow Resource? Tristan at Our Busy Homeschool (she’s on the forum) has a pretty big following.
I’ll have my kids and husband take a look. They definitely want help. We had a lady come to our house and teach art while we lived in TX. I haven’t found anyone here in NE. They might just be desparate enough to draw flowers and rainbows and princesses!
3littlegirls – I just emailed Sharon – it’s going to be a top priority! So hopefully the video will be up and running via you-tube soon!
Crazy4boys – Sharon is just north of Omaha, probably about 45 minutes from you, but alas the waiting list is still 3 to 4 years. 🙁 If you want to check the video out in person you can come over for a playdate! four boys, four girls – should be exciting!
Hi Rebekah. It was so nice to meet you in person over at the IA convention.
I think you’re on the right track with finding blogs and other sites that fit the topic of the products. You would typically ask if they would be interested in doing a review before sending anything out. You will be sending out products at no charge so you don’t want to waste them.
It’s even better if you can establish a relationship with other complementary but non-competing sellers and work out cross promotions for exposure to each other’s audience.
But before doing too much of that I would do the work to get the websites in order. Fixing the video is essential for the art DVD site. I’d also put a simple, brief statement at the top of the page telling what they offer. A statement like that would be a real help on the Gryphon site. I couldn’t figure out what they do or offer from their home page.
OK, we’re getting there. We’ve got the video uploaded to You Tube and in a short time it will be available directly through the website, but for now, here’s the links to see some of Creating a Masterpiece’s sample video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R1ztIh1r7g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZr1sxqLVII and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9pbEN7OJrA Progress!
Hi Rebekah!
I just got power back on after 4 days without here in Ohio from storms. I’ve got a variety of ideas for you to share, so here they are in random order. 😉
1. Some companies accept any number of affiliates and pay a specific percentage per sale. They use a cookie in the browser (don’t ask me how, I’m not technical!) and it reports what link people followed to come to their site and make purchases. I’ve seen everything from 5% to 25% of the sale as an affiliate payout. Typical is on the lower end of that, 5-10%.
2. Payouts typically are monthly, most of the ones I’ve done come through PayPal. Amazon has an affiliate program and they only do payouts when you reach a certain amount due to you. Most do payouts around the first of the month for the last month’s sales.
3. Many affiliate programs have web code for you to do links to specific products with your code embedded, buttons with code that have your affiliate link embedded, etc. Those can be handy when I want to talk about a specific product I’ve used and want to link right to it. Some offer code for sidebar ads for their company. Others have sales or specials that change monthly, weekly, or every few months and give the affiliate codes their readers can use to get those discounts.
4. I’ve been approached by companies to do a review and I have approached companies myself. Both can work.
5. In a review the typical I’ve found is that the company and blogger make contact through email, decide what the blogger will review, and then the product is mailed to the blogger for free. They often set a due date for the review and the blogger emails a link to their review when it is posted. I have had some companies offer me a specific product to review. Others have offered to let me choose a product myself, which often is a better fit.
6. A great way to get more traffic once a blogger is ready to do a review is for the company to let the blogger give away one free product to a reader. The blogger hosts the giveaway and sets entry options, with one required one typically being for readers to visit the company’s website and tell what they saw/liked/etc. I know many have social media pages (Facebook etc) and will offer extra entries for liking the company’s page or following their blog. I don’t know much about social media as I don’t participate at all, so you’d have to find someone else for ideas with that. When the giveaway is over theblogger sends the company the winner’s name and mailing address and the company sends the product directly to the winner.
7. As for who to approach, I know The Old Schoolhouse charges companies a fee on top of the company having to provide free product to the reviewers. Most big bloggers don’t charge, they just ask the product is sent to them for free. For the art dvd one maybe approach Harmony Art Mom (her name is Barb and she does that blog and the Handbook of Nature Study blog). Other big bloggers have been mentioned.
8. Some big bloggers sell advertizing space on their blog where the company can put a button or ad up on that blog. They charge by the month or 3 month time span usually and can vary from $10-$30 per month or more, that is up to the blogger. Payment for that is done up front via Paypal and then the company sends the button/ad for the blogger to use.
Hopefully that helps some!
Rebekah,
You may want to inquire of my company iHomeschool Network. We specialize in bringing family friendly products to the homeschool market.
Jimmie
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