Is It a Book Review or Affiliate Marketing?

On Day 4 of The 30 Day Challenge, we were introduced to one way to make money online - affiliate marketing.

Step One - Finding Stuff To Sell And Test Video

It’s a tad sleazy, but the idea is to earn a commission by driving readers to a product website. And, if they buy something, you’ll get a larger piece of the pie.

To get our feet wet, and to assess the sales potential of items related to the niche we selected previously, we were asked to find related products within one of two affiliate programs, ClickBank or Amazon.

Well, I’ll tell you right now, I’m not encouraging anyone to buy ClickBank products. I wouldn’t buy any of that ***, and I’d hate for anyone to waste their money there.

Now, Amazon, on the other hand, that’s a marketplace I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. I love it so much that I had to take the Amazon Button off my toolbar, because it’s just too tempting to hit 1-Click ordering when I spy another book that I MUST have.

Step Two - How To Write Your First Piece Of Slippery Copy Video

Anyway, getting on with The 30 Day Challenge program, our next assignment was to write copy that would compel a reader to buy the chosen product.

In this video, Dan Raine, of The Immediate Edge, walks you through writing gripping copy. Basically, he recommends writing a short piece that follows this general format:

Discover the real value of _____. If you’re a _____, this is the essential guide that will literally save you thousands of dollars. Get your copy today!

As I watched this video, I thought of all the times that I’ve mentioned books on this blog, and I wondered to what extent did I entice the reader to purchase those items.

Looking At My Copy

I went way back into the archives, to one of my first articles, when I asked, Are You Living By Learning?

In that post, I provided a list of some of the books in my homeschooling library. A list. Titles and authors. No more. No copy. Nada.

In my defense, that’s all I ever need to find more books to buy. I can tell from the title if it’s worth investigating, or not.

Is It a Book Review or Is It Affiliate Marketing?

So, to practice my new skills, I thought I would try to write copy for some of my most worthwhile homeschooling books. However, there is a reason that I didn’t go into Advertising. I suck. Big Time.

Succinct hyperbole just isn’t my thing.

The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide To Classical Education At Home - by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise.

I picked up this classic when my first child was in 3rd Grade, just to see what I could do to supplement some of the holes in her education.

Beware, this is a dangerous book. It has propelled me on an odyssey that culminated in switching schools for one child, and homeschooling for another.

This book provides comprehensive coverage of a classical education, with book lists within each subject that are sorted by age-level.

It’s well worth the purchase just to get the chronological resource list for ancient to modern history, but you’ll also find that this connects to the resource material in literature, science, art, and more.

It’s only drawback is that it is exceedingly comprehensive. It would be unbearably exhausting to try to to cover all the material. Even the authors discourage you from trying this insane notion.

As a reference resource; however, The Well-Trained Mind is unparalleled.

Okay, that’s my best shot. What do you think? Would you buy this book?

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Tagged as: Amazon, Homeschooling Books, The Thirty Day Challenge