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dipulb3 · 3 years

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HBO Max review: Great TV and theatrical movies, but not the best streaming value

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HBO Max review: Great TV and theatrical movies, but not the best streaming value

Sarah Tew/CNET

HBO Max, HBO’s entry into the streaming wars, is a slick app chock-full of popular TV shows and movies. It’s got HBO’s entire catalog, along with favorites such as Friends, Rick and Morty, Sesame Street, the Lord of the Rings movies and almost every Studio Ghibli film. It’s also the only service to debut first-run movies, including in 2021 Godzilla vs. Kong, Dune and Matrix 4, the same day they’re available in theaters for no extra charge. And HBO Max has a solid streaming collection for children too, with the ability to control ratings on kids’ profiles better than most other services.

Large, varied content catalog that includes all of HBO

New theatrical releases from Warner Bros. Studios

Simple, easy-to-navigate interface

Lots of children’s shows and customizable rating settings

Don’t Like

High price

Few original series beyond standard HBO

Can’t import watch history or personalized recommendations

If you already subscribe to HBO, HBO Max is a no-brainer upgrade that gives you a shiny new interface and loads more content for the same $15 per month. But if you’re a brand-new subscriber, that price is at the high end — especially if you already pay for Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus or all of the above.

At launch HBO Max lacked compatibility with the popular Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices and 4K HDR streaming, but now apps for Roku and Amazon are now easily available and the 2021 Warner Bros. theatrical slate is premiering on the platform in 4K HDR (as are other titles, such as Zack Snyder’s Justice League).

Read more: Everything you need to know about HBO Max

Aside from HBO’s original series, the Max slate of exclusives remains relatively thin, especially with the delay of the highly anticipated Friends reunion special and no breakout hit such as Disney Plus’ The Mandalorian and WandaVision. That shortcoming will likely change over time, but for now, it remains the service’s biggest disadvantage.

If you’re a big fan of HBO, Elmo or Friends, or are simply running out of good stuff to watch during lockdown, HBO Max is probably worth your money. But if you’re looking to save money on streaming, its high monthly fee makes it easier to cut than many of its tough competitors.

Streaming compared

HBO Max Netflix Disney Plus Hulu Monthly price $15 Starts at $9 $7 Basic $6 with ads, Ad-free for $12, Live TV for $65 Ads No No No Yes, with basic tier Top titles Entire HBO catalog, Studio Ghibli films, DC films Stranger Things, The Crown, Breaking Bad, The Queen’s Gambit The Mandalorian, WandaVision, Avengers Endgame, Toy Story, The Simpsons Handmaid’s Tale, Catch-22, Lost, Bob’s Burgers Mobile downloads Yes Yes Yes Yes (on Ad-free plan only) 4K available Yes Yes (on Premium plan) Yes Yes HDR available Yes Yes (on Premium plan) Yes No Number of streams 3 1 (2 for Standard, 4 on Premium) 4 2 (Unlimited with Live TV and a $10 add-on)

A high price ripe for sharing

HBO Max costs $15 a month, the same as HBO’s traditional channel when you get it through most pay-TV providers. At some point HBO says the service will expand to include another tier that includes advertising. We don’t know anything about when that would happen or what it would look like, but it would likely be cheaper, or even free.

Some people who already have a regular HBO subscription or HBO Now will get Max for no extra cost — but not everyone. It’s confusing, but you can check out our full HBO Max FAQ for more information on how it all works.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Despite the large catalog of movies and shows, HBO Max is at the expensive end of streaming services — Netflix’s basic plan costs $9 a month, Hulu’s plan with ads is $6 a month and Disney Plus costs $7 a month (soon to be $8 per month). Lots of people I know share account access with friends or family members and HBO Max executive Tony Goncalves told CNET that it will take a “fairly balanced approach” to this issue.

With HBO Max you can have up to three simultaneous streams going at the same time. Plus, the addition of up to five user profiles, a feature not available on the HBO Now or HBO Go apps, makes it easier to share an account.

HBO Max is available on Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Apple TV). It’s also on gear that runs Google’s Android operating system for phones and tablets, as well as Android TV devices, Chromebooks, Google Chromecast and Chromecast built-in devices like Vizio TVs. Xbox and PlayStation consoles and recent Samsung smart TVs are also on board. As mentioned, Amazon Fire TV and Roku apps are now available.

A strong stable of shows and movies

HBO Max’s biggest strength is its large, varied TV and movie catalog, with content for adults and kids. At launch, it had 10,000 hours of content to stream, including everything on HBO, plus a selection of high-profile TV shows like Friends, The Big Bang Theory, Rick and Morty and South Park.

HBO Max currently has just a handful Max Originals and the biggest are probably the romantic series Love Life starring Anna Kendrick and dark comedy The Flight Attendant starring Kaley Cuoco. Even a year after launch, nothing has stuck out or made the same pop-culture impact as Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit or Disney Plus’s WandaVision. And unlike Netflix, it will typically drop its originals once per week, the way regular cable HBO does. A number of originals — including the Friends reunion special, a spinoff of The Suicide Squad with John Cena called Peacemaker, a reboot of Gossip Girl and a revival of Sex and the City — are among the many titles in the works, so there should be more to choose from later in the year or in early 2022.

HBO Max has six original series at launch — but the highly anticipated Friends reunion special has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Sarah Tew/CNET

In the meantime, there are lots of movies, some new and many older. HBO Max has the full sets of The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings trilogies (though only two of The Hobbits), DC movies like Joker and Wonder Woman, classic films like The Wizard of Oz and Casablanca, and newer hits like A Star is Born and Crazy Rich Asians. Not to mention almost the entire catalog of Studio Ghibli anime films that have never been released for streaming in the US before. And if you’ve been clamoring for more of 2017’s Justice League, HBO Max will be the home of director Zach Snyder’s cut on March 18.

Though HBO is known for its adult content, Max has a lot to offer kids too, including new Looney Tunes cartoons and Sesame Street episodes, and the Cartoon Network catalog. It’s also home to Doctor Who and the Lego movies.

Parental controls are robust. You can customize kids’ profiles to decide which rating levels they can access, and create a passcode that locks them into their account, so they can’t jump over to their parents’ to watch anything inappropriate. (Your kid might be savvy enough to figure that passcode out, but it’s something.)

Studio Ghibli films are available to stream in the US for the first time on the platform.

Sarah Tew/CNET

A visually appealing interface…

Scrolling through HBO Max is similar to the experience on Netflix, Hulu and other streaming services. When you open your profile, you’ll find Continue Watching and My List at the top of the page, followed by topics like Featured Series, Featured Movies and HBO Series: Editors’ Picks.

I like the look of the menus better than many other streaming services. It has a dark purple and black theme that allows the text and images to pop, and shows fewer tiles on the screen at once with more breaks between them, to give your eye a rest. One downside, however, is that it can be tough to figure out at first what text is highlighted in the menus so you can make selections.

In the middle of the page you’ll see a mini hub where you can access movies and shows from each of its properties: HBO, DC, Sesame Workshop, Turner Classic Movies, Studio Ghibli, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, CrunchyRoll and Looney Tunes. It looks kind of like Disney Plus’s hub at the top of its page, but with less familiar names than Disney’s Star Wars and Marvel.

The HBO Max mini hub, where you can access content from different networks and studios.

Sarah Tew/CNET

You’ll also find curated collections of movies around a theme sprinkled through your homepage, like rom-com favorites and blockbuster franchises. Hit Browse at the top left corner and you’ll have the option to search by categories such as Series, Movies, Originals, Just Added, Last Chance and Coming Soon, along with genres like Action, Comedy, Crime and Documentaries. You’ll also find the mini hubs in this panel, too.

Unlike on Netflix, you can easily see what’s coming and going on the platform and watch accordingly. Mobile downloads are also available, and the app’s format is largely the same across TVs, phones and tablets.

When it comes to searching, HBO Max lets you use abbreviations (like “GOT” instead of “Game of Thrones”). On my Apple TV, voice search worked pretty well — when I said, “Watch Rick and Morty,” HBO Max opened the series landing page, giving me the option to choose which episode I want. After starting an episode of Game of Thrones and closing out, when I said, “Watch GOT,” it jumped me back into the episode where I had left off. When I said, “Watch Jaws,” the Apple TV opened all of the different options across other streaming platforms at the bottom of the screen as well.

Selecting a show will take you to its landing page, where you can find every episode available in a clean format, and have the ability to add it to your list. When you start a show, the rating appears in the upper left corner.

…but human recommendations are still MIA

One of HBO Max’s promises was that instead of solely using a recommendation engine to surface new content for users, it would also have curated content from celebrities, to bring a more human touch. These recommendations are still not available, however. It does curate content in ways that can be helpful — for example, highlighting the episodes of Friends that track Ross and Rachel’s relationship so you don’t have to go digging for them.

You’ll find every HBO show on HBO Max — but you can’t yet stream them in 4K HDR.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Should you get HBO Max?

If you already subscribe to HBO Now (or, you know, have someone else’s login), the automatic free upgrade to HBO Now is a no-brainer — it’s lots more content for the same monthly price. Plus, you can make your own profiles now, which you couldn’t do on HBO Go or HBO Now.

For brand-new subscribers, HBO Max is at the pricey end of the streaming service spectrum. But if you have $15 a month to burn and want to binge Friends, Game of Thrones or all of the Studio Ghibli movies, you’ll have plenty to choose from.

Here’s what HBO Max looks like on TVs, phones and tablets

See all photos

First published May 29, 2020.

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preciousmetals0 · 4 years

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Wall Street’s Italian Job; Gilead’s Gilded Lead

Wall Street’s Italian Job; Gilead’s Gilded Lead:

The Kings of Wishful Thinking

“I’ll get over you; I know I will. I’ll pretend my ship’s not sinking.” — Go West

Don’t look now, but we have our first major COVID-19 outbreak in a Western country.

Italy announced over the weekend that the number of confirmed coronavirus infections spiked to 230 patients. In response, the Italian government locked down an area of about 50,000 people near Milan.

And the market? The market responded exactly as I said it would once COVID-19 hit a Western country: It sold off hard.

The Dow plunged more than 900 points, attracting gawking financial writers across the board. All three of the major market indexes dropped an average of 3% today.

But Mr. Great Stuff, weren’t South Korea and Iran also in the news?

Yes, dear reader, this is true. South Korea is rapidly nearing 1,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and raised its virus-threat alert to its highest level. Additionally, Iran announced a surprise of 12 deaths from the virus and confirmed 61 cases.

I’d argue, however, that Italy was the bombshell that truly sank U.S. markets. COVID-19 has spread across several other countries since its outbreak, with little to no real reaction from Wall Street. The fact that the virus is now spreading in a European country makes the situation more real for U.S. investors.

Minus Italy, the markets would’ve dipped today … but not 3%.

This will only get worse from here.

The Takeaway:

I hope you’re all healthy and doing well today … as well as can be expected amid a fear-induced market sell-off.

In fact, you should all be faring much better than the overall market today.

Why?

Because you read Great Stuff!

We’ve warned you about a market sell-off for more than a month now. In fact, we:

Now that is some great stuff!

But I hear you, dear readers … I hear you.

You want more. You need more. And I have just the solution for your COVID-19 fears. His name is Ted Bauman.

Around here, Ted is the diversification duke … the well-balanced baron … the equal-opportunity emperor. What I’m trying to say is that Ted knows the market will stay irrational as long as it dang well pleases … and you should prepare for any scenario.

That’s why Ted’s model portfolio in The Bauman Letter is actually three diversified model portfolios in one:

The “Base Hits” portfolio for investing in long-term gain opportunities in solid, financially stable companies.

The “Home Runs” portfolio for impressive shorter-term opportunities — those quick stock rallies that most investors will miss in a blink in these volatile times.

The “Endless Income” portfolio for opportunities to generate income in the meantime.

How’s that for diversified?

Trust me when I tell you that Ted is the man to have in your corner when uncertainty pangs hit the market.

Click here now to learn how you can get Ted’s research in The Bauman Letter.

Good: The Golden Ticket

Did you add gold to your portfolio last month when Great Stuff touted its benefits? If you had, you might be up about 6% on that position right now. That’s how far gold prices have run in the past month.

Today, the April gold contract rose roughly 2% before retreating. COVID-19’s spread outside of China has many investors worried, and gold is the go-to safe-haven investment for just these situations.

Right now, gold hovers at its highest levels since January 2013, and it’s creeping up on the psychologically important $1,700 area.

Psychologically important? Yes, well … people like neat, round numbers, and $1,700 fits that bill nicely. Furthermore, gold hasn’t traded above $1,700 since 2012. That’s an eight-year hiatus from these heights, and a breakout here could be a sign that investors are finally pricing appropriate risk into the market.

Naturally, Wall Street isn’t quite ready to admit that it needs the kind of protection that a $1,700 gold price would indicate. So, the malleable metal pulled back just before hitting that high today. Gold will eclipse this level, however, regardless of Wall Street’s denial.

In other words, there’s still a little time left to profit from gold’s safe-haven rise.

Better: Distant Relations

Remember when Chinese social media and video streaming company Bilibili Inc. (Nasdaq: BILI) surged because it basically had a live, captive audience due to China’s quarantine?

Well, Zoom Video Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: ZM) is experiencing a similar renaissance. The stock is among the few gaining ground amid today’s virus sell-off because it allows all those corporate meetings to still take place remotely — lucky you.

Back on February 4, Stephens analyst Ryan MacWilliams laid out the case for Zoom: “We believe investors are betting on paid user growth as a result of increased cloud video meeting usage, due to concerns around physically meeting due to the coronavirus.”

With COVID-19 cases on the rise outside of China, MacWilliams’ scenario for Zoom is driving the shares even higher today. More and more businesses are canceling events and meetings out of fear of contracting or spreading the virus. As such, video-teleconferencing companies like Zoom stand to benefit greatly due to increased subscriber numbers.

Zoom will report fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday, March 5. While last quarter’s numbers won’t show significant impact from COVID-19, analysts expect guidance to be stronger than many project due to increased usage amid the outbreak.

Best: Gilead and the Odyssey

In the Bible, the name Gilead can mean “hill of testimony” or “heap of witness.” Not to be too crass, but a “hill of testimony” is exactly what Gilead Sciences Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) investors hope to gain from COVID-19.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Gilead’s experimental antiviral drug, remdesivir, could be effective against the coronavirus. The claim was reported by CNBC in a press conference with WHO, which identified Gilead’s drug when asked about potential treatments for the virus.

Here’s the real kicker for Gilead, though: Remdesivir hasn’t been approved for use anywhere in the world. In other words, the ongoing clinical trial for remdesivir in the treatment of COVID-19 is a really big deal for Gilead. It could provide key information on the drug in human testing — i.e., providing a “hill of testimony” that could get the drug approved in multiple nations.

On a side note, there are currently only two WHO clinical trials for COVID-19 treatment: One is for Gilead’s remdesivir, and the other is for AbbVie Inc.’s (NYSE: ABBV) ritonavir. Just so you know, AbbVie is one of Great Stuff’s “no fear here” picks to beat the coronavirus.

All I have to say about this is that Alec Young needs a subscription to Great Stuff. He could’ve found out about this weeks ago.

Luckily for you, dear readers, you haven’t had to wait for more than a month to find out what Mr. Young is finally coming to realize.

Why not share some of this Great Stuff with your friends and investing colleagues?

Forward them this email and help them sign up today.

Click here to sign up for Great Stuff now!

Until next time, good trading!

Regards,

Joseph Hargett

Editor, Great Stuff

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goldira01 · 4 years

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The Kings of Wishful Thinking

“I’ll get over you; I know I will. I’ll pretend my ship’s not sinking.” — Go West

Don’t look now, but we have our first major COVID-19 outbreak in a Western country.

Italy announced over the weekend that the number of confirmed coronavirus infections spiked to 230 patients. In response, the Italian government locked down an area of about 50,000 people near Milan.

And the market? The market responded exactly as I said it would once COVID-19 hit a Western country: It sold off hard.

The Dow plunged more than 900 points, attracting gawking financial writers across the board. All three of the major market indexes dropped an average of 3% today.

But Mr. Great Stuff, weren’t South Korea and Iran also in the news?

Minus Italy, the markets would’ve dipped today … but not 3%.

This will only get worse from here.

The Takeaway:

I hope you’re all healthy and doing well today … as well as can be expected amid a fear-induced market sell-off.

In fact, you should all be faring much better than the overall market today.

Why?

Because you read Great Stuff!

We’ve warned you about a market sell-off for more than a month now. In fact, we:

Now that is some great stuff!

But I hear you, dear readers … I hear you.

You want more. You need more. And I have just the solution for your COVID-19 fears. His name is Ted Bauman.

That’s why Ted’s model portfolio in The Bauman Letter is actually three diversified model portfolios in one:

The “Base Hits” portfolio for investing in long-term gain opportunities in solid, financially stable companies.

The “Home Runs” portfolio for impressive shorter-term opportunities — those quick stock rallies that most investors will miss in a blink in these volatile times.

The “Endless Income” portfolio for opportunities to generate income in the meantime.

How’s that for diversified?

Trust me when I tell you that Ted is the man to have in your corner when uncertainty pangs hit the market.

Click here now to learn how you can get Ted’s research in The Bauman Letter.

Good: The Golden Ticket

Right now, gold hovers at its highest levels since January 2013, and it’s creeping up on the psychologically important $1,700 area.

In other words, there’s still a little time left to profit from gold’s safe-haven rise.

Better: Distant Relations

Remember when Chinese social media and video streaming company Bilibili Inc. (Nasdaq: BILI) surged because it basically had a live, captive audience due to China’s quarantine?

Best: Gilead and the Odyssey

All I have to say about this is that Alec Young needs a subscription to Great Stuff. He could’ve found out about this weeks ago.

Luckily for you, dear readers, you haven’t had to wait for more than a month to find out what Mr. Young is finally coming to realize.

Why not share some of this Great Stuff with your friends and investing colleagues?

Forward them this email and help them sign up today.

Click here to sign up for Great Stuff now!

Until next time, good trading!

Regards,

Joseph Hargett

Editor, Great Stuff

#Timor Invest

0 notes

claracussonseo · 5 years

Text

Ethics, Best Practices and SEO – A Crisis in the Profession?

The blog post Ethics, Best Practices and SEO – A Crisis in the Profession? is available on: https://www.chicagowebsitedesignseocompany.com

Ethics, Best Practices and SEO - A Crisis in the Profession?

There has been much debate recently on the practice of ethical Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The recent removal of a high profile SEO company from the Google results has plunged the industry into yet another debate on what is ethical and what is not in our profession. I have been involved in the SEO industry for a few years now and the mention of the word ethics and best practices in what is still an unregulated industry creates a level of confusion the likes of which I have not observed in any other industry. Why does this reluctance to discuss ethics and best practices exist? After all, we call ourselves professionals and as professionals we should strive to be part of an industry which stands for best practices and quality of service. The confusion seems to come from the way that search engines rank sites. Each search engine has an algorithm which is a complex method of giving a value to a site which will ensure that it is returned in the search results when a relevant keyword is typed into a search engine. These algorithms are kept secret by the search engines for obvious reasons. The SEO industry is highly focused on analyzing these algorithms and using any knowledge gained to modify and rank websites. Ask any two SEO’s what they consider to be ethical in their pursuit of top results and you will most likely get two very different answers. Hence, the lack of agreement on what is ethical and what is not. So where do we start? Our commitment must always start with the client and our responsibilities to them. An ethical company will always demonstrate loyalty and respect to their client. This is true whether they are an SEO, a doctor or an accountant. Having sound business practices and a professional approach to all that you do then we can move onto the ‘search engine guidelines.’ All the major search engines and directories publish their own guidelines of use for webmasters. This should be the minimum that any SEO practitioner complies with when working on a client’s site. Search engines have a right to protect the integrity of their results and the SEO practitioners should respect those guidelines. The confusion seems to arrive with the interpretation of the guidelines. One SEO will interpret the rules to mean one thing and another SEO will see it as completely different. The stakes are high and a top ranking in Google for your site is powerful branding and can lead to a major upswing in your business. SEO practitioners have been classified as ‘whitehat,’ and ‘blackhat.’ Whitehat practitioners are the ones that try to stick to search engine guidelines while blackhat operate using more questionable techniques and view the search engines as the ‘enemy.’ Unfortunately blackhat techniques can sometimes adversely affect the sites ranking and worse, get their client’s sites banned. Blackhats traditionally play to the emotional needs of their clients and often convince them to part with their money without giving clear and specific information on the changes they will make to their sites. If a client is fully aware of the risks and is prepared to buy into short term gain then that is their choice. However, many Blackhat SEO’s do not disclose their tactics. Would you hire a CPA who submits your tax return including questionable practices and breaking all the IRS rules? You are the one who will get audited, prosecuted and have to pay huge fines. Blackhat techniques are just plain bad business practice. They also do the search engines and the search users a huge disservice by contributing to poor quality of results. This adds nothing to the end user experience. The search engines say that any type of manipulation to get a site ranked is a threat against them and the relevancy of their results. Whitehat practitioners will say that they are not manipulating sites but rather fixing search engine obstacles within a web site. The need for their services is great as many web site designers do not know how to integrate search engine friendly designs. Last year a prospective customer contacted me after being burned by a “rogue" SEO company who got their site (and others) banned from Google for spam tactics. A few weeks later they were contacted by the same “rogue” SEO company under a new name. Perhaps naively she almost fell for it again. She reasoned that if they had been banned once they would not do anything wrong again! This demonstrates the lack of knowledge that consumers have regarding our industry. They don’t know the difference between good and bad SEO. People are being taken advantage of because of their lack of knowledge. No matter what techniques your SEO uses; ‘ethical’ , ‘whitehat’ ,‘blackhat’ none at all it all boils down to one thing. Doing right by the client? Ethics is often viewed by many in the industry as hype. I think the focus should be on serving users as opposed to manipulating the search engines. SEO’s who concentrate of making the sites the best that they can be for the end user will create a much better longer term affect. The SEOs who chase algorithms and try to game the search engines get burned when there is an algorithm change. Following search engine updates involving an algorithm shift, the industry message boards abound with posts along the lines of “I hate Google, they have killed my site” If these posters had spent more time improving their site for their clients, and the search users, the algorithm updates would be much less stressful for them. At this time there is no initiative within the industry to create a trade body which sets a code of best practices. It is down to the consumer to practice “buyer beware” and ensure that they practice due diligence in selecting an SEO. They need to use even more caution than they would use to select any other vendor. I also believe the industry has a responsibility to provide education and resources for consumers and help de-mystify the profession. Great SEO companies share their knowledge willingly. They hide nothing to either clients or search engines. They know that they have a specialized skill and are proud of what they do. They get their results through hard work and perseverance. They also know that to do the job properly takes a lot of time. This is something which most business owners feel they do not have. They are confident that when it comes to hiring a professional, their honest and open approach to their trade will be acknowledged by organizations who only want to work with the best. The following are some golden rules I have written on choosing an SEO. If the consumer sticks to these rules then they should avoid the practitioners in our industry who give the rest of us a bad name. • Only work with a company that follows search engine guidelines. (If I could only make one recommendation this would be it). The three main search engines are Google, MSN, and Yahoo. Look on their sites for their webmaster guidelines. • Only work with a company that documents the SEO process they will use to rank your site • Only work with a company that provides a written contract outlining their process and their costs • Get at least four proposals for your site and compare services before you make a decision • Do not work with a company that offers guarantees of top rankings. Nobody can offer these types of guarantees. • Do not lock yourself into a contract you cannot get out of if you are not getting results • Ask for references and follow up with them. If you still have any doubts ask for more. Ensure that references check out. Check that the suggested site is real and that the contact details given check out against the contact details on the site. • Do not allow any work to be carried out on your site without your approval. • Do not give the SEO carte blanche to do as they will with your site. It is your site not theirs. It is your responsibility to ensure that the SEO does not apply any techniques that would result in getting your site banned. • Check the companies BBB (Better Business Bureau) report. Check for membership of any other established trade bodies such as the AMA (American Marketing Association) Many companies claim that they are more reputable because they are part of SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization.) However this is not the case. All that is required to be a member of SEMPO is a $299 annual subscription. • Do not work with a company that engages in site wide link exchanges. Question their linking methods. Ensure that they only have a policy of linking with on-topic sites. Remember, your site is built for users not for search engines. If your site is about computers and your link to a site that sells children’s toys how useful do you think that link will be for your visitors. • Ask other companies doing well on the Internet who they use for SEO. Always ask about the quality of customer service that is offered. It is not much use having a great SEO if you can never get hold of them. • If it sounds too good to be true. IT IS!!! In conclusion the SEO industry is a dynamic growing industry. This rapid growth has created some challenges for the industry. One of these challenges is the perception that outsiders have of SEO practitioners being unethical. To counteract this many SEOs are now promoting themselves as ‘ethical SEO.’ However, as the industry is unregulated it is up to the consumer of the service to become informed and exercise caution when selecting a SEO vendor. As the demand for SEO continues to grow the number of unethical practitioners calling themselves SEOs will also grow. To protect yourself, take the vendor selection process seriously. Look for vendors who are willing to share knowledge and partner with you to provide the best possible outcome for you business.

The following testimony Ethics, Best Practices and SEO – A Crisis in the Profession? read: https://yelp.com/biz/chicago-website-design-seo-company-chicago-2/

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marketerintel · 5 years

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Perfect for Parents: Passive Income & Building A “Perennial” Business (FS313)

As a business owner and soon-to-be mother of two, I’d love to share what it’s been like to design a passive income business that has supported my family and family life over the past 10 years.

I still remember the week before I got married…

I was working hard on a client project, and suddenly I had to put in a ton of overtime to get it launched when timelines changed and a contractor backed out. It was stressful, and I vowed that I’d find a way to make my business support my life, not the other way around.

Fast forward a few years later…

My husband joined the business. Now all of our income was dependent on the business. We decided to start our family, phased out all client-facing work and moved to digital products entirely. There was a slight dip in income that year, but we re-calibrated.

Our first daughter was born!

I was able to take a few months off from work and enjoy those newborn cuddles (not to mention catch up on sleep!).

Since then, our business has continued to evolve and we’re now in a fully subscription-based business, which means that we don’t need to hustle to keep the lights on like we did before.

Now we’re expecting baby #2

I’d love to share what has worked for us and how I think that online courses and membership sites can build a passive, “perennial” income source.

Most importantly, one where you don’t need to reinvent the wheel every few months to keep the money coming in.

First, what is a “Perennial Business”?

Perennial businesses are those that grow from year to year. This doesn’t mean they don’t still have seasons however. You might design your promotions around your life events – plan a big launch or campaign before you know you need to be offline or less available.

Real world example: We created a free piece of content (30 day list building challenge) way back in 2013 and made it really great and it has brought in over 60,000 people with very little effort once everything was in place. I also planned my last big launch a few months before having our baby, so I knew we’d have a cushion while I took some time off.

Now that you know what I mean by “perennial business”, I’m sure you can see why they’re “perfect for parents”. The task now is creating one.

Here are my 8 Counterintuitive Tips for building a truly solid, passive-income based, parent-friendly business.

***NOTE*** We had Natalie on the Fizzle Show to talk in more depth on this topic. Scroll to the bottom of the article to listen in to the conversation.

Counterintuitive Tip #1:

Build A Business That Doesn’t Scale

Sometimes you have to start in a non-scalable business model to figure out what you’re great at and what people are willing to pay for. (This also helps you hone sales and marketing skills, which will come in handy later when you’re doing sales in a one-to-many model!)

When I started my business, I worked with clients one on one in both implementation and consulting roles. It was in those conversations with peers and clients that I discovered the seeds of what would become our next courses and software projects. Look for patterns, and be ready to act when they present themselves to you.

Counterintuitive Tip #2:

Giving Away Free Stuff Boosts Sales

We use this system that we’ve coined the “Login Optin Strategy”. If you want to sell courses, giving away a free course and putting your paid courses/membership offering next to it inside the same members area increases organic up-sells (we saw people buying our courses 1-2 days after joining the free challenge).

This “cross selling dashboard” isn’t pushy, and it does some of the selling for you… your job is to bring new people in (and make sure they benefit from what you’re offering!).

Counterintuitive Tip #3:

Price Your Courses High

I always get asked the same question about how to price courses and memberships: “Should I start low or high?”

I like starting high for courses and including more one-on-one attention at the start, to get more direct feedback and make sure people are successful with your material. Then over time, you could reduce the price as you reduce your involvement – for example you might do a hybrid course and consulting offering that’s priced in the thousands or high hundreds.

Then when you make it into a self-study course, you can lower the price. The idea here is that you’ll be able to serve more people in this way, and you should continue to build your audience to offer courses to.

Counterintuitive Tip #4:

Price Your Memberships Low

The intuitive strategy here is to follow the same logic with memberships as you would with courses. Here’s another curveball: for recurring memberships, I prefer to start low.

This way I can plan to increase the price multiple times, using those price increases as true scarcity. It also rewards people who have been with you the longest, since they can lock in the lowest prices.

The bottom line for pricing though is that you don’t need to go by what your competitors are charging: you decide the value of what you offer. Also remember that it takes almost exactly the same amount of work to sell something that’s cheap as something that’s expensive.

Counterintuitive Tip #5:

Add Scarcity to Evergreen Offerings

When you’ve got something that’s always on, it helps to design some true scarcity.

Here are 3 ways that I’ve been having success with:

Add time-sensitive bonuses that go away after a certain amount of time.

Offer a special price or coupon that expires after a set amount of time (this can be done through AccessAlly or things like Thrive Ultimatum).

Increase the price on a recurring offer after a set period – this is great if you start out with a low monthly price for your minimum viable product and plan to increase it.

The idea is to give people an incentive to make a decision. When something is always available, people can put off really thinking about it. With bonuses or special pricing, it brings your courses or membership program into focus and helps people say yes or no. (Either way is fine, as long as it’s not “maybe”!)

Counterintuitive Tip #6:

Treat Even Solo Operations as “Real Businesses”

When it’s just you, it’s easy to make decisions on a whim. When I brought my husband on board, we started paying ourselves salaries through a payroll system… and that shifted my perspective.

Now we had “business money” and “personal money”, and decisions had to be made to ensure the business had enough funds. The book Profit First came later to help with this, but putting aside “business savings” helped us hire our first full-time employee and gave us the ability to step back while starting our family.

Another way to think of it is this: how much would you be paying someone else to do the work you do? If you had to step away from your business and have someone fill your shoes, you’d need to have the money set aside for them. Why not pay yourself that salary, and be prepared if you need to hire someone so you can take time off?

Counterintuitive Tip #7:

Your Passive Income Future Requires a Very Active Present

Perennial products and passive income take time to set up. Start with a minimum viable product offering, if people take you up on it (for real money!) then reinvest your time and resources to make it better, and re-launch it again or make it “always on”.

If you want “tomorrow you” to be set up with a nice recurring income source or evergreen product automation… “today you” needs to set the foundations. Don’t get bogged down in technology decisions like choosing the right CRM, membership site theme, or best LMS plugin… and don’t get stuck trying to find the perfect way of doing things, just get started and improve from there.

Counterintuitive Tip #8:

Stop Making New Things

The biggest mistake I see creatives make is to keep creating new courses and new free content, which can keep you stuck on a hamster wheel going nowhere.

Instead of having to figure out how to promote “new” things all the time, focus in on improving what you’ve already created. (Reality: some ideas are better than others, and having too many offerings can confuse people about what you’re known for.)

It takes stamina to stay focused on bettering one product and one free piece of content or funnel: I tend to get bored working on “the same thing”, but if I remember why I’m doing it (to support my family, and now also my team’s families).

I can pour my creativity back into improving what we’ve already got.

Nathalie Lussier is an award-winning entrepreneur who has been making websites since she was 12 years old. She graduated with a degree in Software Engineering and a job offer from Wall Street, but she turned down this job to start her own business right out of college.

As the founder of AccessAlly, the powerful digital course and membership solution for industry leaders, she believes that access to education can help defy stereotypes and make the world a better place, while providing a sustainable livelihood for enterprising teachers.

Nathalie has been featured in Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Success Magazine, Entrepreneur, Venture Beat, and Mashable.

We also had Nathalie on the Fizzle Show to dig even deeper into this topic.

In this episode, we take this idea one step further and think about just how much and what kind of work you really need to do today. Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, is there an obvious question that you see being asked that you know how to answer?

We talk to her about automation, the customer’s journey, facilitating a good experience for an audience, improving the work you have already done and why you already have everything you need.

For all of this and more, join us today!

Listen to the episode:

Subscribe to The Fizzle Show in your favorite podcast player:

Key Points From This Episode:

A quick introduction to Nathalie and her business. [0:03:26.4]

Switching the equation around so your business serves you. [0:08:30.7]

Breaking things down in past, present and future. [0:13:16.2]

Sustainable entrepreneurship and the value of service. [0:15:26.6]

The vital lessons that we learn in trying times. [0:19:17.4]

The expert’s dilemma and getting perspective on your own value. [0:22:40.7]

The patterns that helped Nathalie discover her gifts in plain sight. [0:26:35.5]

How Nathalie’s answered the questions she was encountering. [0:31:35.3]

Moving forward with freebies towards paid services. [0:35:54.7]

Fighting your own battles and slaying your own dragons. [0:41:02.8]

Nathalie’s business preparation for having her baby. [0:46:51.2]

The architecture of online business and the customer journey. [0:51:54.1]

Stamina and dedication to bettering a single offer. [0:54:32.6]

Post mortem, taking stock and dialing it all in for updates. [1:00:49.4]

Honoring the work already done and doubling down. [1:04:40.7]

You already have what you need! [1:08:01.1]

And much more!

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Fizzle — https://fizzle.co/

AccessAlly — https://accessally.com

Nathalie Lussier — https://nathalielussier.com

Oprah — http://www.oprah.com

Jerry Seinfeld — http://jerryseinfeld.com

Dan Tocchini — https://www.crunchbase.com/person/daniel-tocchini

Schitt’s Creek — https://www.netflix.com/za/title/80036165

Trello — https://trello.com

Atlassian— https://www.atlassian.com

Narnia — http://www.narnia.com

Vitals — https://vitals.agency/

Jim Rohn — https://www.jimrohn.com

Nathan Barry — https://nathanbarry.com

ConvertKit — https://convertkit.com

Fizzle Try 5 — http://fizzle.co/try5

Fizzle Goals Course — https://fizzle.co/courses/goals

Fizzle Journaling Course — https://fizzle.co/courses/journal

Drip — https://www.drip.com

Fizzle on Twitter — https://twitter.com/fizzle

Fizzle Defining Your Audience — https://fizzle.co/guides/defining-your-audience

Fizzle Roadmap — https://fizzle.co/sparkline/small-business-roadmap-1-clarity

Fizzle Just Ship It Challenge — https://fizzle.co/sparkline/join-30-day-just-ship-challenge

Fizzle Customer Conversation Course — https://app.fizzle.co/courses/customer-conversations

Fizzle Just Ship It Challenge — https://app.fizzle.co/just-ship-it-challenge

Fizzle Post Mortem Workbook — https://fizzle.co/sparkline/learning-from-pain-via-post-mortems-fs295/

Aiden Fishbein — https://vitals.agency/blog/author/aiden/

Courage and Clarity — https://www.courageandclarity.com/

Steph Crowder on Twitter — https://twitter.com/stephcrowder_

Corbett Barr on Twitter — https://twitter.com/CorbettBarr

Chase Reeves on Twitter — https://twitter.com/chase_reeves

Chase Reeves Reviews — https://www.youtube.com/user/chasereeves

Fizzle Sparkline — https://fizzle.co/sparkline

Fizzle Essentials of Web Design Course — https://fizzle.co/library/essentials-of-website-design-for-business-builders

Fizzle Website Tune Up Curse — https://fizzle.co/courses/tuneup

Start A Blog That Matters Course — https://fizzle.co/start-a-blog-that-matters

Fizzle 80/20 Copywriting Guide — https://fizzle.co/sparkline/writing-copy-for-web

Fizzle Toolkit — https://fizzle.co/toolkit

Fizzle Craft + Commerce — https://fizzle.co/sparkline/craft-commerce

Fizzle Project Management for Entrepreneurs — https://fizzle.co/sparkline/project-management-for-entrepreneurs

Fizzle Hosting — https://fizzle.co/hosting

The post Perfect for Parents: Passive Income & Building A “Perennial” Business (FS313) appeared first on Fizzle.

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