Review: Online Business School (from IttyBiz/Naomi Dunford)

Note: This is a HUGE product, so this review is long: almost 4,500 words. If you need the very short version, here goes:

Second note: Online Business School is currently off the shelves and will be re-released as separate modules in early 2010.

Two-Sentence Review

The high price is justified by the quality and depth of Online Business School, and by the expertise that Naomi and Jamie bring to it. If you’re a beginner in the world of doing business online, if you want to diversify your online income by branching out into new areas, or if you feel like you’re floundering around without a guidebook, buy it!

Overview

Naomi Dunford’s Online Business School is a six-module course (with video, audio and text transcripts) that teaches beginners how to make money online.

Price

Online Business School is a pretty hefty piece of e-merchandise – and it has a hefty price tag to match: $397. and it’s currently off the shelves to be repackaged into six individual modules and re-released in 2010.

So, you’ll probably want to know before you waste ten minutes of your life reading this review … is it worth it? I’d say a qualified yes – it’s a great self-study course packed with information, and there’s nothing cheaper on the market that’s comparable.

There is, of course, a money-back guarantee, and Naomi actually goes one better than this in offering a choice: “I’ll give you your money back without being a pain in the ass about it. OR I’ll personally coach you through it so that you have a plan of action that will work for you.”

Breakdown

So what do you get for your (gulp) $397?

Online Business School covers six distinct income streams – all ones which Naomi has had experience (and considerable success) with. Click on the links to jump straight to that part of my review:

• Coaching and Consulting
• Providing Services
• Selling Physical Products
• Selling Ebooks and Downloads
• Creating Niche Websites
• Affiliate Marketing

(You also get a bunch of bonuses, some of which are products I’d strongly considered paying for in the past – more on those at the end of the review.)

Each of the six modules is structured in the same way:

• You get an audio file, about 30-40 minutes long, where Naomi provides a comprehensive overview of the area
• You get a transcript of the audio file, which is great – it means you don’t need to take notes, and it gives you this option to read instead of listening
• You get a video file, about 25-30 minutes long, where Jamie (Naomi’s husband) takes you through some real-life examples, expanding on what was said in the audio. NB: the video files are huge, so they don’t come in the initial download – you get an email with a link, username and password so you can download them at leisure.

I think the structure works brilliantly: each units is designed to stand alone, so you can go through them in whatever order suits you. It’s also professionally produced, but without bells and whistles (which suits me – I’d rather not have intro music on audio, I’m impatient!)

Audio – Overall Impressions

The audio files are incredibly clean, great-quality sound and very easy to listen to. I suppose this is a matter of opinion, but I like Naomi’s voice and the way she speaks: she sounds honest, friendly, conversational and enthusiastic. Also, she doesn’t swear in these, meaning they’re safe listening for work or for when you have the kids in the car – though the trademark Naomi humour and irreverence is still there (hurrah!)

There’s nothing I’d criticise about the audio, except that in the Affiliate Marketing track, my audio cut out sporadically for a few seconds at a time, particularly towards the end of the module: I’ve dropped Naomi and Jamie an email about this, in case it’s a problem other Online Business Schoolers have had.

Transcripts – Overall Impressions

These aren’t ebooks, just transcripts of the audio. As such, I think they’re just great – yes, they lack pretty picture and beautiful formatting, but they’re great transcripts (trust me – I’ve read awful ones!) Reading the files also makes you realise that Naomi packs an incredible amount of information into these modules; they’re only nine or ten pages long but that’s all text, and they’re absolutely free from waffle, padding and trumpet-blowing.

And the bad stuff? Very little. You occasionally lose moments of humour or digression which wouldn’t translate easily to the page, so even if you’re an “audio takes too long” person like me, I’d recommend listening to the audio too.

Video –  Overall Impressions

I had a go at doing screencasts for my old day job (currently coming up to the one year mark since I quit, huzzah!) and I can tell you that Jamie does a great job here. In each video, he has all the websites that he wants to show us pre-loaded in different tabs: he uses these as illustrations for what he’s saying, rather than simply talking us through a description of what’s on the screen. As with audio, I can get a bit impatient with video content, but I found that these held my attention.

The one thing that might have added even more to the videos would have been having a pdf accompaniment which listed the urls of the websites that Jamie shows on screen – it’s pretty hard to make these out in the small video.

Module by Module

One reservation that I had when Online Business School was initially launched was “I don’t need all those modules”. So I put off buying it for months – in fact, I was on Naomi’s super-advance-discount list and I could’ve snapped it up for just $97 pre-pre-launch … but no, I dithered too long.

Interestingly, in the months between the launch and me buying Online Business School, my areas of interest have shifted: Niche Sites, one of my “must have” modules before, has dropped way down the list, and “coaching and consulting”, which I’d never really considered until a month or two ago, has suddenly been bumped a lot higher up.

So even if you only need a couple of the modules right now, the others could come handy six months or twelve months down the line. My perception of my business –and myself – has changed considerably since I started out with freelance writing and website creation a year ago.

Chances are, though, that some of the modules will be of especial interest to you – so read on for a review of each:

Coaching and Consulting

Audio (& Transcript)

Naomi covers, briefly, the difference between coaching and consulting, discusses the growing market for these services, and answers various burning questions that I had, like “Do I need qualifications?”

The module is very much for beginners in this area: that suited me fine, as Naomi goes through what you need to get started out as a coach, how to differentiate yourself in a crowded market-place, how to set pricing, and using a blog as a promotion tool. (There was one tip here which was a real eye-opener for me: the existence of the Service page here on Aliventures owes its existence to it!)

If you’re an established life coach or business consultant, you’ll probably find that there are a handful of great tips that help you market yourself better – but that the majority of the module will be a bit too basic you.

Video

This was the one video in Online Business School that disappointed me slightly: Jamie spends the first 13 minutes talking about WordPress (how to get started and set up a theme using it). I can see why he and Naomi chose to include this in the Coaching and Consulting module, as Naomi does emphasise the important of having a website – but I’d rather have seen it as a stand-alone video to go alongside all the modules. As it was, I felt a bit cheated of video time that I’d have liked to spend learning more about running a Coaching/Consulting business – I know how to use WordPress just fine.

With that gripe out of the way, there was a lot of useful information in the second part of the video. I picked up some straightforward, practical tips, and one of the biggest strengths of the video portions of Online Business School is that it allows Jamie to give concrete, visual examples.

In this section, Jamie covers how to define yourself as a coach – and gives specifics like how to use a particular phrase to describe the sort of people you work with. He also gives some great tips on getting testimonials, and on conveying to people exactly what you do.

Providing Services

Audio (& Transcript)

As usual, Naomi starts off with the basics, defining the difference between a service business and other types. She goes on to explain the importance of specialisation within a niche (ie. don’t be a copywriter, be a “personal development blogger”) – something that I wish I’d grasped sooner in my freelance writing career!

Naomi gives concrete, actionable advice about how to get testimonials and a portfolio when you’re just starting out. If you’re an experienced freelancer, you’ll find this a bit basic – but it’s invaluable advice if you’re at the starting-out stage.

The section on using a blog to market your business is brilliant: my blogging is not (and never has been) primarily a method of advertising my services, but a lot of freelancers do have a blog for marketing purposes. It’s very easy to get this wrong, and Naomi sets you on the right path here. She also has some great advice on what information you need to provide for prospective clients. And the “random thoughts” section at the end of this audio contains brilliant gems.

Video

Again, the video reinforces the information from the audio, and takes it further with specific examples and further discussion.

One of the most intriguing parts of this video for me was when Jamie went through an example testimonial, demonstrating why some negativity (in the context of an overall positive piece of feedback) can be a good thing.

Jamie gives a couple of examples of great portfolios, which gives you a great visual feel for how you could put together a similar page on your own site.  He emphasises how you can use a “blurb” about each job, and about what the client wanted, to create a great portfolio page.

I felt that I learned a little more from the audio than the video here, but that the video was very helpful for giving specific examples – and for making it easy to “see” what Naomi and Jamie are trying to teach. This video also has the rather amusing moment where Jamie briefly “loses” an article that’s on the screen right in front of him (at the 17.20 minute mark).

There are short promotional tips scattered throughout, like using sites like Yahoo Answers and LinkedIn, and giving away (or selling) blog themes.

Selling Physical Products

Audio

Although I’m not about to get into the physical product market any time soon, I do have a couple of ideas floating around, so I found this module interesting. For me, it’s also the module when I’m at a complete beginner level of expertise: Naomi starts off with the basics like where to sell stuff online, and I’d heard of Etsy and looked into Cafe Press, but hadn’t heard of Zazzle before.

Naomi goes through the two key ways to sell, and explains how search engine traffic typically converts (or doesn’t!) into buyers. If you’re considering using pay-per-click advertising, there’s a whole section here which could save you burning money.

She goes on to give great tips for marketing to the groups of people who might not be the most obvious ones – and how to sell when your product isn’t one that people would think to search for.

There are concrete “dos” and “don’ts” for your business website, like accepting PayPal payments, and not making buyers create an account to buy. Some of the tips are ones I’d never have thought of, because I tend to assume that most buyers behave like me: I’ll quote just one – “Remind people they can buy 24 hours a day. You’d be surprised by how many people don’t know.”

Video

Jamie gives a great demonstration of the points Naomi makes about using advertising, and also on foveal view (Naomi explains what that means in the audio – it’s basically about avoiding making the customer move their eyes around the screen too much).

One particular point of interest for me was High Rise, which I’d never heard of before: the reasons why to use it (or some other CRM) are thought-provoking. My only quibble is that this might fit more naturally in the service businesses module, rather than the physical products module – since service businesses would generally have fewer customers and a more personalised relationship with them.

As with the coaching and consulting module, I did feel that some of the information could have been removed from this video and used for a general video: the section on PayPal is applicable to several of the other modules. (Though what Jamie says on the psychology of why people might want to pay via PayPal is insightful.)

Selling Ebooks and Downloads

Audio

Naomi has a lot of experience with ebooks and downloads (including co-publishing How to Launch the **** Out of Your Ebook with Dave Navarro) – and it really shines through here. She gives the good, and the bad, about ebooks and about other forms of downloadable content, like audio and video. She’s honest about the amount of effort ebooks take.

I’ve written a couple of ebooks in my time, and edited a few for other people, but I’ve not yet had any involvement with audio content. The section of this module that covered audio was of particular interest; it brought up loads of points I’d not have thought of myself (and which, when I do come to make audio recordings, will probably save me from making a lot of dumb mistakes).

Naomi covers the use of video quite briefly in the audio, but I found her points useful: especially about the different benefits of screencasts and of live video.

She also gives some quick tips about launching ebooks and downloadable products: again, I was left wanting more (hmm, I guess that’s what How to Launch the **** Out of Your Ebook is for…) but this was valuable content in its own right.

Video

I picked up some particularly valuable tips from the video, especially about creating an ebook cover and giving people a visual sense of your ebook as a product. Again, this is an example of where the video content works really well to show something that would be tricky to describe in the audio.

Jamie makes some good points that I’d not have considered (because I’m fairly familiar with both ebooks and copyright law): like making it clear to people they’re not going to receive a physical product in the post, and also make it clear that they can’t print and sell your ebook.

Another interesting angle was the use of video or audio on sales pages, for those who prefer to watch a demonstration or listen to an explanation rather than read sales copy.

One minor niggle – I can completely understand why Jamie and Naomi didn’t want to single out bad examples of ebooks and downloads, but it might have been useful to see the “what not to do” (even with details blacked out if necessary). Also, in places, this was a bit too basic for me; Jamie shows us what an ebook looks like and explains how it opens in Adobe reader. I recognise, though, that Online Business School is aimed at beginners, and I’ve had a reasonable amount of ebook / download experience.

Creating Niche Websites

Audio

This is some of the clearest, most succinct and straightforward advice I’ve seen on niche websites. It’s something I was looking into a few months ago, and I got very frustrated trying to find good quality free information online.

(If you’re in a similar position, great news! You can actually get this audio module FREE – just go to the Online Business School sales page and scroll down to near the bottom, where it says “This is the full audio module from the Niche Websites module of the course.”)

You might find that some of the advice feels a bit repetitive of SEO School (if you’ve not got that and you’re doing – or planning to do – any sort of business online, check out my review, because you probably need to get hold of a copy). I’m glad Naomi includes this here, though: she actually comes right out and says “I’m not going to try and sell you SEO School, but if you already have it, go back and read it again. It will help. For the rest of you, here are a few tips.”

The information on domain and website flipping is great for helping you understand these concepts, and for giving you some rule-of-thumb ways to price your websites.

Video

I’ve never knowingly seen a niche website, though I’m sure I have stumbled across them. So having Jamie show us an example of an actual niche website (and how it’s monetised) was really useful.

I was glad Jamie just referred to and briefly outlined the AdSense tutorial, rather than spending screen time going through it. The advice on selecting keyword phrases, when using AdWords, was a bit repetitive of information in the “physical products” module – I’d personally have preferred it if Jamie just referred us back to that. Yes, reiteration is good, but I can always replay the module if I want to hear it again!

Some of the information about AdWords is quite basic – but I did pick up a few things I didn’t know, and some useful pointers about things like seasonal trends. It struck me that quite a bit of this content could be applicable to the other modules, so even if niche sites really aren’t your thing, you might find this handy. Ditto with the information on ezine articles.

And if you think keyword density only matters for SEO, watch this (from around the 16.38 mark).

There’s some handy visuals and explanations of sites where you can “flip” (sell) websites and domains. These sites have always scared me off in the past, so it was good to have it explained in a clear way.

Oh, and there’s a lovely moment at around the 5.30 minute mark when Naomi brings Jamie a coffee … aww!

Affiliate Marketing

Audio

As usual, Naomi has the beginner in mind, and starts with an explanation of what affiliate marketing is. Also, she puts to rest some preconceptions that you might have (I know I did) about affiliate marketing being sleazy.

Her tips on how to find products to promote were really useful: I’ve realised that some of my favourite sites have affiliate programs. The specific tips on how to use affiliate links are also really helpful, and the warnings: for example, I’d not have otherwise thought to check about minimum payouts.

This module is packed with really specific, easy-to-implement tips about affiliate marketing: things that you’d otherwise end up discovering by trial and error. This is the sort of content that Online Business School really excels in, and I’d bet that the course could easily pay for itself if you follow just a handful of these.

Naomi gives great advice on quite specific situations that you might encounter, such as wanting to recommend a fab product which has a sucky sales page.

Basically, if you end up buying Online Business School because of the review you’re reading – hey, this module has done its job, and you, I and Naomi are all winners …

Video

Jamie shows a host of different sites that you can help you find affiliate programmes, and gives some visual examples of how you might want to go about promoting products (demoing this with an actual IttyBiz post). This got me going with some brainstorming.

One of the most useful parts of this video for me was the section about modifying standard ads to give them a different look, or to integrate them into your blog’s design – the video format is really useful here, as Jamie can give us a live example of a blog which uses ads in this way. There are some great tips in this section, such as not using the first/default ad option, since this will be the ad that most affiliates use.

For some reason, the audio part of the video cuts out exactly on the 24 minute mark. I thought this was my computer at first, so downloaded the video again: same thing. I’ve let Naomi and Jamie know.

Bonuses

No pricy online course would be complete without bonuses. There’s great news here, though: the bonuses aren’t crap and several are ones I’d thought of buying at full price.

(Note –these don’t appear in your inbox when you first buy and download the course – you’ll get an email with a link to the page where you can download them all, along with the video content.)

Emergency Money Plan – a 15 minute video from Naomi herself. This is a fast, no-nonsense guide on how to get money fast, like, when you need it by the end of the month. Naomi makes no bones about saying that some of these methods are not sustainable in the long-term, but they are quick fixes for those who really need them.

(Hint, though, if you’re desperate for quick cash, sinking $397 into Online Business School might not be the smartest thing you can do right now…)

Rolodex of Resources – again, from Naomi herself. Really handy list of services and sites that IttyBiz uses. If you like the resource lists in books like The Four Hour Work Week, you’ll find this handy too. It could save a lot of Googling.

30 Hours a Day (first two modules) – Time management program from Dave Navarro at Rock Your Day. These alone have been responsible for me clearing some time, sitting myself down, and getting this review done today.

SEO Nomicon – by Michael Martine. I’m not too sure what “Nomicon” means, except that it’s the name of a death/thrash/black metal band (which is about one shade too dark for my tastes in metal, alas).

Michael’s SEO Nomicon deals with the dark art of SEO, though in a good way: we’re talking white-hat here. I’ve not had a chance to listen to the audio files yet, but I was very impressed with the SEO Nomicon ebook. Michael covers some of the same ground as Naomi does in SEO School – though Naomi’s focus is primarily on small businesses, whereas Michael is writing purely for bloggers. Some of the advice overlapped with Naomi’s, but there was also plenty of new material.

For bloggers, parts of this ebook could easily be used as a checklist for writing a great, SEO-optimised post (that’s how I plan to use it). I felt that it was targeted at a slightly more advanced market than SEO School: Michael doesn’t assume that you have any familiarity with SEO, but he does seem to be writing for established bloggers.

The Inspiration Kick and The Epiphany Kick – Audio files (short ones) from Havi Brooks. I’ve told myself they’re “not my kind of thing” and haven’t listened to them yet. As soon as I get round to listening to them, I’ll probably kick myself for not doing it sooner, of course.

Stress is for Suckers – by Tim Brownson. Tim is my favourite life coach in the whole world, and I already had this ebook, but oh well. It’s a great read, like anything of Tim’s: funny and profound and kinda mind-altering but in a good way.

50 Things Your Customers Wish You Knew – by Sonia Simone. Sonia is probably my favourite copywriter in the whole world, and I’m on her mailing list and subscribe to her blog and read her posts avidly … sooo I already have this. It’s a brilliant, succinct, read, and very thought-provoking.

Write for the Web – a full ebook (normally retailing at $19, I think) by James Chartrand and Harrison McLeod – you might know them better as the Men with Pens. I’d thought about buying this in the past, but didn’t. I’m sort of glad, now (sorry guys!), because it’s very much aimed at beginners. It’s got some great advice on the business and marketing side of being an online freelancer writers, which I didn’t expect – I thought it was more going to be a “how to write” guide. This could be very useful if you’re just starting out with freelance writing online.

Niche Control Silos – by Josh Hohman. This didn’t have much of especial interest to me, but would be useful for anyone in the niche website area.

Overall

Things I Really Liked

Online Business School offers honest, solid, long-term advice: Naomi and Jamie are clearly people of integrity. That might seem like an odd thing to say in a review – but I get a nasty taste in my mouth when I see people promoting shady ways to make a quick buck. The message you get from Online Business School is that honest, caring, conscientious business owners win out in the online world – just as in the offline one. It’s a powerful and encouraging message to take away.

Naomi and Jamie have an easy, friendly way of talking that doesn’t seem at all hyped or patronising: they never talk down to you, not even when explaining very basic things (like what an ebook actually is).

I’ve found that going over the material multiple times – and taking notes – really helps make the most of it. For me, this is great news; it means the course is truly content-packed. Which, frankly, when I’ve handed over several hundred dollars, I want to be pretty sure about!

Things I Didn’t Like So Much

The price. This isn’t just Online Business School: I generally feel that online products are quite prohibitively priced. Don’t get me wrong, Online Business School is a very good six-part training course for would-be online business owners, but it’s priced at a point which makes it a stretch for many would-be IttyBiz owners.

In fairness, I do think I’ll make back the money I spent in terms of extra sales, extra advertising and affiliate income, and extra productive time saved by not trawling through dubious websites for half-complete information.

Verdict

If you can afford Online Business School, buy it. Don’t be put off if you think you’ll only use one or two of the modules: you’ll find a handful of tips that apply to you in each of them, and who knows, they might just set you off towards a whole new stream of income that you’d not considered before…

If you’re already an expert in several of these areas, you don’t really need this. But heck, if you’re already an expert, you’ve probably got plenty of dosh to throw around, so you can probably afford to buy it for the extra hints, tips and ideas you do pick up.