Question 1

What are Stock Markets?

Accepted Answer

This video is an introduction to the basic ideas behind stock markets, including:

Why companies offer stock to the public
Why people buy and sell stock
Why stock prices change
How we measure the stock markets using indices

Video Transcript:

The numbers we see every business day can tell us important information about our economy, but where do they come from and what do they mean?

Let's get started by talking about companies. There are two basic types. The first is called a private company. Ownership in these companies is private, which means it's not available to everyone. They are usually small to medium-sized and there are a lot of them, from the bakery down the street to a local trucking company. Private companies are typically owned by an individual or a small group of people. Because ownership is limited, we won't worry about them.

Our focus is on companies that offer ownership to everyone. These are called "public" companies. Here's how they work.

Let's say Zipper Corp is a successful company that has big plans. It wants to expand and build a button factory, but it doesn't have enough money. Because it's a public company, Zipper Corp can divide up the ownership of part of the company into thousands of pieces and sell them to people like Maya. These are company stock, also called shares. This way, Maya gets to own a small part of the company and Zipper Corp can raise money for their new factory. Being a public company allows Zipper Corp to raise money from lots of new owners like Maya.

Now, Maya's share of the company has a value that typically changes each business day. When Zipper Corp is doing well, the future of the company can look promising. This means the value of the company and the value of her shares may go up. People like Maya buy shares because they can make money by selling them at the right time. The big idea is to buy shares at a low price and sell them at a higher price. Of course, this is risky, because a company's future is hard to predict.

For example, people who believe the button factory is a good move, may want to buy Zipper Corp shares because they think the value will increase. People who believe the button factory is a bad idea, may want to sell Zipper Corp shares because they think the value will decrease. This means the company stock has both buyers and sellers.

Each business day, shares change hands, depending on how people feel about the company's future value. Some days there's more buying which can cause the stock price to rise. Some days there's more selling which can cause the stock price to fall. This is true for each public company in the market. As people buy and sell shares, stock prices can change each day. It's these exchanges, across thousands of companies and millions of people that make up a stock market.

When you see news that a stock market rose, it generally means that across public companies, the value of shares went up more than they went down. This is usually considered good news. People feel good about the future, and they're buying shares.

Now, because there are thousands of companies, there has to be an easy way to see the big picture across the market. We do this with an index, which is an average of a specific group of stock prices. Indices help us understand if markets went up or down on a given day by looking at the performance of a group of companies. For example, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is an average of the stock prices of 30 large US companies. The S&P 500 is an average of 500 companies.

We hear a lot about stock markets in the U.S., but there are stock markets all over the world. In each market, companies share ownership with the public and that ownership is exchanged over and over. And we get to see how it all comes together across public companies thanks to indices we see in the news each business day.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here: DotComTruths.com

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 2

What is an Online Citizenship

Accepted Answer

Sometimes communicating via computers can feel anonymous and make people lose touch with the impact of what they say online. This video highlights the problems this causes and explains a basic idea: that our words matter, online and off. It teaches:

Why citizenship matters in the real world
How one person can behave differently online and off
What happens when someone forgets that real people get their comments
Why citizenship is important online and off

Video Transcript:

Most people are good citizens in the offline world. They are kind to others, they obey laws and want their community to be a better place.

But these days many of us are also citizens of the online world. We participate in discussions, share photos, and get help using websites. While this makes communication faster and easier, it can also cause problems.

Stewart is a good guy. He cares about the feelings of others and avoids saying insensitive things at the dinner table. He would never call someone a hurtful name on the street or yell rude comments in a restaurant.

But when Stewart goes online, he seems to become a different person. In his mind, the Internet is the wild, wild west, where he doesn’t need to use his real name. He feels anonymous.

He often writes provocative comments on blogs and video websites without contributing anything valuable. His discussions on Twitter are often mean-spirited and personal. And sometimes he writes to companies using unnecessary profanity. It’s kind of a joke to him - a way to mess with people.

Recently a friend recognized his online name on a few comments and gave him a call. She had seen horrible things that he said to her brother online, and wanted Stewart to know that it hurt him, personally. She had one question for Stewart: Why?

Stewart was speechless - he never meant to hurt anybody. Before that moment, he never even considered the real people who were the targets of his comments. As icons on a computer screen, it was easy to feel disconnected. He didn't have to see their faces or reactions - it was like they weren't real.

But that all changed. Suddenly he could see that real people, just like the ones across from him at dinner, received and read his words online - and those words mattered. He also realized that his family uses the Internet every day. And if everyone behaved like him, it could become a pretty bad place.

Now he sees that citizenship means giving people the same respect he does in the real world, even when he disagrees with them. We all want to live in safe, productive communities and that takes awareness and effort from all of us, online and off.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here: DotComTruths.com

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 3

What is Peer Review?

Accepted Answer

When it comes to credible sources of information, peer reviewed articles set the standard. That’s because the peer review process is designed to make credibility a priority. This video explains the concept of peer review and how it applies to research and what we understand about the world. It teaches:

Why credible, trustworthy information is essential
Why articles published in peer reviewed journals are more trustworthy
How the peer review process works
How “peers” evaluate articles and ensure integrity
What makes peer reviewed articles different from other sources

Video Transcript:

Researching a topic can be difficult when we have to sift through a huge amount of information. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and frustrated when you don’t know what information to trust. 

A key skill in research is efficiently separating the trustworthy information from the biased or misleading information. One way to do this is to use articles from peer reviewed journals.

Think about it like this… On one side we have researchers working hard to understand or develop something new, like a drug. On the other side is the public who could benefit from new findings and discoveries. The researchers want their findings to be shared with the public and have a positive impact. To accomplish this, their work must be deemed trustworthy and credible. 

The problem is that some research is done poorly and could mislead or harm people. So, we need a way to ensure that the most credible research reaches the public.  This job is often accomplished by professional or peer reviewed journals that serve as gatekeepers for new research. These journals review and analyze the new information and will only publish findings they find trustworthy and up to their standards.

This process is called Peer Review and a journal’s reputation depends on it. Here’s how it works…  

Dimitri and Denise have conducted a study on soil quality that they believe will help farmers. With the study complete, they write an article explaining the study’s goals, methods, findings and recommendations, and submit the paper to the Journal of Soil Quality. 

The journal then assembles a panel of experts or “peers” who specializes in soil to read the article, without knowing who wrote it, and investigates the team’s information. It’s this panel of experts who decides if Dimitri and Denise’s article meets or exceeds the standards for publishing in the journal. The peer reviewers may accept the paper and recommend it for publishing, request changes before accepting it, or reject the paper completely. It’s this peer review process that helps ensure only credible information is published in the journal.

Dimitri and Denise’s article was accepted by the panel with minor revisions and published for future reference. Unlike blog posts, books or even newspaper articles, peer reviewed journals use a rigorous process designed to make trustworthiness and credibility the highest priority. 

When doing research, keep peer reviewed journals and articles in mind because they’ve done the hard work to establish what research can be trusted and their work can save you valuable time.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here: DotComTruths.com

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 4

What is Project Based Learning?

Accepted Answer

Education can be more interesting and effective by focusing students on work that matters. Project Based Learning focuses on involving students in projects that teach a variety of skills. Key points in this video are:

How critical thinking, collaboration and communication help everyone in the real world
How PBL helps develop these skills in students
An example of a teacher who uses PBL in the classroom to get students involved in asking questions, doing research, collaborating and communicating
The impact of learning a subject in-depth via PBL and presenting the results to others

Presentation Note: This video is courtesy of BIE.org and includes a title slide at the end of the video.

Video Transcript:

You remember what it was like in school. IT WAS BORING! You sat in class, memorized as much as you could and tried to pass a test at the end. But is that good enough? These days school can be more interesting and effective by focusing students on work that matters.

Most adults live in a world of projects. Whether it’s a job assignment, home improvement or planning a wedding, we need to actively solve problems. But unfortunately, schoolwork looks more like this than this.

Let’s take a look at this Project Based World. Meet Claire. She was recently presented with a challenge. Her company, Super Suds, makes soap and it was up to her to find the most earth-friendly way to produce it in the future. Her boss gave her a budget and a few requirements - and it was up to her to come up with a solution. She organized and managed a team who researched the options and created materials summarizing the issues. Claire’s team asked for feedback and presented their findings to the boss.

Claire came out of the project looking like a rock star and she learned a lot about green products. If you look closely, Claire’s success involved critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. Things that aren’t often taught in traditional classrooms.

The world needs more Claires. So how do we get them?

The answer is Project Based Learning or PBL. By focusing students on a project, teachers put them on a path that deepens their knowledge and builds skills they’ll need in the future.

Here’s what I mean. Mr. Simmons has always been a good science teacher and his students do well on Fridays’ tests. Unfortunately, what they learned was gone by Saturday morning. That wasn’t good enough for him. Soon he learned about Project Based Learning and decided to give it a shot.

Mr. Simmons got the idea for his first project on microorganisms when nearly half of his students were suddenly absent with the flu. He asked his students why they thought so many of their classmates got sick at the same time. That lively discussion produced a lot of good questions and a list of things the kids wanted to know. Mr. Simmons then announced their project was to help elementary schools kids understand - How can we not get sick?

After dividing the class into teams, he got them started on the project. It was up to the students to ask questions, research, collaborate, give each other feedback and figure out the best ways to make their points clear to children. One team chose to make an educational video on the connection between hand washing and avoiding the flu. Another chose to create posters to show how viruses spread.

The project teams showed off their final work to an enthusiastic audience of parents and their children at a nearby elementary school. Sitting in the front row was our good friend and local rock star Claire, who saw a bit of herself in the students. It was clear that the project was a success for the students, the audience, and Mr. Simmons.

His students practiced critical thinking, collaboration and communication. The project wasn’t about memorization, but learning in-depth about viruses and how to prevent spreading disease - A lesson they will never forget.

At the end of the presentation, Claire introduced herself to the students and told them that they were rockstars, and that the world needs more people who can think like them.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here: DotComTruths.com

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 5

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Accepted Answer

Affiliate marketing can help individuals earn a living by promoting products and services they love online. But how the system works is complicated and comes with important best practices. It teaches:

Why affiliate marketing is like word-of-mouth marketing
How affiliate programs provide links and graphics to affiliates
How affiliate links and graphics are used in promotions
How revenue is shared when a website visitor buys from an affiliate link
Why it is important to disclose affiliate program participation

Video Transcript:

Companies always need ways to reach new customers. Some may buy expensive TV commercials, pay to have ads on websites or even hire someone to dance at intersections.

But many companies know that nothing beats a friend telling another friend about a product they love.

It’s this kind of person-to-person connection that helped a new marketing idea become popular. It’s called affiliate marketing.

Meet Shauna, who has a popular blog about books. Among her friends and fans, she is known for great book advice and has started looking for a way to earn money for all the time she spends on the site.

Recently she learned that her favorite online bookseller offers an affiliate program. By becoming an affiliate, she could earn money by promoting books on her site. Here’s how it works.

Once Shauna joins the program, she gets special links, or even graphics, to use whenever she writes about books online. These links are unique to her as an affiliate. If one of her readers buys the book using the affiliate link, Shauna earns a percentage of the purchase price.

Over time, these small payments can add up and she can earn money by simply writing about and linking-to her favorite books.

Before using affiliate links, she did research and learned about best practices. Her fans love her website because she’s honest and authentic. They trust her advice. Because she earns money from their purchases, she has the responsibility to be clear about her participation in the program. This could mean adding a disclosure to her site or labeling affiliate links differently. Her fans don’t mind - they just want to know.

Affiliate programs are popular because they give businesses a way to reach potential customers, through people like Shauna. And when an affiliate helps someone discover something new, they can earn a little money that helps support their passion.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here: DotComTruths.com

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 6

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Accepted Answer

What it teaches:

This video uses a recipe analogy to explain the importance of search engine rankings and what can help your site achieve higher rankings. It teaches:

How search engines evaluate websites
The importance of words and titles in rankings
The importance of quality links and content

Video Transcript:

Imagine for a minute that you’re a librarian, but not a normal one. You’re a librarian for every book in the world. People depend on you every day to find the exact book they need. How do you do it?

You need a system. You need to know what’s inside every book and how books relate to each other. Your system needs to take in a lot information and spit out the best answers for a patron’s questions. It’s not an easy job.

Search engines like Google and Bing are the librarians of the Internet. Their systems collect information about every page on the web so they can help people find exactly what they are looking for. And every search engine has a secret recipe, called an algorithm - for turning all that information into useful search results.

Now, if you own a website, search results matter. When your pages have higher rankings, they help more people find you. The key to higher rankings is making sure your website has the ingredients search engines need for their recipes. This is called search engine optimization or SEO.

As it turns out, most of the big ingredients are known. Let’s take a look...

First, words matter. Search engines account for every word on the web. This way, when someone searches for “shoe repair” the search engines can narrow the results to only the pages that are about those words.

Second, titles matter. Each page on the web has an official title, but you may not ever see it because it’s in the code. Search engines pay a lot of attention to page titles because they often summarize the page, like a book’s title.

Third, links between websites matter. When one web page links to another, it’s usually a recommendation, telling readers “this site has good information”. A web page with a lot of links coming to it can look good to search engines.

But some people try to fool the search engines by creating or buying bogus links all over the web that point to their own website. Usually search engines can detect when a site has a lot of them. And they account for it by giving links from trustworthy sites more weight in the recipe.

Fourth, the words that are used in links matter too. If your webpage says “Amazon has lots of books” and the word “books” is linked, search engines can establish that amazon.com is related to the word “books”. This way when someone searches for books, that site will rank well.

Lastly, search engines care about reputation. Sites with a consistent record of fresh engaging content and growing numbers of quality links may be considered rising stars and do well in search rankings.

These are just the basics and the recipes are refined and changed all the time. Good SEO is about making sure your website has great content that supported by the ingredients that search engines need for their recipes.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here:https://www.dotcomtruths.com/

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 7

What is Social Media?

Accepted Answer

What it teaches:

Using an analogy of a town going through a big change, this video explains the basic forces driving the growth, adoption and use of social media. It teaches:

Why social media is different from traditional media
What makes media social today
How fans play a role in deciding what should be findable and popular
The benefits of social media to individuals and organizations

Video Transcript:

I’m sure you’ve heard the buzz. Social Media may be the next big thing. What’s it all about?

Let’s take a visit to Scoopville, a town that’s famous for ice cream. For over 20 years, Big Ice Cream Company has been making high quality ice cream with a big factory in town. A few years back, the company did focus groups and found out that they could maximize profits by offering three flavors: Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry.

The residents of the town were content. They never thought it could be different. Then something happened in Scoopville – A new invention came to town. Suddenly, everyone could make their own ice cream for only a few dollars. This changed everything.

The Smiths decided to make pineapple ice cream. The Jones’ made ice cream with pecans. Soon, every kind of ice cream imaginable was being made by scoopville’s residents at very little cost.

Of course, some ice cream was more popular than others and that was okay. Sylvia’s pickle ice cream had a very small but loyal following. That was fine. She only needed enough income to buy ingredients for her next batch. Jarret’s red velvet ice cream became so famous, he created his own store. Over time, people started to think differently about ice cream.

It didn’t always come from a factory. It also came from friends and neighbors. It became something to share, something to bring people together, something to celebrate. Big Ice Cream company still made the best vanilla around, and to their surprise, demand even grew. But it was the unique, original and authentic flavors made by the residents, that brought people to Scoopville.

When they arrived, however, there seemed to be a problem. There were too many flavors. Visitors felt overwhelmed. They needed ways to find the new, the popular, the flavors that were interesting to them.

Franklin had an idea for his ice cream. Outside his house, he erected a board and invited his customers to share their thoughts on his ice cream. They could use words to describe it, stars to rate it, and leave messages for others. People loved it.

At a glance, visitors could tell what his ice cream was all about, and learn from people like them. Over time, each resident had their own board. Sylvia’s board showed that her pickle ice cream didn’t please everyone, but was very unique and interesting. Jarret’s board overflowed with positive reviews and ratings.

Soon, a few things became clear. First, their ice cream got better because they could learn directly from customers. Second, free customer reviews were more valuable than costly advertising. And third, the boards created a way for customers to find exactly what they wanted.

The combination of new technology and new ways to work with customers helped the residents feel like a unique community. So, this is social ice cream – by the people, for the people. It turns out that ice cream and social media have a lot in common.

Today, everyone has a chance to make their own flavors, thanks to free tools like blogs, podcasts, and video sharing. Plus, we now have new ways for real people to play a role in providing feedback, organization and promotion. Whether you’re a big established company, an individual with loyal fans, or simply someone with ideas and opinions, social media means new ways to create and communicate with people who care.

New tools are arriving in cities and towns around the world. When this change comes to your neighborhood, the choice is yours. What flavors will you make?

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here:https://www.dotcomtruths.com/

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 8

What is Public Domain?

Accepted Answer

What it teaches:

Using an example of a song written three generations ago, this video shows why it makes sense that public domain exists and what it means when a song, photo, artwork, document or other creative work is in the public domain. This video teaches:

The basics of copyright law and how it gives creators control
Why copyrights expire over time
How public domain works are available for use without payment or permission
Why creators and organizations contribute to the public domain
How to find public domain resources

Video Transcript:

Imagine for a moment, you’ve written a song and people love it. Because you wrote it, you own it and can use it to earn a living and control if and how it is used by others.

This is the basic idea of copyright law.

These laws make it possible for creative people to earn a living from their creations. But copyright has limits.

Let’s fast-forward to three generations from now. By this time in future, the song lives on and could be useful to others, but you’re not around to control ownership or make money from it.

The question becomes: If someone wants to use your song after so much time, should permission still be required?

Or, does it make more sense for the copyright to expire after a period of time and for the song to be open for use by everyone without permission or payment? This is one way to think about works that are not copyrighted and in the public domain.

In most countries, creative works can only be owned for a period of time. Once that time passes, the story, diagram, song, photograph or any other creative work becomes part of the public domain and is available for use without payment or permission.

This means a huge amount of older creative work is available for use. Want to use a song in your commercial? If the song is in the public domain you can use it for free and without permission!

Want to use an old image to create art? Public domain photos are available without a fee or permission. But the public domain contains much more than old articles, songs and art.

The owner of any creative work can choose to make it part of the public domain at any time.

Many creators contribute their work to the public domain to encourage use by others and contribute to a publicly shared resource.

Further, some organizations don’t use copyright for their publications, making them part of the public domain. For example, most works created by the U.S. government like reports and statistics are not copyrighted as a matter of policy and are free to use in the U.S.

The real beauty of the public domain is that it is a truly public resource that is not controlled by any government, organization or person.

You can find huge collections of public domain materials with a simple online search.

And unlike copyright, which requires permission from the creator, public domain works can modified, reproduced or distributed without payment or permission.

If you’re ready to get creative, works in the public domain may be a perfect place to start.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here:https://www.dotcomtruths.com/

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 9

What is affiliate marketing?

Accepted Answer

Affiliate marketing can help individuals earn a living by promoting products and services they love online. But how the system works is complicated and comes with important best practices. It teaches:

Why affiliate marketing is like word-of-mouth marketing
How affiliate programs provide links and graphics to affiliates
How affiliate links and graphics are used in promotions
How revenue is shared when a website visitor buys from an affiliate link
Why it is important to disclose affiliate program participation