The Jewish Guide to Success on the Web: How to Achieve Your Goals & Live Your Values Online

By Naomi Elbinger

A Publication By

P a g e | 2

This book may be freely distributed so long as it is whole, intact and not altered in any way and the author is given full credit.

The content of this ebook is compiled from the author’s own knowledge and experience, and it should not be taken as professional, legal or halachic guidance.

CONTENTS

How to Read this Book ...... 4 Why Read This Book? ...... 5 Why Didn’t Anyone Read Your Last Blog Post? ...... 6 My Latest Failed Business Venture ...... 8 How Much Money Do I Make From Blogging? ...... 13 The Top 11 Orthodox Jewish Websites in the World...... 16 My Top Four Lame Excuses for Violating The Copyrights of My Fellow Jews ...... 20 Can Jewish Websites Make Money? ...... 22 The Halachas of Facebook and Google: A Rabbi and a Web Marketer Discuss ...... 30 Is Your Website Breaking Shabbos? ...... 34 Jews Don’t Collect Interest… Except When We Do ...... 37 Acknowledgements ...... 41 About the Author...... 42

HOW TO READ THIS BOOK

This book is a series of articles that can be read in any order you choose. Start with the one that most catches your attention.

In order to maximize your enjoyment of this book, I recommend that your print it out and read it in comfort. Reading it on an e-reader or tablet can also be good, if you prefer that.

Most people find reading on a desktop or laptop to be uncomfortable, stressful and far from enjoyable.

So if you are sitting in front of a desk right now, I highly recommend you consider those other options.

I want you to enjoy reading this book!

WHY READ THIS BOOK?

This book has been created for you, with three goals in mind:

1. To inform you: If you share an interest in business, marketing and/or Judaism, this book will open your horizons to new ideas and information can help you solve common problems and see new opportunities for success. 2. To entertain you: This book is written to make you think and make you laugh. I’m assuming that you like doing those things. 3. To engage you: It is my hope that the messages of this book regarding business, marketing, Torah, integrity and overcoming various challenges, will speak to your heart, as well as your mind.

May we all be blessed to find success in our endeavors while remaining true to the values that we hold dearest.

Naomi Elbinger

Jerusalem

April 2013

PS. If you are not already getting my free email updates, subscribe now

WHY DIDN’T ANYONE READ YOUR LAST BLOG POST?

Are you spending hours writing brilliant blog posts, only to be faced with a mere bump in your traffic?

If you never want that to happen again, these tips are for you.

Let’s define a beginner blogger as someone whose posts usually get less than 100 views in the first day. Obviously anyone with a big following (e.g. email subscribers or Facebook likers), finds it easy to get hundreds or thousands of views for every post they write, even if it’s just their shopping list.

Not only that, but they will get dozens of comments and shares for their mediocre ramblings!

But beginner bloggers can’t get away with that. If we want to get big traffic to my posts, we follow these 5 rules:

1. A Hot Topic – Since you are not (yet) a power-blogger you cannot just write whatever you feel like and hope that hundreds of strangers will care. You might have a lot of good points to make about baking or skin care or management consulting, but you run the risk of being drowned out by the heavyweights who already writing about these topics. Here are three tried-and-true ways to get people’s attention for your post: a. Relate it to a hot news item (e.g. Bin Laden’s Babka Recipe); b. Drop the name of a celebrity (Madonna’s Babka Recipe); c. Relate it to an upcoming event that everyone is thinking about (Lag Ba’Omer Babka Recipe????).

As long as there is some connection between Bin Laden and babka in your article, you’re good to go.

2. An Intriguing Headline – The main factor that will determine whether anyone will read begin to your post is the headline. So don’t blow this sink-or-swim opportunity to get their attention. If you have a hot topic, writing a good headline is easier. I think a good headline should be intriguing, it should raise a question in a person’s mind that is interesting enough that they really want to find out the answer, i.e. read your post. Just think, if I had called this article: “Great ideas to get more views for your blog posts.” Would you want to read it? 3. An Eye-Catching Image – Everyone enjoys seeing a picture among text. It really adds quality to your blog. But the real need for an image is that if you want your post to be shared on Facebook, an eye-catching image will attract more people to click on it. Of course, if you are writing about a hot topic, eye-catching images are usually easy to find. 4. A Like Button – Speaking of Facebook, you should be using a plugin to put a “like” button at the end of every post (and a tweet button too). Whenever, anyone finishes an article, they have this split second of indecision where they are not sure what to do next. If your post was worth reading (and especially if it was related to a hot topic), they will

often click that “Like” button – and that means more traffic for your blog post. You can also actively encourage people to click “like,” but only do this is you really think your post is the kind of thing people will share. 5. A 5-minute Social Media Campaign – You can’t expect anyone to read your post if no one knows that it exists. Assuming that you don’t have many Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn followers or a significant number of email subscribers of your own, there are still ways that you can let people know via social media. For example, you can post on a relevant popular Facebook page or LinkedIn group (this is where your headline and image will play a big role). You can also use any relevant online group or list as a place to promote your posts, just don’t be the nudnik who does it too often. If you are writing about a hot topic, you will find it pretty easy to attract visitors this way.

It seems that all of these points boil down to one main factor: a hot topic. I’m not saying that you should only write about hot topics, but you should write them on a regular basis as a way to attract that initial traffic that you can convert into loyal subscribers and likers. I’ve used this formula a few times now and it always works for me.

Here’s a simple example: I remember a few years ago when the world was a-buzz with the Royal Wedding in England, I decided to write a post about it for my Yiddish translation site. What does the Royal Wedding have to do with translating old Yiddish letters? Gornisht! But I was determined to make the most of this molten hot topic by writing a post about it for the blog.

With a little creativity, I came up with a silly and attention-grabbing post called “Will and Kate Plan Jewish Dance for Royal Wedding.”

The result: I got a very healthy spike of traffic for this little post (close to 400 views in a few days). And it was all thanks to the Royal Wedding hype and nothing to do with the brilliance of my post, though the post must have been somewhat entertaining because no less than 45 people decided to hit the “like” button at the end of the post. More importantly, this post got us 12 new likers for the website’s Facebook page and 1 great new customer.

But what about SEO? you may ask. Since hot topics cool off pretty quick, the long-term SEO value of these kinds of posts is not great. Nevertheless while the topic is yet smoldering you can get a lot of search engine traffic. (Due to the rumor that Prince William would break a glass, my post got good search engine traffic, even though it is not optimized.)

However, you should still also be writing posts that target keywords with long-term SEO value – after all, SEO is what will keep my sites working on autopilot even when I’m off listening to Avraham Fried perform on a kosher cruise to Alaska.

But until I fulfill that lofty dream of mine, the hot-topic posts are what get my sites noticed today.

MY LATEST FAILED BUSINESS VENTURE

THIS IS OUR CHICKEN, SAMI. OR IS IT HENI?

Six months ago, I launched a micro-farming business.

What I mean by that is that we got two white hens.

A neighbor offered them to us for free, and I thought it would be fun to get fresh, free- range eggs every day. I was a little nervous and also excited as I carried them home in a quivering cardboard box last November.

We built them a coop, fed them well, and then excitedly checked daily for eggs.

But, day after day, we didn’t find any.

I ask for advice from a few chicken experts. I got various possible explanations for why they were not producing: the winter was too cold; we were not feeding them enough grains; we did not have a well-appointed “laying box”; snakes were coming and stealing their eggs (!); or, could it be that they were not hens, but roosters?

Based on their advice, we did what we could to fix the situation (though some biological facts are not within our power to change ).

However, six months later there is still not a single egg in sight.

On the other hand, an unexpected benefit came out of our chicken venture. My children adore the chickens, who accept their energetic attentions with absolute docility. My kids spent many hours feeding, petting, playing with and lavishing love on the chickens over Pesach vacation.

At least we were getting some free animal therapy out of the deal!

Last week, my daughter’s kindergarten class paid a visit to our garden and all the girls clamored to play with the chickens. The assistant teacher came over to thank me and then mentioned that her husband is a shochet and can help if we are looking to make some very fresh chicken soup this Shabbos.

A whole new world of possibilities opened before my eyes. Maybe we should cut our losses and shecht these chickens? Then we could get some chicks, which would be fun to raise and would hopefully lay eggs when the time comes.

But how could we eat these girls??? They can be quite grotesquely cute at times.

THE GIRLS SUN-BATHING, WITH THEIR WINGS AND LEGS OUTSTRETCH TO CATCH MORE RAYS. ANYONE FEELING HUNGRY?

Today it occurred to me that my failed chicken venture is a lot like a business venture that doesn’t go as planned. Like most entrepreneurs, I’ve had a few of those over the years.

When I start something new, I’m filled with excitement and confidence in my impending success. I push my nerves aside and take the plunge.

But it usually doesn’t take long to realize that all is not going as planned. My venture does not produce the “Golden Eggs” I was expecting.

I seek the advice of experts and it’s helpful. I tweak my messaging, I invest more in marketing, I repackage my offering. But I discover there is no magical solution to my unique business problem.

I go deeper and try changing my business model. That can be so much work, it’s almost like starting over, and I don’t know if it will pay off. But I have to try!

I consider giving up many times. I dream of starting something completely new, something different and better… but it’s not simple to give up on something I’ve invested so much in.

The more I think about it, the more I’m amazed by the parallels between my chicken venture and some of the more challenging business problems I’ve faced over the years. I realized that my “micro-farm” is a business venture in every sense. It’s just the stakes are much lower than usual.

I guess that’s another unexpected benefits of these two white hens – they encouraged me to take an honest look at what happens when my business dreams do not come true. Whenever I read an interview with a successful entrepreneur who makes it sound like their career was a trajectory of success, I know that they are telling tales.

Failure is something that we all deal with regularly – not just in the past before we “found what works” (as some business gurus would like to tell you).

It’s an integral part of being the kind of person who is willing to take a risk and make their dreams a reality.

Failure is difficult.

And now, onto the next adVenture!

PS. This afternoon my daughter asked me to help her find one of the chickens, who was hiding. After a lot of searching, I found her well-hidden under a fallen tree branch, guarding her treasure.

13 OF THEM!

SELECTED COMMENTS

Rabbi Issamar Ginzberg said:

So does this mean that all those entrepreneurs that failed really succeeded just they didn’t find the success they had because they didn’t look hard enough?

Great story! Thanks for sharing the insights!

Naomi’s Reply:

That’s a good perspective. Here I was blaming those chickens for ruining my arcticle by giving it a happy ending I actually wanted to end this one on a very realistic note. We all fail and that’s OK!

Judy said:

What I LOVE about the metaphor are the following points, NOT in order of importance: a) you had to wait a LOOOOOOONG time for results – so long you had already started to give up. b) there turn out to be other, not quite quantifiable but definitely present benefits to your venture – things you hadn’t planned on or for that you might discover you really, really miss if they were to go away just now.

I’m inspired! Thanks!

Mike said:

So now we know. The chicken came first…..

Naomi’s Reply:

That wins the “comment of the day” award!

HOW MUCH MONEY DO I MAKE FROM BLOGGING?

When I started my first blog in early 2009, I had only the vaguest ideas of what a blog was.

I had not clue what I should write about or how to attract visitors.

All I knew that somehow, someway, it was going to make me a LOT of money. Needless to say, that blog did not earn me a penny. Nor did the next two blogs I started after that .

Since then I’ve learned a lot about how to blog successfully and I’ve also learned about how a blog can make money. One thing is for sure – it is not simple or self-evident. Many people still feel confused or curious about the commercial value of blogging. This became clear last week, when I ran an anonymous reader survey.

In the survey, I asked readers what posts they would like to read in the future and the most popular option was a blog post of this name: “How Much Money Do I Make From Blogging: Naomi Tells All.”

I think it’s a great topic. This is a blog about business, after all, and I like to be open and real in my writing. It’s the best way to help others negotiate the murky waters of running a business and earning a parnasa.

So here’s the Scoop:

HOW MUCH I’M MAKING

Here are some stats about this blog, to help you calculate my Return on Investment:

 Age of Blog = 2.5 years  Number of published posts = 60+  Number of hours invested = 234 hours and 43 minutes (rough estimate )  Capital invested = $90  Total Direct Revenue = $50

Yes! That’s right this blog has directly earned me a grand total of $50. That was last year when an anonymous benefactor clicked on the odesk affiliate link on my blog. Whoever you are – toda raba!

In other words, writing, maintaining and promoting this blog pays me approximately 23 cents per hour.

Maybe I could also add the $300 that I earned in when 3 readers took up my offer for free setup of their WordPress sites when they bought Hostgator hosting through my affiliate link (thanks Daniel, Yael and Yocheved!) But I’m not sure that counts because I spent time setting up their sites (and also hassling Hostgator to pay me my commissions). So in reality, I got paid for my time and skills, not my blog.

THAT’S RIGHT, I DON’T MAKE MONEY FROM BLOGGING

At least, not in the sense that The New York Times makes money from publishing a news site. I don’t sell advertising space. I rarely include affiliate links. I do not have Adsense on this site. I do not use any of the methods that blogs usually use to “make money.”

That’s because my blog is not a business. It’s a communication channel. It allows me to communicate with you and thousands of other people around the world. Some of my readers have become my clients – hiring me for business and marketing consulting and implementation. When I work for them I make money.

The blog has also helped me stand out from the crowd when applying for paying jobs and projects. Potential clients and bosses in my field (marketing) certainly consider my blog a big advantage over other candidates.

Would they have hired me without my blog? Most often not.

Since a blog is a channel of mass communication, I can help many people, even without them hiring me. I give general help through this blog, and people who want individualized help, contact me for more.

In the future, I plan to launch a product offering practical business and marketing guidance to people who want to boost their bottom line, but are not ready to hire me one-on-one.

Would anyone sign up for my product were it not for my blog?

Yes. My Mum probably would.

Some people would argue that I have made a lot of money from my blog – if you count all the clients I’ve attracted through the blog. But that’s not quite the whole picture. It’s kind of like saying that Gap.com’s business model is to have a website that sells clothes. Gap is, first and foremost, its brand and its products. The website is just a channel to communicate with people through.

I run this blog as a communication channel, rather than a business. That’s what I’ve chosen for now, but it’s not the only option. Some people do run their blogs as lucrative businesses.

And that’s good too!

And that’s my tell-all post about my earnings from my blog.

SELECTED COMMENTS:

Suzannah Raff said: Wonderful post, as always, Naomi. I want to point out that if you calculate your profit/loss as cost $90, revenue $50 you are operating at a loss of $40! But I do think that you need to count all of the business you have generated from the wonderful content and knowledge that you share via this blog. After all, that is the goal of a blog like this. Even though you have a nice size, loyal following, I think you would only make pennies adding Adsense or even affiliate links here, which is why you chose not to do so. Advertising only makes money when you have 10s of thousands of readers. In small niche market segments like this one, that’s just not going to happen. The goal then, is marketing and sales – which you’ve accomplished wonderfully. Setting goals is so important in understanding how to achieve success. How do you know you’ve gotten there if you don’t know where you are going!

Naomi’s Reply: Wow. You’re right! I am running at a loss

Yisroel H Levovitz said: Great post! Blogging, like Linkedin or any other method of networking or communication, is not a money maker per se, it’s a connection maker; connections lead to new business opportunities. The key to meeting new clients and vendors and others worthwhile connecting with is to make sure that you remain “relevant” in your particular industry or line of work. You can be the best at any particular skill or service, but unless people remember that you are alive…you are dead (Figuratively , of course).

THE TOP 11 ORTHODOX JEWISH WEBSITES IN THE WORLD

The Jewish web has being growing fast in the past 5 years, and that includes in the Orthodox sector.

Since I receive many queries from people interested in this sector, I decided to create a list of the top sites in various niches of this market. The list has three purposes:  To help businesses who are searching for popular sites in this market to advertise on and promote themselves (not that I endorse paid advertising as a sustainable traffic generation strategy).  To help web publishers working on creating sites similar to these, so that you know what you are up against (not that I recommend banner advertising as the primary way for Jewish websites to make money).  To provide information for curious readers who want to know more the current state of the Orthodox Jewish web

Before we get down to the list, let’s have a disclaimer: All this data comes from Compete.com, which is considered the most accurate web traffic measurement tool. However, it’s certainly not perfectly accurate, especially for non-US traffic, so please consider these figures as rough guide.

In addition, if I have missed any major site, I apologize! Please let me know in the comments. I brainstormed a long list of candidates with a group of fellow Jewish bloggers, but we may have overlooked one or two sites.

And now, the DrumRoll, please….

THE WORLD’S MOST POPULAR FRUM WEBSITE

The winner for the World’s most popular Orthodox Jewish Website is either Chabad.org or Israel National News (AKA Arutz Sheva).

THIS GRAPH AND ALL THE OTHERS ON THIS PAGE TRACK UNIQUE VISITORS PER MONTH OVER THE COURSE OF THE LAST YEAR.

Aish.com is a not-so-close third. All three have tremendous amounts of traffic and are far ahead of all the other contenders.

Of course, it should be noted that while all three sites are openly Orthodox, they all target a broad audience, and a significant percentage of their readership is non- Orthodox or non-Jewish.

On other hand, there are several big news sites that get major traffic that is almost exclusively Orthodox Jewish. The Yeshiva World News and Vos iz Neias are neck- in-neck, and both immensely popular with the yeshivish/chareidi audience.

Matzav.com is a less popular version of the same. They are all somewhat controversial within that community but are evidently meeting a real market demand, as reflected by their popularity. The Jewish Press is more religiously centrist news outlet. OU.org is not strictly a news site, but it does host the popular Jewish Action magazine.

ACCORDING TO THIS CHART, THE JEWISH PRESS HAS BEEN A BIG WINNER OVER THE PAST SIX MONTHS.

Moving down the line, we have the next group of contenders: Torah.org, which is a Torah learning content site; OnlySimchas.com, a community site where users announce their celebrations and milestones (it has a younger demographic); and ImaMother.com, a forum that is immensely popular with married Orthodox women.

IMAMOTHER.COM IS THE ONLY SITE IN THE TOP 11 THAT TARGETS WOMEN AND IS HUGELY POPULAR WITH ADVERTISERS AS A RESULT

What’s interesting about these stats is that it does not appear that most of these sites have grown much over the past 12 month. In fact, a slight decline in traffic seems to be more normal.

And no, I don’t have a clue why this is!

SPECIAL BONUS GRAPH!!!

Before I end, I have a special bonus just for you as a way for me to say thanks for being a valued reader of my blog .

There are three more sites that I want to present. They are the three top Chabad news/community sites. I kept them separate from the top 11 but I thought it would be interesting to include them because they represent a very tight, active Orthodox community, which is highly sought-after by advertisers.

So there it is, folks. The top dogs of the frum Jewish world online!

Now tell me… is this list what you expected?

Is there room for some new players in this niche?

What will the future hold? SELECTED COMMENTS:

Chana Ruth Nyamukapa said: Thank you, Naomi. I for one really appreciated this article: not only do I have a direction where to target my marketing efforts, I also learned of new (for me!) websites. Thank you so much!

Naomi’s Reply:

Thanks Chana Ruth. There are many ways you can leverage the traffic of these sites – though buying advertising is the quickest and easiest way.

Good luck with your marketing!

Stephen said: Interesting charts. JewishPress.com is working very hard to make ourselves #1.

MY TOP FOUR LAME EXCUSES FOR VIOLATING THE COPYRIGHTS OF MY FELLOW JEWS

Picture this: Seder night has arrived.

The whole house is spotless: the curtains have been dry-cleaned; the linen closet organized alphabetically; and the kids’ bikes doused with bleach.

The only problem is that in the dining room, right in the middle of the Seder table sits a big, freshly-baked pizza (with extra pepperoni, to really drive home the hypocrisy!)

That imagine kind of describes the state of my conscience, during a recent Website cleaning spree. I was taking care of the details, while a giant glob of chametz sat there undisturbed.

Here’s the story:

It all began at Pesach-time last year.

About a week before Seder night. I was cleaning in the kitchen while listening to some of my children’s favorite Pesach music, Rebbe Alter’s Pesach tape. I was really enjoying his rendition of Mah Nishtana in Hebrew and Yiddish, with a really lively tune that I’ve never heard elsewhere.

Suddenly I had a brilliant idea.

Wouldn’t it be a great if I took this tune and made it into a cute little video for my Yiddish translation site? I thought that it would attract visitors to my site and get me a little viral exposure on Facebook.

I decided to do it right then and there. I spent an hour creating a very simple video, published it and over the next few days it got close to 1,000 views and a few hundred new visitors to my site. Nice!

A year passed, and then I noticed that that blog post and the video were starting to get a lot of views again – for obvious reasons. Pesach was coming around again, and lots of Jews were looking to connect to the Seder in whatever way speaks to them. For many people, Yiddish is a meaningful way for them to connect to their Jewish identity. I noticed that hundreds and then thousands more people were watching.

You might think that I would be happy about that. But I was not… because I never got permission from the copyright holders to use that song.

I tried all the rationalizations in the world but none of them held up:

1. I wasn’t making any money off the video (err… not directly, but I’m sure the free exposure wasn’t hurting my business) 2. I was helping Rebbe Alter reach a new audience and make more sales, since I gave him credit (perhaps… and…?) 3. I was using the song to help Jews connect to their Jewish heritage and surely Rebbe Alter wouldn’t mind that (umm… nice try!) 4. It’s almost impossible to 100% avoid copyright infringement when working online – EVERYBODY DOES IT!

When I was finally tired of dreaming up creative excuses that did nothing to soothe my consciences, it was time to take action.

I knew I had to get permission to use that song, or take it down. And I had to do it right away, before the Pesach rush, since it would all be irrelevant soon!

I have to say that ringing up Rebbe Alter to ask his permission to keep using his music was not something I looked forward to. Reorganizing my linen closet 10 times over was much more appealing.

However, I swallowed my pride and dialed the number on the back of the CD case. In the pursuit of permission, I spoke to his mother, his wife and his manager. They were all warm and helpful. After some long discussions, explanations, apologies and emails, the good news is:

I got permission!

So I am proud now to present a certified Kosher-for-Pesach video to the world on my website. The video is pretty simple and isn’t going to win any awards… but it’s cute, chametz-free – and has viral power!

PS. If you are wondering why I told you this story, it’s to encourage us all to explore what it means to run a blog or web business without copyright violations. Have you found this difficult to do? Have you ever had your content used without permission?

CAN JEWISH WEBSITES MAKE MONEY?

We all love our web sites! We pour our blood, sweat, tears, bank accounts and prayers into them!

With G-d’s help, traffic gradually increases, our mailing list grows and our brand is established.

And then, at a certain point, we begin to wonder: Hey! When am I going to make some money out of this? Like real, serious money?

Lately I’ve been discussing this issue with a lot of people who run Jewish-themed blogs and websites. All struggle with this issue, even the ones that are getting fabulous traffic.

Meanwhile, every day I hear of new websites established to target the Jewish market.

It’s time for the Jewish web to face some facts about making money online, AKA “monetization.”

Let’s start by looking at this fascinating infographic made by Heather from MyBloggingJourney.com, which really illustrates how the money can flow as your site grows in traffic/reputation and you develop as an entrepreneur:

JEWISH BANNER ADS

Let’s start with banner ads as a common monetization method that many Jewish sites aspire to.

If you have a ton of traffic and someone to sell ads for you, then banners are a great source of revenue. The real work is getting to the critical mass of traffic that is necessary to attract advertisers and deliver results to them.

However, many Jewish sites make the mistake of thinking that banner ads are the be- all-and-end-all of monetization. And yet you will note that the infographic above puts banner ads low down on the hierarchy of monetization options – she doesn’t consider them very lucrative.

This might come as a shock to some, but the reality is that ever since the first dot.com bubble burst in 2000, it has been acknowledged that banner ads are NOT where the serious money is online. There are only so many ads you can stuff onto your site and there is only so much you can charge for them. This seriously limits the earning power of your site.

Don’t get me wrong! Banner ads are a good source of revenue, but you are not going to make a mint from them. Depending on how much investment it takes to build your site up to the huge traffic needed to attract advertisers, you might not make enough to make that whole rollercoaster worthwhile!

So if not banner ads, where is the money on the Jewish Web???

Let’s explore some of the other options that Heather mentions in her graph:

MAKING MONEY WITH ADSENSE

Most people start with contextual ads, usually Google Adsense. There are some Jewish equivalents (e.g. YidSense), but I’m not sure what kind of results they deliver. Neither of them are open about it. Have any readers used them?

Adsense, on the other hand, is known to be an easy way to earn money, if you have traffic and you use it right. For example, you can automatically insert ads in prime spots, like under the title or right after the final line of the article. Putting ads in the sidebar looks pretty but does not get you many clicks.

There are other contextual ad networks but I’m not a fan. They serve irrelevant ads!

There are plenty of relevant Jewish ads that will come up when you use Adsense. And if you want to avoid inappropriate banner ads, just choose the “text ads only” option. This will prevent embarrassingly immodest ads from showing up in the middle of your parasha blog! If you have a lot of traffic and your Adsense is properly placed, then Adsense can yield good results on a Jewish-themed site. I know of a nice heimishe lady who makes $300+

Copyright © 2013 Naomi Elbinger MyParnasa.com P a g e | 24 a month from Adsense on her site and the income is growing steadily (but don’t kid yourself about how much time and work she has put into her site!).

JEWISH AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

You can make money by promoting other people’s products and earning a commission when you refer a sale (AKA affiliate marketing). On my blog I have a list of Jewish affiliate programs which might be a good fit for your Jewish-themed blog and website.

There are also many mainstream affiliate programs that are perfectly kosher and may be successfully promoted on a Jewish site. For example, a site for Jewish women can be an affiliate of Diapers.com and Jewish blog about health can be an affiliate for a vitamin company (that happens to have a hechsher).

Some people make big money with affiliate marketing, but it requires effort and investment. Just throwing up a few links and banners will not yield big results.

SELLING PRODUCTS

In the middle of the graph, you see “digital products” but physical products are also obviously great ways to make money online. In other words, SELLING SOMETHING IS A GREAT WAY TO MAKE MONEY!

So many of us are “infopreneurs,” giving away great content for free day-after-day, and that is great for building traffic. But if there is no “buy now” button anywhere on your site, it’s going to be hard to make serious money.

If you can’t think of a way to integrate a buy now button into your site model, it might be possible to set up product-focused sister sites (as she calls it, “multiple sites”) which are selling something relevant to your audience. Then you can leverage the success of your first site to promote the heck out of your commercial site.

For example, the popular marketing blog Copyblogger has done this supremely well. First they built up huge traffic of loyal readers thanks to lots of fabulous content, and they meanwhile made a bundle of money selling blogging products.

But they didn’t stop there. Copyblogger then leveraged their brand to start creating and promoting products that are of interest to their fans on sister sites. For example, the theme I have on my blog was developed by Copyblogger Inc. and sold on a sister-site called StudioPress.

Copyblogger’s founder Brian Clark has basically developed products which he knows that his many blog-readers will very likely want to buy (especially from him) – WordPress plugins and themes.

Obviously you need a lot of traffic for this kind of business model to work. On the other hand, you could reduce your risk if your sister site uses a drop-shipping or white-label business model to avoid having to develop your own products or to deal with customer service issues (but that’s a whole other topic).

Paid software, premium videos and content, and apps are common examples of digital products that content sites sell to make money. Then there is a whole world of possibilities for physical products. If your visitors love you, a good number of them will be happy to buy.

Don’t be shy: SELL SOMETHING!

SELLING CONSULTANCY/SERVICES

I am surprised that this graph puts consultancy/services so high up. In my opinion this is the easiest way to make some real money through a website.

Many consultants and service providers start blogs for the sole reason of promoting their professional services. These kinds of blogs don’t need a ton of traffic to do their job well. My niche translation site gets me a good amount of project offers even though it doesn’t have a huge amount of traffic and isn’t going to win any beauty contests.

Any good blog could benefit from a “hire me” button. I get job offers through this blog even without a hire-me button, but I would probably get more if I had one. Anyone who has run a successful blog for a few years has amassed a ton of knowledge and experience which is in very high demand in today’s market.

So here is one point where I disagree with the graph: Everyone should consider offering some sort of consulting or other services on their site!

OTHER MONETIZATION IDEAS

There are many. There are so many, it’s impossible to count. Most of them require a lot of traffic if you want to earn more than a few pennies. The bottom line is that you need to get creative about how you will make money from your Jewish website or blog. If you have any other ideas, please share them in the comments.

So… who here is going to be the first Jewish site owner to change the rules about monetization in our market and really make some serious cash online?

Maybe it will be me!

SELECTED COMMENTS:

Webmistress @ Tofaah-Jewish-Music.com said: Just because the Jewish market is small doesn’t mean one can’t make a success of it online. A survey in the US last year found that there was a dramatic drop in online searches for Jewish- related keywords. I saw the drop myself with one of my sites and it has yet to recover. The only major Jewish site that actually increased traffic significantly in the last year rather than drop was Chabad.org. (Kol hakavod to them – they deserve it.) Most of us can’t even begin to compete with the kind of resources they’ve poured into that wonderful site. But that doesn’t mean we can’t mine our niche successfully. For one thing, depending on the nature of your business, consider if you really have to limit your audience to frum Jews. You may want to ask a shayla about this. I have it from a trustworthy source that Artscroll makes a lot of money selling books online in Korea. (How many of those Korean customers are frum Jews?) Next, if you’re going to make money from a small audience, you’d better get to the top of your niche with top notch SEO, lots of linking etc … In a post-Panda world – work hard to reduce your reliance on Google for either traffic or adsense. Either sell your own products and services, or write great reviews of your affiliate products. Set up affiliate programs for your own products, so other bloggers will sell for you. Another option many sites don’t use is the membership model. Offer special content to people who are willing to subscribe for a fee, either by joining your “club” or subscribing to a special “magazine” newsletter or offering access to instructional videos. One word of caution about choosing your affiliate programs – it seems so many sites in the Jewish niche are using the same programs, I end up seeing the same ads and programs everywhere … boringgggg. Maybe one of your fellow bloggers is reading this and setting up her own affiliate program and you can offer something really interesting and new! Just a few thoughts … here’s to hatzlacha, parnassa and bracha for all of us.

Naomi’s Reply: I’m agreeing with everything you have to say! Let’s get creative and help each other find what works.

Hillel Porath said: I think that most Jewish bloggers focus too much on writing their personal Jewish life experiences stories – it may be cute – but it’s very hard to make money with this type of blog. Also people get tired from reading personal life experience stories. People want value. I think Jewish bloggers can make some nice money if they focused on various niche topics within the following categories –  Jewish traveling – promoting vacation rentals in locations where Jews vacation. Search for local affiliate programs in those locations.  Jewish books – example: Blogging about Jewish books with a focus on upselling towards the holidays

 Jewish music – non Jews also listen to Jewish music  Dead sea cosmetics, etc… Its mamesh endless. In my humble opinion people first need to learn proper keyword research, how to find buying keywords and then once they master this – the opportunities to make money online are endless! Naomi’s Reply: Hillel is onto something. Travel websites can be a goldmine and there are very few blogs or sites doing kosher travel well. Jewish weddings also have a lot of potential. the idea is to focus on topics with commercial value. of course, you can still integrate your personal experiences and views into it – that’s what makes it a blog!

Rabbi Issamar said: I really enjoyed this valuable post and its insightful comments. Some thoughts: 1) the most important thing that is overlooked about Adwords is the fact that… IT DEPENDS WHAT YOUR SITE IS ABOUT. Since Adwords are contextual, a post about the new cherry pie recipe you made will have low paying links- while one about your experiences sitting on a flight next to “Los Angles top mesothelioma lawyer” would have Google’s engines serving up ads paying you $25 per click, since bids on keywords like that are high, Google pays you more! So “adwords”, while it should not be the only way you monetize your online work, does have its place in some situations. However, the overriding decision about Adwords needs to be about how much it can make you, based on your traffic and click through rates. (for example… if this blog post had Adwords on the side, a mesothelioma ad or asbestos ad might come up. why? because I’ve mentioned that word several times in this post, and if Google sees it as possibly relevant to such a search it will deliver those results. and this page might make it to a nice spot in Google for those terms. who knows? mesothelioma! los angles attorney! large cash settlement! asbestos! There- I’ve done mine ) As far as consulting- the beauty of a blog post (or blog comment) that people find insightful is that it is bringing you traffic- people who are interested in that topic- who are reading what you have to say while at the same time, not being or feeling like they are being pitched or sold to. This makes for people who like what you have to say and want more of the same to contact you and inquire about your services- and in that way -pre selling them. A hire me button can change that equation. Why? Because by definition. You have just changed everything you are saying into an elegant sales pitch, and that “hire me” button makes them constantly aware of that fact. I use a combination; just like in an email sequence where some emails sell harder while others are all information packed with only a passing mention of the services I offer (if that!… like in this comment I’m typing now!), is the only way to really be able to gauge which works better for you in your market over the longer haul. And… Isn’t writing blog posts and then sharing those posts, with the tremendous value they contain, in social networks a way to get new people reading what you have to say, and expanding your sphere of influence and circle of contacts? Hashem set it up (seemingly!) as a numbers game… for everything you do, some percentage will move up a level in their interaction with you. like in this case- you yourself just got a lengthy comment chock-full of insight and information simply by giving a platform for yourself and others to discuss this… and that, in exchange, gives your page more Google juice as other people add content to your page and make this page the

Copyright © 2013 Naomi Elbinger MyParnasa.com P a g e | 28 most relevant to people looking for information on monetizing Jewish sites or making money with Adwords! And those last few words above… keywords to help Google like this page and index it as relevant. Enjoy! Rabbi Issamar

Shoshana Raff said: I love this post and all of the comments. Naomi, you are once again identifying an unmet need in the marketplace and meeting it with this blog. There are so many things that I want to comment on but I think I’ll just discuss the one that stands out most to me – your discussion about why consultancy is up there as advanced. It doesn’t look to me like the infographic is talking about advanced traffic but advanced knowledge that you have to offer. If you already posses multiple academic degrees and are a seasoned consultant, you have tons of content you can now sell as soon as you start your blog/website. So you jump right up to the higher revenue stream. That is the case with your translation site. You probably wouldn’t even need to waste your time with Adsense or affiliate programs unless you a) want to learn about them hands-on and b) don’t want to throw away free and easy money making opportunities. Or c) your site is designed solely to take advantage of these easy revenue generating opportunities. There are many sites out there today that offer legitimate quality content but are designed to take advantage of the incredibly easy revenue generating opportunities that Google Ads and affiliate programs have to offer. My KosherShopaholic site is one such site and I think MavenMall is another. There are thousands upon thousands in the general market segment. If you are starting a blog/website with limited background to ‘sell,’ as many mommy bloggers today do, then you will need to experience the stages depicted in this infographic to gradually increase your income through your blog in this way. Your knowledge that you share on the blog develops and grows along with your blog. This makes blogging/websites a great equalizer. Anyone can make money on the web and learn how to do it all for free, no matter what their background or education. Google AdSense and affiliate programs are to thank for that. I think that it is up to pioneers to set the standard. Your hard work deserves compensation. If ads or affiliate, sponsored promotions are used more often on sites, especially by the pioneers, it can become the acceptable standard. I love that you have started a networking and information sharing opportunity for us here. This is something that is missing in our niche as are a nice pool of advertisements targeting specifically to Orthodox Jews that we can post on our sites instead of Google because, in my experience, no matter how much you tweak those Google ads, Papa John’s pizza and other irrelevant ads still manage to pop up too often for us to get the same kind of click-throughs as a non-Jewish/Kosher website would get. Thanks, Shoshana Raff, aka, The Kosher Shopaholic

Margelit Hoffman said: Naomi I’m totally with you regarding a consulting/services blog. B’H it’s working for me and Shmuel! We’ve been using it to promote his video production and my online marketing, and pu pu pu. So far so good. Keep pumping out great articles! Margelit

Naomi’s Reply:

Funny that Margelit… since you are one of the people who helped me understand that aspect of blogging !

THE HALACHAS OF FACEBOOK AND GOOGLE: A RABBI AND A WEB MARKETER DISCUSS

I have a confession to make… I am a Web marketer.

I spend most of my working day up to my eyeballs in Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. And Yes, I know what the rabbis are saying about this… I live in Jerusalem, after all. I’ve seen those pashkevelim (street notices).

Since I write this blog, my fellow religious Jews regularly approach me with questions like “Is it mutar for me to have a Facebook page for my business?” or “Can I have my photo on my Twitter account?” I consider myself expert in all these shaylas since I always give the same answer: “ask your rabbi!”

That’s what I did last week, when my husband and I went for a meeting with our posek, to discuss halachic issues related to my business.

Let me start by saying that our Rav, like most mainstream chareidi/yeshivish rabbis, maintains that using the Internet is assur. He will, however, grant a heter on a case-by- case basis for people who need to use the Web in order to earn their parnasa. In this day and age, that’s pretty much everybody in the work force.

As a Jewish woman who works on the Web, I find myself with many involved questions about my Internet usage. Every now and then I feel my conscience starting to bother me and I know it’s time to talk to a posek again and clarify the boundaries of my activities, from a halachic perspective.

In the past I’ve asked him about operating my websites on Shabbos, speaking to Jews about web business (like I do on this blog) and using my photo online (BTW he said it was OK, but I still don’t do it for personal reasons). I also sometimes run my blog posts past him before I publish them (including this one). But for last week’s meeting, my questions focused mainly on social media use and marketing to a frum audience online.

But really these questions are one and the same because the Website I run targets frum women, and they are online and they are on social media and I need to reach them there. In case there is anyone reading this who still believes that frum Jews don’t use the Internet, it’s time to drop this misconception. The adoption of web technologies and development of online communities has lagged a bit behind the general market, but by now it is clear: Frum Jews Are Online!

A good illustration of this is RabbiKaganoff.com, the website that I created with my husband for the Torah writings of Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff shlita, a Jerusalem-based Rabbi who writes wonderful halacha articles. Although the Rabbi does not use the Internet and has never seen the site, he was very positive when we suggested the idea of creating the site as a resource for people around the world.

The site now gets thousands of visits a month exclusively from search engines. The reality is that thousands of frum Jews are going to Google and asking sophisticated questions like “is my nectarine tree orlah?” or “can the father be sandek at a bris?”

I also once asked Rabbi Google a shayla. Right before Shabbos my husband presented me with a gift of a elegant butane lighter engraved with the words “Lekavod Shabbos Kodesh.” As I was thanking him it suddenly occurred to us that we didn’t know if it was permissible to use a butane lighter for Shabbos candles.

Since it was three minutes before candle-lighting we figured that we’d ask Rabbi Google rather than calling a flesh-and-blood rabbi. And where did Google send us for our answer? About.com!

I think that most religious Jews would agree that it’s better that we should get halachic guidance and news from a Jewish source, rather than The New York Times (which owns About.com). And I guess that’s the rationale behind the increasing number of news and community sites targeting frum Jews. Orthodox Jews are already on the Web looking for information, social interaction and entertainment. Isn’t it better that they should find their online home on a Jewish site that caters to their unique needs and concerns, and abides by the laws of tznius and lashon hora?

Despite this growing trend, I still had a question that irked me: Why is it permissible for me to run sites targeting Jews if it might be assur for those people to be online? Our Rav answered that since they are already online and I did not encourage them to go there, this is not a problem. I am providing people with the information and entertainment that they are already seeking online.

The rabbi also did not object to us displaying photos of properly dressed women on our sites, even though this is a huge no-no in the frum publishing world nowadays (thought this is a recent development). Since anyone wishing to look at women in an improper way has much better opportunities elsewhere on the Web, he did not see a halachic problem. Regarding Social Media, he said that he thought that Facebook was more problematic than LinkedIn or Twitter because of the ads on Facebook (which, we have all got to admit, can be offensive). I asked him how much he really knows about Facebook and he said that he felt that he understood it quite well, despite never having seen it.

He said that he recently answered a question from a rabbi doing campus kiruv in the US regarding whether it was permissible to notify his students about the upcoming bris of his son by creating a Facebook Event, since this would cause them to receive an “invite” yet we are not supposed to invite people to a bris.

This question seems kinda cute but the reality is that religious Jews encounter all sorts of problems on Facebook, especially lashon hara and lack of tznius (not to mention intense time-wasting). A nd yet the fact remains that Facebook is incredible as a marketing tool and I want to use it to its maximum to gain exposure for the quality content on my site. Is it OK that I use it to communicate with my fans and potential fans? But again the answer was the same. I do not lure Jews onto Facebook. Therefore communicating with them via Facebook is not a halachic problem.

Clarifying all of these points was very helpful for me, and I hope it also inspires others to find guidance for any spiritual concerns they have about working online. Beyond the practical benefit of our meeting, I also enjoyed an intense feeling of relief after talking out these questions with a rabbi, even if though his message was hard for me to hear at times.

There is peace in knowledge, while uncertainty is a very uncomfortable place to be. It’s not always easy being the only Mommy at the cheder PTA meeting who works as a Web Marketer.

So if you are in doubt about any issue relating to your business, not just issues related to the Internet, don’t struggle to negotiate this minefield alone, ask a rabbi!

In the meantime – let’s discuss the dilemmas of working on the Web for frum Jews.

Please share your thoughts with us!

SELECTED COMMENTS:

Binyomin Adler said: Great post. I would just add that Rabbonim need to be introduced to the social media big time because there are many nuances involved and the more they know, the more they will be equipped to answer the shailos that arise.

Naomi’s Reply: I’m agreeing that many Rabbanim are not equipped to answer these questions. But others really understand the need. E.g. Rabbi Yitzchak Berkowitz spoke at the Kishor Conference on Social Media last year. He said he was the target of criticism for agreeing to speak there but in reality he gave so much chizuk to people who need to use these

tools for their parnasa and need guidance. I think it’s up to us to get answers, even when it’s hard to find a Rav that understands. Thanks for reading!

Linda said: Hi Naomi, Thanks so much for a great article. It’s very “mechazek” to read how you have consulted da’at Torah every step of the way for your profession. It’s the right thing for all of us. I guess we are just so scared to ask a Rav a ‘sheila’ related to being online! Thanks; I am very inspired to read how you keep your priorities in place.

Naomi’s Reply: I totally understand what you mean Linda. It can be scary. Working on the web is like being alone on a raft sailing through uncharted territory…

Anon said: This is an absolute great post and while I am sure it has been discussed in full length online before this is really the first time I have seen it. I think you are really going places with this blog Naomi with the topics you are bringing up and I just wanted to thank you. I being in the online business for many years also have always asked this question. I know when the internet first came out and there were other newer technologies that most of the frum community was speaking against the Rebbe came out and said something along the lines that there are good things that can come out of new technology and we should absolutely put those to good use. Now today we can see this so clearly with so many good causes on facebook, twitter and all over.

Naomi’s Reply: Thanks for dropping by, and especially for your encouraging comments!

Sina @ the kosher spoon said: Naomi, I loved reading this post! I think it’s so amazing that you spoke to your Rav about the internet in a very open, honest way. I’m scared to say the word Internet next to a Rav. It feels so taboo. But Internet is a reality, and i don’t think the “bans” that I feel no one follows will be in place for long. I think frum Jews need to be educated in Internet usage in general. Great post! Love your work on this website.

Naomi’s Reply: Thanks Sina. It is scary to talk about what we do in public, but I also yearn for openness, because I want to live a life of integrity, not pretending to be something I’m not. I hope that if my rabbi told me that what I’m doing is assur, I would stop. But I think that most frum Jews have an inner compass that tells us when something is going too far. Someone who works on the Web needs to be in tune with this voice and nurture it. It takes maturity and courage to say: everyone’s doing that but that’s not for me.

IS YOUR WEBSITE BREAKING SHABBOS?

Double-double-triple pay won’t make me work on Saturday! That’s not negotiable for sure. But what about my websites?

While we sink into a post-cholent slumber on a Shabbos afternoon, our websites are open for business, working as hard as ever, promoting and selling our products and services, and bringing in the Parnasa!

For a while I have been very curious: is this really kosher? Is my website breaking Shabbos? Am I? Over the past week I’ve been researching the issue… with surprising results.

But first, the disclaimer: I’m not a talmid chochom nor is this blog a recognized source of Torah knowledge. I hardly know what is the Parshas Hashavua until my kids tell me on Friday afternoon! Every time I accidently stick that fleishig spoon in that cheesy pot, I run to call up my rabbi, just like everyone else. And yet, unlike my treifed-up spoon, I think that this shayla is very interesting to many Jewish people who make their living online.

And now, the commentary: I had heard that in general it is not necessary to shut down a website for Shabbos, but as my businesses grows, I feel I need a more in-depth answer that relates to the specific nature of my websites. My main sites target religious Jews and so every Shabbos traffic nosedives.

I was more concerned about another successful site I own, for a niche translation service that targets Jews who are researching their genealogy, and most of the visitors and clients are not religious. Almost every motzei Shabbos when I check my email, I find messages there from Jewish people who have filled out our “Contact Us” form on Shabbos. This bothers me very much but before I did anything about it, I needed to get a clear idea of the halacha.

I asked the shayla to our Rav and Posek, Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff, shlita, of Jerusalem.

He was interested in exactly how my website worked. Do we have a shopping cart? How do we accept payment? Since my site is purely informational and we have no e-

Copyright © 2013 Naomi Elbinger MyParnasa.com P a g e | 35 commerce element, the only action that a visitor can take is fill out a “Contact Us” form. He said that it is permissible to leave the site live on Shabbos.

For a deeper understanding of the issues, Rabbi Kaganoff referred me to two Englishteshuvas (articles) on the topic, one by Rabbi Doniel Neustadt, Rav of Young Israel in Cleveland Heights, and one by Rabbi Moshe Heinemann, Rabbinic Administrator of Star-K. Both of them deal mostly with the issues surrounding e- commerce but are quite conclusive that even the fact that a website generates credit card transactions on Shabbos is not a halachic reason to shut it down.

Apparently there is no prohibition for an automated machine to do business on Shabbos, and besides, credit card payments are not processed over the weekend. The only concern might be for “zilzul Shabbos” – denigrating the sanctity of Shabbos. As Rabbi Neustadt writes:

Traditionally, a Jew was always cognizant of the fact that Shabbos was a day when business was not conducted and profits were not earned. Allowing business to be conducted on one’s behalf on Shabbos could very well be considered apirtzah, a “breakdown” and a violation of the spirit of Shabbos. A final decision on this subject should be rendered by the leading poskim of the generation, Shlita.

I am very interested to hear what the eventual ruling may be.

Though my posek says it’s OK for me, I am still not quite comfortable with the situation on my translation website. I don’t want to shut it down fully on Shabbos unless it is halachically required because I am concerned of the impact this will have on SEO for every other day of the week.

What I have considered is creating a banner that will be automatically shown on Shabbos, which asks my visitors to return on Saturday night. But I have to admit that I can’t think of any way to phrase this that won’t seem rude and judgmental to my unaffiliated Jewish visitors.

During my online research I found a discussion among non-religious Israelis relating to a shopping site that was inaccessible on Shabbos. People got quite heated about the subject and the majority felt that this was some sort of religious coercion, though a few respected it and even praised the site’s owners for putting their beliefs before their profits. I would like to make a Kiddush Hashem, but I am scared of achieving the opposite effect.

What do think about running a website on Shabbos?

SELECTED COMMENTS:

Yoni said: I’d like to understand, what is anyone DOING, and what is any machine DOING when a server receives and sends electronic signals on Shabbos? Also, not all internet business are selling merchandise. Some are conduits between people and businesses, like the priceline model. And what about sites that provide information, and have advertisements, which when clicked provide profit — to be deposited by the bank to your account on a non-weekend day. Also, one needs to clarify the definition of a transaction in the cyberworld format

Naomi’s Reply: Sounds like you have some shaylas you need to ask…

Seth Wolfish said: What an interesting question as well as interesting insights on your end. Personally, I think that what it all comes down to, in the mean time, is how comfortable you feel with it. Halachic ramifications aside, if you do not feel comfortable with it, perhaps you need to do something. However, as you already pointed out, you must be very careful of two things : 1) you don’t want to interrupt your business model for the rest of the week. 2) you don’t want to alienate potential clients It’s a tough situation certainly. What about putting up a banner that states something along the lines of “due to personal beliefs….” This way it is about you and no one else?

JEWS DON’T COLLECT INTEREST… EXCEPT WHEN WE DO

Imagine this dreamy situation…

One fine day, for no particular reason, all your clients who owe you money, suddenly pay you. On top of that, those people who you have worked for but not yet reached payment date, also pay you for all work you have performed.

And then, all the people who have placed orders but you haven’t delivered the goods yet, also decided to pay you – in advance!

What would happen?

Suddenly, your business and your bank account would be out of the red.

Suddenly, you would actually have some money in your hand before you spent it.

Suddenly, you would hear the sweet tinkling sounds of cash flowing through your life.

Unfortunately, this is not the reality for most business owners .

Instead, one of the most common business problems is “lack of cash flow.” In simple words: “too long between now and payday.”

Many smart business brains have examined the problem of “how to increase cash flow?” They have come up with some clever pricing strategies for alleviating this problem, though not eliminating it altogether.

Here are some that you have probably seen: discounts when you pay in full upfront, early bird discounts, discounts for buying in bulk, etc.

The main point behind all these “discounts” is this: I am willing to settle for less profit later in order to have more cash in my hand right now.

Sounds good…….. except that, as I may have mentioned previously, that I am Jewish . Jews like me don’t eat bacon or bread on Pesach and I generally try to avoid breaking 611 or so other laws.

– (ריבית) ”And one of the stickiest, most complex laws that I try not to break is called “ribbis collecting interest on loans. I try stay clear of ribbis, which is the “bacon-on-matza sandwich” of Jewish financial laws.

Except when I accidentally, unknowingly transgress the laws of ribbis through popular pricing strategies designed to increase cash flow.

And yes, like pretty much everyone else in business in 2013, I too have been guilty of these strategies and I have, through ignorance, helped collect ribbis.

For example, I have been involved in promoting products that cost $1,000, or four easy payments of $275.

Oops!

Thankfully, there’s always teshuva (repentance).

MY INTERESTING TALE OF INTEREST

The beginning of the end of my confessional tale started last Shabbos. I was sitting in my arm chair enjoying reading my favorite parsha sheet, known in Hebrew asMeta’amim Shel Shulchan Shabbat (Treats for the Shabbos Table). My favorite part of this parsha sheet are the brilliant cartoons of Yoni Gerstein. I’m such a fan that I actually sponsor this parsha sheet. My favorite parsha sheet is currently hosting a series on the laws of ribbis and I have been enjoying it a lot.

Let’s be honest: there is absolutely no way that a simple balabusta like me would be learning the law of ribbis, were it not for Yoni Gerstein’s cartoon guide.

This week’s cartoon really got my attention:

THIS UNSUSPECTING YID IS DESIGNING AN AD FOR A PRODUCT THAT COSTS EITHER 10 PAYMENTS OF 100 SHEKELS, OR ONE UP-FRONT PAYMENT OF 850 SHEKELS. THE CLEVEREST PART OF THIS CARTOON IS THE POSTER OF THE GUY IN THE BACKGROUND, BUT I CAN’T THINK OF ANY WAY TO TRANSLATE IT AND MAINTAIN ITS WIT, SO I WON’T BOTHER.

Here is a translation of the text below the cartoon:

Advertising Agency

It is forbidden to work in an advertising agency preparing ads for offers that involve interest. E.g. for a product that is more expensive when paid for in installments than when paid for in cash, for a bank that is collecting profits without a heter iska [a document permitting loans with interest] etc.

I was quite disturbed at the mention of the “discount for upfront payment” pricing strategy, as this is something I see everywhere and I myself have used it as a way of increasing cash flow in my own little “advertising agency.” After Shabbos, I contacted my trusty posek, Rabbi Kaganoff, and he confirmed that this pricing strategy is ribbis, even if there is no cash involved. Credit cards or any other kinds of payments are also problematic.

The only exception would be if there were administrative costs (e.g. extra credit card processing fees) involved in offering a payment plan. In that case, it’s OK to pass my extra costs onto my clients (in most cases, these would not be more than 3-4%).

The problem begins when you have two different pricing plans for the same product, and one of them penalizes client for not paying the full sum right now.

When I think about it, this is exactly what the concept of interest is: penalizing someone for not having the money right now.

There are ways to avoid ribbis while still using creative pricing. If you are in doubt about whether a payment plan is ribbis or not, then you should consult a rabbi or hit the books. Rabbi Kaganoff recommended The Laws of Ribbis by Rabbi Yisroel Reisman (Artscroll).

Remember: we may neither lend with ribbis nor borrow with ribbis, so you have to be careful. You may find yourself in a situation where you want to buy a particular product, but you can’t because the seller is offering a side of bacon with his pricing policy.

What’s your opinion about pricing strategies? Do you use them and how you see other businesses using them?

Selected Comments: Dan said: OK, I read this with utter fascination and I appreciate it. But I have a question — I went to the Artscroll site to look up a book mentioned here and saw that they are selling the Sefer HaChinuch at a “Special Introductory Price.” How is this any less of a problem than an Early Bird Discount? Buy it now and pay X. Or wait two months and pay X+5. Same product.

Naomi’s Reply: That’s funny! I’m no expert, but I think that we all have the right the raise and lower our prices. However, I am also feeling very confused and wary about this topic right now and certainly plan on reading that ribbis book. If you are going to read it, perhaps you can report on this blog about what you learn?

Chava said:

I need some clarification… I thought of this post when I was making some pricing decisions recently and I thought of making a prepayment plan, so I emailed the Business Halacha Institute (they have a column in Hamodia) and they said it is not a problem to offer a discount for prepaying. (My specific question was: Suppose I offer services by the hour. Suppose one hour of service is $75, generally one would pay $75 for one hour each time they use my service. I wanted to make a deal where the person could pay up front $700 for 10 hours of service, to be done one session at a time over a couple of months. Essentially, a discount on condition that I see the money first. This would be to get the commitment to 10 sessions and minimize pointless cancellations.)

Naomi’s Reply: Hi Chava, Kol hakavod that you did that and thanks for sharing. I emailed them and asked for more clarification. Here is the reply I received: Thank you so much for contacting us about this important matter and I apologize for the delayed response. Your commenter is indeed correct that we answered that what she wanted to do is permitted. As you mentioned in your blog the laws of ribbis are indeed complex and one should consult each time when possible questions arise. Since you mentioned R’ Reisman’s sefer please look at pages 198-199 paragraphs 14 and 15 with note 23. Although the context there is rental of land the same principle applies to the commentators question regarding tutoring.

Hatzlacha Rabba,

Gershon Schaffel

Business Halacha Institute

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I want to thank my blog readers. So many of you have shared your feedback and encouragement, which has inspired me to write the chapters contained in this book.

I also want to thank Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff shlita. As our community and family posek, he has made himself available to answer countless shaylas and has been generally positive about guiding me in every sticky business situation. Rabbi Kaganoff’s wise voice is heard in many places throughout this book.

Finally, I want to thank my husband, Rabbi Shmuel Elbinger. Being the spouse of an entrepreneur like me requires a lot of faith – both faith in Hashem, that He will provide for us through the uncertain times, and faith in me, that my goals are worth investing our lives in.

Thanks, Shmuel, for you faith!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Here’s what she’s willing to tell:

 Naomi Elbinger is a writer, thinker and mother of a growing family.  She is the woman behind My Parnasa: The Jewish Business Blog.  By profession, she manages Web development and marketing projects for clients.  Naomi runs several businesses on the side, include a boutique translation company specializing in Jewish historical texts and modest clothing website.  As a Jew, she constantly strives to find the delicate balance between successful business development online and integrity in a Torah way of life.  She is passionately dedicated to helping other Jews improve their parnasa.  Naomi is the Program and Marketing Director of the Annual Temech Conference for Women in Business in Jerusalem.  She grew lives in Jerusalem with her family. Visit Naomi at My Parnasa: The Jewish Business Blog