Ghost Education (Part 1)

Today I am going to detail a particular sort of content available across the internet. For lack of a better term, I am going to call this “ghost education.” I believe to succeed as traders, we should understand what ghost education is and how it fits into the financial landscape.

In order to develop this concept of ghost education, I am going to pick on one particular article. Please understand, however, that what I discuss here applies to a plethora of articles I have found over the years.

This is the article I will dissect today. I encourage you to go to the link and take a quick read.

I am no marketing guru but in order to design a successful advertising campaign, here might be some observations to keep in mind:

1) People are interested in ways to make money.
2) People tend to be especially interested in quick ways to make a buck.
3) The less people have to pay for 1) and 2) the better.

The title of this article is an embodiment of this psychology:

> How to Trade High Volume Call Options for Profit

1) is described by the last word: “profit.”

2) is communicated by the word “options.” People tend to think options are speculative and risky. Many people consider them to be gambling. They are known as a way to make fast money especially if stock direction can be correctly predicted.

3) is suggested by the first words. “How to” material is usually educational. When found on the internet, these articles are often free. How-to seminars also exist but quite often cost thousands of dollars. I think people are very willing to take a couple minutes reading an article that might provide some useful information especially given the alternative of taking a chance by spending thousands of dollars on something that might teach them very little.

I will continue in the next post.