Customer Reviews

Killer Content: Strategies for Web Content and E-Commerce

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Killer Content is a killer dud. If it were posted on a Web site, you'd be surfing away within seconds. And that's a pity, because its topic - using content to drive transactions - cries out for examination.

Just what do you put on a Web site to make people transact? The answers run all the way from "an email address" to "a $2 million personalisation system". The range of Web sites out there and the scarcity of profit-makers suggest most people are doing something wrong.

But Mai-lan Thomsen takes the opposite approach: every new technique and technology is worthy of praise. So Killer Content takes you on a long, dull, uncritical trip around every idea that ever rated an article in some fat business-technology magazine. "Relevant" articles, "targeted" banner ads, "usable" navigation, and a hundred more - all of these are equally worthy of a few paragraphs. All, says Thomsen, will help you create a successful "value exchange". Do everything that everyone else is doing, and you'll be fine. The subject cries out for good data, vigorous analysis, strong opinions. Thomsen offers only pap, written in the prose style of a second-rate technology vendor white paper.

As other reviewers have noted, Thomsen's lack of critical judgement has been exposed by the collapse of the tech stock boom. Sites like Salon and TheStreet, lauded in Killer Content, have run into difficulties precisely because they couldn't marry excellent content to a decent business plan.

I manage and write about content-rich transaction sites for a living. Yet no other Amazon order has moved from my mailbox to my don't-read-again pile faster than this sad tome.

This was a good introduction into the exploration of how content is organized for the consumer on the Web. I consider it a introduction because the depth to which the author takes us is a little shallow.

This is not meant to be a definitive answer book. The author does not claim to give you a step-by-step guide for you to follow in order to learn how to create "killer" sites. Rather, once you read his book you will understand your options as a web designer and be able to choose the best way to display a sites content given any circumstances. This book is designed for business to user content management, not B2B.

I have used this book in my classes when I lecture to my students regarding web design techniques. It is a good book for someone just looking into content management, and worth trying out.

This boook gives a good overview for web based content business models. While there is no internet strategy that can enssure success, this book does a good job of presenting several strategies that have been employed by some of the bigger sites out there. Granted, some of these sites are struggeling and may ultimately fail, but knowing what they are doing and why they are doing it is still very valuable. This book is a good place to start for information about developing web strategies.

I consider myself a ebusiness beginner -- I have a decent background in Web sites but don't really think I (or my company) am in any way an expert. I thought Thompson's treatment of ecommerce and Web sites was very informative. I can see where some other people who have more experience in the space might be disappointed...the book doesn't go into one aspect of content commerce very thoroughly. But it's a good informative read if you're new to e-buisiness and want to learn more about how to expand your web site in more than a posterboard. I recommend it.

Great overview of the issues and ideas involved with selling content. The book doesn't get into too much depth on any one topic around selling content online, but it gives a thorough enough treatment that you understand the issues and where to look next for more information. Strong recommendation.

It's very refreshing to read a book that criticizes commerce-enabled sites less so for their obvious user-interface flaws, and more for their ability to drive revenue. Let's face it: only the big players like Yahoo can draw enough revenue from advertising to sustain themselves. The Web has matured enough, the consumer base has grown immensely, and the lessons have been learned from the first go-round at selling content. This book is an excellent primer on how to win more business for your web site.

I read a lot of computer business books and this was certainly one of the best written. The first part of the book was more interesting for someone who hasn't already thought about how to position a Web site. I preferred the second part because it had concrete advice that wasn't the usual sales/marketing fluff. I'd recommend this book to anyone who's heard a lot about content sites, and wants to learn more about what can make them (more or less) successful. Good read.

I picked up several internet business books that talked about ecommerce and this one is the best of the bunch -- good introduction, specific examples, surprisingly strong writing. Made me even write a review! My only complaint is that it reads a bit dry at times. It should be noted for potential buyers that this book is almost totally focused on business to consumer advice and has perfunctory coverage of business to business ecommerce.

This boook gives a good overview for web based content business models. While there is no internet strategy that can enssure success, this book does a good job of presenting several strategies that have been employed by some of the bigger sites out there. Granted, some of these sites are struggeling and may ultimately fail, but knowing what they are doing and why they are doing it is still very valuable. This book is a good place to start for information about developing web strategies.

I was a little bit disappointed in reading this book because I was interested in understanding not only the value models for web content itself, but also the strategies and pathways needed to take a content provider into being a web content provider. This book doesn't go in-depth into organizational issues involved in web content, although it does start to hint at the problems by talking about fitness for certain models and the bias of some of the extant CMS environments.

However, what the author does well is to draw together information about the different models of business-to-consumer value exchanges and present it in an easy-to-understand manner. It might well be something I would recommend to a client who was coming in fresh to the online environment. The examples are weakened, unfortunately, by the rather spectacular fall of some of the sites who were defined as doing it well-- but I think that's a problem many books pre-2001 are going to have.

The book is divided into sections on concepts and strategies and provides specific value exchange models for a number of well known content sites.