Customer Reviews

Marketing Online for Dummies

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I am only on page 90, but this book is worth its weight in gold. It helps you to understand the on line demographics to see how much of your marketing budget to put into a site vs. your off line dollars.

I considered myself a web novice, but I've since upgraded my self-regard after reading this book. This book could have been half the length. There's really nothing here that you can't find on the web marketing sites already. Much of the book explains how to use search engines to find things, how to submit your site to the search engines, how to use newsgroups wisely without spamming (and what that is to begin with)-- all of which I'm sure are helpful to people who have just taken their very first computer out of the box. This book is ground zero for web marketing, and will have very little use for people who are already marketing (or trying to) online. Chances are, if you've already tried it, it's in this book.

The Yellow Pages section at the end listing related web resource sites was helpful, but I wish I had bought the book, photocopied this part and returned it. I've found a lot the same subject matter in the book already on the web for free.

Another aspect of the book I found annoying is that it reads like a big commercial in places. The authors do a lot of cross-selling/recommending of another Dummies title, Selling Online. They also gently recommend Microsoft's Internet Explorer because it better integrates push technology, which the authors almost imply is the Second Coming, even though it hasn't really caught on with most Netizens.

The book also comes with a CD which, as I own a Mac, I have not used. There is Mac software on it, but it's not nearly as useful or plentiful as the Windows software. [The authors even go so far as to list the installation instructions and license agreement as "software" in the Mac listing of CD contents-- no such padding with the Windows list]

Do you want to earn extra income from your business? There are plenty of people today who can offer you helpful information on how to market your business online. There are also plenty of fine books available to help you market your business as well. Feel like a real dummy at marketing? Maybe you are one but don't worry. IDG Books has published Marketing Online for Dummies to offer the average person on the street the basic marketing information they need to be successful.

Marketing Online for Dummies offers a broad range of useful information about the online world, domain name selection and use, Website content, and effective Website marketing strategies. Readers should pay particularly close attention to the chapter dealing with domain name selection and use. According to the authors the selection of an effective domain name can be easily overlooked. Because the use of a domain name will have a direct impact upon the marketing success of any company, it is important to come up with the right name for a company's Website in order to successfully market the products and services they have to offer. This book offers an excellent treatment on this very important subject.

Another bright spot about this book is the special Internet directory of companies and individual Websites where readers can obtain important business information related to online commerce and great shareware software programs. There are valuable resources available on the Internet today and you will find many of them listed here.

As are other books in the Dummies series, this one is quite easy to read and understand. This book is ideal for the novice entrepreneur. The information is first-rate. The software included on the accompanying CD will get the reader online. You won't be an online marketing dummy after reading this book but you may be one if you don't read it at all. The choice is yours!

I am absolutely amazed that the folks at IDG Books let this one make it to the printer and than decided to allow it to be put into our hands, the readers who value their concerted "Dummy" offerings. This book will insult you if you know how to do something as simple as turning on your web browser. If you have never, ever ventured into the world wide web and have been living in a cave for the last 10 years, than read this book. Otherwise don't waste your time!

What's the most amazing thing to me is the fact that the "Dummy" series books are known for having substance that is geared both towards the novice and the more advanced/learned people looking for good reference material. I have thoroughly enjoyed some of their other publications and I can't highly recommend Business Plans for Dummies enough - that book was tremendous. This book, however, will insult you if you are like me, having moderate web based experience and it will leave you regretting the time that you spent to read it, not to mention the money that you spent to buy it. It was definitely an excercise in futility - throwing good money after bad. I will now have to rethink any future purchases of IDG reading material as the singular result of this poor offering by their company. In short, this is the absolute worst reference book that I've ever read.