Starting an Online Business For Dummies [Paperback]

Greg Holden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 16, 2007

You’ve heard stories about people making their fortune creating Web sites and selling merchandise on the Internet. You’ve been eager to jump right in and take a shot at striking it rich, but you’re not quite sure how to get started—or if you’re business-minded and tech-savvy enough to succeed.

Starting an Online Business for Dummies will show you how easy it is to get your ideas off the ground and on the Web. You’ll be able to take advantage of everything an online business has to offer, without an MBA or years of experience! This updated, hands-on guide gives you the tools you need to:

• Establish and promote your business
• Advertise your site
• Build a business with online auctions
• Keep your business legal and lawsuit free
• Impress customers in the virtual world
• Publicize your business with Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft
• Conduct electronic payments
• Utilize VoIP, site feeds, blogging, and affiliate marketng

You’ll soon begin to realize that online business is not confined to large corporations or even businesses with storefronts. With this handy, straightforward guide, you will have your business online and ready to go in no time. There’s also a chapter on hot new ways to make money online, such as selling on Amazon or promoting on Flickr. The 5^th edition of Starting an Online Business for Dummies helps you help your business can reach its full potential!

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Make the most of VoIP, site feeds, blogging, and affiliate marketing

The newest, fastest ways to establish and promote a lucrative online business

It's never been easier to get an online business up and running! From identifying your market to building your Web site to attracting (and keeping!) customers, this friendly guide covers it all. You'll take advantage of the latest Internet marketing trends, secure your site, receive online payments, and deal with legal and tax issues — all from the comfort of home.

Discover how to:

• Draw up a cyberbusiness plan

• Acquire equipment and inventory

• Market to customers around the world

• Improve your search engine ranking

• Set up Amazon, Yahoo!, and other storefronts

About the Author

Greg Holden is the founder of Stylus Media, which creates Web pages for small businesses. An eBay PowerUser, he has authored more than 35 books and numerous magazine articles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 5 edition (April 16, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470107391
• ISBN-13: 978-0470107393
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #291,575 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

108 of 110 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Basic information, but not hands-on enough, August 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Starting An Online Business for Dummies (Paperback)

This book offers a good introduction to what you need to start your own online business. All aspects of starting such a business is covered, and after I read the book I could proudly say I knew the how's (as well as what's), and I was on my way starting a business.

But there are two major flaws to this book: first, it's not very readable, and second, it doesn't give you enough hands-on information. There are superfluous step-by-step instructions on how to use FrontPage Express, but the author doesn't tell you much about building store fronts or how to accept credit cards online, two of the more pressing topics for someone wishing to start a e-business.

The CD is a big disappointment. Just a collection of demoware and shareware. It is an environmental waste and makes the book a little pricier than it should be.

68 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great book to get started with., August 13, 2001

By 

Ron G. Macari (Mississauga, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Starting an Online Business for Dummies (Paperback)

The title of this book reads "Starting an Online Business for Dummies" and the book offers the novice Online business person an easy way to begin understanding the concepts behind much of today's Online business without overwhelming the reader. In many other books I've read, terms like, "Meta-tags","Banner Exchange","Keywords" and many other terms are used without the author of the book ever considering the fact that the reader may not be familiar with these terms, or bothering to explain them clearly. "Online Business for Dummies" takes the time to explain each new term which is introduced, and offers many clever anecdotes which not only keeps the reading enjoyable, but also helps the reader to remember and understand the concepts.

In our own Online business we used "Online Business for Dummies" to draw out a mind map which helped our tech oriented support staff to gain a better perspective on the typical support needs of novice Online business people.

If you are just starting out I couldn't recommend a better book to get started with. Learning the in's and out's of Online business is not a one step process, and I think that "Online business for Dummies" does a fairly good job of laying a foundation you can build on.

132 of 147 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars unimpressive, December 16, 1999

By 

N. Dimaio - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Starting An Online Business for Dummies (Paperback)

i realize the book says for dummies in the title BUT first off some of the things the book states about dreamweaver are not true and are not possible - i didnt open the cd because from reading the book you knew most of the cd was demos which you would have to take off of your computer in a month anyway - the only information i got from this book was basic business start up legal information - it kept referring to information i am looking for but it states it is not covered in this book but the small business internet for dummies - after reading this book cover to cover though i am very hesitant to purchase another book by this author - the information i need is probably just referenced to and really in a third book anyway - overall i was very unimpressed by this book

only buy this book if you are BRAND NEW to the internet - like you just got online for the first time last week and think maybe making money online might be for you THIS BOOK IS FOR BEGINNING BEGINNERS ONLY