Amazon.com Review
Even as Net traffic soars, a general feeling persists that nobody--save computer and sex sites and a few other big-time exceptions--is really making money online. Hogwash, proclaims
Los Angeles Times columnist Jaclyn Easton. She began tracking successful smaller Web enterprises back in 1995, and in her new book does an excellent job of putting this profit-myth to rest by revealing exactly how nearly two dozen mom-and-pop cyberventures are racking up "significant revenues" right now.
StrikingItRich.Com: Profiles of 23 Incredibly Successful Websites That You've Probably Never Heard Of offers the best in-depth examination yet available of what makes such winners tick. Following a foreword by Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, Easton presents highly detailed portraits of a diverse collection of sites with little in common except for one crucial ingredient in her bottom-line recipe for online prosperity: "Be the first, be the best, or be different." Exactly how sites like iPrint, Horsenet, The Knot and Ask the Builder achieve this, of course, is as different as the cyberproducts they're peddling. Precise information on site creation, content development, revenue streams, promotional programs, and other operational aspects make this an extremely practical and motivational read. --Howard Rothman
Review
"... Jacylyn Easton, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, offers intriguing insight into the emerging world of online commerce in Striking It Rich.com: Profiles of 23 Incredibly Successful Websites You've Probably Never Heard Of. Easton knows the territory, and these short case studies are highly recommended for anyone contemplating making the plunge to the Web." --
Book Page...
StrikingItRich.com's most valuable service is in showing the overlap that exists among most small Web companies.... To her credit, Easton's withering interrogation methods and her experience as a business reporter elicit some precious nuggets of inside information--for example, how to get rid of a bad Internet service provider and what to do when somebody sends you a fraudulent credit card number. Few of her interviewees have a problem spilling their guts, and most seem willing to offer solid advice for future entrepreneurs. --
Upside, Sam WilliamsJaclyn Easton's
StrikingItRich.com is not about defusing hype, but rather about substantiating it. Easton, a columnist and feature writer for the
Los Angeles Times, has profiled 23 small web-based businesses that have done well. Her choices range from "The Knot", a one-stop shop for modern weddings, to home improvement sites like "Ask The Builder," and community-oriented sites such as "KoreaLink."
Each profile is full of hard information: costs, revenues, success (and failure) rates for different kinds of web-based advertising, and so on. Violating one stereotype, the average age of the entrepreneurs Easton interviewed is 40. Violating another, their sites tend to make little or no use of Java, frames, and other high-tech eye candy. Instead, the only universal rule seems to be that customer service matters even more on-line than it does in the real world. As Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, says in the book's introduction, "If you make one customer unhappy, he won't tell five friends--he'll tell 5,000 on newsgroups." Read more --Gregory V. Wilson, Dr. Dobb's Journal -- Dr. Dobb's Journal
