Strikingitrich.com (Striking It Rich.com) : Profiles of 23 Incredibly Successful Websites You've Probably Never Heard Of [Hardcover]

Jaclyn Easton (Author), Jeff Bezos (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 1998

"Striking It Rich.com" is not a how-to book. It's better. It's a "how-it-was-done book" revealing 23 unique blueprints which lead to incredible success. Exclusive stories which have never been told... until now.

These aren't the well-known giants, but something far more unusual and useful: 23 sites have learned to do almost everything right. Each one has practical and fresh ideas to share-- insider information that will nourish the e-commerce ambitions of budding entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 executives. Every type of web-based enterprise is featured, including information sites that rely on advertising revenue, subscription sites, online retailing to consumers as well as business-to-business sales. Told in story form, there's never been such a wealth of down-to-earth, fun-to-read business information.

Award-winning journalist Jaclyn Easton delves deep inside 23 entrepreneurial minds getting answers to all your questions, candidly revealing exactly what works... and what doesn't.

Editorial Reviews

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 Williams

Jaclyn 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

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 251 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies; 1st edition (October 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 007018724X
• ISBN-13: 978-0070187245
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,016,267 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.