The Ultimate Guide to a Successful Business Website - The Non-Technical Person's Handbook on How to Hire a Web Designer and Manage the Creation, Design and Marketing of a Successful Business Website [Hardcover]

Jason P OConnor (Author), Jason P O'Connor (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Learn how to get a successful, money-making website built for you correctly the first time. This book will arm you with everything you need to know to go from an outdated site or a simple idea to a brand new, fully-functional, money-making business website. You'll learn how to hire the perfect Web designer for a fair price and how to guide them to create the most user-friendly, powerful, trusted and successful website possible for your business and budget. And it will teach you the fundamentals you'll need to succeed on the Web. Jason O'Connor owns the Web design and marketing firm Oak Web Works, LLC (http://www.oakwebworks.com). He is an expert Web designer, programmer and marketer who takes you step by step through the entire website building process in this book. He'll give you in-the-trenches and cutting-edge information that will save you a lot of money, time and frustration. You will be guided through each step in the creation of a successful business website. You will discover how to plan your website, work with your Web designer and show you why you need to demand very specific things to ensure your online success. And you'll also learn ways you can market your website. You can suffer through the entire website building process and be massively disappointed with the end result, blind to the details, ignorant of website fundamentals, and full of regret for the amount of money you spent. Or you can ensure that you'll save time and money, understand what goes into a great website, have a relatively easy time with the whole process, be thrilled with the final product, and end up with a successful website that helps you achieve all your business goals. This book's entire purpose is to help you achieve the latter. Among the many Web business-related things this book will teach you are: 1.How to choose & hire the right Web design company or freelancer for your project. 2. How to manage the creation of a business website that increases your bottom line. 3. How to go from a simple idea to a fully-functional, money making website in no time flat. 4. How to choose the right navigation structure. 5. How to separate your site from your competition. 6. What every business website must have. 7. How design, marketing and programming properly interact to form every website. 8. How to ensure your website includes all three pillars of the Web. 9. How to choose the right web site for your business. 10. How to save serious money and time when getting your website built. 11. How to negotiate with the Web vendors you're considering hiring. 12. How to ensure you'll make money with your website. 13. What components make up every successful website. 14. What makes a business website great. 15. What to provide your Web vendor. 16. How to plan the creation of your website. 16. How to properly search online 17. How to choose the right website colors, fonts and layouts. 17. E-marketing tactics and strategies. If you need a new business website this book is for you.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 196 pages
• Publisher: Brandon Oak Publishing (March 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0980191203
• ISBN-13: 978-0980191202
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #430,596 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Smart, Comprehensive Guide to Creating Your Website, December 3, 2008

By	James Sadler (Plano, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Ultimate Guide to a Successful Business Website - The Non-Technical Person's Handbook on How to Hire a Web Designer and Manage the Creation, Design and Marketing of a Successful Business Website (Hardcover)

First, even if you're a do-it-yourselfer, don't pass up this book.

While this book is aimed at business owners planning to hire a web designer to build their company's website, it's got excellent advice, and useful checklists, that do-it-yourselfers will be able to put to use in building their own sites.

That being said, Mr. O'Conner has put together one of the best books on creating a business website that I've seen in a long time. And as a copywriter and SEO specialist, I read a lot of stuff on this subject matter.

O'Conner's language is clear and easy to understand. He doesn't pack it with technical jargon, as far too many of these type books do, and he takes his time in explaining everything you need to consider in building, or rebuilding, a business website.

I particularly like the way he explains qualities a site needs to succeed, rather than just explaining the structure and design of a site.

His "Great Website Rules" (found beginning on page 107) describe the traits that every website needs in order to succeed.

Even better, he goes beyond the nuts and bolts needs of website design and discusses marketing your website, something way too many web designers never give consideration to.

Unfortunately, just because you build it does not mean that they will come.

Fortunately, Mr. O'Conner gives an excellent overview of search engine optimization and search engine marketing techniques that will help you both gain top rankings on the search engines and draw traffic to your
website.

Mr. O'Conner also does something else rarely done by web designers writing about the needs of a website-- he emphasizes the need for content (you know, words) on the web page. This is important for two reasons--

One, search engines like Google are seeking content and information.

And two, it just so happens that human searchers on the web are usually looking for the same exact thing.

Another great feature of this book are the checklists and charts he provides that are designed to help you make decisions as to what you want in a website.

So before you design or re-design your next website, get this book. It's perfect for nontechnical types and can even teach technical types a thing or two.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book for Learning How to Build a Website (for your business), March 26, 2009

By	Simone (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Ultimate Guide to a Successful Business Website - The Non-Technical Person's Handbook on How to Hire a Web Designer and Manage the Creation, Design and Marketing of a Successful Business Website (Hardcover)

This book did exactly what I wanted it to, which is to walk me through the steps needed to build a business website. I have been thinking about a specific idea for about two years, but didn't take concrete steps because I knew I didn't know how to proceed. Most web designers I had interviewed are "artist-types" and I could sense that they wouldn't necessarily build a highly functional or user-friendly site, with the end goal being to make my site financially successful. But I didn't know where to begin with my questions, so I didn't pursue the project. I knew I couldn't supervise a web designer/firm properly and that I would overpay because my ignorance was so obvious. Now I know exactly what I need to, which is NOT how to program code myself (that's never going to happen!) but I know what to look for, the questions to ask, what role I should play and how to find the right people to work with. So if you are interested in this subject, don't hesitate to buy this book. It's very simple to read, which is just right if you are unfamiliar with the subject matter and repeats all the most important points several times. Which in this context is good. It also have specific, practical advice about what you can do right now to move forward.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Need a Website? Buy This Book., January 22, 2009

By	Harrison (Louisville, KY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ultimate Guide to a Successful Business Website - The Non-Technical Person's Handbook on How to Hire a Web Designer and Manage the Creation, Design and Marketing of a Successful Business Website (Hardcover)

I felt compelled to write a review of this book after I read it because when I finished it I really felt like I got more out of it than I ever expected. My company already had a website but needed it totally re-done. A few years ago, my business partner and I had a really bad experience with a Web designer and Internet marketer who promised the world, delivered very little and took forever. So I was dreading starting the whole process over again for our new site. This book helped a tremendous amount and made the process fairly easy. If you're serious about building a world-class business website, you'll learn exactly how to find a Web developer, design company or freelancer who is perfect for your project and is as serious as you.

I also didn't realize how many things one could do with a site and its design, layout, linking and content that can make the difference between a money-making website and a business dud. Chapters 7, 8 and 9 go into excellent detail about how to work with your web vendor to build a site that has proper Internet marketing capabilities and that achieves all of your business goals.

If you need a website and if you want to actually make money with it, buy this book.