Unofficial Guide to Starting a Business Online (Unofficial Guides) [Paperback]

Jason R. Rich (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471748382 | ISBN-13: 978-0471748380 | Publication Date: January 4, 2006 | Edition: 2

The inside scoop... for when you want more than the official line!

If you have an entrepreneurial spirit and want to capitalize on the fastest growing marketplace ever, the Web, this is the book for you. From choosing the product or service you offer to designing your website to marketing and managing your online venture, this guide gives you step-by-step guidance and helps you avoid common pitfalls. You don't have to be a computer guru or programmer, and you don't have to invest big bucks, thanks to the unbiased recommendations, practical guidance, and insider savvy this book puts at your fingertips. Updated with advice from experts, current statistics, new tips and strategies, and information about hundreds of resources, this guide gets you in business online with:

Vital Information on choosing a unique product or service and targeting a specific niche market

Insider Secrets from entrepreneurs who have launched successful online businesses

Money-Saving Techniques, including using services from Yahoo!, Microsoft, eBay, and others to create a small-business website

Time-Saving Tips for obtaining prominent listing placement on search engines and in Web directories and information portals

The Latest Trends in online advertising, marketing, and branding, plus the online auction phenomenon

Handy Checklists to help you create and operate your online business

Editorial Reviews

Review

"…a must read for any budding Richard Bransons…" ( Windows XP Made Easy, November 2006)

From the Back Cover

The inside scoop... for when you want more than the official line!

If you have an entrepreneurial spirit and want to capitalize on the fastest growing marketplace ever, the Web, this is the book for you. From choosing the product or service you offer to designing your website to marketing and managing your online venture, this guide gives you step-by-step guidance and helps you avoid common pitfalls. You don't have to be a computer guru or programmer, and you don't have to invest big bucks, thanks to the unbiased recommendations, practical guidance, and insider savvy this book puts at your fingertips. Updated with advice from experts, current statistics, new tips and strategies, and information about hundreds of resources, this guide gets you in business online with:

Vital Information on choosing a unique product or service and targeting a specific niche market

Insider Secrets from entrepreneurs who have launched successful online businesses

Money-Saving Techniques, including using services from Yahoo!, Microsoft, eBay, and others to create a small-business website

Time-Saving Tips for obtaining prominent listing placement on search engines and in Web directories and information portals

The Latest Trends in online advertising, marketing, and branding, plus the online auction phenomenon

Handy Checklists to help you create and operate your online business

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (January 4, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471748382
• ISBN-13: 978-0471748380
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,099,111 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It Will Help You Make the Right Business Decisions!, May 23, 2000

By 

Jim Moran - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Unofficial Guide to Starting a Business Online (Paperback)

Many fine books have been published within the last several years on the topic of starting online businesses. Most of them deserve high praise for helping people to get started. One of the better ones in my opinion is Jason Rich's book, The Unofficial Guide to Starting a Business Online.

This slightly larger-than-pocketsized handbook contains a wealth of solid business information within its covers. Jason Rich offers a panoramic view of what it takes to start an online business today. He thoughtfully details essential matters that will contribute to an effective enterprise. He is quick to point out steps and facts of information that can save time and money - two important factors to consider when setting up and operating a business!

Readers will learn, for instance, that it is not necessary to register (or pay someone to register), their business Websites with literally thousands of search engines and other Websites to get noticed. Rich points out that 90% of the Web surfing public uses the top ten search engines to find what they are looking for!

Readers planning to set up shop are provided timely information about selecting and buying computer equipment, software titles, home office equipment, and necessary supplies. Web browser plug-ins, Webcamming, streaming audio and video technologies, and other Web development tools are covered to provide readers with ideas they should consider incorporating into their business sites to enhance performance and profitability.

Jason Rich does a commendable job warning his readers about some of the sham operators who offer those get rich quick schemes that are nothing more than scams perpetrated upon the unwary. Rich lists the top 12 scams, according to the FTC, that arrive in our e-mail boxes on a regular basis, such as the endless number of business opportunities, multilevel marketing and pyramids, sending bulk e-mail, chain letters, and those work-at-home schemes that sound too good to be true!

Readers are treated to the dialog that takes place between Jason Rich and his team of interviewed guests. Questions asked and answered involving Web development strategies include Website hosting, ISP's, key design features, creating and using Web graphics, creating online stores and catalogs, and software recommendations. Plenty of advertising and marketing advice is given as well to guide readers. These are not short answers - they are well thought out and deliver detailed solutions!

This book will help readers lay the groundwork necessary for establishing their own online businesses, to fine-tune their business plans and online presence, to effectively promote themselves, and to take advantage of a variety of resources to launch and maintain successful businesses. It's must reading for anyone desiring to start an online business. Get a jump-start with this book today. It will help you make the right business decisions!

54 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good starting point, December 28, 1999

By 

Gadgester "No Time, No Money" (Mother Earth) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Unofficial Guide to Starting a Business Online (Paperback)

This is a good book to read before you start your online business. Obviously it won't make you successful, but it will keep you sane over the many little details of running a business, esp. an online business. Written in easy-to-understand language, the book is highly readable and the information highly useful and also up-to-date. The small physical format also makes it easy to carry around and read it any time.

The book covers things like how to prepare to do business online (what business to go into, financing, etc.), getting online (hosting, domain...), promoting online, etc. There are many tips provided in the margins.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Useful For The Beginner, April 21, 2000

By 

Mitchell R. Alegre (Glenwood, New York) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Unofficial Guide to Starting a Business Online (Paperback)

This is a useful book for someone who is thinking about starting an online business. The book gives a good overview of e-commerce. I liked the margin notes. The resource guide at the back of the book listing all the websites referred to in the book is useful. I found the chapter with interviews of sccessful e-commerce merchants to be the most interesting. I recommend this book to anyone wanting to start a business on the web. The experienced e-commerce entrepreneur, however, will find this guide too elementary. As an "Unofficial Guide," the book purports to give the inside scoop. I found nothing that I hadn't already read elsewhere. This volume is a solid beginner's guide and reference but don't expect to learn any secrets that will put you ahead of the many other businesspeople flocking to the internet.