The Big Red Fez (Paperback)

by Seth Godin (Author) "In Japan, there are thousands of pachinko parlors..." (more)
Key Phrases: red fez, duck quack, Red Herring, American Express, Daily Update

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
For those trying to make their Web sites profitable in the lean years, Internet marketing sage Seth Godin, author of Unleashing the Ideavirus, has written a practical guide to making sites more attractive to browsers. The Big Red Fez: How to Make Any Web Site Better offers simple but frequently overlooked design tips (avoid inefficient pull-down menus, don't ask for the same information twice) that will keep impatient users from ditching your site before they buy whatever it is you're selling. Godin's primary mantra is to limit information on each page and offer clear incentives for clicking to the next screen. Each of his concise points is illustrated with an image from an actual Web site, making the book itself a model of simplicity that will be appreciated by busy entrepreneurs and Web designers.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Booklist
While the average computer book is as thick as the unabridged telephone directory to China, Godin's new Web marketing manual is so slender you'll actually want to read it. Geared primarily toward those designing, building, or owning retail Web sites, the text encourages us to picture the would-be shopper as a monkey (wearing a red fez) whose attention will wander if he can't instantly find a "banana": a simple objective on each page that leads to a reward. (The author insists the comparison is not demeaning, saying we're all monkeys once in a while.) Though he may be part of the insidious gang that seeks the best way to part us from our hard-earned cash, he is also a de facto consumer advocate; it turns out that what we find most annoying in the online world--Flash sites, crappy search engines, Spam--are the very things that cut into revenue. Imagine! After this brisk and humorous read, even a monkey would agree that this is how business ought to be done. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (March 4, 2002)
• ISBN-10: 0743220862
• ISBN-13: 978-0743220866
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,474,019 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Book or brochure?, May 31, 2005

By	M. Overweg - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Big Red Fez: How To Make Any Web Site Better (Paperback)

I find it difficult to believe so many people liked this book:
The author starts off with 'bad' examples that admittedly have been made on many websites, but are really to obvious to put in a book of which the author is claimed to have 'inimitable wisdom' (back cover).
Then, towards the end, more examples of 'good' design are given, and most of these did not impress me at all. At some point I even got the feeling this was some sort of brochure (given its size, you can hardly call it a book) written to advertise the websites of Godin's friends and clients.

The enormous amount of research the author must have done is nicely summarized in this quote from page 105: 'Find the sites on the web that are working and copy their organization.'

If you're looking for a good book on this subject, look up Steve Krug or Jakob Nielsen.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars All about the banana, April 14, 2001

By	John Martin "Exploring the worlds of wine, sp... (Houston TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Here's a good start if you're looking for some quick and pithy insights into what works on a web site and what don't. Lacking in depth but not in perspective, Seth Godin delivers on his promise of giving 45 brief critiques on web sites, good and bad.

Two quick equally brief observations:

1. Mr. Godin has a wealth of direct marketing knowledge using both online and more traditional techniques. Both the reader and the writer would be better served if there was more substance in this book. A terribly quick read, this book misses the opportunity to tell more.

That said, the Internet is the greatest direct marketing medium ever, but that ain't all it is. While the direct marketer in me understands the need for the banana, sometimes the site needs to do something other than sell. Some of these sites and emails look much better as informational programs than they do as sales pitches.

2. How could Adobe take its ubiquitous, powerful and intuitive Adobe Reader product and mangle it into this "eBook Reader?" Ugh! We'd all be better off with a standard PDF version of this book (like "Unleashing the IdeaVirus). I'd pay more than the three bucks for a truly readable copy.

23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Appealing Concept, June 9, 2003

By	Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Big Red Fez: How To Make Any Web Site Better (Paperback)

Author of several brisk, witty, and informative business books, Seth Godin has a unique gift for locking in on a core concept and then explaining why and how it can guide and inform thinking about an important business issue. In this volume, he focuses on "how to make any Web site better." His dual metaphors explain the meaning and significance of the title. Preferring a marketer's version of a Web site to that of an engineer, he suggests that "One of the best ways to remind yourself about what's really going on [when someone visits a Web site] is to think of a monkey in a big red fez...The best way to motivate the monkey [to take a desired action], of course, is to use a banana. Whenever a monkey walks into a new situation, all it wants to know is, 'Where's the banana?' If the banana isn't easy to see, easy to get and obvious, the monkey is going to lose interest. But if you can make it clear to the monkey what's in it for him, odds are he'll do what you want." Obviously, the monkey is the Web site visitor and the banana is the incentive mechanism.

Godin uses a number of different real-world Web sites to illustrate what is and is not effective; he also explains why. (Presumably many of those responsible for the ineffective Web sites have read this book and made the necessary revisions since it first appeared about 18 months ago.) One of the book's most interesting points concerns the quite different mentalities of the engineer and the marketer. The former assumes that smart people have plenty of time, know precisely what they want from their online surfing, and can make a considered decision if provided with sufficient data. In stunning contrast, the marketer assumes that people are busy, ill informed, impatient, not very thoughtful and eager to click on to something RIGHT NOW. The marketer also believes that if you don't give the visitor the right object (or objective) to click on to immediately, the visitor will hit the "Back" button and leave.

I presume to add another difference: I think that most visually complicated Web sites resemble the front page of the U.S.A. Today newspaper (especially the Friday/Saturday/Sunday edition) whereas the most effective Web sites resemble the most effective billboards along a highway. Percentages vary but research studies suggest that online surfers spend about 90% of their time visiting the same ten Web sites Also, that after a unsatisfying experience, the percentage is even higher; that is, approximately 95% of online surfers never return to that Web site.

One substantial benefit this book provides which I did not anticipate when I began to read it is that the same principles which Godin recommends to increase a Web site's effectiveness are also relevant to the design of marketing and sales collateral materials such as direct mail solicitations and printed brochures. Because of the immense clutter through which messages of various kinds struggle to reach their destination, and because this clutter is certain to become even greater, Godin's concept of what he calls a "purple cow" (explained in a book of the same name) has compelling importance: become and then remain remarkable for as long as possible. Web sites, letterhead, business cards, products, services...indeed contact and communication in any form...must attract and reward attention or are certain to fail. Period.

Those who are responsible for Web sites or who heavily depend on Web sites to help achieve their business objectives are strongly urged to check out all of those which Godin features in his book. Also be alert to various lists of award-winning Web sites, especially those selected by online surfers rather than by technicians. For example, the finalists in competition for the 1st Annual Web Site Award sponsored by WIRED magazine.

One final point: This year's Purple Cow may well be a Plaid Kangaroo in 2004.