The Online Rules of Successful Companies: The Fool-Proof Guide to Building Profits

The Online Rules of Successful Companies:  The Fool-Proof Guide to Building Profits......Page 4
Title Page......Page 6
Copyright 2003 Pearson Education, Inc.......Page 7
Dedication page......Page 12
Contents......Page 14
Foreword......Page 18
Introduction......Page 20
CHAPTER 1  What Makes the Internet So Powerful?......Page 24
Selling Mexican Food Online: MexGrocer.com......Page 27
Delivering Information Online: Wired News......Page 28
Pure Ecommerce: NoteTab......Page 30
Online Community: Slashdot......Page 31
Brochureware: Robin’s Limousine......Page 34
A Web Site Is Not a Business......Page 35
The Difference between an Online Business and an Online Hobby......Page 37
Avoiding the Worst Mistakes......Page 40
Information Layering......Page 42
Basic Web Design Usability Rules......Page 47
When In Doubt, Steal......Page 48
Selecting Web Designers......Page 51
Dealing with Hired Web Designers......Page 55
Maintaining Site Focus......Page 57
CHAPTER 3  Profitable Ecommerce......Page 62
Sell without Shame......Page 63
Get to the Point Right Away......Page 64
Site Navigation for Ecommerce......Page 69
Information Layering Accommodates Almost All Shoppers......Page 73
Database-Driven vs. Static HTML Sites......Page 77
The Myth of the Abandoned Shopping Cart......Page 81
Tell Your Customers Who and Where You Are......Page 82
Answer Your Email and Your Phone......Page 84
Do You Really Need Ecommerce?......Page 86
CHAPTER 4  Promotional Web Sites for Offline Businesses......Page 88
Location, Location, Location......Page 89
Are You Going to Answer Email?......Page 91
Start Small, then Grow......Page 92
Make Sure You Own Your Name......Page 93
Adding Prices and Other Content......Page 95
Avoid Web Obsession......Page 96
Put Yourself in Your Customer’s Shoes......Page 97
Giving Your Web Site Visitors What They Want......Page 99
The Last Word: Stick to Business......Page 100
CHAPTER 5  News and Discussion Web Sites......Page 102
The Economic Realities of Online Advertising......Page 107
Tech News as a “Natural” for the Web......Page 109
You Are Not C|Net......Page 111
Beyond Tech News: General Media Online......Page 116
Moving Offline News Online......Page 117
The Standalone News Site......Page 119
Ultra-Niche, High-Value News......Page 120
Subscription News Sites......Page 122
Responding to Customers’ Email......Page 126
Resisting the Lure of Spam......Page 127
Using Opt-In Promotional Email......Page 128
News As Email......Page 131
Maintaining Credibility in Email Newsletters......Page 132
Email Discussion Lists......Page 136
Thoughts on Email List Management......Page 139
Chat and Instant Messaging As Business Tools......Page 141
Viruses and Other Email Hazards......Page 143
Email and Chat Are Changing, Not Static......Page 147
The Most Important Email and Chat Rule......Page 149
Directories Are Not Search Engines......Page 152
Simple Tricks That Help Get Favorable Search Engine Rankings......Page 153
More Advanced Search Engine Tricks......Page 162
Advertising Your Web Site Online......Page 164
Advertising Your Web Site Offline......Page 165
Choosing the Right Domain Name......Page 167
Protecting Your Domain Name......Page 170
Try Not to Argue Over Domain Names......Page 171
All Your Promotions Must Work Together......Page 172
CHAPTER 8  Cost Control and Futureproofing......Page 174
A Distributed Work Force Saves Money......Page 175
Cost-Effective Web Hosting......Page 178
Linux......Page 184
Apache......Page 186
Stick to Industry Standards......Page 187
The Curse of the Obsolete Browser......Page 190
Interpreting Site Statistics......Page 191
An Endless Learning Process......Page 192
Resources......Page 196
Index......Page 200