Product Description

The Business on a Shoestring series helps small business owners grow their business imaginatively, effectively and without spending a fortune. Aimed at entrepreneurs with plenty of vision and commitment but not a lot of cash, each book is packed with ideas that really work, real-life examples, step-by-step advice and sources of further information. Having an online presence is essential for most businesses these days. Don't think that a small budget means that you can't compete with larger organisations: if your site is well laid out and your content compelling, you can! This book shows the way, covering topics such as: Choosing the right domain name; Smartening up a basic website; Driving traffic to your website; Analysing web traffic; Affiliate marketing; Search engine listings/optimisation; Taking advantage of free (and safe!) software and training; Relationship networking; Tapping into new or growing trends: Web alerts, RSS, Voice over Internet Protocols, instant messaging, espotting 'a great little package' The Bookseller

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #201495 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Review
'A brand new series aimed at small businesses, with another four volumes to come later in the year. These cover different subjects to most series and they look great. Ideas, examples, tips and sources of further information add up to a great little package in each.' The Bookseller (March 2007) 'All in all this is an excellent introduction for those thinking of setting up their business website, either doing the work themselves or getting in professional developers.' Professional Manager (March 2008)

About the Author
Antoin O Lachtnain has worked with some of the world's largest telecomms equipment suppliers. He regularly speaks at conferences and seminars and was recognised as a 'Global Leader for Tomorrow' by the World Economic Forum 2000 in Davos.

Customer Reviews

It's a great little book
First of all, it is a little book - about the size of a man's hand (5"W X 7" Tall). But do not let the size detract at all from the information it carries, its 200 pages are stuffed with useful information.

I believe that it will suit readers of all degrees of experience and capability. Initially I feared it was going to be too basic, but in fact the author was just doing a good job of building from first principles i.e. explaining domain names, email, hosting etc.

The book comprises six chapters:
1. Creating an effective internet strategy
2. The basics: domain names, email, a website, and get selling
3. Marketing your website
4. Building the 'back end' of your internet business
5. Make your business more efficient with the internet
6. Strategies for a small business on the internet

The author does a good job of covering all the matters that you should consider before diving-in and building a website.

He also goes to great lengths to point out that an internet business is always going to be more than just a website, and leads you through due consideration of your operating processes, your purchasing sources and systems, your accounts systems and software, your delivery methods, and most importantly your customers - how to gain them and how you might communicate with them.

There are useful comparisons with some big businesses that started out small, such as Ryanair and Amazon.

I would have liked to have found shortcuts to more answers to the questions that the book raises, but then I guess we'd all end up following his lead and building cloned websites!!!

So, now that I know the questions I need to cover, it's time to read some more books in search of the answers, and of course, it's back to Google for more searching and researching!