The online rules of successful companies : the fool-proof guide to building profits : buildprofitsonline.com

Annotation -- By the leader of OSDN, Editor-in-Chief of Slashdot, Freshmeat, and other popular and profitable Internet businesses.-- Solid, no-nonsense advice for reducing your costs and maximizing your income. There's now enough history to identify specific rules for systematically building the profitability of virtually any business online. In this book, Robin Miller systematically introduces these rules, and shows exactly how you can use them to maximum advantage, whatever you market -- products, services, information, or advertising. Miller is exceptionally well-placed to write this book: he is editor-in-chief of OSDN, the parent organization of hugely popular sites like Slashdot and Freshmeat ... businesses that have been profitable virtually from day one. Drawing on his own experience and the hard lessons learned by thousands of companies, he has delivered a hard-nosed, practical, streetwise guide to reducing your costs and increasing your revenues until you're making a healthy and sustainable profit. Miller identifies disastrous mistakes and shows how to avoid them; presents tactics for accomplishing more with less; shows how to anticipate trends and technologies without wasting scarce time and money; and demonstrates how you can use the Internet to support all your business activities, both online and off. This book is not about technology or "e-commerce": it is about success 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

In this book, Robin "Roblimo" Miller introduces specific rules for systematically building the profitability of virtually any business online, and shows how to use these rules to maximum advantage, whatever you sell-products, services, information, or advertising.

Miller is exceptionally well placed to write this book: He is Editor-in-Chief of OSDN (Open Source Development Network), the parent organization of hugely popular sites like Slashdot and Freshmeat-businesses that have been profitable virtually from day one. Drawing on his own experience and the hard lessons learned by thousands of companies, he has delivered a practical, streetwise guide to cutting your costs and raising your revenues until you're making a healthy, sustainable profit.

Miller shows how to avoid disastrous mistakes; how to accomplish more with less; how to anticipate trends without wasting scarce resources; and how to use the Internet to support all your business activities, both online and off. This book is not about technology or "e-commerce": It is about business success.

* The rules of profitable business online What works now-and what never works * Driving costs out of your online business Reducing the cost of hosting, software, coding, and more * Using your site to support your offline business Dirt-cheap ways to increase your in-store traffic and profits * The do's and don'ts of email, chat, and community Connecting with your customers-one-on-one * The myth of the "abandoned shopping cart" What you can-and can't-learn from iwithout the expense And expensive techniques that are utterly worthless

Foreword by Rich Jaroslavsky, former technology editor, The Wall Street Journal

The streetwise guide to online profits.

• Increase your online revenues and reduce your costs-one step at a time
• Build business-focused Web sites that work
• Use email and chat to build profits without alienating customers
• Information layering: clearing away the clutter that keeps people from buying
• Practical solutions for brick-and-mortar companies, Internet companies, and click-and-mortar hybrids
• By Robin "Roblimo" Miller, leader of one of the Internet's most successful businesses

Why have so many companies lost a fortune on the Internet, accomplishing nothing—while others have made far smaller investments and earned millions? In The Online Rules of Successful Companies: The Fool-Proof Guide to Building Profits, leading Internet entrepreneur Robin "Roblimo" Miller illuminates the crucial rules that make the difference between success and failure online.

Miller's successful Internet ventures have ranged from the legendary Slashdot community to one of the world's first profitable online limousine services. In this book, he offers no-nonsense advice for building your online profits in the only way possible: by driving revenue up and costs down.

Discover how to make sure your Internet presence supports your entire business, both online and off. Learn which low-cost site promotion techniques work-and which expensive techniques don't. See your site as customers see it, and fix the Learn how to use email, chat, and "community" features to support your site-and how not to. From low-cost software to effective advertising, Miller shows you what's working for thousands of companies online-and how to make it work for you.

In The Online Rules of Successful Companies: The Fool-Proof Guide to Building Profits, leading Internet entrepreneur Robin "Roblimo" Miller (developer for Slashdot and Freshmeat Web sites) presents systematic rules for building the profitability of your business online, whatever you sell - products, services, information, or advertising. Miller offers streetwise advice on accomplishing more with less; anticipating trends without wasting resources; avoiding disastrous mistakes; making the most of email and chat; and using the Internet to support all of your business activities, both online and off.