From the book lists at Adware Report:

 All information current as of 19:04:57 Pacific Time, Monday, 21 February 2005.

The Unofficial Guide to Starting a Business Online

   by Jason R. Rich / Jason Rich

  Paperback:
    Wiley
    11 November, 1999

   US$11.55 

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Editorial description(s):

Book Info
Designed to give savvy consumers a fool-proof appraisal of the best ways to set up an online business with unbiased recommendations that are not influenced by any company, product or organization. Softcover.


From the Back Cover
The inside scoop... for when you want more than the official line! More and more people are giving up traditional storefront businesses and starting their own businesses on the Internet. You, too, have a terrific idea for a business, but you're also unsure of how much business can really be done over the Internet. Before you can even get started, you need to know not only what it takes to start up a business, but also how to set up a Web page, what product is right for you, and what the first steps are to advertising online. You want the inside scoop. The Unofficial Guide™ to Starting a Business Online is designed to give savvy consumers a fool-proof appraisal of the best ways to set up a online business with unbiased recommendations that are not influenced by any company, product, or organization. The Unofficial Guide™ to Starting a Business Online is intensively inspected by The Unofficial Panel of Experts: Sara Unrue Koulen is a Web site developer for technology-based businesses and Jerry Osborne became an expert on e-commerce Web site design while planning his own site about rock music. These specialists ensure that you are armed with the most up-to-date insider information on the subject of e-commerce and are told exactly what "the Official establishment" doesn't want you to know. Vital Information on planning your business before you go online Insider Secrets on how to avoid the most common online business mistakes Money-Saving Techniques on using inexpensive advertising to target your niche market Time-Saving Tips on turn key solutions for setting up your Web site The Latest Trends in URL registration, search engines, secure credit card transactions, and Web graphics Handy Checklists and Charts that help you determine when you're ready to go online visit us on-line at www.idgbooks.com


About the Author
About the Author Jason R. Rich ([email protected]/www.jasonrich.com), 32, is a freelance writer, author, and newspaper/magazine columnist. Rich has written a number of books on business-related issues, including the Unofficial Guide to Earning What You Deserve (Macmillan, 1999), Job Hunting For the Utterly Confused (McGraw-Hill), and First Job, Great Job: America's Hottest Business Leaders Share Their Secrets (Macmillan). For the Sunday Boston Herald, Rich writes a weekly column covering all aspects of the job search process. He also contributes career-related feature articles to National Business Employment Weekly, The Wall Street Journal's Managing Your Career, Careers & Colleges, and Enter. Rich is also president of Teen Talk Communications and one of the country's leading experts on video games, computer games, and interactive entertainment, having authored or contributed to over two dozen best-selling computer and video game strategy guides. His writings have also appeared in Disney Adventures, The Chicago Tribune, ESPN Magazine, and Parents' Choice. In 1988, Rich created and was the columnist for the Celebrity Teen Talk nationally syndicated newspaper column. Rich was a contributing producer and feature host for the weekly, Peabody Award-winning Kid Company radio show (WBZ-AM 1030), and is currently associate producer for Kids Talk Sports, a four-time Emmy Award winning interactive TV show.


Book Description
Only a few years into its popular use, the World Wide Web has already enabled thousands to set up online businesses that require a minimum of upkeep and maximum profits. The Unofficial Guide to Starting a Business Online is the cyber-entrepreneur's ultimate guide to every aspect of hanging out a shingle in the virtual world. Here's what readers get:




Reader review(s):

Good starting point, December 29, 1999
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.

It Will Help You Make the Right Business Decisions!, May 23, 2000
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!

Useful For The Beginner, April 21, 2000
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.

Not Worth the Time, June 29, 2002
This "Unofficial Guide" is officially not worth the time. I read the entire book, hoping to find a jewel of applicable information, but I was very disappointed. The basic approach taken by the author is to have us look at successful online business web sites for good ideas-we need a book to tell us that? You are much better off using your browser and a search engine than wasting your time with this book. Reading the bio on the author should be enough to convince you-his claim to fame is "one of the country's leading experts on video games, computers games, and interactive entertainment." Why is he writing this book? The information was simplistic, out of date, and occasionally inaccurate.

Complete Waste, January 13, 2003
The only thing to be learned from this book is if you have a catchy title and access to bookshelf space, you can sell anything, even 414 pages of filler.

Among the pearls of wisdom is the advice that you can compare features of different computer brands by shopping at your local computer store. I'm not kidding!

I was so insulted by the banality of this book that I was moved to write this review.

Don't Buy It, January 9, 2003
I bought the book on the strength of the excerpts on the back. It is a waste of paper. The information is shallow an very dated. It does not provide any valuable information, even the rhetoric is thin and pale. The "trends" are old guesses from the DOTCOM era. AND the "money saving techniques" are stale. And I figured this out and I'm just starting a web business. Try TechTV's Starting an Online Business. It's FAR better. Better yet try multiple books and do some deep diving on the web. You know the 3rd 4th and 5th pages when you do a web search. Good Luck.

Start your ecommerce business here, July 11, 2000
Good stuff! I looked through a lot of books to help me, new to ecommerce, get going. This book looked promising and was better than expected. Start here and you won't go wrong. It helped me out a lot!

Read this book.You might be the next successful entrepreneur, July 22, 2002
I have read a few more books on this subject. All of them share many concepts. However each of these books add useful ideas of how to start an online business. I recommend to read not only this one but others like: "Starting an Online Business" by Frank Fiore, "Mompreneurs Online" by Patricia Cobe and "Making Money in Cyberspace" by Paul and Sarah Edwards. Do not stop only on one book, search other sources and you will have a better idea about Online Bunisness. This book have some chapters that will be very basic to some readers but the overall idea of this publication is worth to read it. You will find interviews with succesful e-commerce entrepreneurs. I loved the interviews with Chris Gwynn in Chapter 16 (founder and president of Fridgedoor.com) and Tim Brady and Paul Graham in Chapter 15 (Vice President of Production and Executive Producer of Yahoo Stores). Dont't miss this book! you might be the next successful e-entrepreneur...

This book gave me some new ideas for my On-line business, January 24, 2004
I started my own business and have been selling books online for over 5 years (and doing very well thank you), and I also volunteer in my free time as an outplacement counselor for a local non-profit training facility, so I have had a little bit of experience in business; and I have to tell you after reading the dreadful reviews I picked up a copy of this book just for grins... not! This book has some really good ideas. True there is no magic bullet, but that's just it, this book gives good direction and if you have a half-way decent brain and some ambition you will do the rest. My biggest problem as an outplacment counselor (whose job it is to help people to go out there and look for a job) is motivating them. I give them the direction but they want the easy fix. This book will not give you an easy fix, but if you want some good solid ideas ... read this book.
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