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Editor's
Choice: For Outstanding
Web Marketing E book
Review by Kamau Austin
Planning
Your
Internet Marketing Strategy
By Dr. Ralph Wilson AKA Dr. E biz
Review by Kamau Austin
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Einfonews
Since
the Internet is quickly approaching a decade in commercial usage, now
is the time to give pause and reflect on - what truly works for developing
a successful e business. Obviously the well funded IPO, spend at all cost,
dotcom strategies were a bust. Nevertheless, it is easy to chronicle the
burn cash and crash Internet companies of the late 90s and early 2000s.
However, for the black business, small business, or minority business
person looking to get a marketing advantage on-line, the questions still
remains: where can they turn to get the 411 on e business success? Dr.
Ralph F. Wilson AKA Dr. E biz, has both the prognosis and prescription
for e biz success in his book Planning Your Internet Marketing Strategy
published 2002 by Ralph Wiley & Sons.
Dr.
Ralph Wilson, a Baptist Pastor with a Doctorate in Theology, is easily
one of the most respected small business authorities and publishers on-line.
Reading his book, destined to be an e business classic, shows why he merits
this recognition. He starts out with a chapter on Comprehending the
Opportunities for Doing Business on the Web, which is a good spring
board for aspiring netpreneurs to ascertain the commercial viability of
the web. Then Dr. Wilson covers both the tremendous opportunities and
later some of the downsides of running an e business in his book. Many
of the insights of Dr. Wilson are concurrent takeoffs of the classic works
of Al Reis and Jack Trout in the marketing classic The 22 Immutable
Laws of Marketing. He certainly is aplomb at being inspired by the
insights of The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, and applying the style
to the dynamics of the On-line world in his chapter entitled the 5
Mutable Laws of Web Marketing.
One
of the most salient points of the book is the keen distinction that Dr.
Wilson makes between a marketing plan (which is a central component of
a full blown business plan) and a promotional plan. On-line Promotional
plans like search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click advertising,
press releases, and writing free articles for ezines are all elements
of the marketing mix of a marketing plan. These things help you to realize
the goals of your marketing plan, but a marketing plan is more fundamental
to your business than your various and sundry promotional efforts. Dr.
Wilson explains the differences between the two in his book. He puts a
focus on researching the viability of your Internet business in its nascent
stages of development.
The
approach Dr. Wilson takes makes good common sense because, you can have
all the traffic in the world but, if you don't understand the basics of
a good marketing plan (i.e. product development, differentiation, positioning,
branding, pricing, your USP, identifying your target market, and exploiting
a niche) all the site visitors in the world won't help your e business
to survive. A credit to Dr. Wilson is his easy to understand writing style
and lucid exploration of the difficult task of effective web marketing.
He uncovers the subject with core subjects like Making Your Web Site's
Purposes Clear, Defining a Unique E business Niche, Differentiating
Your Company's Products, Naming Your On-line Business, and
Budgeting for and Implementing Your Internet Marketing Plan. There
are also two sobering chapters on Devising an Adequate Revenue Plan
and SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats).
Later
he discusses Budgeting and Implementing Your Internet Marketing Plan",
which would be a real wake up call to those who still only believe in
free Internet promotion for their business. Of course he closes with Writing
Your Internet Marketing Plan. The only short coming I see with this
book is it predates the usage of Word Tracker, Overture's Suggestion Tools,
and similar web applications which can now be used to gauge Internet interest
based on search queries of your products and services. Furthermore, these
web applications can help you identify niche markets and interests for
which to develop products and services.
Nevertheless,
I give Planning Your Internet Marketing Strategy my Editor's Choice highest
recommendation for black entrepreneurs, minority entrepreneurs, or any
small business people who are looking for effective competitive tactics
and strategies to run viable Internet businesses. This book gives realistic
strategies for a small e business to find niche industries to survive
amidst the Amazons and Ebays of the world. I suggest you pick up a copy
now via my affiliate link to Amazon.
Coming Soon Book Reviews
of Top SEO Books: The Nitty Gritty
of Writing for the Search Engines by Jill Whalen, Search Engine
Visibility by Shari Thurow, Dr. Wilson's Plain Spoken Guide to
Search Engine Optimization by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, Search Engine
Fast Start by Dan Thies, Maximizing Your Web Traffic by Robin
Nobles and Susan Alexander, SEO Book by Aaron Matthew Hall, Search
Engine Optimization on an Extreme Budget by Non-stop Internet, and
others to be announced.
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