Book & Product Reviews

Stone Evans wrote an ebook called Dotcomology, The Science of Making Money Online.

A good portion of the book is self advertisement, but there are a solid set of lessons for anyone interested in making money on the internet.

A Zen Story To Learn From

Evans begins, after an advertisement, with a Zen story which I will summarize.

A young man read all the books he could find about Zen. He heard about a great Zen master and requested an appointment. After some time, the master suggested that they have tea. The master began to pour tea into the student’s cup. He poured until it was full, and kept pouring. The tea ran over the edge of the cup and onto the table. The master kept pouring as the tea ran off the table and onto the floor. Finally, the student couldn’t contain himself any longer.

He shouted, “Stop! Stop pouring! The cup is full — no more will go in!”

The master stopped pouring and said, “Just like this cup, your mind is full of your own opinions and preconceptions. How can you learn anything unless you first empty your cup?”

Evans’ point is that to benefit from any book on the internet it is good to empty your cup and begin ready to take what you are served. Don’t listen to the ‘experts’, or at least forget what they said for a while, and take everything in as new. Often the experts are experts because they read all the books.

Making The Big Internet Bucks

Want to make a million dollars selling “horse shoes”? Find someone that has already done it and speak to that person. Don’t speak to someone who made a million selling only “shoes” – it’s not the same thing.

Evans goes through the basics, most people assume everyone knows:

• Make your site attractive, interesting and engaging
• Have good content
• Make your information easily accessible
• Design your pages cleanly
• Remove all download and usability issues
• Test. Test again. Have someone else test for you.

Some people want to make their millions overnight. This is possible in theory. It has after all happened before.

• Are you taking advantage of everything the internet has to offer?
• What businesses are successful now, that you can duplicate?
• Should you be selling a service or a product?
• Do you up-sell and cross sell?

If you are not taking advantage of everything the internet has to offer then you are limiting yourself.

Do you have an affiliate group that you can work with?

Just because someone does not buy from you does not mean a sale can’t be made. If a person is leaving your site, make sure the last thing they have is a pop-up window offering your best deal ever – or a link to a partner site.

SEO

Evans has a detailed section on how search engines work, and what you can do to make them work for you. Using search engines, pay per click, link popularity and link analysis.

He also covers optimizing your site and monitoring your progress.

At the end of this section he has a very complicated section on spam. Don’t do it. That is what he says, word for word “Don’t do it.”

Affiliate Programs, Email Marketing, Newsletters

Stone Evans has made a lot of money through affiliate programs, so he has a good 100 page section on this subject.

This is where the “Want to make a million dollars selling horse shoes?” is relevant. Find someone that has already done it. Evans has made money through Affiliate Programs, Email Marketing and his Newsletters, so read these sections to learn from the master.

Evans goes further on the subject of affiliate programs to explain how to create software, even if you are not a programmer. This is a powerful section. I have used this to develop widgets and toolbars for my websites. These simple software programs are very popular and I get traffic to my websites just to download these tools.

A Final Warning

Evans does say something that I appreciate.

Beginners on the internet make a common mistake they should never make. “The fact is, just because you can automate many redundant tasks to make money online, it doesn’t mean that the streets of the Internet are paved with gold. Like any opportunity, there are scams and hazards. As you set up your online business it’s important to stay alert, use common sense, and keep your feet firmly on the ground.”

Advertisements aside, this is a great read for any person starting out with an internet business, and did I mention the price?

It’s free.

Read more Book Reviews:

Communication For International Sales

Here are reviews of the books I have read recently to help me with communication for international sales:

• A Writer’s Guide To Powerful Paragraphs By Victor C. Pellegrino
• Content Rich By Jon Wuebben
• Get Content Get Customers by Joe Pulizzi & Newt Barrett
• Letting Go Of The Words – Writing Web Content That Works By Janice Redish
• Stories That Sell By Casey Hibbard
• The Culturally Customized Web Site By Nitish Singh And Arun Pereira
• The Magic Of Pre-Writing By Steven Osborne
• The Secret To Writing A Successful And Outstanding Blog By Liz Strauss

International Sales

Here are reviews of the books I have read recently to help me with international sales:

• All of the Little Sales Books by Jeffrey Gitomer
• Asinine Advertising By Herschell Gordon Lewis
• Influencer: The Power To Change Anything by Kerry Patterson – Joseph Grenny – David Maxfield – Ron McMillian & Al Switzler
• Sales Strategy From The Inside Out By Duane Sparks

International Web Marketing

Here are reviews of the books I have read recently to help me with international web marketing:

• Bit Literacy Productivity in the Age of Information and E-mail Overload By Mark Hurst
• Dotcomology The Science Of Making Money Online By Stone Evans
• How The Internet Works By Preston Gralla
• How to Win Sales & Influence Spiders By Catherine Seda
• Landing Page Optimization By Tim Ash
• Mastering Online Marketing By Mitch Meyerson
• Multichannel Marketing By Akin Arikan
• Online Competitive Intelligence By Helen P. Burwell
• ProBlogger by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett
• Stats Faceslap By Ed Rivis
• The Ultimate Web Marketing Strategy By Ed Rivis
• Website Optimization by Andrew B. King

Here are some Product Reviews:

• Ed Rivis’ Stats Faceslap
• Success Chef’s Marketing E.S.P.
• The Management Tools I Use For Content Created To Be Re-Packaged
• The Ultimate Desktop Copy Coach By Tony Flores
  
• Web Video University And International Marketing
  

All of the book and product reviews here are totally unsolicited… spontaneous …and without affiliate links. These are books I have read recently and only the ones that I share with friends. So all of the reviews you find here are on books and products that I highly recommend.

Also, as these are books and products that I have recently read since, this is not a list of my all-time favorite books. Hopefully I will get around to reviewing my favorite culture and international business books sometime soon.

Use these skills in your international tactics on the…
Get International Clients International Sales Road Map:

Guide To Multichannel Marketing • Do you know how to communicate with different countries? This guide shows you how

Guide To International Web Marketing • Do you know how to pull all of your different international marketing pieces together? This guide shows you how

Step 5 – Connect With Your International Markets Connect… • With culture customized content • With trust and empathy • With strong cross-cultural communication

International Business Success Basics • Do you feel at a loss with regards to dealing with international business? This guide gives you the background information you need right from the start.

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Dotcomology The Science Of Making Money Online By Stone Evans