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Summary: A perfect integration of Web ideas into today's businesses
Review: In addition to presenting the first comprehensive guide to using the Web to enhance your business and allow it to grow in new directions, Evan Schwartz does an exemplary job of providing background on several companies and industries. He discusses the basics of advertising, covers the keys to brand management, and delves into the history and future of banking, for example. This book is great for anyone in the business world who wants to learn more about when, where, why, and how to structure their presence on the web's "marketspace." Meanwhile, today's computer programmers and web designers would appreciate Webonomics' ability to explain the large scale corporate arenas in which their careers are staged. This book is a quick, short read, but you will find yourself filling the margins with ideas of your own
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Summary: My pick for best Web marketing book of 1997
Review: You wouldn't believe the questions I am asked. Occassionally, someone inquires, "What business should I go into to make money on the Internet?" Duh. Now I have a book to recommend: Webnomics.Many Web marketing books are a thinly veiled Internet 101 wrapped in a business shell. Webnomics ("the study of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods, services, and ideas over the World Wide Web") is a careful reflection of what has worked on the Web and why it has worked. Schwartz organizes the book into "nine essential principles for growing your business on the Web," one per chapter, but don't mistake this for a simple book. Sure, the principle is simple, e.g., "#4 Consumers will shop online only for information-rich products." But why it is true, and how to see how this applies to your product or services, that is where Schwartz shines. Using examples from dozens of successful, and not so successful, Web sites, he outlines the reasons for their performance. This isn't a book for the green Web marketer, but the more thoughtful one who is willing to analyze and think and learn. It is my pick for the top Web marketing book of 1997. -- Dr. Ralph F.Wilson, Editor, Web Marketing Today (http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt)
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Summary: Brush up your Web strategy with the help of Webonomics...
Review: In past years many companies created their own Web sites, but how many are taking this opportunity to improve their relationship with their customers? Not so many because they do not know or do not apply the nine essential principles presented by Evan I. Schwartz in his book: Webonomics. You will say this book is more than 5 years old, means around 35 years in Internet time, and may no more be useful for actual World Wide Web marketspace in 2002. Basic principles stay still valid, that means that the Web remains the place for interactivity, customer positive experience, self-service, and personalization. So, why many Web sites are not giving the opportunity to interact? May be because their roots in the industrial age slow them to understand deeply the ninth principle exposed in this book: agility rules-Web sites must continually adapt to the market. When technology is becoming the driving force to interact with your customers and no more a means to solve business problems, Web strategy is asking to be proactive, to be at the edge. Intrusive mass media with their continuously diminishing returns need to extend impact with the Web to link qualified and interested consumers and give them enough information and interactive tools to move them to think to become buyers. Exposing your company on the Web is the low step when getting results must be the reason to move to the World Wide Web marketspace. Much richer interactive information than in a brochure is becoming the rule to make sure to gain interest from your customers The common number of pages seen is not an effective criteria compared to the frequency of coming-back to your Web site. Creating a relationship and better a community must be a real objective when setting up a Web site, even if it is not an easy task. World Wide Web is a new economic environment and is asking new strategic approaches to consumer who is regaining control based on his own interactive experience. If you think World Wide Web marketspace is not your concern, even if you discover everyday that your competitive advantages are shrinking, and that a new small aggressive company coming from nowhere starts to take some of your customers by adding information value to your offer, you had better to reconsider your position. Competition is moving from marketplace to marketspace and you must be convinced that it will be preferable to understand the 9 principles presented by Evan I. Schwartz in Webonomics to make sure to survive in this new competitive environment.
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Summary: Great Book Examining Early History of Web Economics
Review: Book Review for San Jose State University BUS 240-Ecommerce Class by Ji Luo This book is a great summary and a proponent for doing everything online *if* the time is 1997. The book relies heavily on dated case studies of pioneering companies that were successful in the mid 90's. Buzzwords such as "eyeballs", "page views", and "stickiness" were used in this book to show the craze and the fascination the author and society had with the potential of the Internet in the mid 90's as a marketing tool. Some of the companies mentioned did indeed start off brilliantly. However, the realization that profitability is the key to business, coupled with various legal and ethical issues has tarnished (or bankrupted) these same companies. However, the book certainly has its great moments. Some of its predictions of how Internet will change the face of economy continue to hold true. The Internet has brought unprecedented convenience and information to the consumer and that is shaping businesses everywhere. People can now buy cars and airplane tickets online anytime and almost always at a lower price. This eliminates the job functions of a travel agent or a car salesman. Phenomenon similar to that will continue to happen as the Internet is reshaping the way people do things. The question still remains "What are the appropriate methods and the path to profitability?" The prediction that Internet has made the world smaller and that it's evolution will be a global matter has also proven to be true. Indeed, the greatest growths in Internet commerce are taking place in Asia and Europe. It's common to see today's Hong Kong cinema glorifying the "Net Geeks" and twenty-something dotcom millionaires. These exact same things were glorified in the American media in the early to mid 1990's. In conclusion, I felt the visions painted in this book are mostly valid. However, in light of the current economy, some of the "successful" methods and case studies done by the author to support his points are not. The writing style is very easy to follow and I would recommend this book as a first read to anyone wanting to bring his or her physical business virtual. The book summarizes the Internet's potential as a marketing tool. Yet, how to successfully tap that potential remains to be verified.
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Summary: Excellent resource
Review: I read this book while preparing to take on my first job managing web development of a major new site. I was extremely grateful to the author for crystallizing so many of my hazy thoughts and impressions about Web business. Since then the principles have been a guiding force behind my work (which has been successful), and I've used Mr. Schwartz's words of wisdom to persuade others to accept these eminently practical, extremely effective ideas. If you want to attract and hold people's attention, don't develop a site without reading this book. It's a quick, clear, easy read.
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Summary: All we need is "Webonomics"
Review: "Webonomics" is a handbook for successful people who want to do business in web. It is easy to understand and useful. Those principles seems like common sense, however, they can draw excellent and remarkable conclusion in your mind. That book has lots of examples, although some are from 90', they can still show clearly about the concepts. It's worth to buy and keep.
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Summary: More than General Observation
Review: I read Evan Schwartz's 'Digital Darwinism' and truely enjoy it and find it useful. So I also bought 'Webonomics' and find it equally enjoyable to read and useful despite it's earlier publishing date. Despite some people claim that the principal described in the book are simple 'common sense', these 'common sense' are very concise and still relevant to present day.
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Summary: The "authority on the subject", we like this book.
Review: Webonomics is an easy and informative read. Being published in 1997 it is somewhat of a visionary book in that a lot of what Schwartz has said is now occurring; for example the numerous sites offering freebies to gain viewer mindshare. Schwartz gives a broad and indepth explanation about Internet economics. He illustrates his nine principals essential for success with various relevant and detailed examples. The book provides a balanced approach recognising both what will and what won't work on the Internet. Schwartz correctly identifies that commanding and sustaining user attention is of critical importance. One of the ways this can be done is via the establishment of a community. Building a community is one of the main and reoccuring themes of this book. Anyone running a web site should seriuosly consider reading this book.
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Summary: The title is the book !
Review: A great economic analysis of the web and its underlying principles. It allowed me to catch back the train on many topics were I was out. If you have a business / economic background (or want to acquire it) read it after "information rules" A must read, especially for B2C oriented people
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Summary: Excellent Theoretical Analyses
Review: What we are really talking about is "Business," and not "Technology." Electronic Commerce is all about "selling" on the Internet, and not "building websites" on the Internet. In this sense, doing business on-line is not so much different from doing business in the real world. Building websites on the Internet is not equivalent to doing business onling. Websites are just tools that we can employ to help us do business. We just have an alternative medium to do our jobs better (hopefully), but having tools or media does not guarantee success. Although the Internet is something "virtual," and many sides of the cyberspace are considered "unreal," there is great realness in it. One cannot overlook the real sides of the Internet if one wants to succeed in EC. People are real, no doubt about it, and so is cyberspace. People were crazy about creating websites. People were excited with newly developed technology. They were going to the wrong direction. Focusing entirely on the technical side of EC leads to no sale. Without sale, any websites are useless. That is the message that Schwartz wants to convey in this book. The nine principles are valuable advice indeed, but what I really recommend is the theoretical part. The theory is the essence. Practical methods are products of the theoretical essence. The same essence may produce different methods. But methods without essence may lead to wrong direction. Although some of the examples are dated, what is more important is the analytical process presented in this book. Although the Internet keeps changing so quickly, there are essential principles for doing business online. This is a book with great value, a good reference for EC and any business on the Internet.
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