Web Marketing All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies [Paperback]

I have designed several hundred websites over the last decade. This book is easily one of the better primers for web marketing available today. While it doesn't serve as a replacement for books dedicated specifically to one subject (SEO, writing copy, etc), it's an excellent starting reference with a few new ideas for experienced web marketers.

Much of the first chapter (or "book" as it's referred to by the authors) is a basic overview of establishing a web presence. While most of their suggestions can be easily found online, the sub-chapter on writing effective copy contains useful pointers that normally wouldn't appear in design books.

The chapter on SEO offers an excellent breakdown for anyone not familiar with optimizing a site to rank well on search engines such as Yahoo and Google. If you're already familiar with basic SEO techniques, though, don't expect any new tips or techniques. This particular section of the book was seriously lacking, as evidenced by the author explaining how to optimize images, but not mentioning even the most basic of tips such as use of alternate image tags.

Chapter three, which covers Web Analytics, offers in-depth explanations of how to effectively track your visitors. This is followed up by a chapter on attracting those visitors to your website through paid advertising, and their techniques would definitely make this process easy for online marketing newbies.

Most of the Email marketing advice (save for writing copy) is impractical, as many advertisers use paid newsletter services that have eliminated the stress of manual email blasts.

The two best chapters of the book are easily the Blogging and Social Media marketing ones. Chapter six will explain everything an online marketing newbie needs to know about creating a blog, coming up with blogging ideas, and promoting your posts. Their techniques are immediately followed by methods of promoting yourself through social media websites such as Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, and a variety of Bookmarking sites. One thing this chapter does well is explain how to master the art of subtle promotion without appearing to advertise.

While I thought the chapter on Search Engine Optimization was severely lacking for a book dedicated to web marketing, as a whole I think this deserves five stars as a thorough primer.

Web Marketing All-in-One for Dummies saved me from going bald. Just when I was about to rip out my hair, during yet another attempt at web marketing, I found this book. I'm no longer terrified of analytics, I now know PPC stands for Pay Per Click, not Personal Pan Cod, and I SEOed my way out of permanent damnation from the google Gods.

It's informative, easy to read, and so hefty I now have Jennifer Aniston arms just from carrying it around. I'd recommend it to anyone starting an online business.

Web Marketing for Dummies is full of excellent, and useful, advice. Admittedly, the size was a little daunting. But then how else would they have fit so much stuff between the covers? As a small business owner who knows that I ought to do more, but isn't always sure what to do, I found this an excellent guide. It helped me discern what would be useful for me and my client base, and what strategies I could (for now) set aside. I highly recommend this, and don't be put off by the size, it isn't scary once you open it up!