Book Mention: How to Sell Anything on Yahoo!
reviewed by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
Wilson Internet, Rocklin, CA
Nov 21, 2006, 18:36
How to Sell Anything on Yahoo! and Make a Fortune!
Build and Run a Successful Online Business with Yahoo! Shopping
by Skip McGrath and Dennis L. Prince
McGraw Hill, 2006
Paperback, 246 pages
ISBN 0072262796
This new book is designed to help people hoping to sell products on the Internet to learn how to research the market and then set up a Yahoo! Store. I don't know about the "make a fortune" part of the title. However, the authors do offer good tips and helpful guidance. Here's the structure of the book:
Part I. Creating a Successful Web Business
1. Before Getting Started
2. Elements of a Profitable Web-Based Business
3. How Competition, Supply, and Demand Affect Your Business
4. Niche Marketing for Success
5. Researching and Finding Your Niche
6. Website Designs that Sell
7. Making the Sale
8. Payment Systems
9. Up-selling and Cross-Selling
10. Delivering the Product
11. Bringing the Customer Back for More
Part II. Setting Up Your Yahoo Store
12. Introducing Yahoo! Merchant Solutions
13. Getting Started
14. Understanding the Elements of Your Store
15. Tools to Build Your Site
16. Creating Your Product Listings
17. Creating and Editing Your Store Pages
18. Creating Additional Section Pages
19. Creating Supplementary Pages
20. Order Form and Checkout Settings
21. Testing, Troubleshooting, and Checking Your Store's Readiness
Part III. Marketing Your Store
22. Getting Found in Search Results
23. Pay Per Click Advertising
24. Cross Marketing and Promotion
The thing I like about this book (despite the title) is that the authors are serious about helping the reader research and find a niche in which he can compete. Often authors are quick to explain the software but weak on the business planning. Once laying the groundwork, in Part II these authors proceed to explain exactly the process of setting up a Yahoo! Merchant Solution store. The final Part III can't be exhaustive, of course, but gives the basics of marketing and site promotion.
I'm disappointed, however, that though the subtitle offers information on Yahoo! Shopping, I couldn't find any information in the book on using Yahoo! Shopping, a widely used shopping bot which offers a 20% discount to Yahoo! Store owners. The final chapter also recommends banner exchanges -- which haven't been popular for years. While it describes affiliate programs as "hot," it doesn't spend enough time explaining the difficulties of attracting good affiliates.
While the book skimps on marketing, it does offer brief but sound information on researching a niche and will be helpful to first-time online merchants.
It can be purchased online at Amazon US and other online stores (ISBN 0072262796).
