Book Brief: 101 Ways to Promote Your Web Site

When I first picked up 101 Ways to Promote Your Web Site, I really didn't expect to find 101 different methods. After reading the book I am sure that 101 is a conservative number.

The author includes two chapters on search engine considerations, as well as chapter-length treatment of marketing in newsgroups, signature files, e-mail, discussion lists, newsletters, link trading, award recognitions, meta-indexes, online advertising, affiliate programs, cybermalls, encouraging repeat visits, press releases, e-zines, web rings, offline promotion, traffic analysis, webcasting, and launching a website. In addition, the book has five appendices, including a brief glossary and a sample implementation and maintenance schedule. The book is especially rich in providing URLs for hundreds of sites that provide additional information.

I was disappointed to find little or no treatment of two very important Web marketing strategies: search engine positioning through doorway pages and viral marketing.

Sweeney does a great job of exposing the reader to the wide variety of methods that can be used to promote a website, but for an in-depth treatment of any of these, the reader will need to consult more specialized books. 101 Ways to Promote Your Website provides an excellent introduction to Web marketing for small to medium-size businesses, and deserves the wide acceptance it has already found in the marketplace.