Review: Internet Marketing Goldmine

Believe it or not, the world needs more examples of how to apply direct marketing techniques to the Web, not less. In this self-published book, marketer Marty Foley shares just how to do that, with examples from his own experience.

He begins with a series of interviews with a number of successful online entrepreneurs, including Delcan Dunn, Marlon Sanders, John Caples, Allan Gardyne, and John Audette. Then in a summary chapter, Foley extracts the common themes of what to do and what to avoid in setting up an online business. These hard-learned truths in the context of successful businesspeople serve as a strong basis for the person just learning his or her way.

Foley's book is designed only as an introduction to online business, of course, but he provides plenty of detail and practical guidance, from setting up a website and online newsletter, to selling a single or small number of products online. A website should have two primary goals, says Foley: (1) promote repeat contact, and (2) do an effective selling job. He explains how to write ad copy for a website -- focusing on benefits not features, working hard to develop gripping headlines, and constant testing in order to determine the most profitable approach.

Foley is at his best in describing various ways of scientific ad testing on the Web. He explains how to track hits and e-mail responses. The most effective test, he says, is split-run e-zine testing, offering half the subscribers with one ad, and half with another, in an otherwise identical publication, then tracking responses. He also describes criss-cross testing, alternative testing, and other methods of testing the effectiveness of different web pages and offers.

I enjoyed his list of ways to save time: automate, use filters, and develop stock replies and online FAQs. He concludes the book by explaining how writing articles that can be used in other publications and on other websites can bring a great deal of free publicity and traffic to one's website.

I find Foley's Internet Marketing Goldmine to be a good solid book to introduce small business entrepreneurs to the potentials of Internet marketing.

You may purchase a copy of Internet Marketing Goldmine at the author's website: http://ProfitInfo.com/resources/1492/