Webonomics : Nine Essential Principles for Growing Your Business on the World Wide Web

The World Wide Web has become the most important new communications medium since television, with tens of millions of people now on-line and Web sitesspringing up at the rate of one per minute. It has also created a digital marketplace where consumers can search for the best deals and services in an instant. While almost everyone agrees that the Web provides excellent marketing opportunities, many businesses don't know how to use it effectively and have been losing millions of dollars because of it. In Webonomics, Evan I. Schwartz shows how the new Web economy mirrors the traditional economy in some ways but also exhibits entirely uniqueproperties of its own. Using numerous case studies of corporations such as IBM, Volvo, Playboy Enterprises, and Wells Fargo bank, as well as smaller companies and web-based start-ups, Schwartz documents both the tremendous failures and successes on the Web in a multitude of industries. Defining nine essential principles for growing your business on the Web, Schwartz challenges the conventional wisdom and shows how using traditionalbusiness approaches on the Web can backfire. Why are some products better suited to being sold on the Web than others? Why are certain brand names gaining status and how do you create and then reinforce yours? What are the new patterns of consumer behavior? Webonomics answers these questions and shows how to capture the only scarce commodity on this information-based terrain: the attention of the busy people who are spending time there. Putting the frenetic activity in a context, Schwartz delves into the new economic rules, new forms of currency, new ways to do business globally, and shows how to add value to existing products and build customer loyalty. In addition to offering practical wisdom, Webonomics tells a larger story about life in the Information Age. It's about rising new communities, the next phase of capitalism, a shift in the role of government, and surviving amidst accelerating change, where only the most agile and adaptable businesses will thrive.