BKADVINT.RVW  941109
 
%A   Michael Strangelove mstrange@fonorola.net
%A   Aneurin Bosley abosley@hookup.net
%C   208 Somerset Street, Suite A, Ottawa, Ontario  K1N 6V2
%D   1994
%G   1201-0758
%I   Strangelove Internet Enterprises, Inc.
%O   $49.50 Tel: 613-565-0982 Fax: 613-569-4433 mstrange@fonorola.net
%P   211
%T   "How to Advertise on the Internet"
"How to Advertise on the Internet", Strangelove/Bosley, 1994, 1201-0758, $49.50
 
A number of Internet guides fail to show any perception of the community,
culture and practices of the net.  "Business" Internet books tend to fall into
this category.  Therefore, it is gratifying to find that the authors of this
work really do have a feel for the net.  In addition, the book is crammed with
useful references to online sources of information about net culture and net
resources.  The layout, organization, and choice of material could still use
some work.
 
The Introduction notes that this is *not* another general guide to the net: 
there are quite enough of those.  This is fair, thought it might have been
helpful had some of the better ones been mentioned.  (Other books about
specialized net topics are cited.)  Those fresh from an Internet seminar and
ready to tackle the vast market will find pointers to reasources telling about
the size of the net, Usenet FAQs, mailing lists, netiquette, producing and
advertising net resources, marketing discussions and a lot more.  (Oddly, a FAQ
on advertising maintained by one of the authors is referenced, but not
printed.)  The analysis of acceptable, and productive, practices is cogent and
useful.
 
Although the book is fundamentally good, there are some "implementation
errors".  The authors are terrible at arithmetic.  "60-70 megabytes of data" is
equated to "40 million characters".  One percent of the authors' estimated
thirty million net population is said to equal three million.  A mailing to all
thirty million users is said to take seventeen days to transmit at a "fastest
speed available": assuming a 1000 byte message, I get about two days for a T-1
link (or about five years for a 14.4 kbps modem).  The layout is sometimes
cluttered, making the thread of a discussion unclear.  While the authors sagely
point out that you do not want to use advertising means that eliminate sections
of the Internet population, they give enormous space presence and precedence to
the use of World Wide Web and, particularly, graphical W3 browsers.  (The
directories of Internet advertising agencies and products are exclusively
restricted to W3 sites.)
 
The discussion about the desirability and permissibility of advertising and
marketing on the Internet is active and often bitter.  Those on both sides of
the debate should pay careful attention to an argument somewhat buried at the
end of the Foreword and in chapter twenty-two.  The authors argue that access
to the Internet for marketing purposes may fundamentally change the structure
of business.  On the net, there is no difference between bigcorp.com and
momnpop.spuzzum.bc.ca.  Internet advertising is "coverage insensitive", but the
Internet market is very highly "value sensitive".  Big advertising budgets will
no longer serve to maintain monopolies, and service, rather than hype, will be
key.  To existing business aphorisms may be added, "Provide or perish."
 
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994   BKADVINT.RVW  941109

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DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters
Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733
Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" (Europe: ertel@springer.de)