BKGUWBST.RVW   960604
 
"Guerilla Web Strategies", Vince Gelormine, 1996, 1-883577-80-2,
U$24.99/C$34.99
%A   Vince Gelormine vince@linkstar.com
%C   7339 East Acoma Drive, #7, Scottsdale, AZ  85260
%D   1996
%G   1-883577-80-2
%I   Coriolis
%O   U$24.99/C$34.99 800-410-0192 +1-602-483-0192 fax: +1-602-483-0193
%P   400
%T   "Guerilla Web Strategies"
 
The vast majority of books directed at business use of the Internet all make
the same mistake.  While acknowledging that spamming email addresses and Usenet
newsgroups is no longer viable, they all sing the praises of the World Wide Web
as an advertising vehicle.  This totally ignores the fact that a Web page, by
itself, is totally inaccessible.  URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) are not
random, and must be specified correctly at the client browser before anyone
will be able to see your page.  The WWW, far from being a passive advertising
medium, must itself be advertised to be of any use.
 
Which is where Gelormine's book comes in.  He gives details on how and where to
announce and promote your site, and how to ensure that surfers who are
interested in your information can find it.  He looks at design tips to ensure
that you don't scare visitors away.  (I assume that he assumes that an
exhortation to provide quality goes without saying: given the quality of too
much of the Web I wish he'd said it more often.)  There is a chapter on
measuring your success (tracking visits and hits), and another on using your
success to sell your site to advertisers.  As with most Web books, there are a
large number of listings and screenshots of favorite sites, but at least the
salient features that prompted their inclusion are described.
 
The material is realistic, the explanations clear, and the writing readable. 
Organization within each chapter is clear, although the ordering of the
chapters themselves is a bit odd.  Promotion with search engines is in chapter
five; with indices, cybermalls, and newsgroups in eight, nine and ten; press
releases in twelve and offline promotion in thirteen.
 
Those who are wondering why the masses are not flocking in should definitely
investigate this.
 
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996   BKGUWBST.RVW   960604

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