Customer Reviews:
GREAT book!.......2007-10-09
I read this book and am now successfully marketing my own website/small business on my own. I have steadily watched as my website continues to climb in the rankings and I am getting more and more traffic all the time.
This book is really all you need to get going!
Thanks again,
Julian Epstein
New York, NY
"Search Engine Marketing, Inc." - An Outstanding Book.......2007-09-24
"Search Engine Marketing, Inc." is a wonderful resource for anyone involved in search marketing. With an easy to read style, the book is entertaining yet enormously informative. It is an invaluable source of ideas and practical advice.
"Search Engine Marketing, Inc." does something that many books do not - it helps the reader understand the motivations and diverse objectives of searchers. This knowledge gives you an enormous advantage as you plan a search marketing campaign.
This book arms you with an in-depth understanding of what it takes to be successful in search marketing. It is, without doubt, the best book of its kind.
The SEO/SEM Bible.......2007-07-26
This was one of the best books on Search Engine Marketing and Optimization that is out there. It covered almost every aspect of Marketing and Optimization. From a person who has purchased and read almost every book in this field, please take it from me, this is the book you want! It covered Pay-per-click, organic searches, conversion rates, E-Commerce in general. Truly one of the BEST books on Search Engine Marketing and Optimization. As an avid Search Engine Marketer, I still refer back to it. A+
Professional, practical guidence on SEO and SEM.......2007-05-30
While I think that search engine marketing is a moving target and it's best to read current articles and journals, this book provides a great foundation for people interested in pursuing or understanding internet marketing, search marketing, or search engine optimization. It provides practical guidance and advice on what to do now but also works as a higher level strategic plan as well. It's written by IBMers, so there is definitely a level of professionalism compared to hackers or other non-corporate authors. Good book to add to your library, as I reference it from time to time.
Essential reading for anybody in the web space.......2007-05-23
I would argue that this is perhaps the finest, most concise guide to Search Engine Marketing. Developers, Marketers, CopyWriters, Managers and just about anybody else with a stake in search traffic through a website should find this material valuable. Do not expect code, expect sound advice on how to tailor your code. Do not expect copy, expect sound advice on how to focus your copy. After putting into practice what I learned form this book, I saw immediate and impactful results.
The book is also very current and is very ethical. Do not hesitate in making a decision to purchase this book. The payoff will be swift.
Book Description
Never before in the history of advertising has it been possible to spend five bucks, write a couple of ads and get instant access to more than 100 million people in 10 minutes. But that's exactly what Google AdWords does. It's an awesome concept-but you can lose a bundle if you don't know how it works.
Learn how to:
- Build an AdWords campaign from scratch
- Identify keywords that entice people to click on your ads
- Get the lowest bid prices on your keywords
- Defeat click fraud and other scams
- Use search engine optimization techniques
- Turn clicks into customers
Plus get FREE e-mail updates on Google's ever-changing system.
Customer Reviews:
Good book.......2007-10-19
This books is good for Google AdWords and worth the money. I didn't think it was as great as some of the others, but if you want to learn a lot about Google AdWords, you will learn new things in this book.
Not just common sense ideas........2007-10-17
Most books like this are a bunch of common sense things that most halfway intelligent people can think of themselves. This book is not like that. It is written to help anyone using Google AdWords. It will save you money and drive customers to your website by teaching you tricks unique to Google. I finished reading it and had two pages of ideas of things to change for my already successful Google campaign. I would highly recommend this book to anyone needing to do any Web campaign work. The authors also point out the unique things that Google can do for companies today that companies could not do before. If you have a good product, and can find the right words to convey your message, this book will help you do drive thousands of customers to your website for a very low price. Selling it still up to you, but the thought of driving people to your website who are actively seeking information on the product that you are selling, and paying a pretty small price for each click is/should be exciting to many a entrepreneur. This book will definitely help you to attain that goal.
My biggest complaint about the book is that there was nowhere to take notes in the book so that I could do all the things that this book made me think of.
Ultimate guide to Google Adwords.......2007-10-14
This is a great book for anyone advertising or thinking about advertising on Google. It is complete, and I believe a must read to save yourself time and above all money!
Worthy Companion for "Affiliate Millions".......2007-10-13
I got this book to supplement Affiliate Millions (Anthony Borelli). Affiliate Millions is the first and only book I have read on the topic of internet advertising as a business. I was looking for something to flesh out some of the topics Mr. Borelli introduces.
To my knowledge, Affiliate Millions is the only book devoted to the business of placing ads on Google to generate search traffic to various websites with the hope of collecting commissions through their affiliate programs. This business is sometimes called search engine marketing, affiliate marketing, paid placement, and so on.
Other books, such as the Ultimate Guide, address the topic of using Google AdWords to generate traffic for YOUR website. It's not quite the same as generating traffic for someone else but many of the principles apply.
You want to optimize your advertising campaigns for the highest placement at the lowest cost. The Ultimate Guide has a wealth of useful advice for this objective. The book has a thorough discussion of split-testing your ads to improve their "click-through rate." It introduces the "peel and stick" strategy for creating separate ads for the most effective keywords. There is extensive discussion of writing ad copy (which Mr. Borelli says is KING in affiliate marketing).
Yes, Ultimate Guide lives up to its name. It is an excellent companion for Affiliate Millions. Much of the advice can be adapted for the purposes of affiliate marketing.
For those who like to thoroughly research a business before jumping in, if you really want to understand search marketing, another excellent book is "Winning Results with Google AdWords" by Andrew Goodman. Goodman is a prominent authority. After you read his book, Ultimate Guide, Affiliate Millions, along with Google's own help screens and guides, you will practically be an expert.
Navigate the Adwords Jungle!.......2007-09-21
If you've ever used Google Adwords, you know how tricky it can be to really do it right. This guidebook is a great tool to help you find your way, and it can be especially helpful if you're a non-techie. Before you sink money into Google Adwords, get this book and save yourself some time, money and headaches!
Book Description
Influence search engine results and bring targeted traffic to your Web site with an hour a day of search engine optimization (SEO). Drawing on years of experience as successful SEO consultants, Jennifer Grappone and Gradiva Couzin provide detailed, practical, and often surprisingly simple techniques for improving results. Their simple strategies include setting SEO goals, site optimization, developing and implementing a strategy that might include both free and paid efforts, and tools for monitoring trends, measuring the competition, and tracking results.
Customer Reviews:
Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day.......2007-10-21
This books gets right to the heart of what all website owners want to know. How do I attract viewers to my sight. There are many practices that should be followed that the author suggests. Not a fluff book. Practical advice is given.
Save your bucks programmer........2007-10-19
I am a web developer who lately read a lot of SEO books and SEO online forums to bring my company website to the next lever, I came across this book, bought it, read it, and feel very disappointed with it.
If you are designer, developer, programmer, or somehow HTML literate, and wanting to do more for your website, save your bucks on this book. This book is not designed for programmers. If you a business man whom just want to learn what SEO is, save your bucks too! You better of getting the knowledge from the dummies series. Although the book covers every aspect of SEO, but the book only describe very briefly on each aspect.
Over 75% of the content in this book is general concepts of SEO, which you can basically learn from any other SEO books. The remaining 25% is the "SEO Plan", which I found not practical.
Good book.......2007-10-19
Good book if you want to learn about Search Engine Optimization and have little or no experience in this space. Well written and easy to follow.
Beginners Place to Start.......2007-10-15
Clear and concise. Basic information, however, which makes this book a good place to start for beginners breaking into the SEO arena.
So Much of Basics..........2007-09-17
I must appreciate the effort taken by the Cousins but its sounds too basics.
It could have had a faster pace and covered more SEO parameters.
Book Description
In 2000,
Jakob Nielsen, the world’s leading expert on Web usability, published a book that changed how people think about the WebâDesigning Web Usability (New Riders). Many applauded. A few jeered. But everyone listened. The best-selling usability guru is back and has revisited his classic guide, joined forces with Web usability consultant
Hoa Loranger, and created an updated companion book that covers the essential changes to the Web and usability today. Prioritizing Web Usability is the guide for anyone who wants to take their Web site(s) to next level and make usability a priority! Through the authors’ wisdom, experience, and hundreds of real-world user tests and contemporary Web site critiques, you’ll learn about site design, user experience and usability testing, navigation and search capabilities, old guidelines and prioritizing usability issues, page design and layout, content design, and more!
Customer Reviews:
Great book, but a bit US oriented.......2007-03-31
This is a great book (bible?) when it comes to usability issues. Reading is easy if you're not totaly new to using and coding websites.
The only "downside" to this book is that it is very US website oriented. As web design/usability in the US is way behind Europe and especialy Scandinavia many of the design/GUI examples in the book feels "old school".
If you are into improving usability for websites - buy this book!
Phenomenally Useful -- worth its weight in gold.......2007-02-28
Here it is Feb 2007, and I've had a website for my business since Feb of 2002. For five years I've been asking people to visit my site and give me feedback for how to improve it. What I usually got back was "lots of great information, Dan." "Easy-to-use navigation." "Loved it. Great site."
That wasn't what I was looking for. I wanted a REAL critique with REAL suggestions for how to make it better.
When I came across this book it was like an answer to prayer. I devoured it on a cross country flight, and then I followed some of its advice. In the book, they talk about how they worked with people individually, giving them tasks to find or do things online. The people were asked to perform those tasks without any guidance and also while "thinking out loud" ... that is, explaining what their thoughts were re: likes and dislikes, what they expected to see on certain sites, why they were doing what they were doing, etc.
The one piece of advice in this book that they keep suggesting over and over is "do this with your site."
So I did. I instructed some clients on the "think out loud" process, and then gave them the following scenario: "I'm your boss. I just came back from a luncheon and heard Dan Bobinski speak. Here's his card; his website is on there. See if you can find out how much he would charge to come out and work with our managers."
I then sat back and took notes while my clients tried to accomplish that task while they 'thought out loud.'
All I can say is I was devastated. They couldn't find the information. Even when they were on the right track, they couldn't identify the links or the proper info. And when I say I was devastated, I mean I was cut to the core. My website was TERRIBLE.
On the plane ride back I went through the book again, and then made a few changes to my website as soon as I could. I saw improved results almost immediately. I went from getting two or three inquiries from my website each month to getting two or three per week. And, with more changes, it's now up to two or three per day.
My team is now in the final stages of a total (and I mean TOTAL) site redesign based on the suggestions in this book, and it should be ready to launch in a few months. Everyone is excited.
This book retails for $50 ($33 here on Amazon at the time of this writing). That seems steep to some, but I must say, I would gladly pay ten or twenty times that amount for the information it contains. It is probably one of the few books that is literally worth its weight in gold.
If you run a website, or have any say whatsoever in how your website is designed, this book is an absolute must read. That's a "must" with 18" bold Helvetica letters. And get your entire web team to read it, discuss it, and beta test their ideas using Nielsen's and Loranger's suggestions.
If it doesn't pay off for you and you don't think the book was worth it, just get a hold of me and I'll buy the book from you. :-)
Oh -- and the only reason I'm giving it five stars is because I can't give it ten.
Essential.......2007-01-26
This is an essential book to all who design pages for web or work with hipermedia and would like your own work to be easily navigated. The content is very clear and helpful.
Actionable usability wisdom for better customer experiences.......2007-01-05
Jakob Nielsen is the acknowledged guru of web usability. I found this to be one of his most useful books yet, with screen shots of sites to illustrate both good implementations and violations of usability best practices. His reasoning behind prioritizing which usability issues to go after first is sound. While I don't agree with 100% of what he recommends, I agree strongly with about 95% of it. And all his opinions are grounded in years of extensive research. Nielsen's books are always specific and actionable. A great read for anyone who cares about improving the user experience online.
THE best there is.......2007-01-04
If more businesses read this, they'd have better web sites. And the rest of us wouldn't have to put up with their poorly designed, often unusable web site.
If you do business online, hope to do business online, or have any connection with doing business online, you probably need this book. What to do, what not to do, and why.
If you can only afford 1 book, make it this one. It'll save you from making a ton of mistakes, and is worth the price.
Book Description
You have a cool Web site, and a really great product, service, or cause you want people to know about. But visitors aren’t beating down your cyber-door. What happened? The answer, most likely, is that you haven’t made your site irresistible to search engines.
Search engines have a great deal of control over the volume of traffic a Web site gets, because they put your site in front of people searching for your product or service. If you know the secrets of wooing the search engines, you can
- Gain greater visibility for your site
- Advance your position in the rankings
- Avoid techniques that cause search engines to bump your site to the end of the list
- Make pay-per-click advertising pay off
In addition to the familiar ones like Google and Yahoo!, there are dozens of other search engines out there. Search Engine Optimization For Dummies, 2
nd Edition shows you how to create a site that will pop to the top like a cork whenever people search for related products or services. It will help you
- Become familiar with search engines and search directories and find out which keywords work
- Build your site with techniques that search engines like and avoid the ones they don’t
- Register your site with the top search systems and get it listed in directories
- Find out why links are important and see how to get other sites to link to yours
- Work with Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search, and explore the best and most economical ways to use pay-per-click advertising
- Discover the common mistakes that make Web sites invisible to search engines
There’s even a companion Web site with all the links in the book neatly (and conveniently) arranged so you don’t have to type them, plus a bonus chapter to help you power up your skills. Search Engine Optimization For Dummies, 2
nd Edition has been updated with the latest information on search engines plus plenty of tips and tricks to help your site get the attention it deserves!
Download Description
* A Web site's position in search results will affect the number of times it is visited; this book shows Web site designers, owners, and Search Engine Optimizers (SEOs) how to build sites that rank high in the search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, Inktomi, Alta Vista, Overture) and generate high traffic
* This is the first book to cover the entire spectrum of search engine optimization, including important though often-ignored search systems, such as specialty directories and Yellow Pages
* Covers creating search engine-friendly sites and pages; registering sites with standard search engines, directories, shopping directories, and retailers; using registration software and services; understanding tools used to monitor site traffic; advertising on search engines; and developing links to boost ranks
* Introduces the reader to the nature of search engines, explains the different types, and shows which ones are the most important
* Includes a jump-start chapter with simple tricks for quickly boosting a site's ranking
* Companion Web site includes articles and links to important news and registration sites
Customer Reviews:
Great book.......2007-10-19
I don't think you have to be a dummy to read this. I am more advanced online and learned a bunch from reading this book. It is really worth the money. I highly reccomend it!
Not a Dummy Anymore.......2007-10-18
As the sole owner of an internet business, I needed this book to guide me through what I could do myself instead of paying other people. This book has not only enabled me to save money but it has explained to me - an SEO dummy - what everything means. I am actively and continuouslessly striving for a better website. I now believe that goal is in my reach because of this book.
SEO for Dummies Review.......2007-09-28
Great read! More informative than most but lacked in-depth detail about directories and human edited directories for traffic purposes. It also had little on buying links for traffic purposes or similar. There were lots of links to consider and most were of quality. I recommend it if you haven't had a lot to do with SEO to date.
A good start on your SEO journey.......2007-08-18
I'm not a total noob at this stuff, but I'm no expert either. After reading several SEO blogs, talking to people that *think* they know SEO, I decided to buy this book. It covers the basics and does it in layman's terms. You don't have to know geek-speak to read this and grasp the concepts.
I've started using some of what I have learned on my dieselforza blog and on my websites. Between this book and a few online resources, I'm getting ranked higher (but still have a long way to go :-)
search engine optimization for dummies.......2007-08-12
I paid for this book ...but I never get it, I don't know amazon forget shipping this to me or ship it later?
Book Description
The post-Ajaxian Web 2.0 world of wikis, folksonomies, and mashups makes well-planned information architecture even more essential. How do you present large volumes of information to people who need to find what they're looking for quickly? This classic primer shows information architects, designers, and web site developers how to build large-scale and maintainable web sites that are appealing and easy to navigate.
The new edition is thoroughly updated to address emerging technologies -- with recent examples, new scenarios, and information on best practices -- while maintaining its focus on fundamentals. With topics that range from aesthetics to mechanics, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web explains how to create interfaces that users can understand right away. Inside, you'll find:
- An overview of information architecture for both newcomers and experienced practitioners
- The fundamental components of an architecture, illustrating the interconnected nature of these systems. Updated, with updates for tagging, folksonomies, social classification, and guided navigation
- Tools, techniques, and methods that take you from research to strategy and design to implementation. This edition discusses blueprints, wireframes and the role of diagrams in the design phase
- A series of short essays that provide practical tips and philosophical advice for those who work on information architecture
- The business context of practicing and promoting information architecture, including recent lessons on how to handle enterprise architecture
- Case studies on the evolution of two large and very different information architectures, illustrating best practices along the way
How do you document the rich interfaces of web applications? How do you design for multiple platforms and mobile devices? With emphasis on goals and approaches over tactics or technologies, this enormously popular book gives you knowledge about information architecture with a framework that allows you to learn new approaches -- and unlearn outmoded ones.
Customer Reviews:
Good enough.......2007-09-19
This is a perfectly good resource, if you're looking for the theoretical underpinnings of how IA should work. I was, however, looking for more specifically technical information, along the lines of algorithms and integration techniques. For this I ended up going with Programming Collective Intelligence: Building Smart Web 2.0 Applications, which is more geared in that direction. Again, if IA is your whole intention, then this is a great resource, but if you're looking for technical detail, look elsewhere.
A lifesaver.......2007-06-22
As project manager, I was in a bind when our contract information architect failed to understand the complexities of our matrixed business model and client base. Rosenfeld's book helped me design a IA for our 700 page HTML site that has since been described as simple, intuitive, a no-brainer. What great compliments!
The book describes basic theories of IA in general (i.e. book indexes and tables of contents, libraries, etc.) and the pros and cons of different organization, labeling, and navigation systems. Then Rosenfeld advises on presenting IA to management, etc., managing expectations (yours and others), and gives detailed examples of IA strategies online.
Intriguing Title (3rdEd).......2007-06-16
In "Part I - Intro to IA," obviously the basics are covered, like what exactly is IA? What does an Information Architect do? After reading this title, I would define an Information Architect as a glorified content manager. Someone that occupies the realm between UI designer and DB engineer.
Google is pretty good at finding information for us on the vast Internet, but there is a long way to go. I believe these authors make a valid point that IA will become increasingly relevant. In fact, I wouldn't doubt that in the future you will actually be able to obtain a BS in IA. Nonetheless, IA is around us everyday when we use technology no matter what we want call it.
The elements that make up IA are covered in "Part II - Basic Principles of IA." The basis of IA is the interaction or retrieval of information in terms of organization systems, labeling systems, navigation systems, search systems, thesauri, controlled vocabularies, and metadata. What this basically means is, how do we categorize our data so that it makes sense, is easy to navigate and search, and is relevant or adaptable according to our users' vocabularies.
"Part III - Process and Methodology" helps one plan a path to your IA goals. For instance, developing a research management team to discuss such goals, your target audiences, functionality/deficiencies of your current IA system, and integrating other software, such as your customer management system (CMS).
My favorite topic here is the detailed discussion of "building vocabularies." This is something everybody needs to constantly perfect. An example of this is, two people can search for the same thing using two different criteria. How can can we build a vocabulary system that recognizes that?
Many research tools are discussed. My favorite technique, and it's so simple, is card sorting. Get some blank cards (20-25) and write on them the headings from categories, subcategories, and content within your site. Ask a user to sort this stack of cards into piles that make sense to him and have him label those cards using post-it notes. Make sure to tell them to think-out-loud and be sure to take notes. This will give you an idea of how one would "travel" through your site, what is relevant, and what should not be on your homepage, etc.
The authors take the reader through the process of the IA development cycle, from concept, to getting managers to buy-in, to the implementation and administration of the system; very thorough.
The hands-on aspects of IA are explained in "Part IV - IA in Practice." One thing I found insightful was how one could pursue an official education in the area of IA, albeit there is no such degree. To gain a competitive advantage, the authors suggest obtaining a degree in Library and Information Science (LIS) or Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).
At the end of chapter 15, there is a list of position titles making up an ideal IA team.
This list may prove helpful for potential readers to get a better understanding of what IA is comprised of.
1) Strategy Architect - responsible for overall design goals and integration
2) Thesaurus Designer - develops classification schemes, controlled vocabularies, and thesauri
3) Controlled Vocabulary Manager - manages the evolution of controlled vocabularies and coordinates the indexing specialists team
4) Indexing Specialist - tags content and services with controlled vocabulary metadata
5) Interaction Designer - creates navigation schemes and page layouts with a focus on user interaction
6) IA Software Analyst - links the IA and IT teams, focusing on ways to leverage software to create, manage, and drive the user experience
7) IA Usability Engineer - focuses on intersection of usability and IA by conducting studies that isolate IA elements, such as category labels or metadata.
8) Cartographer - converts patterns in content, structure, and usage into maps, guides, indexes, and other useful navigational tools.
9) Search Analyst - leads the design, improvement, and ongoing analysis of search system.
"PART V - IA in the Organization" was a little dry for my tastes and irrelevant to me. May be very helpful for someone in a large bureaucratic organization that wants to implement their IA concepts.
The moral of the story is that "site builders" must employ multiple info retrieval methods and tightly integrate them. Everyone searches, browses, scans, and finds info differently; accommodate them.
This book is very comprehensive and even deals with the politics of IA. To me, the book gets a little long at times, but if your life evolves around information somehow, this is an essential read.
Excellent reference.......2007-06-12
The topic of the Polar Bear is very defined and focused, and the book reflects this. It's a bit dry - reads much like stereo instructions - but for someone who is dedicated to exploring content and information architecture in depth, there's simply no better reference.
I wouldn't call this a good primer, but I'd definitely recommend it for more advanced reading, and definitely as a reference book.
Very biased book.......2007-06-02
In general, this book contains some useful yet common sense information. This book is more about how to become a talker than a worker. I read through and found the first half confirmed my experience and the second half is a bust. If you want to become an office politician, this is a must have.
Book Description
Lucene is a gem in the open-source world‹-a highly scalable, fast search engine. It delivers performance and is disarmingly easy to use. Lucene in Action is the authoritative guide to Lucene. It describes how to index your data, including types you definitely need to know such as MS Word, PDF, HTML, and XML. It introduces you to searching, sorting, filtering, and highlighting search results.
Lucene powers search in surprising places‹-in discussion groups at Fortune 100 companies, in commercial issue trackers, in email search from Microsoft, in the Nutch web search engine (that scales to billions of pages). It is used by diverse companies including Akamai, Overture, Technorati, HotJobs, Epiphany, FedEx, Mayo Clinic, MIT, New Scientist Magazine, and many others. Adding search to your application can be easy. With many reusable examples and good advice on best practices, Lucene in Action shows you how.
What's Inside
- How to integrate Lucene into your applications
- Ready-to-use framework for rich document handling
- Case studies including Nutch, TheServerSide, jGuru, etc.
- Lucene ports to Perl, Python, C#/.Net, and C++
- Sorting, filtering, term vectors, multiple, and remote index searching
- The new SpanQuery family, extending query parser, hit collecting
- Performance testing and tuning
- Lucene add-ons (hit highlighting, synonym lookup, and others)
Customer Reviews:
Not as useful as I hoped.......2007-09-25
Beware that this book is quite outdated by now: some of the APIs described in the book (e.g. "Field.Keyword") don't work anymore in recent versions of Lucene, lots of new stuff isn't covered, some information (such as that IndexWriter can't delete documents) is no longer true.
It's still useful as a "Getting Started" tutorial, because there's no such thing in Lucene's official documentation, but the price is a bit high for that.
Missing the big picture.......2007-08-16
This is a good technical book, it has plenty of examples and code bits. I was hoping for more examples of implementation - how to apply it to customer systems. It also had little information regarding hardware and how to scale. I think it's a good book, but I might have had other expectations.
Lucene In Action Review`.......2007-01-09
Having had to work with Lucene, this book offers a good overview of the technologies and also how it has been integrated into other solutions such as Nutch and so on. Lucene is used across the board and this is a book I would recommend for anyone interested in Search technologies. It's structured and informative and is a good place to cross-reference Lucene tools also. An example I found was a reference to Luke which is a third-party Lucene tool for analyzing the indexes. I looked up Lucene In Action and it was covered there in good detail along with other third-party tools.
To the point........2006-11-10
Using this book I had a finder window up and running in our Java application in a couple of hours. The book has great examples and you don't have to do a lot of reading to find out what you need to know.
one more okay book.......2006-02-24
This is like a cross refrence book where on each page it refers to other chapters or pages atleast three times. And i would just say it's okay. It doesnt even teach how to crawl web in a good automatic way.
Book Description
This is the leading selling college-level book for Internet research courses. Examples have been chosen to appeal to a broad spectrum of students and researchers across academic disciplines. It is much more than a catalog of search engines and their features. Both the free and fee-based (hidden) Internet is explored. The focus is on formulating search strategies, understanding how to form search expressions, evaluating information, and citing resources. Librarians, prospective and in-service K-12 teachers, and majors in business, math, or the sciences will benefit from it.
Customer Reviews:
Alright.......2007-01-09
The book is ok... but the only reason I even had it was for a class.... It is not for people who are veterans of the internet
I wouldn't purchase for any other reason........2007-01-07
This book did not really explain the necessary info, but since I needed it for a course I bought it.
Excellent buying.......2006-03-19
the shipping was quick and the new book is too cheap compare to my school bookstore.
Amazon.com
If you pick your books by their popularity--how many and which other people are reading them--then know this about The Search: it's probably on Bill Gates' reading list, and that of almost every venture capitalist and startup-hungry entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. In its sweeping survey of the history of Internet search technologies, its gossip about and analysis of Google, and its speculation on the larger cultural implications of a Web-connected world, it will likely receive attention from a variety of businesspeople, technology futurists, journalists, and interested observers of mid-2000s zeitgeist.
This ambitious book comes with a strong pedigree. Author John Battelle was a founder of The Industry Standard and then one of the original editors of Wired, two magazines which helped shape our early perceptions of the wild world of the Internet. Battelle clearly drew from his experience and contacts in writing The Search. In addition to the sure-handed historical perspective and easy familiarity with such dot-com stalwarts as AltaVista, Lycos, and Excite, he speckles his narrative with conversational asides from a cast of fascinating characters, such Google's founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Yahoo's, Jerry Yang and David Filo; key executives at Microsoft and different VC firms on the famed Sandhill road; and numerous other insiders, particularly at the company which currently sits atop the search world, Google.
The Search is not exactly the corporate history of Google. At the book's outset, Battelle specifically indicates his desire to understand what he calls the cultural anthropology of search, and to analyze search engines' current role as the "database of our intentions"--the repository of humanity's curiosity, exploration, and expressed desires. Interesting though that beginning is, though, Battelle's story really picks up speed when he starts dishing inside scoop on the darling business story of the decade, Google. To Battelle's credit, though, he doesn't stop just with historical retrospective: the final part of his book focuses on the potential future directions of Google and its products' development. In what Battelle himself acknowledges might just be a "digital fantasy train", he describes the possibility that Google will become the centralizing platform for our entire lives and quotes one early employee on the weightiness of Google's potential impact: "Sometimes I feel like I am on a bridge, twenty thousand feet up in the air. If I look down I'm afraid I'll fall. I don't feel like I can think about all the implications."
Some will shrug at such words; after all, similar hype has accompanied other technologies and other companies before. Many others, though, will search Battelle's story for meaning--and fast. --Peter Han
Book Description
How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture
• The Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek Bestseller
• Finalist for the Goldman Sachs/FT Business Book of the Year Award
What does the world want? According to John Battelle, a company that answers that question—in all its shades of meaning—can unlock the most intractable riddles of business and arguably of human culture itself. And for the past few years, that's exactly what Google has been doing.
But The Search offers much more than the inside story of Google's triumph. It's a big- picture book about the past, present, and future of search technology and the enormous impact it's starting to have on marketing, media, pop culture, dating, job hunting, international law, civil liberties, and just about every other sphere of human interest. BACKCOVER: “The Search is a superb story, well written and feverishly researched. Whether you are a student, techie, business executive, budding visionary or just enjoy pop culture, this is a book not to be missed.”
—USA Today
“John Battelle is Silicon Valley's Bob Woodward. One of the founders of Wired magazine, he has hung around Google for so long that he has come to be as close as any outsider can to actually being an insider….The result is a highly readable account of Google's astonishing rise.”
—The Economist
“It's a fascinating story, and Mr. Battelle… tells it well.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“A surprisingly gripping story…The Search yields impressive results, pairing a reportorial eye for detail with an evangelical zeal to help readers understand the import of the search revolution.”
—Wired News
“Battelle…manages to keep things compelling, adding his own trenchant analysis about what Google's rapid evolution and powerful technology might mean for the company and our society as whole.”
—The Associated Press
“A compelling glimpse of the search industry's early years.”
—BusinessWeek
“Deeply researched and nimbly reported.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Indispensable.”
—London Review of Books
“John Battelle has written a brilliant business book, but he's also done something more: he's used the amazing saga of Google to explore what it means to search. All searchers should read it.”
—Walter Isaacson, CEO of the Aspen Institute; former editor of Time; former CEO of CNN
“Nobody, and I mean nobody, has thought longer, harder, or smarter about Google and the search business than John Battelle. If you want to understand the rise of the search economy and culture, you need to read this book.”
—John Heilemann, author of Pride Before the Fall
Customer Reviews:
Larry and Sergey's Excellent Adventure.......2007-08-25
A very well-researched and well-written book. Most notable is author John Battelle's getting the essence of just how bad search was until the Google Guys came along and nailed the concept. Battelle recounts how major players in the IT industry assumed search was as good as it was going to get circa 1997 - 2000 (and it really s-cked in retrospect), so they went off trying to become traffic and portal sites. [Larry Page archly notes that Yahoo and Excite had 'really good horoscopes' on their home pages. Touché.]
Meanwhile, Battelle recounts how Page and Brin set out with their 'Backrub' project at Stanford to solve search and transform it into what it is today. While Google is taken as a given today, Battelle takes us all back to that moment when we all first used Google and had that "Oh. My. God." moment.
The insider-ish stuff about Page and Brin is fascinating. I could read 500 pages of that stuff alone. It's a thrilling ride from cramped offices at Stanford to the Googleplex. 400,000 percent (!) revenue growth over five years is difficult to fathom, but Battelle gets as close to anyone to the essence of how that happened.
It's nice to see the chapter here about Bill Gross of Idealab. The original incarnation of Google AdWords was a blatant copy of Idealab's Goto.com (later named Overture) incubation.
A non-technical, solid read for those interested in Google and how Search Works.......2007-07-20
Interested in learning how Google went from the smallest of startups to one of the largest IPO's in history? Do you wonder how Google and companies like it will impact our future? Are you interested in finding out just how Google returns the results when you type something in the search box? If so, then The Search is for you!
Written by John Brattle, an accomplished author (Wired) and well respected journalist and entrepreneur, The Search first walks the user through the rise of Google from a dorm room at Stanford to the corporate giant it is today.
The book is well researched and contains information from over 300 interviews documenting the rise of the biggest and most profitable media company in the world. The interviews are some of the most interesting reads in the book making you feel like you were in the room when Battelle was conducting them.
In the early chapters, the reader gets what seems to be an inside view of the rise of Google as a startup during the dot-com boom. As Google grows, Battelle starts to focus on how Yahoo and Google (and others) struggled to get the search algorithm "right" and become the leader in the "search" industry. Google was clearly the winner of this competition and went out to streamline their algorithm and business to be one of the most successful media businesses in the world.
Battelle uses the last chapters to discuss the future of Google and how the technology that Google is developing today could impact our culture. Considering Google has significantly changed out culture in the short eight years it has been around, one can only imagine what the future holds!
An excellent, non-technical read, The Search, is a great book for anyone interested in Google, how search engines work and/or portal developments are sure to find this book enjoyable, insightful and well worth the read!
[...]
Page-turner & night-burner.......2007-07-12
This book has delighted me, to me it was an enlightening read, and it almost wasn't slipping from my hands until I got to the end.
Great Business and Historic lessons.......2007-06-19
This is an excellent book.
First, from the business stand point it describes perfectly how google beat the internet bubble and came up with a very lucrative business model. It has a lot off lessons of how to be an entrepreneur.
Second, from the historic stand point i tells very easy haw the internet and the search technology have grow and evolve and hand by hand, because both are the reason why we have an intenet like we have now.
Third, the book is a lot of fun and very easy to read, it has a lot of inspiring little story like the story of Altavista or the great Bill Gross, what an enterpreneur.
Great book you won't be disapointed
Very Informative.......2007-05-04
Being a non techy, I was enthralled with the way search has developed and the possibilities for the future. The future of not only search, but business models as we know them.
Book Description
When it comes to advertising on the web, you just can't argue with the numbers. A $7 billion market today is expected to grow to $18.9 billion by 2010. Jupiter Research also estimates that search advertising will be a larger share of the market than display advertising by 2010. These phenomenal numbers are due largely to Google, which has changed the way the world publishes content - and advertises.
Google Advertising Tools from O'Reilly examines the business and technology behind making money with content and advertising on the web. This focused, easy-to-read guide shows you how to use Google's advertising services to make it happen. You'll find all the background information you need to work with Google AdSense, which automatically delivers text and image ads that are precisely targeted to your site, and Google AdWords, which lets you generate text ads that accompany specific search term results.
This book has specific and detailed sections on:
- Turning your web site into a profit center with AdSense
- Making sense of AdSense metrics
- Driving traffic to your site
- Optimizing sites for search engine placement
- Working with AdWords campaigns, auctions, and reports
- Managing campaigns dynamically using the AdWords APIs
Once you've read all four parts, you'll have a comprehensive picture of how advertising works on the web and how you can use the Google advertising programs to your advantage.
Customer Reviews:
Great resouce book.......2007-10-19
Like most of the O'Reilly books, this is very well written and a really good resource for tips and hints. It is not as good for a beginner, but is good for people that need a good resource to go to the next level.
Google Advertising Tools: Cashing in with AdSense, AdWords, and the Google APIs.......2007-07-15
It is estimated that Google ads reach 80% of all Internet users. No other advertising system or promotional scheme (including spam campaigns) can boast such coverage. Cashing in on Google ads either as an advertiser through AdWords or by getting paid by the click for hosting Google ads through Adsense is a pretty quick and simple process.
Google Advertising Tools is meant for the beginner advertiser or new website owner who would like to make a little extra money through hosting Google ads. This book takes the reader through the whats, the whys, the hows, and the wheres of these options. Much of the more complicated parts of these processes are even detailed step by step complete with illustrations of what the reader will see at the website. I do suggest this book to those new to Google ads. However, I also think that those already participating in these programs with find a few helpful hints and tips, particularly in the optimizing sections.
Just OK.......2007-01-10
This book was OK, I mean it has some good information but you can find most of it online so it is more of a resource book instead of a book having especially valuable information.
Im glad I bought it cause I now have a resource book on the shelf and dont have to search online and I often have limited time.
If you have the time to research online then do that, otherwise by this book.
a book to begin.......2007-01-07
if you are interested on how search engines work this a book you can start
Useful Information.......2006-12-05
While I found the book useful and inspiring, the author did bounce all over the place and made some strange comments. He even devoted an entire chapter to marketing adult sites, which I thought was a bit strange. Davis wrote at all levels conceptually, theoretically and tactically - which is good. Overall, it's a useful book with good information.
Books:
- Sell Your Book on Amazon: The Book Marketing COACH Reveals Top-Secret "How-to" Tips Guaranteed to Increase Sales for Print-on-Demand and Self-Publishing Writers
- Sell Your Book on Amazon: The Book Marketing COACH Reveals Top-Secret "How-to" Tips Guaranteed to Increase Sales for Print-on-Demand and Self-Publishing Writers
- Sell Your Book on Amazon: The Book Marketing COACH Reveals Top-Secret "How-to" Tips Guaranteed to Increase Sales for Print-on-Demand and Self-Publishing Writers
- Sell Your Book on Amazon: The Book Marketing COACH Reveals Top-Secret "How-to" Tips Guaranteed to Increase Sales for Print-on-Demand and Self-Publishing Writers
- SPIN Selling
- SPIN Selling
- Starting an Online Business For Dummies, 4th Edition
- Starting an Online Business For Dummies, 4th Edition
- Strategic Brand Management, Second Edition
- Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive: Outsell, Outmanage, Outmotivate, and Outnegotiate Your Competition (Collins Business Essentials)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
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- The Honeymoon's Over: True Stories of Love, Marriage, and Divorce
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- Make the most of your retirement;: Where to go, what to do, how much it costs
- JavaServer Faces: The Complete Reference
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- Pilgrim Stories: On and Off the Road to Santiago, Journeys Along an Ancient Way in Modern Spain
- Client/Server Accounting: Reengineering Financial Systems 1997 Supplement
- Management in Transitional Economies: From the Berlin Wall to the Great Wall of China
- Histology of the Atlantic Cod, Gadus morhua : An Atlas. Part Four. Eleutheroembryo and Larva / Atlas
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day
Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Marketing Handbook: Low Cost Strategies for Attracting New Customers Using Google, MSN, Yahoo & Other Search Engines
Call to Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results
Search Engine Optimization For Dummies, Second Edition (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))
Google Advertising Tools: Cashing in with AdSense, AdWords, and the Google APIs
