E-Commerce For the Unfunded
A "Must Read" for Small Businesses Seeking Profit on the Web
By Joshua Feinberg

Most book reviews are boring, with a capital B. So I'm normally reluctant to write a book review ... unless something really cool, worthwhile, or unique comes along. E-Commerce For the Unfunded, by Dawn Rivers Baker, caught my attention this summer as something that budget conscious small business owners need to get their hands on.

E-Commerce For the Unfunded, appropriately subtitled "How to Use Big Company Strategies In Your Small, Low-Budget Web Based Business", is targeted at the small business that's struggled to turn a profit online, but came up empty.

Inspiration For the Book

When Dawn Rivers Baker launched Wahmpreneur News Magazine (http://www.wahmpreneur.com) in 1999, she hadn't really planned on becoming an Internet marketing guru. However she accidentally discovered an untapped resource for small business owners.

As a member of the press, Baker stumbled on Internet market data reports from Forrester Research. Since these reports normally sell for up to $5,000 U.S. each, they would typically be way beyond the financial reach of most small businesses.

And at that price point, Forrester Research wasn't targeting small businesses anyway. Forrester Research's audience for these types of Internet marketing reports was well-funded "dot coms" and large, established brick and mortar firms looking to grow their online business.

However, Baker conceived a novel approach. She figured out how to rework Forrester Research's Internet marketing recommendations into bite-sized, concrete, affordable implementation steps for small businesses.

Once I saw how Baker was looking to translate world-class Internet marketing strategies into plans appropriate for small business budgets, I was sold on the concept. Baker's strategy with Internet marketing was exactly the same philosophy that I'd been advocating in computer consulting for several years --- figure out a way to adapt Fortune 1000 IT best practices to small business friendly budgets.

Dawn Rivers Baker ultimately adopted this strategy as the editorial mission of her Wahmpreneur News Magazine. As she explains in the forward to E-Commerce For the Unfunded, "I wanted to take information that is usually only available to the corporate giants, and interpret that information so that it could be useful to much smaller businesses. So far, I have yet to read a Forrester report with recommendations that couldn't somehow be reworked to apply to low-budget businesses."

Her analysis of these Internet market research reports ultimately grew into a series of articles, first published in Wahmpreneur News Magazine, which were then weaved together into E-Commerce For the Unfunded.

Opening Words of Caution About Site Design Pitfalls

The first two chapters of E-Commerce For the Unfunded are an overall introduction to some of the big mistakes small businesses can make when setting up their web site and e-commerce functions.

Discussing everything from a lack of aesthetic common-sense, to a lack of meaningful content, to placing way too much trust in professional web site designers, early material is hard hitting and extremely enlightening.

At one point, Baker explains "Badly designed web sites are worse than useless, since they can brand your business with a reputation for amateurism that can be difficult to shake."

In addition to fascinating real world accounts in an easy to digest format, there's also a detailed discussion on why so many e-commerce shopping carts are abandoned, as well as a listing of potential gotchas to steer away from in your online store.

Privacy Faux Pas', Market Analysis and Promotion Strategies

E-Commerce For the Unfunded also takes you through an exhaustive examination of the "do's" and "don'ts" of posted privacy policy, why you need to integrate various elements of the privacy policy throughout your site, and how a failure to do so can cost your small business dearly.

The balance of Baker's fourteen chapters are focused on designing an easy to navigate site, as well as a site that sells more based on analysis of easy to glean statistical data.

The second half of E-Commerce For the Unfunded delves into promotional strategies, with an in depth discussion of both the pros and cons of e-mail marketing and banner swaps, as well as some pointers for online public relations.

Impact on Small Business Computer Support Costs

E-Commerce For the Unfunded was written by an entrepreneur who's in the trenches just like us, working from her home office in a micro business. Baker goes through the same online trials and tribulations day in and day out as most of us do.

She found a huge void in the marketplace, while stumbling across an untapped invaluable source of high-end research reports.

You could spend tens of thousands of dollars (U.S.) on professional web site design consultations and likely still not scratch the surface on the dozens of low-budget marketing and revenue generating techniques discussed in E-Commerce For the Unfunded.

If you're serious about turning your web site into a profit-center, I strongly recommend that you budget another $20 U.S. (e-book) to $23 U.S. (paperback) for Dawn Rivers Baker's book and add E-Commerce For the Unfunded to your required reading list. If you take away just a handful of tidbits from Baker, the book will have paid for itself dozens of times over. I can't wait to put her advice to work in our online marketing plan!

The Bottom Line

As a small business owner publishing an online magazine and trying to eke out a profit online, Dawn Rivers Baker's "in the trenches with you" attitude lends a crucial dose of credibility to an overcrowded genre of "me too" online marketing tomes. If you're looking to start up a micro online enterprise, or your online small business has been stagnating for a while, E-Commerce For the Unfunded offers fresh ideas to get your revenue and profit machine back on track.

E-Commerce For The Unfunded -- How To Use Big Company Internet Strategies For Your Small, Low-Budget Web-Based Business

By Dawn Rivers Baker and Wahmpreneur News Magazine

Wahmpreneur Books -- Sidney, NY, USA - (607) 563-7523 -- http://www.wahmpreneurbooks.com

E-book (PDF) -- $19.95 U.S.; Paperback -- $22.95 U.S.

Published May, 2001; 96 pages

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Joshua Feinberg is an internationally recognized small business technology expert, consultant, columnist, author, keynote speaker, and trainer. He is a published Microsoft Press author, as well as the creator of and two-year veteran writer of the Microsoft Direct Access "VAPVoice: Notes From the Field". Learn what your highly paid computer consultant doesn't want you to know!