The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding Book

Having what you think is the killer Web site up your sleeve might not be enough to make you the next dot com millionaire. Even if your idea has the potential to be a success, there are many hurdles at which it can fall, and one of them is branding. This relates not only to the name you choose for your site, but to its overall look and feel. Get these wrong, and you're doomed. This is the message of father and daughter partnership Al and Laura Reis, marketing gurus who have worked with some of the US's top companies. In this book they focus their attention on the Internet. The book is divided into 11 chapters, each of which examines a particular "law" of Internet branding. Many of the laws concern what you decide to call your company. Do you make up a name that is entirely new? This book implies that would be a good strategy. Should you keep the name short, easy to spell, and stick to the letters a to z? Absolutely. Can you use your existing company name? Not always. Your company name is not your only branding issue. In a chapter titled The Law of Divergence the authors claim technologies tend to split into several new discrete ones, rather than converge as a "one size fits all" solution. The implication is that an Internet business can't succeed if it tries to do too many things. It won't take you very long to read this book--it is written in an easy style and the authors make their points clearly, giving plenty of examples of real Web sites along the way. But spending a few hours on it could get your killer Web site over a couple of those hurdles. --Sandra VogelRead More