Here is a blurb from the book’s self description:

Business can be discouraging. According to US Department of Labor figures, only 44 percent of newly-opened firms will last four years. Amish firms, on the other hand, have registered a 95% survival rate over a five-year period. And in many cases, those businesses do remarkably well-as Donald Kraybill writes: “the phrase ‘Amish millionaire’ is no longer an oxymoron.” Success Made Simple is the first practical book of Amish business success principles for the non-Amish reader. The work provides a platform of transferable principles–simple and universal enough to be applied in the non-Amish world, in a wide variety of business and management settings.

• Learn how to develop profitable and fulfilling enterprises as Amish explain how to build fruitful relationships with customers and employees, prosper by playing to strengths, and create an effective marketing story.
• Includes interviews with over 50 Amish business owners outline the role of relationships in business and the importance of the big picture-taking in long-term goals, the welfare of others, and personal integrity.
• Offers ideas on practical application of Amish business practices to non-Amish businesses, with bullet summaries at the end of each chapter reviewing the most important take-away points

With a focus on relationship-building and the big picture, Success Made Simple offers business owners everywhere the tools for better, smarter, more successful enterprises.

I’m looking forward to getting into the book more…

The drawbacks I see for many of my visitors who are interested in “making money online” is that there’s a sense in which they wish to make money without all the hassle of building these relationships or even caring about a product. As an affiliate marketer, for instance, one can’t control the quality of a particular product batch. One is focused solely on marketing. The closest thing to “relationship building” online is social media… but the basic strategy for online marketing still is “get a name, bombard with email”. It alienates more customers than attracts them.

Can these lessons be applied online? I hope so…. But I think the book is going to prove VERY interesting.

Note: The above links are Amazon Associate links.

The theme of this wordpress blog is lightly adapted to reflect a change from the old “default” word press theme that nowadays seems absolutely prehistoric! Still the value of a site isn’t determined by it’s theme but by it’s usage. The purpose it serves and the people such a site serves matter more than the theme which, though old, is perfectly serviceable for a Health and General Dentists blog.

My first impression is that for a professional’s website, this is really well done. Visitors are immediately greeted with audio, a nice picture frame that moves between different services offered. Unlike most websites that just say “call us”, this dentist actually offers a $150 discount on some popular services like teeth whitening. Google thinks the site is impressive too, it has a PR 4!

Of all the websites I’ve reviewed for professionals, this one for Bergen County dentists is by far the one with the best combination of elements as well as visual appeal. I hope he does well indeed!

The other day I ran across Duncan’s News Blog and thought I’d hit a winner for inclusion on my RSS feed reader. In the end I decided not to include it on my feed reader because it didn’t really reflect a deep expertise on any one field. Now the information I found there was good, correct, etc. but for the most part, it really covered TOO MANY topics for me to include on my feed reader.

I’m scatterbrained enough! So I won’t mind stopping by from time to time to see some interesting articles, but probably not on a daily basis.

Google likes it’s and has given it a Page Rank of 3. I’d suggest putting the email subscribe box under the video, but heck, what do I know? I suggest that because there’s a “golden area” as far as web browsing. In cultures like ours that read left to right, the most action occurs in the left corner. The video’s there, but the subscribe box should be too.

Lots of other information… 54 pages indexed. Pretty good content and for a Plastic Surgeon, pretty good in bound linking.

Here’s the book that says “Yes”:

Viral Loop: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today’s Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves

12 5-star customer reviews show it’s getting good reviews so far. (or else 12 friends weighed in!)

A friend suggested this book to me (via Twitter!) so perhaps there’s something to it.  His point is that social networking tools allow you to spread your message like never before and, in theory, do business like never before. Think of those crazy games on Facebook. You never play them perhaps, but many do.

It makes you wonder what there is about your product, service, or non-profit that you can let people share and discuss through social networks that build your business or charity long term.

This Christmas there was an ebook called “One Tip” that raised money for charity. Will thousands of new future customers be on that marketer’s email list now? You bet. Did people promote the book out of good will instead of for affiliate commissions? At least one internet marketer I know did…

So perhaps this is part of what the book talks about.

How do you leverage this for a home business? How much viral marketing can you take before you have to leave the house and get into a warehouse?

Thought provoking indeed. I’d love to hear your thoughts if you’ve read the book. Before that, here’s what the publisher puts out about Viral Loop:

“Adam Penenberg’s lively book opens a window to all of our futures…”
–Ken Auletta, author of Googled: The End of the World as We Know It

“If you want to understand all things viral, this is the place to start. Penenberg’s reporting gives us a ringside seat for some of the biggest viral success stories in history, from Tupperware to Ning.”
–Dan Heath, co-author of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

“One of the most astounding things about the Web age is how the best advertising is often no advertising at all. Penenberg masterfully explains how this works with case studies of products that were designed to spread. Every product can use a dose of this technique; this is the book to get to learn how.”
–Chris Anderson, author of Free: The Future of a Radical Price

“In tight, engaging prose, Adam captures the essence of the ever-scaling power of the virus. It’s not just for geeks anymore.”
–Seth Godin, author of Tribes

“Penenberg discovers the perpetual motion machine for business and marketing… Buy this book. Catch a virus. Make a fortune.”
–Jeff Jarvis

“Penenberg has unlocked the secret to the most successful digital businesses. An indispensable read.”
–Robert Safian, Editor-in-Chief, Fast Company

“Instead of entrusting your business to a guru with an agenda and a ghostwriter, you should be turning to a pro journalist like Adam Penenberg, who understands the way media and money interact, has the critical faculty to engage with these phenomena in an unbiased fashion, and the technical facility to explain them to you in an entirely engaging, informative, and actionable way.”
–Douglas Rushkoff, author of Media Virus and Life Inc: How the world became a corporation and how to take it back.

Here’s something you may not know about today’s Internet. Simply by designing your product the right way, you can build a flourishing business from scratch. No advertising or marketing budget, no need for a sales force, and venture capitalists will flock to throw money at you.

Many of the most successful Web 2.0 companies, including MySpace, YouTube, eBay, and rising stars like Twitter and Flickr, are prime examples of what journalist Adam L. Penenberg calls a “viral loop”–to use it, you have to spread it. After all, what’s the sense of being on Facebook if none of your friends are? The result: Never before has there been the potential to create wealth this fast, on this scale, and starting with so little.

In this game-changing must-read, Penenberg tells the fascinating story of the entrepreneurs who first harnessed the unprecedented potential of viral loops to create the successful online businesses–some worth billions of dollars–that we have all grown to rely on. The trick is that they created something people really want, so much so that their customers happily spread the word about their product for them.

All kinds of businesses–from the smallest start-ups to nonprofit organizations to the biggest multinational corporations–can use the paradigm-busting power of viral loops to enable their business through technology. Viral Loop is a must-read for any entrepreneur or business interested in uncorking viral loops to benefit their bottom line.

If you want another look at the book, check out this review at Small Business Trends on Viral Loop

Related Link: How to get started online!

Ok, in the first post I got you the basics – the publisher’s description and the Table of Contents.

Let me begin by discussing Jack Ma’s foreward.  I won’t steal his thunder, but I will mention one of his examples and what he aims to do through Alibaba.com – to help the Chinese marketplace and, in turn, help American entrepreneurs in the process.

One example he gave was a type of Chinese wine that retailed for $120 but which sold at the wholesale level for a very small percentage of the price. He attributed the massive (and questionable?) price increase to an antiquated distribution system, that, of course, had to add new layers of profit just to survive.

Ma sees his work at Alibaba.com as one of disintermediation. That’s a $3 word for cutting out “middle men”. Using the internet, his idea is for Alibaba.com to become the one “middle man” necessary to connect producers in China with distributors elsewhere in the world, but primarily in the English speaking market who want to distribute the products, add value to them, or use them as marketing tools for their “bread and butter” products and services.

His vision is to see the readers and US users of Alibaba.com use their site to open their own business and find the products they can sell profitably, and in one sense at least, put globalization to work FOR THEM.

Read excepts here for The Official Alibaba.com Success Guide: Insider Tips and Strategies for Sourcing Products from the Worlds Largest B2B Marketplace.

What this does of course is diversify the customer base of Chinese firms… that way if one HUGE customer changes providers, they still have the opportunity to keep production going if they have been able to connect with small businesses who may be less likely to switch as long as they can continue to serve their customers effectively.

So it could be a good deal for all concerned.

I’ll talk more about other interesting things I’ve found in the book.  I don’t have much time to read, but this is one book I wanted to read.

Read excepts here for The Official Alibaba.com Success Guide: Insider Tips and Strategies for Sourcing Products from the Worlds Largest B2B Marketplace.

The official guide to making a bundle buying and selling through Alibaba.com, the world’s largest online B2B marketplace Alibaba.com is the world’s leading global business-to-business online marketplace. People around the world use it every day to import and export products for big profits. But newcomers are often overwhelmed by the sheer number of products and the quantity of information available.

The Official Alibaba.com Success Guide shows you how to ramp up your business or build an entirely new business, using the Alibaba.com brand and web site as your supplier. This practical guide provides simple answers for complex questions, from navigating the site, to finding products at the right price, to branding, and much more. Plus, the book includes best practices for importing, locating and vetting suppliers, and protecting yourself against online fraud.

• An answer-packed guide for all your questions about doing business through Alibaba.com
• Officially licensed and supported by Alibaba.com, this is the only guide you need
• Includes inspirational profiles of people who have used Alibaba.com successfully to launch new businesses or revive old ones
• The first and only step-by-step guide to using Alibaba.com effectively

Alibaba.com gives you the opportunity to make real money online. Here, you’ll find a wealth of inside information that will help you use Alibaba.com safely and profitably.

Read excepts here for The Official Alibaba.com Success Guide: Insider Tips and Strategies for Sourcing Products from the Worlds Largest B2B Marketplace.

Here is the Table of Contents:

Foreword Jack Ma, Founder of Alibaba.com.
Acknowledgments.

About the Authors.

Preface.

Part I Alibaba.com: The Opportunity.

Chapter 1 Alibaba.com Opens the Door to Global Trade.

First a Little History.

Alibaba.com’s Corporate Goals and Values.

Alibaba.com’s Six Core Values.

Alibaba.com Today.

Alibaba.com Corporate Structure.

Alibaba.com’s Programs, Tools, and Events.

Alibaba.com’s 2008 e-Business Champion of the Year: Gene Rumley.

Chapter 2 International Sourcing: This Isn’t Kansas Anymore.

International Sourcing: Your Challenge and Promise.

Your First Sourcing Decision.

Let’s Put First Things First.

Get a Tax ID Number and Register Your Business.

Develop Your Product Idea.

Build Your Prototype.

Create and Test-drive Your Business Plan.

Create a Business Calendar.

Product Sourcing Basics.

Calculate Your Budget.

Safety Checks for Sourcing Products.

Sourcing Internationally: New Challenges and Rewards.

Leaving Kansas: Alibaba.com Opens a World of Opportunity.

Importing Your Products.

Chapter 2 Checklist.

Chapter 3 Keys to Successful Importing.

Your Education Begins.

Your Partner’s Responsibilities and Your Own.

Terms You Need to Know.

Standards, Certifications, and Regulations.

Partners Who Can Help You.

Who Are the Major Players?

Can You Keep It Simple?

Chapter 3 Checklist.

Part II Putting Alibaba.com to Work for You.

Chapter 4 The Alibaba.com Web site.

Let’s Start at the Home Page.

Trade with the World.

Keep Scrolling.

Inspirational Success Stories.

Alibaba.com Partners.

Don’t Underestimate the Bottom of the Page.

Let’s Get You Registered.

Download TradeManager.

A Tour of Alibaba.com’s Links.

Buy.

Sell.

Community.

My Alibaba.

Help.

Alibaba.com’s Search Engine.

Chapter 4 Checklist.

Chapter 5 Finding Business Partners.

You Are the Boss, So It’s All Up to You.

Education through Experience.

Establish Realistic Expectations for Your Suppliers.

Set Criteria for Your Products Themselves.

Build In Your Own Safety Checks.

Fraud: Forewarned Is Forearmed.

Qualify and Identify.

Qualify and Legitimize.

Let’s Find Some Manufacturers.

Searching for Partners.

Posting a Buying Lead.

Those First Few E-mails.

Vetting Prospective Partners.

Do You Like Their Attitudes?

Quantify Them to Qualify Them.

Communication, Communication, Communication!.

Should You Travel to China or Anywhere Else?

Chapter 5 Checklist.

Chapter 6 Working with Your Suppliers.

A Two-sided Partnership.

Alibaba.com Can Help You Learn.

Getting Your Products Right.

Get Graphic.

Ask for Samples.

What to Do When Things Go Wrong.

Chapter 6 Checklist.

Chapter 7 Closing the Deal.

Getting the Details Right.

Your Pro Forma Invoice.

Payment Schedules and Options.

Spread Out Your Payments.

Wire Transfers.

Escrow Services.

Letters of Credit.

Shipping Details.

Forge Good Relationships.

Bill of Lading: The Final Document.

Chapter 7 Checklist.

Chapter 8 Safe Trading.

Educate Yourself.

Alibaba.com’s Safety & Security Center.

Safe Trading Forums.

Other Web-based Resources You Can Use.

Keeping Your Computer Safe.

Security Help Available through Alibaba.com.

Create Your Own Alibaba.com Sign-in Seal.

E-mail Fraud.

Trojans and Viruses.

Protecting Your Computer.

Chapter 8 Checklist.

Chapter 9 Keeping the Pipeline Full.

Your Customers Will Change Your Business.

Your Partnerships Will Change Your Business.

When You Are Ready to Travel, Get In Touch.

Your Expertise Will Change Your Business.

What Will You Do with Your Expertise?

Turn Those Tables and Sell to the World.

Alibaba.com’s Selling Links and My Alibaba Selling Tools.

Now Is the Time to Consider a Paid Account.

Your Uncle Sam Stands Ready to Help.

Chapter 9 Checklist.

Part III Alibaba.com Success Stories.

Gene Rumley—Bell Performance, Inc..

Valarie Moody—Fodeo.net.

Allison Taylor—Jack Webster, Inc..

Mary Miller Pembleton and Gregg Pembleton—Thumball by Answers In Motion, LLC.

Joshua Crumbaugh—Platinum Mortgage, Inc..

Valerie Johnson—Big Feet Pajama Company.

Index.

Read excepts here for The Official Alibaba.com Success Guide: Insider Tips and Strategies for Sourcing Products from the Worlds Largest B2B Marketplace.

I’ll be writing more about it soon, but the reason I suggest it to you is the author himself. I’ve known him quite some time. He doesn’t participate in the “Me too” fill your email box with junk promotions…in fact he’s questioned many of them.

He gives away free marketing information weekly on his internet talk show Stump Markus.

And in this $39 report, he tells you how to easily (really) and ethically (really) get to the top of Google for those “stealth” keywords that can bring you money. He even tells you a free tool to uncover dozens of “stealth” keywords for the top selling affiliate products.

More next week.

But for now, be one of the first to get these tools and put them to work for yourself!

Instant Internet Marketing Secrets

But this new system which pays you PER LINK and PER WORD seems promising.

It’s worth at least checking out. If that changes, I’ll update you again!

But keep in mind you need to keep up until you get $50. That’s when you can get your payout! That may entail several blog posts depeding on what you charge!