How can I grow my online business?

What a perfectly timed question! As it turns out, my new book The Complete Idiot's Guide to Growing Your Business with Google was just published by Penguin/Alpha books! I'm sure that what's covered in the book will give you everything you need to get beyond your current spot and grow into a bigger, more successful business.

Tom Peters, Chris Pirillo, Debbie Weil, Nick Usborne, and lots of others experts have already told me how much they like the new book, and entrepreneurial expert Guy Kawasaki liked it enough to write the foreword.

Here's my introductory letter from the book. It'll give you a good sense for where I'm coming from and what the book will help you learn....

You know that there's been a dramatic change in how companies are doing business, a change that probably made you wake up in a cold sweat, wondering if your company will survive the transition. You might think that it's about building a Web site, but just as a few popsicle sticks can't build the Eiffel Tower, so a Web page or two won't help you rethink your business for the new online world.

In the 21st Century, successful business will be focused on findability, about creating an online and offline presence that helps your customers find you. Business and marketing used to be characterized by efforts to brand your company and get in front of your customers, but that's not what's propelling the hot new companies, the entrepreneurs who are already striking it rich in this new world.

You can no longer go to your customers because they're no longer passively waiting for you and your message. Your customers are actively looking for your products, searching for your services, seeking your company right now! And they're doing it through Google, on mailing lists, through blogs, and a myriad of other online means.

This book isn't about how to write Web pages, and it certainly won't explain how to make text bold or link from one Web page to another. Instead, you'll learn how to think like an online entrepreneur and assess the risks and rewards of online advertising, search engine optimization, affiliate programs and much more. You'll find out about choosing good domain names, what makes a good business Web site, how you can promote yourself and become an online expert and how cutting-edge technologies like Weblogs can dramatically improve your findability and help customers pick your company over all your competitors.

We'll also spend time talking about business fundamentals including how to identify and reinvent your core business, how you can use Google to identify your competitors, and the secrets of tracking customer whims and ideas online.

Most importantly, you'll learn exactly why it's critical that you add content to your site with great frequency, and how the real secret to findability is content.

I've been involved with the Internet since 1980, when it was barely a dirt road, and have grown and sold off a number of online companies. Throughout this book, I'll be sharing why my current Web sites have certain features and how they've improved my bottom line.

As an entrepreneur, that's what it's all about. Your bottom line. You're not an idiot for checking out this book. In fact, buying it will be the best business decision you've made for years...

Learn more: Growing Your Business with Google