Book Review: Rahsia Buat Duit Dengan Internet

    If you’re considering opening up an e-commerce business on the Net, the book Rahsia Buat Duit Dengan Internet (which comes with a tutorial VCD) by Wan Mohd Syazwan Wan Syukri and Sabri Hassan Assa’ari (PTS Professional) would be an interesting read. This book (with the free VCD) is worth RM30.00 and available at bookstores nationwide. I got mine at MPH SACC Mall, Shah Alam. To be honest, I got mine by mistake. I wanted Secrets of Internet Millionaires Revealed by Irfan Khairi. For this review, I hope I don’t sound like Simon Cowell on American Idol.

The Bad News

    From a (copy) writer’s point of view, I find the copy on both front and back covers abysmal. I have no idea how many bought this book. Remember: I got it by mistake. Other than the free tutorial VCD which comes with it, I would not have given the book a second glance under normal circumstances. The testimonials were made by relatively unknowns. Testimonial by at least a member of the higher echelons of PTS would have been welcomed.

    The copy on the back cover explains the features of the book. That’s all. Correct me if I’m wrong, unless it’s a novel, I (the consumer) want to know the benefits of the book. It doesn’t tell me how it can help me at the point of sale. To cite an example, I’ll take the book The Teenage Investor by Timothy Olsen (McGraw Hill). This 13 year old (at time of the book was published) Wall Street Veteran relates what he wrote in the book with how it can benefit the readers – especially teenagers. One short 4 line paragraph explaining how RBDDI benefits me would have made a lot of difference. I’m curious of what you think.

    We move our attention to the free tutorial VCD. The pronunciation of some words were terrible. If those words were unimportant, I would not mind. Unfortunately the narrator did not say critical and technical terms right. While there were variation in intonation, the narrator failed to sound remotely interested on the subject. He wasn’t even engaging! I became bored and fast forwarded the presentation. The presentation itself wasn’t even smooth. There were too many pauses – both long and short.

    The visual presentation was no better. There unnecessary portions which should have been left out. The person doing the typing had to go back and correct the words every now and then. Under normal circumstances – again – this would have been acceptable. Like a sitcom or movie, you don’t want the bloopers in the middle of the show. They come at the end, if any. Same case here. And the Internet Explorer browser had too much to show. I was looking at the icons instead of looking at the process. Can’t blame me. I did say I became bored. When we watch a tutorial video, it should be smooth unless how to correct typos are in the syllabus.

The Good News

    Kudos for using visuals and graphics in the book to explain the processes. Good arrangement of contents. The advice inside the book itself was undeniably eye opening. To make up for terrible copy, I’d like to quote Kenneth Fox who’s comments are printed in the book: the authors demonstrated outstanding knowledge in both Internet and e-commerce technology. The use of text boxes every now and then to explain a term and give tips helped me to understand it better.

    One subject featured in the book which deserved a paragraph on its own is search engine optimisation. It is both covered in the book and the VCD. It helps start-ups and novices understand a complex method of tweaking your web site so search engines can find them easily – and increasing your chances to be discovered on the web. The reason I say this is complex is because some copywriters specialises purely in SEO writing – and get well paid. Unless you have a deep interest in this subject, you’d better be off doing calculations about Pluto.

Conclusion

    In terms of content, Wan Mohd Syazwan and Sabri did a good job. I’d give them a 4 star for that. It’s unfortunate that the other elements undermines the content and knowledge the two authors try to convey. I’d like to hear your feedback on this review. If you have bought and read the book, what do you think? Overall, I’d give this book a two star recommendation; they were lucky. There are rooms for improvement – hopefully we can see it in the second edition of Rahsia Buat Duit Dengan Internet.

   

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