Hortal.com

I never have time to just browse the web. Whenever I’m online, I’m either testing something I run, or looking at a site recommended by someone. The only exception is 5 minutes in the morning for The Register and my RSS feeds through Netvibes.

Today I found a few minutes to roam away off the trodden path. Here are the 5 treasures I found:

1. An online magazine reading software maker is showcasing its product by making available Fortune Small Business, Nov 2007 edition. It’s cover story is Inside the Minde of a Crazy (Rich) Investor. Always worth a read being a freebie and all. The reading software is nothing to write home about, providing rather a poor experience in fact.

2. The New York Times took a while to figure out eBusiness was interesting for the masses. An article from a relatively recent Nov 06 gives some thought to what makes a website sing for you. A good primer on eCommerce effectiveness for the man on the street, a few years too late for most of us but probably still useful as a reminder.

3. An interesting introduction to optimizing the eBusiness experience, the article looks into the value of Usabuility in the context of eCommerce, then introduces the idea of Guided Selling, a simplification of Persuasion Architecture that should be useful for people new to realizing -and designing for- the complexities of online decision making.

4. PayPal have published an interesting eBook titled 16 proven ways to grow your eBusiness. Aimed mainly at small business strating to sell goods online, it makes a good read for eBusiness professionals at all levels. Remeber, you never know too much!

5. It’s always difficult to stay on top of the latest news and gossip of the eBusiness world. fortunately, help is at hand courtesy of eBizMBA. The site aggregates news on eBusiness from around the Web, categorising them for easy consumption along a number of subject, from Administration to eBay & eCommerce. No RSS avilable though, so if you’re anything like me you won’t be visiting often in the off chance they may have found something you haven’t. RSS is a requirement these days. Bad site. Bad.

Do you have any favourite articles, eBooks, sites that should be listed here? Add them to the list using the comments!

Roberto Hortal

Head of Digital - EDF Energy --- I am an eBusiness Director with many years of experience in great businesses across the world. Born and bred in Benidorm, Spain, I started my eBusiness career in the 90s with Nokia in Helsinki, heading Nokia’s Global Web organisation for a number of years. In 2004 I moved to the UK to join easyJet. I led easyJet.com into its current form at a frantic startup pace. In 2006 I joined RSA as MORE TH>N Head of eBusiness. From 2009 I led the effort of replicating MORE TH>N’s online success across Central and Eastern Europe. In August 2011 I became Head of Digital at EDF Energy, where I lead EDF Energy's ambitious Digital B2C Strategy.

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