...books... search amazon (or your preferred shop) for Jim Sterne for 'solid grounding' books
Search wired.com for Chris Anderson's articles on long tail, and google for 'site of the book' for James Surowiecki's Wisdom of Crowds, Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point, Scoble & Isreal's Naked Conversations.

If you can find a copy of John Middleton's Writing the Web, it's well wrth a read.

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Oh, and there's my tiny ecommerce pocketbook, just updated this month
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;-)

good luck witht eh course

Will Rowan

One of the best way to learn is books, as have been recommended above and relevant forums. Practically everything I've learnt has been through spending hundreds of hours on affiliate marketing and webmaster forums.

In terms of online marketing, you may be interested in courses run by our network, PrimeQ. They begin from scratch, which is what you said you require, and are completely free. You can find out more here.

There is also a free Master Class series of tutorials which begin from the very basics and provide guidance on developing a successful online business. It is compiled by writers with 30 years of experience in the field. who have made tens of millions of pounds through online marketing. You can read the back issues and subscribe to future Master Classes here.