Summer Reading Extravaganza
By: Eric Reyes
Forget about what Oprah's recommending. Put away the latest from Philip Roth and that potboiler from James Patterson. It's summertime and what's really sizzling is online marketing. So, now's the time to catch up on your reading about a variety of hot topics including affiliate marketing, performance marketing, online advertising, search optimization and more. And there's no shortage of choices. Heck, there are currently more than 200 books for sale on Amazon with the word Google in the title. Here are some books that sound like great reading for the beach, the vacation home or the patio. Don't forget the sunblock.
Buzz Marketing with Blogs for Dummies
Susannah Gardner (For Dummies) | 360 pages | $24.99
Another entry in the popular and wildly useful "for dummies" series, this one's specically on how to get blogs to do the buzz marketing for you. As we all know by now blogs have become an essential part of selling on the Web and this volume helps you get your head around the blog space – such as what a blog is going to do for your product, how it can change the way people think of your product and how the exchange of ideas that is essential to blogging can help you sell.
Newbies also get a pretty good tutorial on blogs – how to set them up, maintain them and what you should say on them. The book also covers, to a lesser degree, the legal issues, design for a better- looking blog and how to get your blog noticed.
Farce to Force:
Building Pro?table E-Commerce Strategies
Sarah McCue (South-Western Educational Pub) | 240 pages | $27.95
Need an e-commerce strategy? McCue walks you through the best ways to formulate a strategy and even gives you some useful templates to overlay your business model on. She outlines marketing techniques that work well and how to build programs from the ground up. Although the title is a little jokey, the author is well-versed in online marketing.
Go BIG or Go HOME
Wil Schroter (Go BIG Media) | 276 pages | $24.95
Serial entrepreneur Schroter takes a look behind the veil at companies such as Google, Skype and PayPal. He examines what these companies are doing right and what they haven't done. Having launched nine start-ups makes him a kind of perfect spokesperson for entrepreneurship. He is currently CEO of SwapAlease.com, an auto-leasing marketplace. The companies he started include Blue Diesel, an interactive marketing agency; Kelltech Internet Services, a technology consultancy; and Atomica, a nonpro?t arts organization.
Google Advertising Tools:
Cashing in with AdSense, AdWords, and the Google APIs
Harold Davis (O'Reilly Media, Inc.) | 366 Pages | $29.99
Like "Winning Results with Google AdWords" this O'Reilly book takes a stab at making sense (and dollars) from Google's AdWords. Davis talks about the different associate programs in addition to Google, which provides great context. Topics include how to read AdSense metrics, managing AdWords campaigns, as well as hints on optimization.
Google's PageRank and Beyond:
The Science of Search Engine Rankings
Amy N. Langville, Carl D. Meyer (Princeton University Press) | 234 pages | $35
This provides a different take on the search dilemma by answering the questions about what goes on behind the Google curtain. This book won't tell you how to optimize or raise your rankings but will tell you the technical aspects of search. This can be valuable to the geek in us all. The author covers: How do those other Web pages that don't have your name in them always appear at the top? What creates these powerful rankings?
The reason this book is even on this list is that the early chapters are very accessible and it is only in the later chapters that the hard, mathematical, geeky stuff is discussed. Even so, the authors say there is something for the hardcore audience and the casual one.
Internet Marketing and e-Commerce
Ward Hanson (South-Western College Pub) | 496 pages | $113.95
Even though this is written by an academic, expect ?reworks. "Rigor instead of hype" is how the book wants to be known, illustrating practices that leading companies use, showing how research results can be used to support conclusions and, of course, pointing out the unique qualities of online marketing.
No one is shortchanged here. Hanson looks at Internet marketing from the point of view of large and small business and online startups. It's a great study in the balance of power that is even now continuing to shift in retail markets as the Web gets more powerful.
The Irresistible Offer:
How to Sell Your Product or Service in 3 Seconds or Less
Mark Joyner (Wiley) | 240 pages | $21.95
Using examples of companies such as FedEx, Columbia House Records and Domino's Pizza, Joyner explains how to create an "irresistible offer." As the former CEO of Aesop Marketing Corp., he has seen what kind of marketing works from the trenches. He uses real case studies to make it easy to apply it to your own business. The book is a kind of how-to that shows you how to manipulate your offer so that customers find it more attractive.
Maximum Marketing, Minimum Dollars: The Top 50 Ways to Grow Your Small Business
Kim T. Gordon (Kaplan Business) | 240 pages | $18.95
While not specifically about Internet marketing, any small-business owner can learn from someone on staff at Entrepreneur magazine. Among Gordon's advice is how to stay on budget but still use expensive-looking marketing; how to tell which niches are right for you; and how to use technology (email lists, websites, etc.) and traditional marketing venues (trade papers, radio, TV, etc.).
Online Marketing that Works!
Catherine Seda (McGraw-Hill) | 256 pages | $21.95
This book hits the shelves on August 1, 2006 and exuberantly wants to introduce you to "cutting- edge Internet technologies" that mean low-cost, high-performance marketing opportunities for ventures of any size. Seda points out the effective online marketing strategies and shows how to get results for little or no cost. Seda has her own marketing consulting firm and is also the author of Search Engine Advertising
Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Marketing Handbook: Low Cost Strategies to Attracting New Customers
Using Google, Yahoo & Other Search Engines
Boris Mordkovich, Eugene Mordkovich (Lulu Press) | 196 pages | $22.95
The mouthful of a title pretty much says it all. This book attempts to crack open the genie's bottle on getting new customers through search, and illustrates just how it can be done at a cost of only pennies to you. Along the way the book outlines basic concepts, like how pay-per-click works and why it is effective. Continued on Page 2...
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