As much as us Internet marketers love to learn from blogs and other online resources, you still can’t beat a properly planned, structured and researched book for gaining insightful, actionable knowledge. In my quest to find the best books on SEO, PPC and Social Media, I asked 50 online marketing bloggers to chose their one favourite internet marketing book. This is the list of 15 digital marketing books that came back:
Social Media Books
Inbound Marketing
By Brian Halligan, Dharmesh Shah, David Meerman Scott An introduction to online marketing for those that are baffled, Inbound Marketing covers a wide range of topics. Offering hands on advice for getting your business found via SEO, blogging and social media, with a particular leaning towards social media. Recommended by Brian Rogel and Paul Dunay
The Experience Economy
By B. Joseph Pine II, James H Gilmore Taken from the blurb: “Businesses must form unique connections in order to secure customer affections”. The focus of The Experience Economy is on marketing your brand through creating an experience and engaging with the customer. The premise is that by enhancing the experience you add value to your product and therefore to your bottom line. This book is particularly relevant to new marketing, with the rise of social media marketing being considered by many as a product of the customer’s increasing demand for an “experience” and feeling of affiliation with a brand. Recommended by Brian Solis
Engage
By Brian Solis Engage guides you from planning and implementing a social media campaign through to measuring success and ROI. Actionable strategies are given for increasing SOV, growing loyalty and trust, community building and identifying brand evangelists and influencers. A good introduction to social media. Recommended by Tamar Weinberg whose own book New Community Rules also focuses on social media.
Content Rules
By Ann Handley, C.C. Chapman Content Rules gives tips and strategies for creating engaging content for blogs, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms, along with tips on maximizing the reach of the content that you create. Recommended by Jay Baer and Todd Defren
Launch
By Michael Stelzner A hands on guide to community building and customer engagement with a strong focus on content creation and relationship building – both with customers and also with peers who may help promote your content. Launch also highlights how to retain customers though continuing to hold their attention thereby increasing the ROI of online engagement. Recommended by Michael Stelzner
Meatball Sundae
By Seth Godin Answering the question: ‘how can we alter our business to become an organisation that thrives on new marketing?’ Meatball Sundae looks at how the internet is transforming our perceptions of marketing, the way we want to makes purchases and the type of products that we want to purchase before guiding us on how to modify business models to succeed in this new environment. Recommended by Jennifer Laycock
SEO Books
Art of SEO
By Eric Enge, Stephan Spencer, Rand Fishkin, Jessie C Stricchiola Details SEO best practices from the basics to an advanced level, from managing SEO projects to building a competent SEO team. This book really gets to the heart of search engine optimisation, and is very useful both for those who are new to SEO and for seasoned practitioners. The Art of SEO is widely believed to be the best SEO book out there. Recommended by Zarko
Don’t Make Me Think
By Steve Krug Written with web designers in mind, Don’t Make Me Think focuses on on-site optimisation and web usability. An invaluable resource for SEOs as success of an SEO campaign should not only be measured on increased traffic and improved rankings, but also on increased sales. This look at how customers interact with a site and how to optimise for conversions is a great starting point. Accessible and easy to read, yet still offers useful nuggets for the more advanced web professional. Recommended by Linda Bustos and Joost de Valk
PPC Books
Winning Results with Google Adwords
By Andrew Goodman A comprehensive guide to Google paid search which includes strategies for setting up the account, writing successful ads, and optimising campaigns once they’re up and running. Winning Results with Google Adwords offers tips for getting the best ROI possible on your Adwords spend. Recommended by Jonathan Allen
Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords
By Perry Marshall Another guide to Adwords that teaches the creation of keyword lists, setting up accounts, writing copy, targeting, and conversion optimisation. Recommended by Ashu Jangid
Website Analytics Books
Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer Centricity
By Avinash Kaushik Written in the same jargon free style in which Avinash Kaushik delivers his presentations, this is a well thought out and easy to understand text. With a focus on the analysis of data, Web Analytics 2.0 lays out what you should be looking for in your analysis, and more importantly, how the data can help you. Giving specific, actionable recommendations and strategies, this is a valuable resource for improving the performance of your website. Recommended by Mike Grehan
Marketing and Internet Marketing Books
Made to Stick
By Chip and Dan Heath An explanation of how humans absorb information and what makes us more likely to remember an idea or story, Made to Stick guides you on how to create compelling and memorable marketing communications. Recommended by David Armano
Buyology
By Martin Lindstrom Buyology looks into the psychology of why people buy. Citing neurological studies and tests that investigate the subliminal reasoning behind making a purchase decision, Lindstrom illustrates the emotional connection that customers have with products and services. Good to dip in and out of. Recommended by Murray Lunn
Get Rich Click
By Ostrofsky An absolutely monster guide to setting up a profitable online business, Get Rich Click guides you through buying a domain, setting up an ecommerce business, promoting your online business through SEO and PPC, selling ad space, affiliate marketing, content creation, social networking, mobile marketing and more. Recommended by Chris Brogan
Business Books
The Dip
By Seth Godin A fresh look at running your own business, The Dip looks at what you should do when times get tough. Godin takes the stigma out of quitting by showing that sometimes that is exactly the right thing to do. Recommended by Ross Hudgens Thanks again to all those that took part. If I missed you off the list and you’d like to share your favourite online marketing book – please do so below!
