Some business books aim to teach you how to take your game to the next level. Others, how to delight your customers and increase profits. Still others coach you on interacting with your peers, boss and other key "stakeholders" who are key to your success. Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions by marketing maven and former Apple chief evangelist Guy Kawasaki seeks to offer enlightenment on all these areas, by suggesting that the overall goal for anything you're trying to accomplish is to enchant others. For marketers, this is a compelling notion—maybe even obviou [...]

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Google has long touted how easy it is to create and manage AdWords campaigns. "All that's needed is five minutes and a credit card," says Google's business overview. And if you've actually run your own Google advertising program, you know these claims are true. But there's more to creating a successful search ad campaign than working with a straightforward interface. The Google AdWords platform itself offers a wealth of tools to help you fine-tune your ads for maximum impact and return, and the AdWords help system offers richly detailed information and resources. All good, but if you rea [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Features: Book Reviews | Google: AdSense | Google: AdWords

Here's a common experience for anyone who sells products and services to businesses. A prospect is moving toward becoming a customer, and then inexplicably becomes unresponsive. Why? B2B buying is not a rational process. That straightforward yet profound conclusion makes reading The BuyerSphere Project by Search Engine Land Just Behave columnist Gord Hotchkiss worthwhile. Other findings from the research multiply the return on time invested. The BuyerShere Project concludes that B2B buying is a decision process driven by the emotions of the people involved. Fear is the principal emotio [...]

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The world of paid search has evolved from "all you need is five minutes and a credit card" to a complex ecosystem with lots of moving parts that and obstacles that can cause serious damage for the unwary. Here's a look at some of the best paid search books published in the past year. A roundup of 2009's best search advertising books Search Engine Advertising: Buying Your Way to the Top to Increase Sales (2nd edition) by Kevin Lee, with Catherine Seda New Riders, $34.99 ISBN-10: 0-321-49599-3 This was one of the first books about search advertising ever published, making its debut [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Features: Book Reviews | How To: PPC

Time was when someone asked me to recommend a good book on search marketing, there were only a few available—Search Engine Visibility, by Shari Thurow, Winning Results with Google AdWords, by Andrew Goodman, Search Engine Marketing, Inc., by Mike Moran and Bill Hunt, and a few others. These books have mostly stood up to the test of time (and all have been relatively recently updated with second editions), but search marketing techniques and tactics change quickly, so it's always good to be on the lookout for new publications. This year we've seen a significant increase in the number o [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Features: Book Reviews | How To: SEO

Each year, Marketing Sherpa compiles an exhaustive look at the state of search marketing. Each year, these reports grow more comprehensive, reflecting the continuous change and evolution of our industry as it grows up. This year's report is no exception. The Marketing Sherpa 2009-10 Search Marketing Benchmark Report is 213 pages, and is divided into five major sections, including: The business of search. There's been a lot of talk about how search marketing budgets have been affected by the tumultuous economy, and this section of the report offers some interesting data on what's really g [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Features: Book Reviews | SEM Industry: Stats

Most books on search marketing focus on either the technical aspects of SEO or paid search, or on how to adapt traditional marketing strategies to the web. Web Design For ROI, by Lance Loveday and Sandra Niehaus, is unique in its sharp focus on making your web site accomplish what should be its primary goal: conversion. Conversion can mean many things, depending on the purpose of your web site. Conversion can mean getting people to buy, getting leads to provide contact information, recruiting subscribers for an email list—even getting site visitors to spend more time on your site and [...]

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Why is it that some web sites are golden, compelling visitors to buy while similar web sites, perhaps even offering the same products at similar prices, fail to make the grade? It may be dumb luck on the owner's part, but a more likely explanation is that the golden site is the result of careful design, testing, tweaking and testing yet again. Testing has grown into a core search marketing activity, but strangely, it's also an activity that many search marketers either choose to avoid or don't even consider at all. And that's a mistake. Good testing can not only help you get rid of stinker [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Features: Book Reviews | Google: Website Optimizer

It's an understatement to say that we live in uncertain times, and that any data that can help us strategize, plan or even to some extent predict what's ahead is worth its weight in... well, let's just say this kind of information is invaluable. That makes the Marketing Sherpa 2009 Search Marketing Benchmark Guide very timely for just about everyone involved in our industry. The Guide is packed with data, analysis, charts, graphs and all manner of other useful info. This is the fifth annual Search Marketing Benchmark Guide that Marketing Sherpa has produced, but its unlike any of the others [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Features: Book Reviews | Stats: General

It's common for comprehensive books written by respected authorities to be tagged as the "bible" of a particular topic or industry. My vote for that distinctive title in our industry goes to Search Engine Marketing, Inc. by Mike Moran and Bill Hunt. Both Mike and Bill are longtime search marketing veterans who were responsible for the search marketing strategy and implementation for IBM.com's massive global network of web sites. They're both currently active marketers who work with a wide variety of well-known organizations and brands, primarily now at the strategic level. The hefty 626 pag [...]

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Our newest Search Engine Land column, Bookshelf, launches today. Bookshelf features reviews of books, white papers and other publications that help search marketers do their jobs or gain a better understanding of general digital marketing issues. The Bookshelf column appears periodically at Search Engine Land. In today's debut post, I review the newly updated second edition of a book that can justifiably claim the title of the "bible" of search marketing: Search Engine Marketing, Inc. by Mike Moran and Bill Hunt. Read on in The "Bible" Of Search Engine Marketing. [...]

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