10 Must Read Books For Smart Online Marketers
The old saying "build it and they will come" no longer applies to today's businesses. These days, there are just way too many options that consumers have in any given vertical.
It doesn't matter what you're selling or how great it is, if no one ever finds out about it, all your hard work and effort as an entrepreneur will go down the drain.
But wait, I know what you're thinking, 'I don't have millions of dollars or a big marketing department.' Lucky for you (and consumers), times have changed significantly and anyone with a shoe-string budget, a website, and some smarts can start building a brand and generating customer loyalty online.
Whether it's link building, SEO, A/B testing, or social media, the term online marketing can mean a lot of things and can seem overwhelming for many people. That's why I decided to put together the following reading list which I hope will prove invaluable to anyone looking to get started with online marketing.
As with previous posts, you'll find a link to purchase the books on Amazon with all of the money earned from Amazon's affiliate program going to Acumen Fund, a non-profit venture that supports entrepreneurs in developing countries.
10 Books to Kickstart Your Online Marketing
The Social Media Marketing Book
Dan ZarellaThis is a great social media starter guide by none other than "The Social Media and Marketing Scientist" himself, which walks you through how to plan, execute, and measure your campaigns. I also highly recommend keeping up with his blog for his latest findings on what works and what doesn't when it comes to social media in addition to some very handy infographics.
Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions
Tim AshIt's one thing to drive traffic to your site, but if there's nothing actionable for your site visitor to do than there's little point in doing so. In fact, poorly optimized landing pages maybe costing you severely and it's as much to do with design as properly testing. This book features several different case studies in addition to step-by-step instruction to get you started.
Inbound Marketing and SEO: Insights from the Moz Blog
Rand Fishkin and Thoman HogenhavenThe Moz Blog is a go-to resource hub for anyone looking to discover the latest in SEO techniques. This book contains both the company's most popular articles in addition to new essays to help anyone looking to do SEO right keep on top of the industry's latest trends.
Ultimate Guide to Link Building
Eric Ward and Garrett FrenchWhen it comes search engine rankings, one of the important factors they consider is how many credible sites link back to your page, but with trillion of links, how does any marketer tackle this arena effectively? Which is why in the book the authors offer plenty of insider-tips for link building to help you charm search engines and get the search traffic you're craving.
Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer Centricity
Avinash KaushikOnline data matters when it comes to the success of your business, but how you go about effectively leveraging it to your advantage is the topic of this handy guide by one of the most highly regarded experts in the field. The book not only lays out tactical strategies and execution models for you to take advantage of, but explains it in a simple and easy-to-understand manner.
Email Marketing By the Numbers
Chris BaggottEmail Marketing By the Numbers will show you how to build a personable relationship with your customers one email at a time, while taking advantage of the medium's affordability, interactivity, and targeting capabilities. Email marketing isn't dying out anything soon, so I'd highly recommend learning the ins and outs of doing it right.
Epic Content Marketing
Joe PulizziThis book aims to help entrepreneurs not only craft stories that will resonate with their target audience, but provides a step-by-step plan to create highly engaging content every time. Written by the founder of the Content Marketing Institute, you can be sure to boost your business's online engagement with this read.
A/B Testing: The Most Powerful Way to Turn Clicks Into Customers
Dan Siroker and Pete KoomenFrom the founders of Optimizely.com, A/B Testing will provide you with the insights and best practices gained from over 100,000 experiments run on their platform. Being data-informed for how your landing pages and web designs best lead to conversion, with this knowledge you might be able to beat the average web conversion rate of 2 percent.
Return on Relationship
Kathryn Rose and Rubin Ted AuhorBy focusing on brand advocates and building some social media credibility, companies can too start tapping into people who want to spread the news about their products and services and help build a budding online community. But with so many different social channels to consider, this book will help you gauge whether anyone activity is worth your time and resources and get you measuring your ROR, as in how many customers you move through your new converse and convert funnel.
Attention! This Book Will Make You Money: How to Use Attention-Getting Online Marketing to Increase Your Revenue
Jim F. KukralWhat's something every business would die for but only a few get? Attention! It really is that simple, successful entrepreneurs know what kind of attention their brand needs and how to get it, this book teaches you the "how". From increasing traffic to optimizing conversion for profits, techniques in the book cover it all.
If you have a favorite book on getting started with online marketing and I missed it, make sure to share it by commenting below.
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