To keep the integrity of this list, we only recommend things that we have a good understanding of, and which we recommend to our clients. So this is not one of those cynically-compiled lists, where the author just does a Google search, then publishes the results.

(By the way, we don’t profit from any of these recommendations).

Part One: 10 “must-have” books (in our opinion) for web marketing

• Usability

  

  Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug. Perhaps you already own this book (if you don’t, buy it now!). We are amazed, though, how many people own it, read it, love it… then don’t do what it says!

  The most important thing about this book is making sure that you carry out usability tests. In fact, rather than wait for the book to arrive, go and ask your next door neighbour to test out your website - now! Watch them make mistakes, watch them get lost, hear them tell you all the things that Google Analytics never could.

• Marketing

  

  The Dip by Seth Godin. “Being the Best in the World Is Seriously Underrated” is the first sentence of this book. It’s perhaps the most convincing argument we’ve seen for why a company (or a person) must position themselves.

  And it’s only 80-ish pages long.

• Analytics

  

  Web Analytics—An Hour a Day by Avinash Kaushik. Avinash is one of the world’s leading web analytics gurus. We met him at Google’s headquarters, where he spends a lot of time working with the Google Analytics team.

  Analytics can be a dry subject, and Avinash is great at focusing on how to use it as a practical tool for optimizing a business. His approach is based on his experience running a company’s analytics department, so he focuses on practical profitable activities - not just getting lost in data and theory. This book contains loads of good advice. The section on testing is on pages 237 to 262.

  Avinash also has a great blog to help you keep up to date.

• Advertising

  

  Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins (free version here). Claude was part-salesman, part-scientist. He spent most of his life measuring what works in advertising, and what doesn’t. It’s almost unbelievable that this book was written in 1923. It’s still one of the best books on advertising. Claude was born 85 years too early - he’d have loved the internet.

• Landing Page Optimization

  

  Landing Page Optimization by Tim Ash. We met Tim at Google’s headquarters, just before this book was launched. He truly “gets it” when it comes to landing page optimization; his book is “right on the money”.

• Web Design

  

  Web Design for ROI by Lance Loveday and Sandra Niehaus. A web design book that understands that websites are about doing business, and not about Dreamweaver and Photoshop. We also love their free PDF ‘Web Site Strategy ‘ document.

• Small Business

  

  The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. Inc magazine called Michael Gerber “the world’s #1 small business guru”. The big idea is that the business owner should go from being what Gerber calls a “technician” - that is, a do-er - to being an entrepreneur.

• Entrepreneurship

  

  Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker. This book can be hard work (especially the first chapter) but it’s a great guide to many aspects of entrepreneurship, particularly the “Entrepreneurial Strategies” and the “Seven Sources for Innovative Opportunity”.

• Search Engine Optimization

  

  SEO Book by Aaron Wall. Aaron’s guide to SEO is honest, outspoken and thorough. It’s no longer available in book format; instead it has been turned into a training program, payable by monthly subscription. We think it’s great value. Aaron also posts excellent content on his blog. His tools, particularly his SEO for Firefox browser add-on, are worth checking out too.

• PPC for Beginners

  

  Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords by Perry Marshall. Perry takes a direct response marketer’s approach to Adwords. This book is packed with “I’d-never-have-thought-of-that” tricks and techniques.

That’ll do for now

That was just a quick selection from our bookshelves. Over the next few weeks, we plan to upload our entire resources list to this page. Sign up to our free newsletter to get instant notification.