Below are the Internet marketing books I’ve reviewed on Amazon. It’s an area that I used to be very interested in and still regard it as an essential element for almost all small businesses.
I aim to be a tough reviewer and my five star books are highly recommended and the four star books are well worth reading.
Some marketing books written in the early 1900s are still classics but Internet marketing is an area where best practices can move very quickly. Facebook was started in 2004, Twitter in 2006 and Pinterest in 2011.
I have become jaded about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). A few years ago it used to be relatively easy to write a page focused on a specialised long tail subject and get it ranked in Google if you “ticked the boxes”. Unfortunately sensible practices were abused by spammers and Google continually develop their search algorithm. Upgrades introduced a penalty for over-optimisation because, to sell Pay Per Click Advertising, they didn’t want it to be easy to rank on your own.
I now regard any natural search results as a nice bonus. provided you get your conversion process working well, you should be able to pay for traffic.
FIVE STARS
It’s hard to write a five star Internet marketing book because Google, Facebook and others can change so quickly. Many of my favourite experts sell info-products themselves and avoid Amazon.
Invisible Selling Machine by Ryan Deiss – Very good book about how to structure your email marketing campaigns. (reviewed 2015)
You can get it from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
FOUR STARS
Niche Marketing Expert: The Art of Selling to a Hungry Crowd by Gary Booth – this is a short Internet marketing book where the emphasis is on marketing rather than the Internet (reviewed 2015).
How to Write Seductive Web Copy: An Easy Guide to Picking Up More Customers by Henneke Duistermaat -a nice, short book on copywriting but I disagreed with it on USPs and the lack of importance on features.
Breakthrough Business Growth Barriers: The 5 simple elements for getting more customers buying more, again and again, and increase profits in 90 days by Darran Hughes – a useful but general introductory guide to using sales funnels on the Internet that’s good value at 99p (reviewed 2015).
How to Get Selling on AdWords Fast! by Claire Jarrett – A very nice guide to AdWords but it was published in 2012. (reviewed 2016) Amazon.co.uk
Ask : The counterintuitive online formula to discover exactly what your customers want to buy…create a mass of raving fans…and take any business to the next level by Ryan Levesque – a very clever approach once you’ve waded through the waffle of the first part of the book (reviewed 2015).
Social Media Marketing Workbook: 2017 Edition – How to Use Social Media for Business by Jason McDonald – A very good, action focused guide to the main social media websites. (reviewed 2016) Amazon.co.uk
Frugal Business Owner’s Guide to DIY Local SEO: How You Can Generate More Leads and Get More Customers without Breaking the Bank by Keith O’Brien – A very good introduction to the issues of local search engine optimisation. (reviewed 2016)
Google AdWords: Proven Strategies & Tips for Better Pay Per Click Advertising by Ray L. Perry and Phil Singleton – Good 2016 guide to AdWords but already out of date. (reviewed 2016) Amazon.co.uk
Upsells Unleashed: How to Hack Your Sales Funnel to Double Your Profits Using Upsells – With Your Existing Traffic and Existing Customers by Veena Prashanth – Mainly focused on upsells for Internet marketing (reviewed 2015).
Google AdWords for Beginners: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to PPC Advertising by Corey Rabazinski – a nice guide to get you on the way but I’d have liked more guidance on writing the ad and designing the landing page (reviewed 2015).
Launch: An Internet Millionaire’s Secret Formula To Sell Almost Anything Online, Build A Business You Love, And Live The Life Of Your Dreams by Jeff Walker – a summary of the powerful Product Launch Formula but it lacks details and becomes too much of a promotion for the very expensive course (reviewed 2014).
SEO 2017 & Beyond: A Complete SEO Strategy – Dominate the Search Engines! by Dr. Andy Williams – Packed with sensible advice on how to improve your SEO in a Google friendly way. (reviewed 2016) Amazon.co.uk
THREE STARS
No Website No Problem: 2 Internet Marketing Business Ideas to Make Money Even Without Your Own Website by Eddie Ashton – Two ways that make a bit of money each day on big Internet websites. (reviewed 2016) Amazon.co.uk
Google AdWords Expanded Text Ads by Martin Bruno – This is a useful introduction to the expanded text ads. (reviewed 2016)
AdWords Secrets Revealed: The Complete Guide To Google AdWords Pay Per Click and PPC Marketing by Chris Douthit – a good guide but I thought it was hard going and it’s the sort of book you might start and not finish (reviewed 2015).
Pay Per Click Marketing: Pay Per Click Marketing Made Easy by Shane Farrell – Ambitious but too broad broad in scope. (reviewed 2016) Amazon.co.uk
PPC Made Simple: Strategies For Dominating Google AdWords by Michael Fleischner – In its day, this would have been an excellent source of advice but it urgently needs an update. (reviewed 2016) Amazon.co.uk
Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers by Seth Godin – A good idea that has dated as our needs change.
9 Key Website Optimization & SEO Strategies to Guarantee Website Conversion Success by Warren Kannuck – The short book has quite a wide scope. Amazon.co.uk
Facebook: Master Facebook Marketing – Facebook Advertising, Small Business & Branding by Grant Kennedy – A nice introduction but you’ll need to know more. (reviewed 2016)
10 Ways For Any Business To Easily Make More Money! by Brian Koz & Shawn Casey – a fairly standard book about Internet marketing with different chapters written by different people (reviewed 2015).
Guerilla Marketing on the Internet: The Definitive Guide from the Father of Guerilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson – Now past its best even if some of the ideas are still true.
Adwords Cheat Sheets: 18 Top Tips to Improve Your Adwords Advertising by Carl Lewis – this is more like a promotion for the author’s agency but it does have useful ideas if you want to check on how well your pay per click agency is performing (reviewed 2015).
Crafting Irresistible Marketing Messages by Daniel Ndukwu – Unexpectedly about Internet marketing for information marketers (reviewed 2016).
The Lean Product Playbook: How to Innovate with Minimum Viable Products and Rapid Customer Feedback by Dan Olsen – excellent for software development, an interesting start for others but it becomes less relevant (reviewed 2015).
Boost Your Sales: How to Use Irresistible Offers… Without Being Salesy by Lisa Sasevich – as an educational book it is disappointing but as a pitch for a course in writing or on a webinar, it is fascinating (reviewed 2015).
How to Start a Successful Blog in One Hour by Steve Scott – A practical guide if you want to start a blog. (reviewed 2016) Amazon.co.uk
The Google Checklist: Website Edition: Boost Your Online Conversions by Amen Sharma – Useful list of things to consider. Amazon.co.uk
Getting the Most Out of Pay-Per-Click Ads for Small Business Owners in 2016 and Beyond: AdWords, Bing Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, Twitter Ads, YouTube … Ads by Ryan Stable – Ambitious review of various PPC methods. (reviewed 2016) Amazon.co.uk
How To Get Awesome Website Conversion Rates: Fast acting top tips to improve your website traffic by Jim Timus – A series of books about Internet marketing. Amazon.co.uk
Embarrassing Product Riches by Mark Wallace – Internet marketing for information products and physical products (reviewed 2016)
The Justification Point: What Stops Your Customers From Buying Online and How to Change It – NOW! by Bard Williams – A summary of the things that matter when selling online but not the interesting concept I’d expected. (reviewed 2016) Amazon.co.uk
TWO STARS
SEO Decoded: The 7 Day SEO Bootcam to Help You Master SEO 2016 by BrandBlast – More of a general briefing than the how to guide I was expecting. (reviewed 2016) Amazon.co.uk
Pay-Per-Click Mastery: The Ultimate Approach To PPC Marketing by Normann Klein – Disappointing but it was never going to live up to the promise of the title. (reviewed 2016) Amazon.co.uk
Understand Google Adwords Today: The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Google Adwords Pay Per Click Advertising in Less Than 24 Hours! by Anthony Lambardi – A short intro to AdWords but you need much more. (reviewed 2016) Amazon.co.uk
Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars by Mitch Meyerson (original Version) – Very good at the time but now well out of date. A new version has been published which I want to read.
Pay Per Click Advertising: How To Effectively Reach Targeted Audience Through A PPC Campaign Without Spending A Fortune by Warren Mori – A short introduction to PPC campaigns. (reviewed 2016) Amazon.co.uk
Make Money with PPC: A Proven Blueprint to Making $1,000 a Month with Pay Per Click Advertising in 30 Days or Less by Nick Stevens – A book about using PPC for affiliate marketing. (reviewed 2016) Amazon.co.uk
How to Create Effective Calls to Action by Denise Wakeman & Dr Rachna Jain – Transcript of a webinar. Amazon.co.uk
Google AdWords – the Ultimate Beginner’s Guide by Kevin Wright – this reads more like an advertisement for Adwords and misses a lot of important information on how to run a profitable campaign. It’s a long way from being the ultimate guide (reviewed 2015).
ONE STAR
Preselling For Profits: How To Sell Without Appearing To Sell by Tina Adams – this is really about affiliate marketing.
Conversion Rate Optimization Secret TIPS: Boost Website Sales Fast, Generate More Leads Without Increasing Traffic, Make More Money by Sachin Kumar – A guide for copywriting on websites.
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