Being an editor of the only magazine in the search engine marketing field, I get bombarded by people sending me all kinds of books. Come to think of it, getting “spammed” with SEM books is not a bad thing 
Unlike websites, forums and blogs, books (and magazines) usually have good amount of information in one place. Sometimes you just want to sit down with a cup of coffee and read a good SEM book (or maybe it’s just me). Here are a few worth mentioning:
Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day. Frankly I was not impressed with this book, authored by Jennifer Grappone and Gradiva Couzin. Although it is a good SEO 101 tutorial and the day-by-day breakdown helps you organize your SEO efforts, it doesn’t go beyond the basics. And yet, if you are new to search engine optimization, this book might be worth your time.
Professional Search Engine Optimization with PHP: A Developer’s Guide to SEO. This one is coming out only in April but Jaimie Sirovich was nice enough to send me a copy anyway. The book is targeting developers but if you are a project manager or a tech savvy search marketer, I highly recommend it. One can only hope that more and more developers will realize the importance of being familiar at least with the basics of SEO.
Stand Out from the Crowd: Secrets to Crafting a Winning Company Identity. It’s funny how many search engine marketers tend to forget that SEM is still marketing. In fact, it seems to me that the movement in the industry is away from the technical stuff and towards the more general marketing principles. That is exactly why I think this book is important. Jay Lipe (the author) did not concentrate specifically on the SEM industry but sometimes I wish more search marketers would understand marketing in general.
Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Marketing Handbook: Low Cost Strategies to Attracting NEW Customers Using Google, Yahoo & Other Search Engines. In this shameless act of self-promotion, I am going to talk about this book. The book was written by the same people that brought you the Search Marketing Standard magazine. Specifically, by Boris and Eugene Mordkovich. It covers all the basics of PPC and a good deal of advanced topics. In a month or two we are releasing an updated, 2007 version. If you are advertising with Google AdWords, Yahoo or adCenter, the book is for you.
Posted on January 10, 2007
