Bookshelf: A Roundup Of 2009's Best Search Advertising Books

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A Roundup Of 2009's Best Search Advertising Books
**

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by Chris Sherman
**

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.
In this second in a series of search marketing book reviews, I look at
some of the best paid search books published in the past year.

The three parts of the series (Ill activate the menu links below as
each goes online):

A Roundup Of 2009s Best SEO Books
<http://searchengineland.com/a-roundup-of-2009s-best-seo-books-30918>

A Roundup Of 2009s Best Search Advertising Books (this article)
A Roundup Of 2009s Best General Search Marketing Books

*A roundup of 2009s best search advertising books*

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/23148333@N06/4154216056/>
*Search Engine Advertising: Buying Your Way to the Top to Increase
Sales (2nd edition)* <http://www.searchenginesales.com/>

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 way back in 2004. The first edition was
entirely the brainchild of Cat Seda, one of the most experienced
search marketing veterans around (heres my review
<http://searchenginewatch.com/3343371>
of the first edition). The recently published second edition is a
complete remake and update, primarily the work of Kevin Lee, with the
guidance and blessing of Cat Seda according to the books companion
web site <http://www.searchenginesales.com/>
.

Its an excellent overview and introduction to search advertising
with the three major players: Google, Microsoft and Yahoo (still
relevant until and when Microsoft takes over the search ad function
for Yahoo). Theres also a chapter on additional traffic sources, but
for most search marketers, a focus on the big three is usually
sufficient.

The book is structured to provide a step-by-step approach to getting
started with search advertising. The second edition offers a lot of
new information not found in the first due to the rapid evolution of
search advertising over the past five years. Youll find excellent
discussions of issues like campaign management, how to effectively use
technology to support your campaigns, the advantages of working with
agencies vs. doing the work in-house and more.

Throughout the book, theres always a sharp focus on competition.
Its simply not possible to ignore your competitors in a paid search
campaign, though many new advertisers scarcely give this a
thought—until they are blindsided by competitors who know exactly
what theyre doing.

*Search Engine Advertising: Buying Your Way to the Top to Increase
Sales (2nd edition)* is a worthwhile read for just about anyone
interested in search advertising, whether youre just getting started
with a pay-per-click campaign, or a seasoned advertiser looking for
some fresh tactical thinking on the subject.

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/23148333@N06/4153456161/>
*The Truth About Pay-Per-Click Search Advertising*
<http://www.ftpress.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0789738325>

by Kevin Lee

FT Press, $18.99

ISBN-10: 0-7897-3832-5

*The Truth About Pay-Per-Click Search Advertising* is another in the
Financial Times series of truth about books. Like Rebecca Liebs
*The Truth About Search Engine Optimization* that I reviewed in my
Roundup Of 2009�s Best SEO Books
<http://searchengineland.com/a-roundup-of-2009s-best-seo-books-30918>
, Kevin Lee has structured this book around the idea of 55 truths
about paid search advertising.

In this case, though, the structure is a bit forced, because in
reality youll find hundreds of valuable truths in the book. Lee has
been writing about paid search virtually since it was invented more
than a decade ago, and has also led the way in developing strategies
and tactics to maximize returns for his clients. And he shares many of
the insights hes gained from years of experience designing and
running search advertising campaigns. The book is packed with useful,
practical nuggets of information—including many advanced approaches
to different parts of paid search campaigns.

This makes the book more appropriate for search marketers whove run
their own campaigns and can realize the full benefit of Lees
observations. Lees style is accessible and conversational, but if
youre looking for an introduction to search advertising, *Search
Engine Advertising* (reviewed above) is probably a better choice.

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/23148333@N06/4153456193/>
*The Clickable Gurus Guide To Better Search Engine Marketing*
<http://www.clickable.com/blogs/clickableblog/archive/2009/07/09/introducing-the-clickable-guru-guide-to-better-search-marketing-forums-and-guru-contest.aspx>

by Andrew Bernero, Ehren Reilly, Hanny Hindi, Tony Soric and Trace
Johnson

Lulu.com On Demand, $10.98

ISBN-10: 0-557-08040-3

Most search marketing agencies, tool vendors and service providers
have blogs that they use as marketing vehicles. The best of these go
far beyond simple pitches for products or services—they seek to
educate and engage the search marketing community. Clickable is a
company that offers a suite of search marketing tools, and its blog is
maintained by a group of employees called the Clickable gurus, whove
assembled a collection of best of posts into a short book.

Its extremely rare for me to review something like this, which is
fundamentally a marketing tool. Im making an exception because this
book virtually never mentions Clickable or its tool suite. Rather,
its a collection of expert tips that are platform-neutral and can be
put to work by any search advertiser. In many cases, these tips are
responses to pain-points expressed in the Clickable gurus forums,
helping resolve tricky or difficult paid search issues.

You dont need to buy the physical on-demand book—*The Clickable
Gurus Guide To Better Search Engine Marketing* is also available as a
free 167 page PDF <http://www.clickable.com/downloads/guruguide.pdf>
(this is a direct download link—no need to register for access).

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/23148333@N06/4154216078/>
*Advertising 2.0  Social Media Marketing in a Web 2.0 World*
<http://www.praeger.com/catalog/B35296.aspx>

by Tracy L. Tuten

Praeger Publishers, $24.95

ISBN-10: 0-313-35296-8

Social media marketing has become one of the key avenues that search
marketers use to extend and complement their organic or paid search
campaigns. Even though social media isnt pure search, it belongs in
any discussion of online marketing.

*Advertising 2.0  Social Media Marketing in a Web 2.0 World* looks
at social media in a much broader sense than most search marketers
typically consider. In addition to familiar names like MySpace,
Facebook and YouTube, Tuten includes a wide array of other online
social gathering spots. Youll find chapters on engaging with
customers in virtual worlds, games, on opinion and social fiction
sites and others.

Tuten is associate professor of marketing at Longwood University, and
while this book is strongly supported by research, its also loaded
with practical tips about how to market effectively using social
media. There are a lot of really useful insights into the psychology
of people who engage with social media, examining their needs and
motivations, and what it takes for marketers to successfully connect
with these people without alienating them.

This is a great overview of social media marketing if youre new to
the field. Its also thought-provoking and informative if youre an
experienced social media denizen.

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/23148333@N06/4153456233/>
*Honest Seduction* <http://www.ioninteractive.com/books/>

by Scott Brinker, Anna Talerico and Justin Talerico

BookSurge Publishing, $17.99

ISBN-10: 1-4392-2185-5

*Honest Seduction* is an extended compilation of blog posts and
articles from the folks at i-on interactive. The focus here is on what
happens /after/ people click on a search ad. Research from Enquiro and
others has shown that searchers literally decide in seconds after
reaching a landing page whether to continue reading (and eventually,
converting) or to click back to search results and look for something
else.

This makes the design of landing pages absolutely crucial to paid
search success. Yet many advertisers do little or no testing to
determine whether their campaigns are as effective and compelling as
they can be.

Other books, such as Tim Ashs excellent Landing Page Optimization
<http://landingpageoptimizationbook.com/index.html>
, focus largely on the mechanics of designing tests, running and
interpreting the results. *Honest Seduction* takes a different
approach thats simultaneously intriguing and a tad aggravating: As
collection of blog posts it pulls together some really intriguing
thinking about whats going on post-click in the mind of the searcher.
But it also lacks the coherent structure of a more formal book (even
though the posts are loosely organized into chapters).

Nonetheless, its still a provocative look at how to maximize the
effectiveness of any search advertising campaign, and well worth the
time spent reading.

Next up (link will be activated when published):

A Roundup Of 2009s Best General Search Marketing Books

FTC 16 CFR Part 255 Disclosure: The publishers of most of the books
reviewed here provided Search Engine Land with complimentary review
copies, but had no editorial influence and did not provide any
compensation to be included in this roundup.

Opinions expressed in the article are those of the author, and not
necessarily Search Engine Land.

Chris Sherman
is Executive Editor of SearchEngineLand.com and President of
Searchwise LLC, a Boulder Colorado based Web consulting firm. He also
programs and co-chairs the Search Marketing Expo - SMX conference
series <http://searchmarketingexpo.com/>
.

<font size="-1">
Upcoming Search Marketing Expo events you won't want to miss:<ul><li><a
href="http://searchmarketingexpo.com/west/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=text&utm_content=footertext&utm_campaign=SMX%2BWest%2B2010">SMX
West - Santa Clara, CA</a> - March 2-4, 2010</li><li><a
href="http://searchmarketingexpo.com/advanced/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=text&utm_content=footertext&utm_campaign=SMX%2BAdvanced%2B2010">SMX
Advanced - Seattle, WA</a> - June 8-9, 2010</li><li><a
href="http://searchmarketingexpo.com/munich?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=text&utm_content=footertext&utm_campaign=SMX%2BMunich%2B2010">SMX
Munich</a> - March 23-25, 2010</li><li><a
href="http://www.searchmarketingexpo.com.au/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=text&utm_content=footertext&utm_campaign=SMX%2BSydney%2B2010">SMX
Sydney</a> - April 22-23, 2010</li></ul>Attend a <a
href="http://searchmarketingnow.com/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=textlink&utm_campaign=SMN%2Bgeneral">Search
Marketing Now</a> Webcast - it's free! Upcoming webcasts:<ul><li><a
href="http://searchmarketingnow.com/webcasts/wc091208">Turning Clients Into
PPC Champions: How to Make PPC Meaningful to "the Other Guys"</a> -
December 8, 2009</li><li><a
href="http://searchmarketingnow.com/webcasts/wc091210">Taking over an
existing PPC Account: Best Practices</a> - December 10,
2009</li></ul>Interested in advertising or sponsoring Search Marketing Expo
or Search Marketing Now webcasts? <a
href="http://thirddoormedia.com/contact/sales.shtml?utm_source=searchcap&utm_medium=email&utm_content=textlink&utm_campaign=General%2BSales">Contact
us</a>.

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