Easy Reading for your Website

In another life, I wrote about books for a living, so I'm always eager to keep you all posted on great business books. Earlier this week, at a seminar at the ASD/AMD Las Vegas Trade Shows, I heard about two great books, designed to help small business owners develop their websites and get into e-commerce. So I did some more research about these two titles, and added a few more suggestions if you want to keep things simple while starting an e-commerce website.

Steve Krug's Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability – Krug is all about simplicity with this book about the design of a website. ''All of the tips, techniques, and examples presented revolve around users being able to surf merrily through a well-designed site with minimal cognitive strain,'' said the Amazon.com review. ''Readers will quickly come to agree with many of the book's assumptions, such as 'We don't read pages--we scan them' and 'We don't figure out how things work--we muddle through.' Coming to grips with such hard facts sets the stage for Web design that then produces topnotch sites.''

Seth Godin's The Big Red Fez: How to Make Any Website Better – Internet marketing guru Seth Godin has written a great guide to help make a website more attractive to those surfing the net. Chris Finken recommended this book as a way for retailers to help keep their websites simple—and thus attract more customers. Godin, who has written several books on the subject of maketing, also has a blog.  And speaking of blogs…

Steve Weber's Plug Your Business! Marketing on MySpace, YouTube, blogs and podcasts and other Web 2.0 Social Networks – If you have your website and want to find ways to promote it, look to web 2.0 social networks such as YouTube, MySpace, LinkedIn and more. ''You've got to get your product out there every which way you can, and hope that one-fifth of your efforts pay off,'' Weber said in a Q&A on Amazon.com, and he gives examples, including podcasting, YouTube and more.

Gerry McGovern's Killer Web Content: Make the Sale, Deliver the Service, Build the Brand – McGovern, who runs a web content management company, gives all the details you need to know about how to get the most out of your website, including writing compelling web content that gets you to the top of search results and how to use blogs, RSS feeds and email newsletters to increase the impact of your site.

What do you think of these books? I hope they help you if you are trying to get into e-commerce. If you already sell online, what advice do you have? Are there any books or resources you'd recommend?

~Kimberly Maul -Guest Blogger