

Ask HN: What are the best books/articles on web marketing? - nahcub

I&#x27;m looking to learn more about web marketing and the best ways to do it today. Do you all have any suggestions on where I should start? Print books, ebooks, and articles are all welcome!<p>Thanks!
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ISeemToBeAVerb
I somewhat disagree with lavish that your marketing methods depend on your
business category. In some cases you might choose one channel over another if
it suits your content or audience better but, generally speaking, the core
concepts of good marketing don't change much across industries and time.

I've consumed a great deal of information on marketing and I can tell you that
most (quality) materials are going to give you similar information. The
tactics of marketing change depending on the platforms you use, but the actual
principles of marketing are quite simple.

Most of the useful information you'll come across is geared toward
understanding your audience and mostly centers around a series of steps
similar to the following:

\- understand your brand (what your mission is, etc...) \- identify your
audience \- identify where your audience spends time \- engage with your
audience in an honest and authentic way by sharing valuable information
(helpful, funny, inspiring, etc...) \- build funnels to move people from
interest to your end goals.

Telling compelling stories and offering valuable content are lessons that pop
up time and time again.

Like I said above, the core principles of marketing are simple and timeless.
The most effective kind of marketing is the kind where you're not really
"marketing" at all, you're just sharing valuable stuff that gets your audience
excited in some way.

For a very comprehensive collection of online guides, I'd take a look at
QuickSprout:
[http://www.quicksprout.com/blog/](http://www.quicksprout.com/blog/) You can
find a list of guides in the sidebar.

CopyBlogger, IttyBiz, Moz, Social Triggers — all good resources for marketing
ideas.

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bliti
Good points. I would add that 99.99% of marketing books/sites/blogs/magazines
aim to keep you as a reader. Which means that they will simply keep feeding
you stories about marketing without telling you the real basics. You may only
learn what works by doing it yourself. Learn about simple sales techniques,
some copywriting, and off you go. The reason marketing is hard is due to how
it is more a constantly changing process than a static one. You cannot rest on
your laurels.

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carlaeng
I'm a fan of \- Moz.com hosts an overwhelming amount of information. \- Made
to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath \- UnMarketing by Scott Stratten \- Influence
by Robert Cialdini \- Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff

While it's focused on kids, you might find some additional ideas in this
article: [http://kidscreen.com/2013/08/12/marketing-to-kids-and-
famili...](http://kidscreen.com/2013/08/12/marketing-to-kids-and-families-
with-dr-carlas-appistential-crisis-marketing-tonic)

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emsasi
If you haven't looked through Quora yet, here's a decent place to start:
[http://www.quora.com/Web-Marketing/What-are-some-good-web-
ma...](http://www.quora.com/Web-Marketing/What-are-some-good-web-marketing-
books-blogs-and-forums-to-get-started-and-become-a-pro)

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lavash
What kind of service/product do you offer? It depends on your business
category.

