Usability Books
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Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
by Steve Krug, Foreword by Roger Black
Steve Krug's observations may seem obvious in retrospect, but in some cases it takes the eyes of another to make you see what is right in front of you.
The Web moves at a lightning pace, and web visitors do, too. Given the information overload brought to our doorstep by the World Wide Web,
Web users have adopted several coping mechanisms, including:
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- scanning, not reading
- satisficing (a coined term indicating a blend of satisfying and sufficing)
- muddling through, rather than figuring things out
Krug gives illustrations of these facts of (Web) life and how to adapt your web site to take advantage of them. In eleven chapters, he reviews Web user behaviour, writing for the web, providing navigation aids for your visitors, and devotes several chapters to applying usability testing to your web site.
As one might expect from a book about usability, the text is quite readable (and even scan-friendly) and makes use of graphics to clarify the discussion. Several of his counter-examples leave one thinking "What were they thinking?", and occasionally "I've done that!" He also provides examples of good usability from several real-world web sites so you can explore the usability aspects of these sites as well.
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Usability Engineering
by Jakob Nielsen
It's a classic, but if you haven't read it....
My copy of Usability Engineering is a sight to behold. There are hand-written notes in the margins of the dog-eared pages and yellow highlighting and sticky notes flagging important concepts. The sad looking book definitely falls into the well-worn department. I bought my copy of the book back in the mid-late 90's when I became fascinated by the concept of user-oriented design and Web Site Usability testing.
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Jakob Nielsen, the Internet's Usability guru, made his mark in the industry with this book. Sure, some of the statistics he quotes are dated, but the concepts and ideas are still on target. Jakob demystifies the whole idea of usability testing. At one time I was able to quote long passages from the book, simply because I'd read it so many times. I've read his other works, but this one is my favorite. The book is a classic and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about Web Site Usability.
Web Analytics Books
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Web Analytics: An Hour a Day
by Avinash Kaushik
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Web Metrics: Proven Methods for Measuring Web Site Success
by Jim Sterne
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Web Analytics Demystified
by Eric Peterson
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Understanding Customer Behavior
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Blink and The Tipping Point
by Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell's new book, Blink, takes you into the fascinating world of "thin-slicing" - the art of making accurate decisions with limited input. As in his earlier book, The Tipping Point, Gladwell's words infiltrate into our everyday working vocabulary. Since finishing the book I have heard the phrase "thin-slicing" frequently. It's the new "paradigm". After his first book, everything was "a tipping point" this or "a tipping point" that. Few writers have influenced our everyday speech so dramatically.
When I first read The Tipping Point a friend had lent me a copy to read. I was surprised to find that the friend had written my name next to one of the personality types in the book (a good personality type, but still...). When I inquired about it, the friend told me Gladwell's description was descriptive of how he viewed me. This made me wonder how many other readers read the book assigning friends to certain personality types.
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I enjoyed both of Gladwell's books. Both Blink and The Tipping Point were fun, easy reads. I was excited when I heard Gladwell was coming out with Blink because I had enjoyed his first book so much.
Blink wasn't a disappointment. The Tipping Point talked about group behavior and how trends can sweep a nation; Blink is more about individual decision-making. Gladwell makes the concepts come alive through real stories. The book is about certain experts who have perfected the skill of being able to make accurate assessments of a situation in the blink of an eye. From art connoisseurs who can decipher a fake at first glance to a researcher who can observe a married couple for a few minutes and tell whether their marriage will succeed with 90% accuracy, Blink is a fascinating read.
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Peopleware
by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister
Do yourself a favor: put this book in your boss's stocking this year!
This is one of those books I re-read every few years. It never fails to
inspire. There's a quote in the book that captures the essence of the book:
"The manager's function is NOT to make people work, but to make it possible
for people to work." Having endured work environments where the "cube" was
the norm and where "quality work flow" without interruption was impossible,
I fell in love with this book and its unabashed support for the individual
in the workplace.
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DeMarco and Lister examine the current trends in the work environment and
present compelling arguments why most of these trends are harmful to
productivity. Fortunately they also provide options for what you as a manager
can do to make a difference. Check it out today!
Paid Advertising
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How to Win Sales & Influence Spiders
by Catherine Seda
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Winning Results with Google AdWords
by Andrew Goodman
This is hands down my favorite AdWords book. And here's a little
inside secret, here at KeyRelevance, we recommend it to all our
PPC account managers.
Why do I like it? The biggest reason I recommend this book is that
Andrew's suggestions work. If you use his techniques, you will save
money and
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increase the efficiency of your campaign. With bid prices
on the rise, getting more mileage out of your campaign is critical to
your PPC success.
Andrew walks you through every step of the way, from account set up,
keyword selection, ad development, landing page testing,
and even analytics. If you're going to do AdWords and you want to
get the best performance out of your campaign, you NEED to read this book.
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