In my last several columns, I’ve reviewed some basics of conversion optimization. “The Sciences and Disciplines of Web Site Optimization” covered some of the science and professional disciplines needed when doing conversion analysis. That got us talking around the company water cooler, and someone suggested creating a list of the best books and resources that a conversion analyst can not do without.

So we debated, scoured our bookshelves, debated, and finally came up with a list of several team favorites and grouped them into a few categories. The resulting list, below, is in no particular order and is far from comprehensive. It includes books and a few other resources that we know to be unavoidable if you want to talk shop and play like a real conversion analysis.

Usability and Information Architecture

• “Designing Web Usability” by Jakob Nielson
• “Web Site Usability: A Designer’s Guide” by Jared M. Spool (don’t miss his research at UIE.com, either)
• “Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites” by Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville (a.k.a., The Polar Bear Book)
• “Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks” by Luke Wroblewski
• “The Persona Lifecycle : Keeping People in Mind Throughout Product Design (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive Technologies)” by John Pruitt and Tamara Adlin
• “The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web (VOICES)” by Jesse James Garret
• “Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition” by Steve Krug

Web Analytics

• “Web Analytics: An Hour a Day” by Avinash Kaushik (of Occam’s Razor fame)
• “Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics” by Brian Clifton
• “Web Analytics Demystified: A Marketer’s Guide to Understanding How Your Web Site Affects Your Business” by Eric Peterson
• “Marketer’s Common Sense Guide to E-Metrics” (PDF) by Bryan Eisenberg and Jim Novo
• “Information Anxiety 2 (Hayden/Que)” by Richard S. Wurman
• “Envisioning Information” by Edward R. Tufte

Copywriting

• “Persuasive Online Copywriting: How to Take Your Words to the Bank” by Bryan Eisenberg and Jeffrey Eisenberg (yes, we did write this. But it’s received an impressive amount of acclaim, and we’ve seen it on Amazon selling for over $1,000 (see screenshot). It really is an important book if you’re serious about writing online), you can get an e-book version now.

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• “Breakthrough Advertising: How to Write Ads That Shatter Traditions and Sales Records” by Eugene M. Schwartz
• “Advertising Secrets of the Written Word: The Ultimate Resource on How to Write Powerful Advertising Copy from One of America’s Top Copywriters and Mail Order Entrepreneurs” by Joseph Sugarman
• “The Associated Press Guide to Good Writing” by Rene J. Cappon
• “Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer” by Roy Peter Clark
• “Copyblogger Blog” by Brian Clark (while we’ve tried to keep this list to books, if you want to learn more about writing copy online, you must become a Brian Clark reader, possibly even a disciple)

Direct Marketing Techniques

• “Scientific Advertising” by Claude C. Hopkins
• “Tested Advertising Methods (Prentice Hall Business Classics)” by John Caples
• “DRILLING DOWN: Turning Customer Data into Profits with a Spreadsheet – Third Edition” by Jim Novo
• “The Copywriter’s Handbook, Third Edition: A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing Copy That Sells” by Robert W. Bly

Psychology, Human Behavior, and Persuasion

• “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die” by Chip Heath and Dan Heath (if you keep running into brick walls with your messages or you feel that you just don’t have a strong message, start with this book)
• “Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?: Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing” by Bryan Eisenberg and Jeffrey Eisenberg
• “Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do (Interactive Technologies)” by B.J. Fogg
• “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” by Robert Cialdini
• “Your Key to Sports Success : How Understanding Your Brain Type Will Enhance Your Athletic Ability” by Jonathan Niednagel
• “Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types” by David Keirsey
• “The Art of Speed Reading People: How to Size People Up and Speak Their Language” by Paul D. Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger.
• “Why We Buy: The Science Of Shopping” by Paco Underhill

Testing

There is a lot of science and rigor in the area of testing and statistics. And while marketing is becoming more accountable, we aren’t quite ready for the amount of rigor possible in this critical area. But we will be, and when we are there will be a few more books that make this subject palatable for the average marketer and conversion analyst. Until then these are two solid choices to devour and have more than enough info to get you started testing and testing well:

• “Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions” by Tim Ash
• “Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer” by Bryan Eisenberg and John Quarto-vonTivadar

Marketing, Branding, Selling

No doubt this is the hardest category because there are plenty of fine marketing, traditional advertising, and branding gurus. What we wanted to identify some books that will influence a lot of the great books still to come. Every one of these books is still relevant to marketing and the challenges we face online. You simply can’t go wrong reading anything on this list:

• “Ogilvy on Advertising” by David Ogilvy (this is a true classic that can’t be ignored)
• “Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads: Turning Paupers into Princes and Lead into Gold” by Roy H. Williams (this book will ground you in the principles of advertising and marketing success)
• “Call to Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results” by Bryan Eisenberg and Jeffrey Eisenberg
• “The Psychology of Selling the Art of Closing Sales (Book and 6 Audiocassettes)” by Brian Tracy
• “How to Master the Art of Selling” by Tom Hopkins
• “The Sales Bible: The Ultimate Sales Resource, New Edition” by Jeffrey Gitomer
• “Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing” by Harry Beckwith
• “5 Steps To Successful Selling” by Zig Ziglar
• “Focus: The Future of Your Company Depends on It” by Al Reis
• “Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions” by Dan Ariely
• A few tomes by our pal Seth Godin; our faves are “Purple Cow,” “Permission Marketing,” and “Meatball Sundae.”
• “How to Win Friends & Influence People” by Dale Carnegie

SEO, SEM, Social Media

When it comes to search marketing and other dynamic markets, most of the treasured resources are blogs or sites like this. Search Engine Watch and ClickZ are a must (like Mike Grehan who writes about SEO (define); he’s a friend and a fave). Here are a couple recent books worth mentioning:

• “Winning Results with Google AdWords, Second Edition” by Andrew Goodman
• “Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day” by fellow ClickZ columnist Dave Evans
• “Email Marketing: An Hour a Day” by fellow ClickZ columnist Jeanniey Mullen

Get Reading

As you can see, we likely left a few out. But every resource we listed will move you well on your way to understanding the ins and outs of how to be a great conversion analyst. Many of these books are required reading for our analysts, and they should be for yours.

Did we leave out one of your must-reads? List it in the comments section below.