Today, marks the release of my great friend, Mitch Joel’s, book Six Pixels of Separation. You may have never heard of Mitch, I promise you that you will. In Canada, Mitch Joel is considered an Internet Marketing Rock Star. It is well deserved nick name, especially if you have ever seen him present on stage. Mitch has an extremely popular marketing blog, podcast and soon to be best selling book. Mitch is also President of Twist Image – an award-winning Digital…

...continue to read "Are Six Pixels of Separation All That Keeps Us Apart?"

I just read a somewhat surprising story about Zappos.com being acquired by Amazon.com. The details were posted to Zappos’s blog yesterday in a very Zappos-esque transparent style, including an 8-minute video of Jeff Bezos talking about the alliance, along with some good stories about Amazon’s early days and foibles.  The surprise comes from the fact that Amazon spent lots of money developing the competitive Endless.com shoe-selling site a few years ago.  If you can’t beat ‘em, buy ‘em?

My question to…

...continue to read "Will Amazon Zap Zappos’s Innovative Culture?"

While compiling (many) posts into a book is a common enough practice these days, how many people systematically plan out their blogging to optimize the construction and marketability of their book?

How many people craft different blog posts tackling the same subject from different angles and designed to appeal to different Temperaments?

How many people publish their nonfiction/business book in mind with a firm understanding of what they want the book to accomplish for them, what a book reasonably can accomplish, and…

...continue to read "Book Publishing 2.0 + A New York City Giveaway"

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…

...continue to read "The Portable Conversion Analyst"

Bryan Eisenberg just sent me this link to a Lifehack article about 50 different writing tools.  And I must be a bit groggy because I didn’t instantly recognize that title as belonging to one of my very favorite writing books.

I recommend Roy Peter Clark’s book frequently and have even given copies of it away during Persuasive Online Copywriting courses.   In fact, the famous screenwriting coach and video game guru, David Freeman, won a copy at our last…

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Bryan, Lisa & John are all excited because Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer  sold out in less than a month. Wiley had to order a second edition and we know that it will barely cover the back orders. Nice job!

I read their book. It’s a great book. I’m just trying not to read any books that aren’t available for my Kindle. I love my Kindle! You just have to love a device that allows…

...continue to read "Why I love My Kindle Even More"

I just finished Web Form Design by Luke Wroblewski, and I’m glad this useful book came out.  It’s not only a useful guide to designing better online forms, but a reminder that forms are the “bread and butter” of almost every website!

Whether it’s the Contact Us form on a B2B site, the Sign Up form on a social networking site, or the Checkout of an eCommerce site, they all have forms in common. And in every case, forms are what stands between our…

...continue to read "Is Your Landing Page 2008…and your Action Page 1998?"

Sometimes when you’re trying to get all the hard stuff right, you forget the easy stuff.  Then your buddies mock you.

Hard:  Write another book.

Easy:  Tell people where they can get a free sample chapter.

Idiot:  Skip the Easy part.

With all the hoopla surrounding the release of our latest book, “Always Be Testing“, both Bryan and I forgot to let you know we’ve a sample chapter available online as a PDF.  Enjoy.

So busy was I trying not to…

...continue to read "When Is “Always Be Testing” Like A Banana Peel?"

On Monday, August 18, 2008 at 12:30pm, my co-author friend and colleague Bryan Eisenberg, founder of FutureNow and co-author of the New York Times bestselling books, “Waiting For Your Cat to Bark?” and “Call to Action”, will launch “Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer” at Search Engine Strategies (SES) San Jose ( http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/sanjose). The event will be held August 18-21, 2008 at the San Jose McEnery Center.

Bryan will be presenting the session “Pay Per Conversation” together…

...continue to read "Free Books & Signing at Search Engine Strategies San Jose"

Amazon is already shipping FutureNow’s latest book Always Be Testing. Co-authored with FutureNow’s Chief Scientist, John Quarto-vonTivadar and contributor, Lisa T. Davis; the book is meant for anyone looking to get more leads, sales, and profits from their website.

The first reviews on Amazon are live (including the first time that I have seen a video review for a book). Daniel Waisberg writes:

When I first saw that this book was coming to light I had mixed feelings. On one hand, I…

...continue to read "Always Be Testing Unleashed"