Can you believe that the first Web page is now more than twenty years old? That means that websites, blogging and social media have gone way beyond the point of being trends ? they are as valuable to the future of your business as a phone.
And software has been around since the 1940s, although it didn?t become ubiquitous in small businesses until the 1980s with the explosion of the personal computer.? Even so, that?s 3 decades since software and computers started to become commonplace in small businesses.
But the past 5 to 10 years have seen the speed of technology change turn mind-blurring.? It?s like the whole world is on Fast-Forward speed. To help you navigate these changes and their effect on your small business, we?ve pulled together this Guide to best technology?books. These aren?t necessarily best-sellers or most popular.? Rather, they are books on technology that can BEST help your business succeed in an increasingly technology-dependent economy.
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?The Network is Your Customer? by David Rogers
If you?re still wondering how you are going to leverage all the social media and technology tools to help you achieve your objectives, then you will breathe a sigh of relief when I tell you that the core message of this technology book is to focus on your customers? behavior, not the technology or the social media tool. Rogers has distilled five behavior strategies that small business can focus on in order to leverage networked customer behaviors to create happier, more loyal customers.
Read our review of ?The Network Is Your Customer.?
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?The Complete Idiot?s Guide to WordPress? by Susan Gunelius
WordPress is the free and open-sourced platform that?s easy enough for the most technologically challenged novice and adaptable enough for some of the world?s biggest brands like CNN. WordPress powers 22% of all new websites.
This technology book covers the basics such as as well as more advanced topics like how categories, pages and tags are used. If you are new to blogging, you?ll gain a lot from The Complete Idiot?s Guide to WordPress even if you decide to use Blogger, Joomla or another platform instead. If you?re a WordPress user already, you?ll gain new insights that will take your content to the next level.
Read our review of ?Complete Idiot?s Guide to WordPress.?
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?The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture? by John Battelle
This is a big- picture technology book about the past, present, and future of search engines (in particular Google) and the impact it has on marketing, media, pop culture, dating, job hunting, international law, civil liberties, and just about every other sphere of human interest. John Battelle, who co-founded Wired magazine, focuses on the modern-day Internet juggernaut in the months stretching from its tumultuous initial public offering to the book?s publication in 2006. Despite being 5+ years old ? this is a classic and worth reading? to understand Google?s power over the Internet.
Check out ?The Search? on Amazon
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?Empowered: Unleash Your Employees, Energize Your Customers, and Transform Your Business? by Josh Bernoff
This is a fantastic book about how an organization can manage employees who use social media to get things done. Empowered is a great read for the informed business owner. It?s grounded in Forrester research and studies from various sources, but it?s not excessively academic. You?ll learn about HEROes; employees who take initiative to solve customers? problems through the same social media tools customers casually use. You?ll find savvy insights on IT and management roles. And find this particularly useful in a world now acclimated to cloud computing and SaaS.
Read our review of ?Empowered.?
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?Bricklin on Technology? by Dan Bricklin
Entrepreneurs who are releasing an app or deploying software on the cloud will gain some valued perspective, particularly from Bricklin?s programmer experience. This technology book runs 400 pages, based on Bricklin?s past blogs from the year 2000 through 2009. The book covers a diversity of topics such as the recording industry, pricing, podcasting and how people respond to new media choices. There are a dozen chapters ? each are a ?mini-book? within the book and include things like: What Will People Pay For? Leveraging the Crowd, Blogging and Podcasting.
Read our review of ?Bricklin on Technology.?
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?Learn How to Improve Online Marketing: Performance Marketing With Google Analytics? by Sebastian Tonkin, Caleb Whitmore & Justin Cutroni
You can now officially bury the old quote about not knowing which 50% of your marketing budget is delivering results. The authors of Google Analytics explain performance marketing and get specific about how to increase revenue by using search advertising, optimizing an existing website, prioritizing channels and campaigns, and measure the health of your brand. If you?ve been overwhelmed by Google Analytics, this book will walk you through the details and will help you increase the ROI of your web site.
Read our review of ?Learn How to Improve Online Marketing.?
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?The Age of the Platform: How Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google Have Redefined Business? by Phil Simon
This is both a book and a big idea book about how Google, Apple Facebook and Amazon created platforms that allowed small businesses to play big. Phil Simon explores how these HUGE companies leverage their respective technologies to create entire virtual ecosystems that consist of developers, partners, users and communities. Simon takes the reader on a journey through these platform technologies in order to show the value of participation across platforms and how even small businesses can create their own platforms.
Listen to our interview with the author (or find on Amazon)
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?The Third Screen: Marketing to Your Customers in a World Gone Mobile? by Chuck Martin
No list of best technology books could be complete without mentioning the insane impact that mobile devices have made on our personal and business lives. Today, 94% of Americans own a mobile phone (a quarter of whom use it exclusively). Martin argues that a merging of trends in has caused a movement to a ?third screen? after TVs and Computers. Martin explains how mobile phone technology is creating extraordinary possibilities for tailored promotions and apps that enable advertisers to literally become part of the customer?s phone.
Find ?The Third Screen? on Amazon
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?Digital Impact: The Two Secrets to Online Marketing Success? by Vipin Mayar, Geoff Ramsey
Digital Impact answers the critical questions marketers have about connecting with and influencing consumers online. Authors Mayar and Ramsey reveal ideas that address digital marketing weaknesses and focus on two key frameworks: performance management (identifying the right metrics based on exposure, strategic and financial concerns) and magnetic content(essentially, the ?content is king? message.
These frameworks are applied search, display, email marketing, social media, online video and mobile ? each medium treated in distinct chapters explaining subtleties of its application. This is a serviceable workbook great for anyone just entering digital marketing and operating with a specific budget.
Read our Review of ?Digital Impact.?
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?iPhone and iPad Apps Marketing: Secrets to Selling Your iPhone and iPad Apps? by Jeffrey Hughes
Feeling the fever to produce an app for your business? Then you?ll want to be sure to have this technology book on your desk. Written by Jeffery Hughes, an application developer and Associate Professor at the University of Vermont, this guide offers some surprising ways to strategically offer an app for a growing business. This is a great technology book for business owners who barely understanding scripting language and online marketing because it gives enough information to help you understand what?s important when you are hiring people to develop your app.
Read our review of ?iPhone and iPad Apps Marketing.?
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Of course, technology doesn?t exist in a vacuum.? It?s there to help you attract more customers, make it easier for them to buy from you and build and manage a thriving business.? Explore the 225+ business book reviews in our Small Business Trends archives. ? or check out some of our other Best Books Guides:
Best Management Books
Top Books About Sales
Top Marketing Books
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About the Author
Ivana Taylor is the publisher of DIYMarketers.com , where she shares daily do-it-yourself marketing tips, and is the President of Third Force, Inc., a marketing firm that specializes in getting your ideal customer to choose you. Ivana is the book editor for Small Business Trends and a contributor to AMEX Open Forum. She is co-author of the book "Excel for Marketing Managers." Connect with Ivana Taylor:
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Source: http://smallbiztrends.com/2011/11/top-technology-books.html
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