What is THE MOST Impactful Book You Have Read Related To Internet Marketing? (51)
What is THE MOST Impactful Book You Have Read Related To Internet Marketing?
What is THE MOST Impactful Book You Have Read Related To Internet Marketing?
I would love to get your thoughts.
Note: This does not have to be a book directly about Internet marketing.
However, it should be a book that either
i) has helped you better understand Internet marketing, or ideally,
ii) has significantly improved the performance and results of your Internet marketing business.
Fire away!
The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert D. Cialdini - Great book, loks of great tips in it.
Luka
This one made me fall in love with copywriting. This in turn helped to change my career focus and eventually start my IM adventure back in 2006/7.
The Adweek Copywriting Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Powerful Advertising and Marketing Copy from One of America's Top Copywriters
http://www.amazon.com/Adweek-Copywri.../dp/0470051248
All the other copywriting/sales/advertising/persuasion books I read came after this one. You know what they say - you'll always remember your first one 
If I had to pick just one book that everyone should read, it is this one
http://www.amazon.com/Problem-Solvin.../dp/1591842425
I find too many people just don't know how to solve problems. And Internet marketing is all about solving lots and lots of problems.
You can read this book in a short afternoon, and indeed, it actually is written for kids. It is basically McKinsey's approach to problem solving if that was written for an 11 year old.
I highly recommend it.
Totally cliché but...
Cashvertizing - helped my campaigns directly.
4hour work week - helped my overall business thinking directly.
Jobs (biography) - was the most inspirational.
The Happiness Advantage - put my mind in check.
Originally Posted by Mr Green
The author gave a nice talk at Google awhile back. Definitely worth a watch:
http://www.quicksprout.com/the-compl...er-psychology/
reading this now, amazing information, particularly chapter 5 with plenty of actionable information you can implement on your sales funnels right away
I read some of the books already listed in this thread. BTW the motivation to improve my results is coming mainly from this Forum
The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin thanks to Charles Ngo's reading list. Now Tim Ferriss is all about the book too lol.
It's helped me simplify everything before diving into the smaller details. And seriously, this book's principles can be applied to pretty much anything. I used some ideas to beat friends in Super Smash Bros heh. Highly recommended.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki was the first book that gave me a new direction on where I wanted to go while still in High School.
But Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco is definitely the one that set it into stone.
Other Books that were impactful and helped me gain a better perspective in life:
-"Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" by Robert B. Cialdini, PHD.
-"Magic of Thinking Big" by David J. Schwartz
-"How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling" by Frank Bettger
-"Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones for Success" by John C. Maxwell
-"The Psychology of Winning" by Dennis Waitley
Originally Posted by cmdeal
http://www.amazon.com/Problem-Solvin.../dp/1591842425
I find too many people just don't know how to solve problems. And Internet marketing is all about solving lots and lots of problems.
You can read this book in a short afternoon, and indeed, it actually is written for kids. It is basically McKinsey's approach to problem solving if that was written for an 11 year old.
I highly recommend it.
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
Cashvertising is what I remember at top of my head. I had read quite a bit of general psychology ebooks as well. But there are quite a few ebooks which I have read.
Originally Posted by iamattila
Finch's premium posts, the only books that will make you rub your titties & ball
Surprisingly they are good to read too 
Tested Advertising Methods - helped me more than Cashvertising with practical tips
The Power of Habit - to incorporate useful habits during my work time
Millionaire Fastlane - mindset change about my business
the success stories in this forum are the best to read
Got myself a copy of Cashvertising - started it last night... Impressed so far!
Originally Posted by Mr Green
me and a friend would refer to it as "The Bible"
Got to read this . Good thread guys. Until now i read Finch premium posts. Helped me to get started .
some great books posted so far.
here's one that i haven't seen posted yet:
scientific advertising - claude c hopkins
Keep them coming!
Some more suggestions, this time, books that can help you build stronger mental frameworks, models and tools:
Creativity and Innovation:
1. Michael Michalko - Creative Thinkering
2. The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelley
3. A Whack on the Side of the Head by Roger Von Oech
Logic/Problem Solving
1. The Minto Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing, Thinking, & Problem Solving by Barbara Minto
2. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values - Robert Pirsig
Critical Thinking
1. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan
2.Fooled by Randomness - Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Black swan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
3. The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies - How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths - Michael Shermer
4. How We Know What Isn't So - Thomas Gilovich
5. Don't Believe Everything You Think: The 6 Basic Mistakes We Make in Thinking - Thomas E. Kida
6. A Rulebook for Arguments by Anthony Weston
Cognitive Bias:
1. Charlie Munger - The Psychology of Human Misjudgment
2. Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman
3. Predictably Irrational - by Dan Ariely
Personal Effectiveness
1. Power of Full Engagement - by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
3. Getting Things Done by David Allen
Systems:
1. Thinking in Systems: A Primer - Donella H. Meadows
2. The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt
3. High Output Management by Andy Grove
Others
1. Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
2. The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz
3. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
Oh oh, almost forgot - if you have time, read anything by Robert Greene - http://www.amazon.com/Robert-Greene/e/B001IGV3IS#
Originally Posted by cmdeal
For anyone that doesn't know Dr Dan, here's a Ted talk he did quite a few years ago for Predictably Irrational. There's some real gold in his talk about decision making. As marketers and sales people that's our primary function, getting someone to make a decision and presenting them with the path of least resistance to do so.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Boron-Lett.../dp/B00BMWEFR4
I just recently read:
- The ONE Thing
- The Obstacle is the Way
Both of these books are amazing for IM.
Anything by David Trott. He writes in a really absorbable style.
Predatory Thinking.
Creative Thinking.
Steven Pressfield - Do The Work (on getting shit done)
It's a small book, but worth rereading whenever you're not getting shit done.
and of course
Originally Posted by Mr Green
another book i enjoyed reading was Evil by Design: Interaction Design to Lead Us into Temptation http://www.amazon.com/Evil-Design-In.../dp/1118422147
Some really fantastic books on cmdeal's list.
In particular, I would highly recommend anyone involved in AM read "The Demon-Haunted World" and "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainance". The grounding in critical thinking and the scientific method those two books provide is absolutely invaluable.
Plus, both books tend to have a pretty profound effect on peoples' lives as a whole, too.
Why no one is mentioning Ogilvy On Advertising... Lol.. it's one of the best book IMO! 
that is a good one. I interviewed halbert's son. Really interesting story.
Originally Posted by wewemedia
2 Books that has been life changer for me: (Special Thanks to @rob_gryn for the suggestion )
How to get rich by Felix Dennis
https://www.amazon.fr/How-Get-Rich-E...1622131&sr=1-3
How to Be an Imperfectionist by Stephen Guise
https://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Imperf.../dp/B00UMG535Y
+ interesting 45 minutes read about on the importance of developing our qualities
Managing Oneself by Peter Drucker
https://www.amazon.com/Managing-Ones...QPRN3BHVHZGH4P
Introduction to Algorithmic Marketing, written by Ilya Katsov. This book is an ultimate guide to Internet Marketing. Explanation is clear even to the person without experience.
My Kindle arrived last week and I've been staring at it suspiciously since then because I love good old paper books, but today I decided to just jump in and I believe I might even convert to this new (to me) tech - it's surprisingly good. I bought the 101 Problem Solving book about an hour ago and I'm halfway through, tons of insights so far, will write back once I finish it.
As a new goal, I also made a reading list from most of the recommendations ITT that I plan on going through by the end of the year and then moving on with whatever I've missed. Thanks for all the suggestions!
good
Since Internet Marketing is all about ups and downs, I highly recommend The Dip by Seth Godin https://www.amazon.com/Dip-Little-Bo.../dp/1591841666 .
Fantastic thread...
I could list 100... but I'll just add a few 
-Rich Dad Poor Dad and everything by Kiyosaki
-Dave Ramsey's books
-George S. Clason's 'The Richest Man In Babylon'
-The Sea Wolf by Jack London
-4 Hour Work Week (yes, cliched, but it was a spark)
-Grant Cardone's books
-Way Of The Warrior Kid by Jocko Willink
-And, in my opinion the most important video for every entrepreneur/business owner to watch, by our Wolf Mug-hustling friend, Mr Becker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_KcH0qbtXY (serious on the video, it's the most important concept that exists I think)
I'm definitely going to look at some of these books again.
It's crazy the different lessons you can pull from the same book if you reread them from a different stage of your career/life. I reread the cliche 4 Hour Work Week last week and still found it really stimulating.
- Spam Kings by Brian S. McWilliams
Well the one that impacted me was kind of an odd selection, and don't laugh but this one really showed me what was capable - both for the good and bad as well as it somewhat opened my eyes to how much is needed to get to big numbers in online marketing - especially email.
Originally Posted by oldschool
Originally Posted by escobar
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In December 2018, I purchased and currently reading this book:
Storynomics: Story-Driven Marketing in the Post-Advertising World
by Robert McKee (author of STORY: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1538727935/
It has the powerful storytelling framework that Robert McKee lays out in his original "famous" book called STORY which is considered a screenwriting bible today, but with a new added twist of using storytelling in marketing/advertising world. Here's a very brief and partial summary because I'm not finished reading the entire book yet (I'll update post when completed).
Introduction
They summarize what's going on today in traditional advertising and the current transition of things. They coin three terms, "storify" as an infinitive (to name the transformation of data into story form), "storified" as an adjective (to describe data that has undergone that change), and finally, the noun "Storynomics" (to title the story-centric business practices that drive fiscal results).
Part I.
The beginning of the book has an interesting walk-through in history of advertising/marketing methods; starting with early newspaper ad placements which were mostly aggregated ads in the back pages, then moving towards "content interruption" methods using native ads placement (just like native ads on content websites today). This wafting between interrupt ads and interrupted context significantly increased the publishers ad income, but at the expense of a reader's overall experience, but audiences simply learned to tolerate it.
As they move through history from newsprint to radio to television they show that animosity grew on the consumer's side towards the ever increasing frequency of interrupt advertising methods being implemented during content consumption of traditional media. As a result, today it has encouraged the transition of content consumption away from traditional media (i.e newspaper, radio, TV) in which recent generations (Gen X'rs thru Millennials) have come to despise to the point of paying monthly premiums for uninterrupted content consumption (aka binge-viewing) via Hulu, Netflix, Sling TV, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Now, YouTube Premium, etc.
Part II.
This part of the book covers the "evolution" and adaption of early human consciousness and makes a case for storytelling throughout humankind's history. It covers...
The Eight Powers That Propel Story:
1. Self-Awareness
2. Other-Awareness
3. Memory
4. Intelligence
5. Imagination
6. Insight
7. Correlation
8. Self-Expression
Then they talk about the "Eight Stages of Story Design", this is where the book gets more formulaic in storytelling. IMHO, this is the point where the book becomes more valuable to writers. Not that it doesn't have marketing/conversion value, but it get's pretty involved and starts to take a scientific design approach to storytelling/writing which is more Hollywood screenwriting style IMHO. I feel like, as a internet/affiliate marketer, we can take a less Hollywood approach to our storytelling in written/audio/video content, sales copy, and ad copy. And a more base "crocodile brain" approach that satisfies our human need for solutions to help us either move away from/avoid pain or move us towards/experience pleasure.
Eight Stages of Story Design:
Stage One: Target Audience = A Meaningful Emotional Effect
Stage Two: Subject Matter = Balance
Stage Three: Inciting Incident = Imbalance
Stage Four: Object of Desire = Need
Stage Five: First Action = Tactical Choice
Stage Six: First Reaction = Violation of Expectation
Stage Seven: Crisis Choice = Insight
Stage Eight: Climatic Reaction = Closure
So, as you can see, that would be a lot to accomplish with Pop-Ads, j\k, lol. But, as always, there are different advertising approaches for different audiences and circumstances/context (i.e. sales letters, sales videos, sales webinars, ad copy, etc.)
The book also gets into creating the story-world using:
Time (location in time & duration through time)
Space (physical space & social space)
The book then covers adding substance in the form of values...
The Core Value or "values" the story-maker invests in his telling, here are some examples...
[Value Binaries of Positive/Negative Charge]
truth/lie
love/hate
generosity/selfishness
hard work/laziness
loyalty/betrayal
life/death
courage/cowardice
hope/despair
meaningfulness/meaninglessness
maturity/immaturity
justice/injustice
morality/immorality
unity/breakup
The Protagonist - imagine cast design as a solar systems of planets, satellites, and comets (supporting characters) in orbit around their sun (the story's core character, aka protagonist or hero), burning at the center.
- Usually played by a single character (Rocky Balboa)
- Can be a duo (Thelma and Louise)
- Can be a team (Inglorious Bastards)
- Can be an institution (CDC in Contagion)
- Or, can be all of humanity considered as one massive group struggling to survive (War of the Worlds)
- Anytime two or more characters fill this role, they act as one.
Interesting Note: A core character must be empathetic ("like me"); she or he may or may not be sympathetic ("likable").
The Center of Good - everyone searches for a center of good because, in his heart of hearts, everyone instinctively sees himself as good. So, the storyteller ideally places the center of good within the protagonist so that a positive human quality emanates from within the core character and captures the audience's personal involvement.
Life Begins In Balance - Before a story begins, it's physical setting, social setting, core value, and core character rest in a state of balance. Until... something happens.
So, this where I'm at in the book so far. The book is definitely a great approach for getting your foundation storytelling/writing chops, but again it is in a more "Hollywood" kind of manner.
-----
I know this is not a book, but staying in line with the subject of storytelling, I did want to mention a brand new training program I purchased the other day and have enjoyed going through. It's storytelling/writing that is more simplified and honed to the internet marketer and created by a great copywriter and long time internet marketer himself Dave Kaminski who puts out solid infoproducts and training.
Storytelling For Internet Marketers - Dave Kaminski
Learn step by step how to use the incredible power of storytelling in emails, videos, sales pages and content.
Sales Page - is a great example of storytelling and copywriting.
https://webvideouniversity.com/st/
It is solid training and can get you going really fast on developing great storytelling skills for marketing, plus you pick-up good copywriting tips. Here is the curriculum if you don't feel like visiting the sales page, but worth a look to admire Dave's straight-forward storytelling/copy writing skills.
1. Getting Your Head Straight - Why This Is The One Course You'll Actually Want To Use
2. Getting Your Head Straight - What a Story Actually Is
3. Getting Your Head Straight - You Never Knew These Were Stories, Did You?
4. Getting Your Head Straight - You've Been Telling Stories Your Whole Life
5. Getting Your Head Straight - Stories Aren't True
6. Getting Your Head Straight - Stories Are Believed More Than Facts
7. Getting Your Head Straight - Your Brain On Stories
8. Getting Your Head Straight - Don't Do Hollywood
9. Getting Your Head Straight - Junk Food Stories vs. Nutrition Stories
10. Getting Your Head Straight - Getting Over The Biggest Storytelling Road Block (YOU)
11. Getting Your Head Straight - The Master Story Formula
12. Getting Your Head Straight - Your Homework Assignment #1
13. Getting Your Head Straight - Your Homework Assignment #2
14. Getting Your Head Straight - Your Homework Assignment #3
15. Storytelling with Email - Using Emails for Storytelling 101
16. Storytelling with Email - It's All About Curiosity
17. Storytelling with Email - You, The Co-Star Formula
18. Storytelling with Email - You, The Star Formula
19. Storytelling with Email - The Story of Facts Formula
20. Storytelling with Email - Download The Email Templates Here
21. Storytelling for Content - The Left Turn - Storytelling for Content 101
22. Storytelling for Content - The How I Formula
23. Storytelling for Content - Infographics
24. Storytelling for Content - Promoting Story Content
25. Storytelling for Content - Your Homework - The About Us Page
26. Storytelling for Content - Download Story Content Examples Shown In The Lessons Here
27. Storytelling for Video - The Storytelling Video Dilemma
28. Storytelling for Video - Pithify
29. Storytelling for Video - The Two Young Men Formula
30. Storytelling for Video - The Personal Reveal Formula
31. Storytelling for Video - The After and Before Formula
32. Storytelling for Video - Download The Video Story Templates Here
33. Storytelling for Sales Pages - You Already Know What To Do
34. Storytelling for Sales Pages - Here's What Not To Do
35. Storytelling for Sales Pages - Story Chunks
36. Storytelling for Sales Pages - The Safest (and easiest) Bet
37. The Story For All Option
I hope this helps someone!
-Rich
Thank you for all the detail. I’m finding Seth Godin’s “This is Marketing” is shifting my thinking.
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Based on all the recommendations in this thread, I bought Cashvertising last month (JAN 2019), and it is rock solid foundational stuff to know if you are in this AM biz!!!
Buy these and read them now! Most copywriting books tell you how things work but you rarely learn why they work. Starting from the why, especially once you've been through a gajillion copywriting books, will just open your eyes and everything's going to make perfect sense.
These 2 books directly impacted and improved my copywriting and sales approaches even though I'm only halfway through the second one.
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman - this one you should take your time with and read it slowly, then read it again. Forget speed reading.
https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast...gateway&sr=8-1
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on it by Chriss Voss and Tahl Razz - take your time with this one too.
https://www.amazon.com/Never-Split-D...ext=VOSS%2FRAZ
I also read the following books, most of which I recommend.
- Problem Solving 101 - must read!
- Strategy Plain and Simple - eeh, if you've been running a business and if you have been in the trenches you know most of this stuff, but you can still get something out of it.
- The Practicing Mind - Revealing, written in a simple manner, no fluff and no complex psychology. Improved my life.
- Super Villains of Persuasion - It's Ben Settle and it's a very short book, this one's about what you can extract from it. A lot of metaphors and analogies/storytelling.
- The Millionaire Fastlane - Good advice and we already know most of it, but I found this one to be forgettable.
- Thinking in Systems - Quite complex, but fantastic advice.
- Scientific Advertising - Honestly, not a fan at all. The Copywriting Adweek has become my favourite copywriting book by far, read that instead.
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Awesome! Read it!
- Creative Mischief - As with every book you read there's always something you can learn, I got a lot out of this one but I wouldn't recommend it. More of a personal boast and storytelling if anything else.
- How to Win Friends & Influence People - If you haven't read it yet, you owe it to yourself.
- The Happiness Advantage - Good stuff, and it does help. Though not that memorable of a book.
- Influence The Psychology of Persuasion - Must read! It's gonna help you connect all the psychology/copywriting dots.
- How Not to be Wrong, the Hidden Maths of Everyday Life - Heavy read, but worth it. Complex.
- Words that Sell - Not really a book, more of a copywriting dictionary. Useful to have.
- Ben Settle's Big Book of Business - It really is a "big" book, but it's actually a ton of mini "books" or rather blog posts. There is a lot of useful info but you'll have to tame your anger once you see how this thing is put together.
- Brain Bugs How the Brain's Flaws Shape Our Lives - This is a fine "addon" to Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow. Very basic and you probably know most of this stuff, but refreshing.
- The Boron Letters - No need to comment, must read.
- Triggers, Triggers, Triggers - Basically Copywriting Adweek, shortened. Don't buy if you have Copywriting Adweek.
Still a long way to go and I keep adding books to my reading list, going to report back in some time with more findings.
Dusan Djukich - Straight-Line Leadership
Not directly related to internet marketing but Principles by Ray Dalio is the number 1 business book I have read in my entire life. Insights from the book can be applied to pretty much any industry.
Gary's Bullets. (you can find it free online)
And I've got quite a few more on the list
I am currently reading Shoe Dog and I am loving it!
Here is more info on it:
https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Shoe-Dog
What are you guys reading these days?
Looking for some suggestions for stuff to read over the Christmas holidays.
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