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Click through each link below to get more info on these recommended selections. If you purchase the book, we receive a small service fee from Amazon at no cost to you.

Usability (Ease of Use)

Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

A wonderful introduction to the art of making websites work for users. Steve Krug lays out the issues in plain, non-technical language and provides great before/after samples.

Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity

Jakob Nielsen tells it straight. What to do, and what not to do, in web design. Includes both technical and non-technical areas of design, navigation, and content.

Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed

Jakob Nielsen and Marie Tahir examine 50 of the most popular homepages on the web. They document wrong-headed moves and detail improvement recommendations.

Web Site Usability: A Designer's Guide

Explains the results of usability tests conducted by the User Interface Engineering group. Debunks many website myths, but also makes it clear that all the answers are not yet known.

Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites

As websites get larger, the problems related to organizing the content so people can find what they are looking for grow exponentially. This book covers the territory from navigation to search and includes numerous real-world examples. 

Writing

The Online Copywriter's Handbook

Contains valuable instruction on writing anything online, including web pages, email, ads, and newsletters. Includes the 9 elements of persuasive online copy and adapting print copy to the web.

Net Words: Creating High-Impact Online Copy

Nick Usborne demonstrates how words make the sale in both the offline and online worlds. He provides good examples of how to write for different types of sites and different areas within a site, like confirmations and photo captions.

Words that Sell

Organized by categories like openings and closings, as well as topics such as "expert" or "improve," this book makes it easy to find stronger, more powerful words to get your point across on your web pages and other marketing materials. If this isn't enough, More Words that Sell and the Words that Sell Revised and Expanded Edition are also available.

Marketing

Call to Action - Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results

A series of excellent essays on a variety of topics related to website effectiveness, from the content of your homepage to how to write a thank-you email. The advice from the self-styled Wizards of Web is right on target.

e-Loyalty: How to Keep Customers Coming Back to Your Website

If you want to build a program to encourage repeat business, take a look at this book by Ellen Reid Smith. Discusses all facets of high-end customer relationship marketing.

Submit Now: Designing Persuasive Websites

Andrew Chak's book is full of ways to persuade your visitors to do what you want. Also discusses the four types of visitors to a site: Browsers, Evaluators, Transactors, and Customers and provides ideas to appeal to each.

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

A great book if you are interested in how people respond automatically to certain categories of marketing messages. Not a new book, and not written specifically for the web, still provides great ideas that can be applied to your site.

Search Engine Optimization

Maximize Web Site Traffic

Resource for anyone looking for legitimate ways to get a decent search engine ranking. Almost as important as "what to do" are the sections on "what not to do," because search engines actively penalize those who try to cheat the system by banning them from their listing.

Project and Content Management

Web ReDesign: Workflow that Works

While this book mentions "redesign" in the title, the great project management practices discussed in this book are equally applicable to initial website projects.

The Art of Project Management

Not specifically for website projects, but Scott Berkun does a great job in mixing the hard realities of leading any large IT project with advice from the trenches on how best to deal with the issues that arise.

Web Content Management: A Collaborative Approach

A co-founder of Interwoven, a Content Management software company, Russell Nakano delves into the content issues that surface with any website, from small to large. He talks about using structured processes to keep content providers, website developers, and management on the same page.

Website Development

Web Design in a Nutshell

Great book for anyone who wants to build their own website and get into the technical details. Tackles the vast array of web design and development topics with organization and clarity. Mine is bookmarked with places I refer to over and over.

Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide

If you want to create a website that is easy to maintain, you must use style sheets. This book gives you all the info and some great samples, but it's not for HTML beginners.

Note: If you're looking for technical books, you can't go wrong with a book, like several on this list, published by O'Reilly Press. They're the ones with the black and white pictures of animals on the cover.

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