SCL Biz: Everything Business in Sonoma County

“Leverage today’s Internet marketing strategies to reach customers, increase sales, and establish performance-based marketing in your organization. Search Engine Marketing explains how to use Web analytics, key performance indicators (KPIs), search engine optimization (SEO), and search marketing-the critical tools for success. Multichannel marketing, which uses radio, TV, and print to broadcast your message, is also covered. The book includes revealing interviews with industry experts as well as valuable tips on vendor selection. Implement an effective, integrated marketing program for your business with help from this definitive guide. Track and measure both digital and traditional marketing with analytics Define and use KPIs to manage campaigns and channels for maximum profitability Employ SEO strategies to increase leads, conversions, and sales Understand how website architecture, keywords, tags, and sitemaps affect search results Use PPC to place ads in search engines, radio, TV, and newspapers Get hands-on strategies for maximizing Google Analytics and Google AdWords”

Search Engine Marketing, by Andreas Ramos and Stephanie Cota [McGraw-Hill, 2009]

“It has often been said that, “You can run your business by the seat of your pants–but you will probably end up with torn pants.”  One of the principal reasons for business failure is the lack of an adequate business plan.  In today’s world, both small and large businesses have come to understand that they need to take the time to evaluate their business potential and map a plan for the future.  It is also understood that lenders and investors no longer risk their money on a business unless they have good reason to think that it will be successful (i.e., profitable).”  Includes four sample business plans.

Anatomy of a Business Plan: A Step-by-step Guide to Building the Business and Securing Your Company’s Future, by Linda Pinson [OM.IM, 2008]

“Compiling years of research, including interviews with Gen Yers (those born between 1978 and 1990) and the organizations that manage them, Tulgan (Managing Generation X) crafts insightful lessons on how to manage the newest generation to enter the workforce. With extensive quotes from members of Gen Y and their more experienced managers, Tulgan successfully dispels popular myths (e.g., that managers of Gen Y staff need to present their work as fun) and offers practical advice for recruiting, retaining, and managing this new crop of young workers.

While conceding that Gen Yers are more high maintenance than their predecessors, Tulgan also argues that these new recruits have the potential to be the most highly productive generation in history. The author’s assessment is far from sugarcoated; he describes Generation Y as “Generation X on fast-forward and with self-esteem on steroids” and dissects a diverse range of case studies to help managers overcome possible Gen Y obstacles. This book will serve as an effective tool for both veteran managers and self-evaluating Gen Yers. ” LJ , 1/09

Not Everyone Gets a Trophy: How to Manage Generation Y, by Bruce Tulgan [Jossey-Bass, 2009]

Green IT: Reduce Your Information System’s Environnmental Impact While Adding to the Bottom Line, by Toby and Anthony Velte and Robert Elsenpeter [McGraw Hill 2008], “offers a complete road map for integrating environmentally sound techniques and technologies into your Information Systems architecture and explains how to adopt a business-driven green initiative and provides a detailed implementation plan.

You will find strategies for reducing power needs, procuring energy from alternative sources, utilizing virtualization technologies, and managing sustainable development. Case studies highlighting successful green IT projects at major organizations are included. Keep your IT department and your organization in the green–both environmentally and financially–with help from this comprehensive guide.”

Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques, by Michael Michalko [Ten Speed Press, 2006], “will teach you how to generate new ideas for businesses, markets, sales techniques, and products and product extensions. Packed with fun and practical tools and exercises, it outlines 30 practical linear and intuitive techniques that can be used by individuals or groups to tackle and solve business problems in fresh, creative ways.

An updated edition of the best-selling business creativity book, with more than 30 brainstorming techniques and hundreds of creative-thinking tips and tricks. Revision includes new techniques, examples, and sections on group brainstorming and endgames.”

“Webber, entrepreneur and columnist, offers advice and inspiration with 52 practical lessons gleaned from more than 40 years of working with extraordinary leaders in a variety of endeavors. He sets out to help today’s professional men and women stay focused, productive, and inspired even in our most turbulent times of change relating to globalization, technology, and the knowledge economy.

The author kept records of his experiences and describes them along with the lessons he learned, showing us how these lessons can be applied to our business or personal life. His rules? When the going gets tough, the tough relax; don’t implement solutions, prevent problems; the difference between a crisis and an opportunity is when you learn about it; every start-up needs four things: change, connections, conversation, and community; entrepreneurs choose serendipity over efficiency; knowing it ain’t the same as doing it; and great leaders answer Tom Peters great question: How can I capture the world’s imagination? This excellent book offers valuable, thought-provoking ideas.” Booklist, April 2009.

Rules of Thumb: 52 Truths for Winning At Business Without Losing Your Self, by Alan M. Webber [Collins Business, 2009]

“It’s time to move beyond eBay and first-generation online selling and start Selling Online 2.0. Second generation online selling means migrating from eBay to other online marketplaces, including craigslist, Amazon, and your own e-commerce website. You’ll need to make some new plans, learn some new skills, and change some of the things you do–but you’ll find that there’s more money to be made on your own than relying on traditional eBay online auction sales. Put together a plan to maintain your sales level and profitability–to counteract eBay’s changes Discover how to shift from auction sales to fixed-priced listings on the eBay marketplace Find out if running an eBay Store or selling on Half.com makes sense for your business Learn out how to sell locally on craigslist and other online classifieds sites Discover how to sell fixed-price merchandise on the Amazon marketplace Find out how to launch your own e-commerce website–and promote your online store Learn how to sell products across multiple channels–and manage multichannel conflicts”

Selling Online 2.0: Migrating from eBay to Amazon, Craigslist, and Your Own E-Commerce Website, by Michael Miller [Que, 2009].

“In this book, nationally known business transformation agent Roxanne Emmerich teaches you a complete system for bringing more of both to your business: more fun, and more money. This book combines the human elements of a great business parable with an intensely focused and realistic system that has been proven in dozens of the Midwest’s most successful financial institutions–a system that repeatedly delivers major business performance improvements in just months. In the great tradition of Ken Blanchard, Emmerich introduces you to two CEOs: one desperately struggling to stay afloat and another who’s discovered a better, more fulfilling route to growth and profitability.”

Thank God It’s Monday!: How to Create a Workplace You and Your Customers Love, By Roxanne Emmerich [FT Press, 2009]

Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time, by Joel Comm, with Ken Burge [Wiley, 2009].

“In Twitter Power, Internet marketing and Web innovation expert Joel Comm shows businesses and marketers how to integrate Twitter into their existing marketing strategies to build a loyal following among Twitter members, expand awareness for their product or service, and even handle negative publicity due to angry or disappointed consumers. The book also presents case studies of companies on the forefront of the Twitter movement, to help you develop your own social networking strategies. Twitter Power is the result of extensive testing and participation in the social networking community and is a must-have for any business that wants to keep up with the social media movement. Twitter Power features a foreword by Tony Robbins.”

“Tancer presents a testimony to the trove of data available on Internet user behavior and how that behavior can help businesses target consumer trends. Businesspeople and students will find this an engrossing exploration of our culture, and lay readers will appreciate its readability in contrast to scholarly textbooks previously published on the topic. In Part 1, Tancer, general manager of global research at Hitwise and author of the weekly column “The Science of Search” on Time.com, takes readers on a captivating trip through search data that he has discovered over the years, including the science of prom-dress searching, New Year’s resolutions, and adult entertainment. Part 2 is a primer on the applications of Internet behavior data to find out the way we live our lives in a rapidly evolving and connected world. The influence of Facebook and Myspace on consumer decisions is particularly intriguing. Interspersed throughout are insightful and entertaining charts and graphs.” LJ 2008

Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why It Matters, by Bill Tancer [Hyperion, 2008].

Quickbooks has long been the electronic accounting choice of small businesses and, Quickbooks 2009: Solutions Guide for Business Owners and Accountants, by Laura Madeira [Que, 2009], helps the intermediate to advanced user make the most of  “every facet of QuickBooks accounting: data files, banking, A/R, undeposited funds, employee advances, inventory, A/P, sales tax, payroll, reporting, sharing data with accountants, and much more. ”

Check our catalog for all of our books that will male you a Quickbooks expert.

Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word-of-Mouth Marketing, by Lois Kelly [Amacom, 2007]. “Selected as one of Library Journal’s Best Business Books for 2007
Tied for the Gold Medal in the first annual Axiom Business Awards, sponsored by Inc. Magazine.
It’s official: the old marketing model is dead, and word of mouth is king. But while a lot of attention has been paid to the mechanics of creating buzz, only the savviest of marketers have learned to focus on crafting the right kind of message — because without it, even the loudest buzz will soon die down. Beyond Buzz shows readers how to listen to customers, identify what is important to them, and then craft the kind of message that will truly resonate and spark conversation.

Filled with insightful examples of conversational marketing at work, Beyond Buzz gives readers the tools and inspiration they need to create an effective and interesting conversational theme that will engage their customers and take their marketing to a whole new level.

Without the right message in place, word of mouth marketing will never live up to its promise. This innovative and practical book shows readers how to ignite people’s interest…and generate much more than buzz.”

Visit the SCL Biz Guide to Growing A Business  for more on advertising, marketing, and public relations.