5 Best Professional Business Books
Posted by jonpape | Filed under Business
I’ve been thinking recently about the five books that have helped me the most professionally. These books are sort of hard to classify under a single category but all of these books will broaden your outlook and breakdown operational silos that abstract the connections that exist between different business units.
- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
The best analogy I can think of would be a description of Pixar University I read about. At Pixar University, accountants, chefs, and any one who works at Pixar are encouraged to take drawing classes. When questioned about the appropriateness of teaching accountants to draw, the head of Pixar University answered, “Why teach drawing to accountants? Because drawing class doesn’t just teach people to draw. It teaches them to be more observant. There’s no company on earth that wouldn’t benefit from having people become more observant.”
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
by Dan Ariely
This behavioral economics book offers a wide variety of experiments and explanations about why people act the way they do and more importantly, how to recognize subtle marketing tactics in everyday life.
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
by David Allen
The simple premise of this amazing book is that if you can close the endless thought loops in your mind then you will get more done by not over thinking (or maybe better put, redundant thinking).
Three simple steps:
- One “inbox” with all the tasks/emails/projects that you need to analyze or want to remember.
- Categorize the information, determine what you need to do to complete it, schedule it.
- Forget about it.
A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future
by Daniel H. Pink
A broad base of ideas to help people become better problem solvers and thinkers. Encourages better communication and better ways to communicate. Explains why creativity can be beneficial to all professionals.
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
by Chip Heath & Dan Heath
If you have to give a speech, give a presentation, write a paper, write ad copy, COMMUNICATE, read this book. The principles and conclusions in this book make presenting ideas (that will be remembered) straight-forward and easy.
Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers
by Seth Godin
Seth Godin is a marketing genius. This book is widely accepted as how marketing should be done in the 20th century. People don’t want to be sold to. But people want information about products and companies they are already interested in. This book tells businesses, step-by-step, how to build relationships with customers online, as well as, in real life.
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Tags: Books, Business, Marketing
Merchants with Dynamic Content based on Search Results
Posted by jonpape | Filed under Internet Marketing
Personalization is a powerful tool to increase user interest, stickiness, and visitor interaction with a web site.
- Image by Ninha Morandini via Flickr
Without being logged into any of the websites visited, we decided to test what websites would alter their front page content depending on a search term. The terms we used were “mens tungsten rings”, “maytag washer”, and “blu-ray player”.
We made sure to leave the site after the search was made. We did not close the browser.
Only two of the fifteen sites visited dynamically changed their homepage content based on our searches.
| Retailer | Dynamic Content |
| Amazon | Yes |
| Best Buy | No |
| Costco | No |
| Ebay | Yes |
| HomeDepot | No |
| JCP | No |
| Kmart | No |
| Kohls | No |
| Macys | No |
| Meijer | No |
| Overstock | No |
| QVC | No |
| Sears | No |
| Target | No |
| Walmart | No |
Below are the altered web pages. Both pages responded to searches for the term “mens tungsten rings”.
Amazon Homepage
Amazon included content for the searched term above the fold right below their primary offer. The content included three products and the verbiage “Customers with Similar Searches Purchased”.
EBay Homepage
Ebay also featured dynamic content on the left hand side above the fold. The content included three product examples, the search term “mens tungsten rings”, and the title “Cool Stuff for You”.
I was surprised more retailers didn’t offer personalization of content on their homepage. I know a few offer dynamic content based on if the consumer is logged in or based on past purchases. Expect to see more dynamic content in the future.
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Tags: On the Web, Personalization, Shopping
