Summer reading (and year-round blogs)

What to read when you put down those Stieg Larsson novels

It’s summer and I understand everywhere else in the United States, it’s hot.  In San Francisco, we’ve endured day after day of thick fog (during my run through Golden Gate Park the other day, I swear it was snowing) so I can only imagine what it’s like to lay in a backyard hammock reading great books (now, on my iPad) while sipping ice cold lemonade.

Recently, I was at a meeting where the group I was addressing asked what blogs and Web sites I regularly read to stay on top of trends in search and social marketing.  It occurred to me that it might be fun to list them in this column, together with some great career-oriented reading.

First, a little plug for Vator.tv.  This site is growing in importance every day and if you're an entrepreneur or looking to grow a business, Vator is a daily must-read. 

Every morning, when I fire up my laptop upon arriving at work, I first read the newsletters from MediaPost.  I subscribe to Media Daily News, Search Marketing Daily, Social Media & Marketing Daily, and Mobile Marketing Daily – each of which is a delivered via email.  I like these because MediaPost does a great job of leveraging my peers and the investigative reporting of its bloggers to keep me abreast of breaking and trending news in my industry. (I’m also a regular columnist for Search Marketing Daily, so there’s that, too.)

In the realm of general marketing and advertising, I’m a huge fan of 5BlogsBeforeLunch by David Ibsen.  He does a great job rounding up the big news of the day and bringing his own insightful (and often wryly funny) point of view.  I also love the Marketing Pilgrim by Andy Beal, which is more generally focused on search and social marketing, but increasingly includes news from across the marketing industry.  I also regularly read The New York Times Media & Advertising section and the daily blog posts in AdAge Digital.  Finally, I regularly read the Forrester Marketing & Strategy Blog.

In the world of search marketing, I read what you might expect: Search Engine Land (Danny Sullivan is still the top dog in all things search, in my opinion); Search Engine Watch; Matt Cutts’ Blog; the AdCenter Search Blog; the Y! Search Blog; and the Google’s Inside AdWords Blog.

If you’re on the geeky side (or are finally ready to show some ROI on your marketing programs), read the blog Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik, which focuses on Web analytics.  While you’re at it, read his book “Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability & Science of Customer Centricity.”

In terms of more general Web 2.0 stuff, I still love Seth Godin’s missives.  His newish book is a great read if you haven’t read it already (“Linchpin” available here.)  Amber Naslund, in addition to being the Director of Community at Radian6, is a terrific blogger and has one of the better Twitter handles in the biz: @ambercadabra.  (If you’re looking for another good Twitter handle to follow, check out Jeremiah Owyang.)  Also, I still read John Battelle’s blog, which I started reading years ago while I was at Technorati (it’s served me well!)  And 37 Signals’ Signal vs. Noise Blog is educational (and very often entertaining.)  Finally, I really like Brian Solis’s informative and thought-provoking blog.  He’s also got a new book out called “Engage!”, which I really encourage you to read.

Another book worth picking up for a summertime read (once you’ve burned through all those red-hot Stieg Larsson novels) is Charlene Li’s new book “Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead”.  Also, you should pre-order the book by my MediaPost colleague, Aaron Goldman (“Everything I Know About Marketing I Learned from Google”), which comes out in August.

A reader of mine over at MediaPost just recommended “The Big Short” by Michael Lewis (he was featured on NPR, “60 Minutes” on CBS and reviewed in The New York Times.  I’m not too sure how dissecting the stock market machinations leading to the Great Recession will go with a hammock and a an ice-cold lemonaid, but nothing ventured…  I hope you’re having a great summer!