We were excited to see Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson’s Rework. In it they share some of their iconoclastic, iterative, and wholehearted approach to doing business.

The book reflects their clean design sensibility, with pages of drawings interspersed with quick blog-post-like narrative snippets. It is a quick read, but worth contemplating. I’ll summarize the book by sharing some of the subtopics titles within a few key chapters.

Given my day job as a project manager, I particularly value their approach to creative productivity. They’re minimalists. They advocate reducing interruptions “interruption is the enemy of productivity” and reducing time in meetings “meetings are toxic”. Why? Because “inspiration is perishable.” So you have to get the dross out of the way to be able to act.

Other recommendations they emphasize quick iterations “good enough is fine”, “quick wins”, and “make tiny decisions”, and being realistic about your human-ness “go to sleep”, “long lists don’t get done”, and “don’t be a hero”.

Want some quick inspiration? Go get Rework!

Pure Visibility is looking for a curious, enthusiastic Internet search analyst that believes in a bright future with our growing team! The ideal candidate will have experience in creating and implementing visionary strategies in B2B and B2C environments.

With a strong backbone for business analysis this individual will be able to map client’s business goals to an Internet marketing strategy that turns the clients site into an online sales engine. Speaking fluently in margins, profit, and ROI this analyst will tell stories that clients understand. This team member will have the ability to see the big picture while developing, launching, managing and optimizing paid search, organic visibility, and social media campaigns for clients across multiple search engines. This position has a high level of client exposure ranging from providing timely and insightful analysis and reporting of online activities to conducting coaching sessions and training classes with clients.

Interested individuals should submit their resume and cover letter by July 16, 2010 to jobs@purevisibility.com.

We created a Pure Visibility Bookshelf (Amazon Associates Link) to share the books we use and often recommend. We’re voracious readers so the list will surely grow – this “starter” list represents some of our all time favorites and current reads.

On Entrepreneurship
MASTERING THE ROCKEFELLER HABITS: This book is our handbook for being – we follow the one page plan, hold quarterly meetings, daily standups, etc. This is the closest thing to a how-to manual for business we’ve seen.

SMALL GIANTS: If you believe that business has a higher purpose than just making money, this book is for you. Bo does a great job of presenting his research on really neat companies and the common threads that make them Small Giants.

THE KNACK: I wish I’d had this book starting out in business. You, too, can have the knack and Bo and Norm are great teachers to learn it from!

THE E-MYTH: Perhaps “the” classic for any new entrepreneur growing from a team of 1 to 1+. This book created the mantra “Work ON the business, not just IN the business.”

GOOD TO GREAT: Jim Collins has done an amazing amount of research on successful businesses (publicly held ones, because there’s more data accessible to analyze) and found some incredible similarities. You’ll hear the phrases he’s coined in Rockefeller Habits and elsewhere such as the “Hedgehog concept” and “Get the right people on the bus”.

Corporate Culture
STRENGTHS FINDER: Way more than a book, this includes an online survey that provides an assessment of strengths. Once you’ve completed the survey you’ll get tips for supporting those strengths personally, as teammates, and as leaders. Buy this for your whole team. (We did!)

DELIVERING HAPPINESS: This book by Zappo’s CEO makes a nice complement to Small Giants, focusing on how creating a happy corporate culture leads to happy clients and a happy bottom line.

REWORK: The focus of the founders of 37Signals on keeping things simple is refreshing. Even the book is simple – you can polish it off in an afternoon. (We also love their project management tool, Basecamp.)

GUIDE TO GIVING GREAT SERVICE: Zingerman’s wrote the book on great service – both figuratively and literally. Personally, I’d recommend checking out their service (and the food) first hand. And while you’re in Ann Arbor, stop by and say hi!

DRIVE: Daniel Pink’s research flies in the face of conventional wisdom about carrots and sticks, making this a must read. (And if you’ve got a teenager at home, this book will prove to be priceless.)

Selling Online
TRUST AGENTS: Chris’s book is the most comprehensive primer I’ve seen on what makes online marketing “tick”. The focus is largely on social media, but it’ll get you on the right track.

PREDICTABLY IRRATIONAL: This book wasn’t written to be about selling online, but the message couldn’t be more relevant. Understanding buying behavior is critical to selling online. As someone once explained to me, if consumers strictly chose rationally, no one would carry American Express (higher fees, used in fewer places, etc.) This book puts research you can use behind why we make those choices.

Getting Visible
SEARCH ENGINE INC: To sell anything online, you’ve first got to get in front of the right people. This 400 page book is the most comprehensive reference to the mechanics of search engine marketing you’ll find.

SEARCH ENGINE VISIBILITY: Back in the day when we were answering questions at networking meetings like “What’s a Google”? Shari wrote what must have been one of the first books on search engine marketing. This 2nd edition of her original is still a good primer on visibility.

WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION: This book bridges a lot of categories, with about half of it dedicated to making your site visible. We’re a bit biased about the quality of this book, given that we contributed the two chapters on paid search. That said, if you’re just getting started we’d recommend the books above first – this is definitely a technical read.

Websites That Work
DON’T MAKE ME THINK: This classic came out when I was designing my first websites, and the general principles in it remain just as true today. Generally speaking, the simpler it is to make a transaction on your site (e-commerce or otherwise) the more results you’ll generate from your site.

WEB ANALYTICS 2.0: If Avinash writes it – read it. He believes passionately in the power of data to transform marketing – as we do! The bulk of our work these days is collecting data and making the case for site changes that ultimately help users and drive bottom line results. It’s a big, huge deal and most of your competitors aren’t paying attention to these kinds of details. THIS is how you create competitive advantage in today’s online world.

And that’s the perfect book to close out this initial list with, given that it captures the essence of what we love about online marketing!

P.S. In full disclosure: If you purchase any of these books through our store, the bookworms among us thank you – you’ll be fueling our reading and book sharing fund. Thanks!

At Pure Visibility we think that our company is a pretty awesome place to work. We have quarterly team building volunteer events, an awesome lounge for relaxing or playing Wii on break time. Catherine and Linda, our Co-Founders, are enthusiastic, passionate and always inspiring us to be the best. Last week Catherine and Linda attended the Michigan 50 Companies to Watch awards ceremony celebrating second-stage entrepreneurs in Lansing, Michigan. It’s pretty cool to see that other organizations recognize how great Pure Visibility is! Goooo Team!

Linda & Catherine with their Award

Ann Arbor is abuzz with talk of A2 Fiber. I first heard about A2 Fiber when Facebook suggested I become a fan of the A2 Fiber Facebook page. I wondered what this was and why all my friends were “fanning” it. Google Fiber is a plan to create an ultra-high speed broadband network in a number of carefully selected communities across the United States. This broadband network promises to deliver data at 1 gigabit per second; almost 100 times faster than the average American’s current cable or DSL provider connection. While at work I am extremely connected through Pure Visibility but away from the office I rely on coffee shops, the library and other hotspots for my internet because I find the monthly rates to be too high – Google Fiber might be able to change all this . . .

Ann Arbor is extremely enthusiastic about being included in this Google Fiber experiment. The University of Michigan and the City of Ann Arbor have partnered to fill out Google’s request for information. Ann Arbor would be the perfect place for Google to run one of their Fiber networks. Google plans to “offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people” which will make a huge impact to these individuals but the greater long-term impacts are huge.

By offering “affordable” internet they’ll break up the current monopoly large providers have over certain geographic areas. It’s not a good thing if there is only one broadband provider. The network of fiber could be opened to other providers giving small local companies the option of offering their own services at affordable rates. Google’s “competitive” pricing for their Fiber network would be significantly lower than what most Ann Arborites are paying and the quality of the connection would be far faster.

The 2010 Winter Olympics are underway and my own home television glows each night with these fantastic displays of human strength and achievement. Tonight, I find my mind unable to avoid a cross over of thoughts between the day to day (specifically, my job as a relationship manager for an internet marketing company) and the Olympian marvels that I am viewing. This particular evening I find myself comparing the sport of curling to SEO. I mean, think about it. It shouldn’t be that far of a stretch to equate SEO to a sport.

Let’s look at this in the most simplistic way. Let’s say you are the head of marketing (maybe a CMO or a director). That makes you the thrower in the game of curling. As the head of marketing, you have the obvious goal of achieving more conversions. In the sport of curling, this would be like getting the most points. In general, with SEO, the idea is that you can increase your conversions by being higher on the search results; being on the first page and being higher in the list. With curling, you receive more points by first getting stones in the ‘house’ (the target) and then these points can be higher if you are closer to the ‘button’ (the center of the target) than your opponent. Now what really struck me as being much like an SEO effort is the well thought out strategy and active play of the stone on route to the target. The thrower is a part of a team and the team consists of two other people who are actively engaged with the stone, listening to the thrower and responding accordingly. They adjust the ice as needed and thus the path of the stone as it works it’s way toward its resting spot. This struck me as being much like our SEO engagements. Each day, we are actively maneuvering a client’s site toward the desired position within the search results. We listen to our client for feedback as we roll out a strategy. We determine the best approaches to navigate obstacles or knock the components out of the way. Basically, we are continuously engaged with our customers and their sites and we are continuously correcting as necessary to achieve optimal results; to get more conversions – to win! So if SEO is like Olympic Curling, I can’t wait for our gold medals!

I found writing my first blog entry an angst-filled experience. Blogging for me is like eating green vegetables. It’s not that I don’t understand the benefits of green vegetables to my health or haven’t heard the positive impacts of blogging. But simply being informed of the benefits does not make the activity any easier or motivate me to do it more.

As a child, I often had to sit at the dinner table until long after dinner was over. My wise mother made it her mission to get me to eat green vegetables, like peas. I had to sit at the table until my plate was clean. Being blessed (or cursed) with a sensitive palate and a strong will, I sat in defiance at the table, night after night, keeping the peas at bay.

I learned two things from my childhood green vegetable encounters that helped me to overcome the challenge of writing my first blog entry.

• Focus on something you enjoy. Faced with a plate full of peas, I found if I took a drink of lemonade, something I enjoy tasting, along with a spoonful of the dreaded peas, I could chase the peas down faster and easier than just eating peas alone. So to make that first blog writing experience easier, I chose my vacation to Paris as the subject. I’ve always enjoyed traveling and as someone who used to work in the travel industry, find travel easy to talk about.
• Don’t wait, just do it. Spending more time thinking about how awful the peas will taste, won’t make them taste any better when you finally get around to eating them. In fact, waiting will likely make your anxiety worse! Have you ever eaten cold peas?

So, get writing that first blog entry. If you need some inspiration, take a vacation!

Interested in learning the ins and outs of Google Analytics? Then our Google Analytics course is the place for you. This class translates Analytics to help you achieve your business goals.

Course Overview

Google Analytics is free to all advertisers and site owners, and has been re-designed for increased effectiveness. Installing Analytics code on your site is only the first step in the process of making this powerful tool work for your organization.

Regardless of familiarity with their website goals, users are faced with the same questions:

• How do I know what Analytics reports and features to use?
• How can I measure success for my site?
• What metrics are most important, and what do they really mean?
• Do I know the latest techniques for leveraging these metrics to increase my site’s traffic and sales?
• How do I get the most out of my limited management time while still getting the most out of my account?

Our course, on Friday February 19th, is an all-day workshop that provides a foundation of proven principles that will help you succeed in using Google Analytics to improve your site’s performance. Regardless of whether you’re a beginner just setting up your account, or a web analyst with years of experience this class will help you optimize your site.

Course Highlights

You will learn how to:

• Translate Analytics metrics and reports for real success on your site
• Find out who your best customers are
• Narrow in on which of your marketing channels are not working
• Maximize leads or sales through focus on landing pages
• Track your goals the RIGHT way
• Efficiently manage an account
• Learn how to apply your skills to all web analytic tools
• Hands-on experience using proven methods to analyze your own Analytics account

Who: Anyone who is currently using Google Analytics or interested in learning more about it.

When: Friday, February 19th 9:00 – 4:00 (lunch break from Noon – 1:30)

Where: Pure Visibility offices, 201 S. Main St., 5th Floor, Ann Arbor, MI 48104

Prerequisites: Attendees must have a Google Analytics account and a laptop computer

Cost: $695 per person if you book today.

Click here to register

I recently wrote a blog post asking if your business is using Twitter effectively. Today I’d like to tackle the topic of corporate Facebook accounts. Coca-Cola was recognized by Slate magazine as the number one Big Money Facebook account. What’s unique about their page is it was created by a fan; theirs is an authentic page made by two Coke aficionados.

The importance of authenticity within Social Media must be stressed here. These Coke enthusiasts wanted to “fan” their favorite soda-pop on Facebook but couldn’t find an official page so they created one. Once corporate got wind of this they did the right thing; they embraced the page, made it official and added all sorts of advanced applications. As of January 15th they have 4,142,073 fans. Wow.

Now I’ll move to an unsuccessful, unauthentic Facebook page that turned a corner . . .

Walmart’s official Facebook page started out with few posts and even less fans. Their “fans” often left disparaging comments and even questioned why the page existed.

Since then Walmart has taken a page from their peers and warmed up to Facebook by using their site to promote discounts and foster positive comments from their fans. Over the holidays they added applications linking to Black Friday specials, online deals and they even launched a charity-related application.

Twitter can be a powerful tool for corporations. Marketing possibilities through Twitter feeds are endless; Dell and Amazon MP3 use their Tweets to promote special deals not offered anywhere else. The NBA, on the other hand, keeps their followers apprised of breaking score updates, such as tie games with minutes left. Etsy, the craft-dealer, notifies artists of cool new craft stores in their area and has scavenger hunt giveaways. These companies are among The Big Money Twitter 12, a list of twelve companies recognized by Slate magazine as using Twitter most efficiently.

The similarities these corporations share is that their Tweets are all pertinent to their followers. They listen to what is being said about their brand or company. They give value to their followers whether it’s via discounts, news alert or helpful hints. Most importantly, they use their Twitter account as a place for open dialogue with their followers. It is imperative to remember to engage rather than just promote. Do you have a vote for an excellent Twitter feed?