Forget about what Oprah’s recommending. Put away the latest from Philip Roth and that potboiler from James Patterson. It’s summertime and what’s really sizzling is online marketing. So, now’s the time to catch up on your reading about a variety of hot topics including affiliate marketing, performance marketing, online advertising, search optimization and more. And there’s no shortage of choices. Heck, there are currently more than 200 books for sale on Amazon with the word Google in the title. Here are some books that sound like great reading for the beach, the vacation home or the patio. Don’t forget the sunblock.

Buzz Marketing with Blogs for Dummies

Susannah Gardner (For Dummies) | 360 pages | $24.99

Another entry in the popular and wildly useful “for dummies” series, this one’s specifically on how to get blogs to do the buzz marketing for you. As we all know by now blogs have become an essential part of selling on the Web and this volume helps you get your head around the blog space – such as what a blog is going to do for your product, how it can change the way people think of your product and how the exchange of ideas that is essential to blogging can help you sell.

Newbies also get a pretty good tutorial on blogs – how to set them up, maintain them and what you should say on them. The book also covers, to a lesser degree, the legal issues, design for a better- looking blog and how to get your blog noticed.

Farce to Force:
Building Pro E-Commerce Strategies

Sarah McCue (South-Western Educational Pub) | 240 pages | $27.95

Need an e-commerce strategy? McCue walks you through the best ways to formulate a strategy and even gives you some useful templates to overlay your business model on. She outlines marketing techniques that work well and how to build programs from the ground up. Although the title is a little jokey, the author is well-versed in online marketing.

Go BIG or Go HOME

Wil Schroter (Go BIG Media) | 276 pages | $24.95

Serial entrepreneur Schroter takes a look behind the veil at companies such as Google, Skype and PayPal. He examines what these companies are doing right and what they haven’t done. Having launched nine start-ups makes him a kind of perfect spokesperson for entrepreneurship. He is currently CEO of SwapAlease.com, an auto-leasing marketplace. The companies he started include Blue Diesel, an interactive marketing agency; Kelltech Internet Services, a technology consultancy; and Atomica, a nonprofit arts organization.

Google Advertising Tools:
Cashing in with AdSense, AdWords, and the Google APIs

Harold Davis (O’Reilly Media, Inc.) | 366 Pages | $29.99

Like “Winning Results with Google AdWords” this O’Reilly book takes a stab at making sense (and dollars) from Google’s AdWords. Davis talks about the different associate programs in addition to Google, which provides great context. Topics include how to read AdSense metrics, managing AdWords campaigns, as well as hints on optimization.

Google’s PageRank and Beyond:
The Science of Search Engine Rankings

Amy N. Langville, Carl D. Meyer (Princeton University Press) | 234 pages | $35

This provides a different take on the search dilemma by answering the questions about what goes on behind the Google curtain. This book won’t tell you how to optimize or raise your rankings but will tell you the technical aspects of search. This can be valuable to the geek in us all. The author covers: How do those other Web pages that don’t have your name in them always appear at the top? What creates these powerful rankings?

The reason this book is even on this list is that the early chapters are very accessible and it is only in the later chapters that the hard, mathematical, geeky stuff is discussed. Even so, the authors say there is something for the hardcore audience and the casual one.

Internet Marketing and e-Commerce

Ward Hanson (South-Western College Pub) | 496 pages | $113.95

Even though this is written by an academic, expect ?reworks. “Rigor instead of hype” is how the book wants to be known, illustrating practices that leading companies use, showing how research results can be used to support conclusions and, of course, pointing out the unique qualities of online marketing.

No one is shortchanged here. Hanson looks at Internet marketing from the point of view of large and small business and online startups. It’s a great study in the balance of power that is even now continuing to shift in retail markets as the Web gets more powerful.

The Irresistible Offer:
How to Sell Your Product or Service in 3 Seconds or Less

Mark Joyner (Wiley) | 240 pages | $21.95

Using examples of companies such as FedEx, Columbia House Records and Domino’s Pizza, Joyner explains how to create an “irresistible offer.” As the former CEO of Aesop Marketing Corp., he has seen what kind of marketing works from the trenches. He uses real case studies to make it easy to apply it to your own business. The book is a kind of how-to that shows you how to manipulate your offer so that customers find it more attractive.

Maximum Marketing, Minimum Dollars: The Top 50 Ways to Grow Your Small Business

Kim T. Gordon (Kaplan Business) | 240 pages | $18.95

While not specifically about Internet marketing, any small-business owner can learn from someone on staff at Entrepreneur magazine. Among Gordon’s advice is how to stay on budget but still use expensive-looking marketing; how to tell which niches are right for you; and how to use technology (email lists, websites, etc.) and traditional marketing venues (trade papers, radio, TV, etc.).

Online Marketing that Works!

Catherine Seda (McGraw-Hill) | 256 pages | $21.95

This book hits the shelves on August 1, 2006 and exuberantly wants to introduce you to “cutting- edge Internet technologies” that mean low-cost, high-performance marketing opportunities for ventures of any size. Seda points out the effective online marketing strategies and shows how to get results for little or no cost. Seda has her own marketing consulting firm and is also the author of Search Engine Advertising

Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Marketing Handbook: Low Cost Strategies to Attracting New Customers
Using Google, Yahoo & Other Search Engines

Boris Mordkovich, Eugene Mordkovich (Lulu Press) | 196 pages | $22.95

The mouthful of a title pretty much says it all. This book attempts to crack open the genie’s bottle on getting new customers through search, and illustrates just how it can be done at a cost of only pennies to you. Along the way the book outlines basic concepts, like how pay-per-click works and why it is effective. It also has some advice on how to design a campaign, how to determine what works and how to maximize your return on investment. It also tells you about must-do’s such as get- ting listed on thousands of websites without paying a penny, targeting a specific local area through search engines and how to prevent click fraud.

The book also offers reviews of over 20 search engines, and includes tips on how to get the most out of each one. Experts in the industry also weigh in with their advice on how you can improve your search engine advertising efforts.

Put Your Business Online: How to create and promote a successful, low-cost Website

Al Kernek (Lulu Press) | 172 pages | $19.95

This book is truly for the newbie who wants to get all the nuts and bolts in one place. What you get is everything you need to know in
a step-by-step structure designed to leave you at the end of the day
with “a low-cost website and some affordable traffic generators that target your specific audience.” This book is written in very straightforward language and is not overloaded with “tech talk.” The “real world” tips and information can also help those who already have a Web presence.

High Performance Affiliate Marketing

by Jeremy Palmer | $49.95

This e-book is unique because the author – a 2005 Commission Junction Horizon Award Winner – updates it constantly. He covers how to find profitable products and services to promote; strategies for keywords; rankings secrets; and how to spend less money for the most traffic. In addition to the e-book, you get access to an exclusive members’ area with original content. He says all over the website that he made more than $1 million in commissions last year, so he must be doing something right.

search analytics: A Guide to Analyzing and Optimizing Website Search Engines

Hurol Inan (BookSurge Publishing) | 56 pages | $19.99

For those of you who plan a very short beach vacation, this lean and mean e-book can probably be read in just a couple of hours. It “explains how and why people search, provides detailed guidelines on analyzing the behavior of search users, and offers valuable search-related marketing insights.” The author interviewed many industry experts and website managers and presents detailed metrics and the required tools to get you started.

Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your Company’s Web Site

Mike Moran, Bill Hunt (IBM Press) | 592 pages | $49.99

This heavy tome has just about everything to do with search marketing in it. There are chapters on how search engines work, developing your search marketing program, measuring your website’s success, defining your search market strategy, how to get your site indexed, choosing keywords, how to attract links to your site and other must-have/must-know stuff. In addition, the book tells you about what people are looking for when they search, how best to sell to the kinds of visitors you’ll get and what to avoid in the way of questionable methods to get better rankings.

Search Marketing Strategies:
A Marketer’s Guide to Objective-Driven Success from Search Engines

James Colborn (Butterworth-Heinemann) | 208 pages | $37.95

Concentrating on the strategic and not the procedural approach, this book goes through all the search standbys: paid search, site side optimization and analytics. Then it talks about branding, sales and customer acquisition. The focus is on marketing strategy and not just on optimization.

Winning Results with Google AdWords

Andrew Goodman (McGraw-Hill Osborne Media) | 376 pages | $24.99

This is a title that should really get most readers’ hearts pounding. Goodman outlines some great strategies for “writing successful ads, selecting and grouping specific keywords, increasing conversion rates and maximizing online sales.” He goes over advice such as “ways to expand ad distribution, why testing ad effectiveness is crucial and how to effectively track results.” Goodman is founder of Page Zero Media, provider of search engine marketing services and strategic advice to companies seeking an online presence. He also co-founded Traffick.com.