Though marketing is in the title, this book is all about content: how to write it, design it, organize it, break it into manageable chunks, keep it from getting you into trouble, and perhaps most importantly, get it to drive traffic to your site (thus, the marketing moniker). The content-centric techniques offered to keep your website in tip-top shape for both users and search engines ultimately make it the best marketing tool in your arsenal.

If you are considering your own business approach to the digital world of network-enabled social sites and web-based applications, Amy Shuen’s book from O’Reilly Publishing titled Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide is filled with useful examples and case studies of numerous companies who have leveraged these tools into growth and financial success. By applying many of the business rules outlined inside, Shuen’s book can serve as a valuable roadmap to your own online business success.

Web Design for ROI by Lance Loveday and Sandra Niehaus contains a bevy of smart tips for designers to get the most out of building user-friendly web experiences, especially those with a commerce element to them. The book often focuses more on the question of why rather than how, which is great for those who may not have a lot of experience designing web applications and need to get a general understanding of approach.

Fellow Chicagoans 37 Signals self-published their business opus Getting Real in 2006, so admittedly I’m a bit behind in getting around to this one, considering I read it mid-2009. It’s a worthwhile read, however, chock full of useful advice on everything from software development to customer service, business philosophy, and so on. It’s also a quick read at about 200 pages and the book’s layout brings to mind a literary journal or book of poetry, which adds to its appeal.

When I hear the term “multicam” used in reference to a shoot I’m going to work on, I, like many video folk, am both thrilled and a little worried.

On the one hand, multiple cameras provide exponentially better coverage and lead to great, professional looking final pieces. However, in an edit, video synchronization can be a giant headache. Now, if you’re running master time code from a fancy outboard device to multiple cameras, that’s fantastic. You get to use terms like “black burst” and “global dropframe tc” and that’s just fun. But I don’t have that stuff, and so for the most part have had to line up my footage manually, which sucks. Ask anyone who has spent endless hours lining up clips ‘till their eyes bleed and they’ll say “For the love of Pete will someone give me a Kleenex to get this damn blood out of my eyes?! How gross is this?!” And then they’ll tell you that manually lining up clips to sync sucks.