I was glad to receive Search Marketing Strategies from Elsevier, which has published a series called "e-marketing essentials." Search Marketing Strategies is authored by James Colborn, a principle at SEM firm Inceptor, whose blog in the PPCA site sadly seems to be abandoned at this time. My copy of the book does not display a cover price, but the Amazon page lists the title for $37.97--startlingly high for a fairly slim volume printed with large type and suffering somewhat from repetition in its pages.

Quibbles aside, Search Marketing Strategies hits a sweet spot between a Dummies-style how-to and a theory book. Colborn does not burn through pages documenting specific features of search advertising products, but does get his hands dirty with case studies and scenarios of failure and success. The book is clearly written for experienced marketers, not for beginning Web entrepreneurs. Anyone buying the book should be fluent in concepts of traffic, conversion, branding, creative copy, and marketing keywords. The book doesn't waste time on background, or on explaining marketing from the ground up.

Somewhat surprising, and certainly of interest, Colborn identifies branding as "Objective I" in search marketing, contrary to the agenda of most SEM firms and their clients. The author cites IAB studies on the effectiveness of SEM in building brand awareness, and the fact that many consumers research their purchases online but actually make the purchases offline. 

The book could have fleshed out the Table of Contents, making it easier for bookstore browsers to glean an overview. Doing so would have shone a light on the the quality within without giving away the store. And in the back of the book, a Resources section is rather thin. But in between, marketers will get a good evaluation of SEM tools, and some interesting tactical and strategic information.