What books would you recommend for improving....

steve

Read everything you can get your hands on by Gary Halbert - anything you see about copywriting online is probably based on his stuff

Marketing skills - what type? Online/offline???????

Website analysis - in what respect?

business recommendations - again what type

find experts you know and follow them

For business development I haven't found anything better than Michael Gerber's E-Myth Revisited.

For marketing skills I'd suggest pretty much anything by Dan Kennedy and also Dr. Robert Cialdini's Influence is really great.

In the Copywriting section of the forum you'll find a huge list of the best books regarding copywriting.

Rose

Confessions of a Website Copywriter by Lenny Eng.
A great nuts and bolts ebook (one of the only good ones)
exclusively about writing online copy.

John Carlton has some pretty good stuff. Check out his books and maybe even his seminar products. Also, I've learned a lot of stuff from Dan Kennedy books as well, so check his info out too.

When I was first starting out I would buy some products form PLR Sites. A lot of the PLR there is cheap but also very informative if you're a newbie.

In terms of Copywriting, I would have to say Bob Bly and Agora Publishing seem to be the gods of this trade.

I do believe Gary Halbert had some connections with Agora Publishing as well.

You definitely cannot go wrong with these.

Hope this helps.

Scientific Advertising
Ogilvy on Advertising
Guerilla Marketing
Book Yourself Solid
Selling to VITO

I see some very good recommendations above.

This book isn't about internet marketing, just "entrepreneurship" in general, and it helped me to build up my confidence and to appreciate that anyone can do it: Amazon.com: Anyone Can Do It: Building Coffee...

Wow, thanks for all the great suggestions everyone. I guess what I'd like to be able to do is look at a website and be able to explain why or why not it's fully optimized for conversions. I'd like to be able to identify what elements are missing or which ones need to be modified if that makes sense.

I'd also like to be able to put together a marketing plan from scratch for a new business or client looking to gain more exposure for their venture. I'd like to have enough knowledge whereby I could make solid recommendations or write up a plan for acquiring more customers, partners, or dealing with stiff competition.

I've worked for companies where I was in charge of outsourcing these tasks and I've picked up some things here and there, but I'm far from an expert. Would be nice to develop some of these skills to become more effective both as an employee and as a online business owner.

S.

i love also this book The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone. I also recommend it.

To my mind the best overview of how to develop a successful business, if you haven't already read it, is Rich Schefren's Internet Business manifesto.

You can download it here free (requires an optin)
Blog

Copy Writing handbook: Joe Sugarman
Tested Advertising Methods: John Caples

Thanks guys, lots more great recommendations. I just picked up Dan Kennedy's Ultimate Marketing Plan and ordered The 10X Rule. I already have The e-Myth revisited, so I'll crack that asap. Figure if I can get back on track to reading 2 good books per month, I'll make some progress. That brings up another question...how many books are you reading per month on average?

S.

Networking with Millionaires is a definitive guide on networking, by Dr. Thomas J. Stanley.

For Marketing online and business in general, I would have to say Seth Godin 100%. His books and his daily blog submissions blow me away.

If you want some recommendations on which books I like the most of his, let me know.

find his blog by googling his name. Subcribe, I guarantee you won't regret it.

For copywriting, anything by Lenny Eng is crazy