Using the Internet successfully requires several skills.  These days, for instance, you need to be able to write – after all even if you live your entire life on Facebook most of it will be spent typing material you want people to read. Never before have people written so much. But writing requires knowledge of your audience – what do they want and how can you influence them to agree with your point of view? On top of this, the Internet requires new thinking skills because we flit from idea to idea, from site to site and from text to video, all in the blink of an eye. Processing the information and remembering everything is an increasing problem online.

To be successful online you need to be able to work smart, to communicate well and to understand your audiences. So, how can you do all that? The answers for you may very well lay inside these seven books which tackle some of the fundamentals of being successful online. Only one of these books is specifically about the Internet – the others are general psychology books. But they all provide ways in which you can significantly increase your online success.

How the Mind Works
This is a psychology “classic” by Professor Stephen Pinker, a specialist in the psychology of language. The book is an excellent introduction to the whole arena of psychology and gives examples from hundreds of different research studies which reveal the complexities of the human mind. Within the pages of this book you will find plenty of material that will help you understand your online customers, for instance. Just how can you empathise with them and get them to connect with you? The answers lie in How the Mind Works. It is a fascinating book which in spite of its scientific authority is remarkably easy to read. Click here to buy.

Language and the Internet
This book by the world-renowned linguist, David Crystal, is essential reading if you want to communicate well online. The book looks at the different kind of languages used on email compared with web pages or social networks. The book shows how people are using language online in shaping their own identity and it also looks at how our language may change in the future as a result of our online activities. More than this, however, Language and the Internet is an excellent thought-provoking read for anyone who writes online -i.e. all of us..! Click here to buy.

Human Communication
Although this book was written back in the mid-1990s, well before the Internet really took off, it is a timeless title because it covers the fundamentals of communications psychology – which have changed little as a result of the web. For instance, the chapter on how we communicate within relationships has much to commend it in terms of what you might do on a social network. Equally, how we communicate across cultures is tackled in the book – an essential notion for the global Internet. Click here to buy.

Influence
One of the key things you need to do online is persuade people you are right. Whether you are discussing things in a social network, or trying to sell something from a web page, your success is dependent on your powers of influence. The world expert on the psychology of persuasion is Professor Rober Cialdini and his book Influence is his complete guide on how you can be more persuasive. There are several techniques revealed in this book, which combined will make you a powerful force online. Click here to buy.

The Speed Reading Book
One of the problems with the modern world is that there is more information for you to read than ever before. Indeed, according to Google, the amount of information it adds to its database every 48 hours is equivalent to the amount of information ever produced by humans from the first steps we took on the planet. The information explosion brings a whole new meaning to “exponential growth”. The result is you are going to be reading more than ever before and next year you will need to read even more than you did this year and so on. So, The Speed Reading Book is what you need. By mind mapping expert Tony Buzan, this book reveals how your mind can process more words than you ever thought possible. Click here to buy.

Learn to Remember
The author of this book is not a psychologist, but he has been the World Memory Champion six times. So, Dominic O’Brien clearly knows a thing or two about remembering stuff. With the increasing amount of technology that an Internet Marketer needs to remember how to use, having the ability to recall things is clearly an advantage in the online world. This book explains how to boost your memory and is backed with solid psychological evidence – it’s not one of those cheap, tacky books on memory..! This is the real deal. Click here to buy.

Manage Your Mind
This book is about mental health and fitness. One of the problems with using the Internet all day is that you can become lonely and anxious. There is evidence that long-term use of the web is associated with increased levels of depression, for instance. And if you are anxious or depressed you cannot make decisions well which could therefore have an impact upon what you do online. This book will help you ensure your brain stays in tip-top condition so that you can make the most of the Internet. Click here to buy.

So there you have it – seven books which will help boost your online success. They are clearly not mainstream Internet books – but they do reveal some fundamental aspects of psychology which will help you succeed on the Internet.