Enrollment during November reached peak levels as a broad spectrum of agency, in-house and etailer marketers registered for courses. “These professionals know they are going into the New Year with the competitive advantage of high-end SEM knowledge,” says Terry Plank, dean of SEMPO Institute. “As they complete their courses, they can immediately put this knowledge into practice to better serve clients and achieve greater success.”

Simon Heseltine, one of the first to complete the Fundamentals course writes about his experience on his blog Search Engine Tigers. Keep in mind this was early in the process and things may have changed.

All in all, its not a bad start for the SEMPO institute. I’d like to see them do some randomization in the questions, and maybe implement and external testing / maximum amount of retakes policy. Then the certificate of completion will actually mean more. As for whether I’ll recommend that the rest of my team take it. I will, but probably in a month or so, when some of the kinks have been corrected. I’ll also be signing up for the advanced courses when they become available.

SEMPO will cover topics such as: the history of search engines, how search engines work, the latest innovations within the search world, links and directories, seo fundamentals of web site design, copyrighting, common seo roadblocks, search engine submissions, pay-per-click, and tracking and reporting your SEM efforts. And, of course, at the end of the course, a list of resources will assist you in learning the industry’s best practices and ever-changing nuances of search.

I don’t recall Kevin nor his sidekick David Pasternack talking about seo being a “science” before. In fact David said in his controversial article,

“What I am saying is that most marketers can achieve significant organic rankings without resorting to anything more mysterious than applying the basic optimization principles outlined in Google’s Webmaster Guidelines”.

 To Kevin’s credit he did comment on Greg Boser’s WebGuerrilla blog,

“I’d recommend that you and your team start with the Google Webmaster page read WebMasterWorld, attend a conference or two, take the DMA or SEMPO training, and take care of the basics.”

A much more detailed call for sem seo training than what David said earlier. Kevin ends his Click Z article with this statement,

“Education and best practices are important for the entire industry: PPC, SEO, and other media buying. In a future columns, I’ll cover some of the great new ways you can keep yourself educated”. 

Thanks, we’ll be looking forward to that.  I for one am glad Kevin is acknowledging the need for sem seo certification and training. What about you?

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“I know that I sometimes sound like a fan boy when I talk about some of the SEOs I respect, but seriously, this was worth so more than the price tag. I made at least one good friend and a few awesome new business associates (moreso than when you go to a big conference). The reason I think they should raise their price is because the size of the group made it special, and the info the we got was so much more specific than any other conference I’ve ever attended. More people will want to be at the next conference for sure, but I don’t know that it will be as effective. The price, certainly was worth it. Great job to all invovled in the Elite Retreat!”

It’s no wonder with a lineup of instructors that included Aaron Wall, Lee Dodd, Jeremy Schoemaker and Dave Taylor.  There were a total of 12 participants so they got a lot of special attention  and specific feedback. Chris said even the participants shared their knowledge and helped with each others sites. Congrats to all the “graduates” and to Andrea Schoemaker who did all the heavy lifting to make this happen.  If we hear the same feedback from other participants, the Elite Retreat may be the place to go.

In fact he is the original sem seo certification and training evangelist, wouldn’t you agree? Yes, others have offered free advice on forums but Danny started Search Engine Strategies back in 1999. Here’s from their description “At this unique one-day event, you’ll learn the ins-and-outs of search engine marketing from top experts in the field”.  In addition to that Danny has been writing about search engines for more than 10 years and will add to that at Search Engine Land. 

So what’s the big deal you ask? Well in my article, Shhhh!….the dirty little secret about sem seo certification, for Marketing Pilgrim’s SEM Scholarship contest I gave 4 practical tips and my first one was “Practical tip #1 – Whenever Danny Sullivan speaks, listen, whatever he writes, read”. If Danny’s writing that sem seo certification and training is accelerating then we should definitely pay attention. One way to do that is to subscribe to this blog’s feed. ;)

Danny talks about the “Certification Pathways” from Search Engine College, SEMPO’s webinar for those thinking about getting into search marketing, Starting a Career in Search Marketing and their new online training at SEMPO University. He also discusses the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) SEM Certification, the Incisive Media training after SES Chicago and of course Bruce Clay’s SEO Toolset, which I also mentioned in my article.

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SEC Certification Pathways is a series of bundled courses that prepare persons who want to jump-start their career path in the fast-paced search engine industry. They are designed to ensure students are immediately employable upon completion.

I’ve blogged several times about Search Engine College and interviewed Kalena Jordan in order to take a closer look at SEC in part I and part II. They’ve just released their new SEC Certification Pathways. The three “tracks” they offer; Certified Search Engine Optimizer, Certified Pay Per Click Marketer and Certified Search Engine Marketer. You can learn more about the sem seo certification training they offer here. Here’s what graduates receive.

12 months access to our online classroom area.

Downloadable Adobe PDF lessons to keep.

Access to regular lesson updates.

12 months access to our online quizzes and final exam.

Search Engine College Seal of Certification in your chosen Pathway.

Search Engine College Certificates of Training (hard copy certificates) in each subject studied for display on your wall or with your resume.

Permanent access to our SEC Lounge containing extensive search engine marketing resources, employment opportunities and exclusive industry discounts for SEC students.

A discount coupon towards future courses.

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Well Kim Krause Berg gets to those questions and more in her post at the Cre8pc Usability and Holistic SEO blog.

An earlier interview with Kalena Jordan about Search Engine College can be found in a two parts series, part I and part II here.  Kalena spoke eloquently and passionately about Search Engine College and what they offer students and the sem seo community in general.

This January 2007 benchmarks 5 years in business of conducting private “hands-on” SEO skill building classes to small groups of students from all over the world. We have taught small groups of students from across the US and Canada. Plus many have traveled to study at the Workshop from countries as far away as Belgium, London, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Israel, Asia, South Africa, India, Australia, Brazil, Mexico as well as many other places.

The program offers 3 different options depending on your level of skills. A 2 day beginners’ workshop, a 3 day advanced workshop or a 5 day all encompassing workshop as well as an Ultimate SEO Mastery Workshop. To top it off each of the workshops includes a 6 month mentoring program.

The 6 month mentoring program is deliverable to each student AFTER they have successfully completed the workshop and once they have successfully passed their certification exam. Mentoring is personally delivered by either John Alexander or else by Robin Nobles, limited to one hour per month, for a total of six hours. You can use all of your hours in one month if you choose, or space them out over the six-month period. All mentoring hours are pre-scheduled ahead of time based on a mutually convenient time and can include support by phone calls, e-mail, running reports, visiting Web sites, etc. We’ll keep track of the hours and let you know when you’ve reached the total of six hours.

The success of Search Engine Workshops is evident by the number of certificates listed on websites and  “franchising” in the form of the Search Engine Academy.

Here are some of their upcoming workshops;
Toronto, Ontario, Canada Nov 13 – 17, 2006

Anaheim, CA Dec 04 – 08, 2006

Orlando, FL Dec 11 – 15, 2006

Orlando, FL Jan 15 – 19, 2007

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Not until the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) launched their sem seo certification program did I address an association’s move in that area. My post discussed DMA’s program and suggested that SEMPO may have something in the works.

In my article submitted to Marketing Pilgrim’s SEM Scholarship contest “Shhhh!…..the dirty little secret about sem seo certification” I said;

Finally, why aren’t the sem seo associations like SEMPO, SMA-NA, SMA-UK, SMA-EU and others taking a stand on sem seo certification or training? Maybe they should develop their own certification or training programs.

Well it looks like some of them are taking a stand but now what? Isn’t this creating a certification training monster? Which certification training is best and how do you tell them apart? In that article I added;

Better yet, perhaps they should endorse other programs like SEOPros did with Search Engine College and SEO Research Labs. Even better, rate or rank some of the programs and perhaps add an experience component to the mix. Whatever they do, let’s hope they do it soon.

Maybe this is an opporunity for those associations that haven’t developed their own certificaton training program to rate some of the many programs out there. Adding a verifiable experience component to any certification would go a long way to making that certificate more valuable. Until then a certification, is a certification, is a certification.

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Finally, why aren’t the sem seo associations like SEMPO, SMA-NA, SMA-UK, SMA-EU and others taking a stand on sem seo certification or training? Maybe they should develop their own certification or training programs. Rumor has it some may be in the works.

Well I guess it wasn’t a rumor since SEMPO, a global non-profit organization serving the search engine marketing industry, has announced their online distance learning program for search marketing professionals at SEMPO Institute. The initial cirricula includes SEM Fundamentals, Advanced SEO and Advanced Search Advertising.

After they pass a series of “rigorous tests” the participants will receive a “certificate of completion” for the course. Course fees have not yet been determined but SEMPO notes the fees “are expected be competitive with similar programs”. What those similar programs are is anybody’s guess but I imagine some of the programs covered in this blog might qualify.

“The time is right for SEMPO to not only advocate best practices in search marketing, but also to provide intensive training in these practices for our fast growing sector of the interactive marketing economy,” says SEMPO President Dana Todd.

Amen to that Dana. We’ll be watching closely to see the reaction from the sem seo community. I imagine these courses will be very popular only because the are provided by the largest search engine marketing association in the world.

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