SEM Training & Certification » sem training

Online Media Bootcamp April 9, 2009

David Temple — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 07:12:11 +0000

The Online Media Boot Camp is a full-day event held in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania on April 9, 2009. King of Prussia (don’t you love that name?) is north of the city of brotherly love (Philadelphia) in case you didn’t know. It’s also in driving distance of Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, New York and other various locals. Okay, I’m not attending (Singapore’s a bit out of the way) but I loved their logo so I included it. You can register here but hurry I’m sure seats are going fast. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sessions

Social Media Fundamentals
Selling On-Line Media Internally
Corporate Blogging
Public Relations 2.0
Social Networking & Community Building
On-Line Marketing Workshop

Speakers include;

Liana (Li) Evans, Key Relevance
Shashi Bellamkonda (The Social Media “Swami”), Network Solutions
Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent
Beth Harte, Harte Marketing & Communications and Adjunct Professor (Immaculata University)
Mack Collier, The Viral Garden

Search engine marketing training – conferences

David Temple — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 07:41:12 +0000

There are a lot of ways to learn about search engine marketing and I will cover those in posts over the next few weeks. Let’s start with conferences because that’s where many search engine marketers have started their training and where many have learned their craft.

Search Engine Strategies (SES) – this is the “grandaddy” of search engine marketing conferences started by Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman back in the 20th century. The first SES was held on November, 18 1999 in San Francisco, California.

The conference went international that same year. It is regularly held in Chicago, London, New York, Toronto and San Jose each year. It has made a brief apperance in China as well. The conference has gone from a one day affair with a few hundred participants, to a week long event with more than 6,000 attendees. How many people get their search engine marketing training at these conferences?

Search Marketing Expo – Danny and Chris left Search Engine Strategies and started their own search engine marketing conference, SMX, in June 2007. The first SMX event was the Search Marketing Expo Advanced, a two day event held in Seattle. Today SMX has a variety of conferences including SMX Social Media Marketing, SMX West as well as several international events including SMX Munich, SMX China and SMX Singapore among others.

Webmaster PubCon – This conference actually officially started in London in 2000 when “over 125 WebmasterWorld members showed up at the Cittie of Yorke Pub in London”. The conference was first held in the US in Irvine, California in 2002 and has been hosted in many other cities including, Austin, Boston, Orlando, Las Vegas, and New Orleans. Lately Pubcon has been held in Las Vegas, obviously a crowd pleaser.

Those are the ‘big 3′ in search marketing conferences but there are several smaller conferences that are worth noting. Please add any I may have missed in the comments, thanks.

Scary SEO – sponsored by Dave Snyder and Jordan Kasteler of Search & Social and held in Boca Raton, Florida in October on the 24th and 25th.

Think Tank – put on by one the friendliest guys in seo, DK from Purpose Inc. Here’s what he says on his web page. “The think tank will start off by bringing the ThinkTankers together to meet and become friends”. This was last held in Del Mar, a beautiful upscale resort town in northern San Diego county, September 27 – 28, 2008.

Search Fest – SEMpdx is holding this Search Engine Marketing conference in the Pacific Northwest. SearchFest 09, will take place at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, Oregon on March 10, 2009

Elite Retreat – this conference is an exclusive event started in 2007 by Jeremy Schoemaker. Their tagline is ‘Two days that will change your business life!’ You actually have to apply for this event and is more than just search marketing but that seems to be the target audience. Next event to be held February 18th-20th, 2009 in San Francisco, California.

Search Marketing World 2008, Conference & Expo – held in Ireland April 3rd, 2008 at the Crowne Plaza in Dublin.

SEO Roadshow – Last held in Limerick, Ireland October 11, 2008.

Most SEO’s are self learners – so sez an SEOmoz survey

David Temple — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:30:25 +0000

SEOmoz recently conducted an seo industry survey of more than 3,000 respondents and learned that seo’s are in fact mostly self taught. Interestingly enough self employed consultants are the majority of self learners. I imagine a lot of them were teaching each other in forums, bars (don’t laugh I’ve learned a thing or two about seo over drinks) and more recently on blogs as the community shares and analyzes information regularly. Rand Fishkin advises us to take this survey with a grain of salt.

…..The survey also did not attempt to control for any particular biasing, so there is certainly over-representation by those more likely to read SEOmoz, those more likely to take surveys, and those more likely to have found information about the survey itself (via email to SEOmoz members and posts on sites like SearchEngineLand and SERoundtable or others).

Nevertheless the survey reveals some trends and provides some insights. I’m just looking at the seo training here but head over to SEOmoz and take a closer look at the entire survey to get a better understanding of the seo community.

In general, we can see that most respondents are self-taught, followed by on-site training and formal classes. However, this graph breaks down responses by the type of company a respondant works for, and helps to answer questions like “If a respondent works at an SEM agency, how likely is it that he or she learned SEO and how does that compare to respondents at other types of companies?” The chart indicates that respondents from SEM agencies, and non-self-employed respondents in general, received on-site traning more often than, for instance, self employed consultants. This is probably not surprising, but knowing this kind of difference in source of SEO education might indicate broader differences between self-employed and non-self-employed SEOs. We’ll look at differences between these groups in more detail below, and this might be a great starting place for further analysis of the data by the reader.

SES sem training workshop in Denver, CO

David Temple — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 15:00:43 +0000

Search Engine Strategies is offering sem training in Denver, Colorado on May 6th. The courses and instructors are listed below. Costs are $745 for half day and $1,345 for the full day. You can register here.

Local Search Engine Marketing 101
Mary Bowling, Blizzard Internet Marketing

Search Engine Optimization Workshop
Shari Thurow, Omni Marketing Interactive

Advanced Keyword Research
Ron Jones, Symetri Internet Marketing

How to Effectively Use Social Media for Search Marketing Campaigns
Liana Evans, KeyRelevance

These workshops will provide you with the practices, applications, and hands-on exposure you need to become (and remain!) a top performer in your field. In the end, you will not only walk away with the knowledge and skills you need to be a successful search engine marketer, you will also jump-start your career and enhance your professional know-how

SEO Class now brought to you by We Build Pages

David Temple — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 19:17:19 +0000

Here’s the first sem training consolidation I’ve seen and it looks to be awesome. Jim Boykin announced WBP has purchased SEO Class and is offerng 4 classes in New York, San Francisco, Dallas and Edinburgh, Scotland. Jim adds that as a bonus he’ll give the first 200 members of Internet Marketing Ninjas a free pass to one of the SEO Class Live Events. So Internet Marketing Ninjas and SEO Class, all under the same roof. Could other sem training consolidation be far behind?

There’s a pretty impressive lineup of instructors for the SEO Class in Troy, New York on April 11th including;

Michael Gray (Graywolf)

Greg Neiland (GoodROI)

Barry Schwartz (Rustybrick)

Ted Ulle (Tedster)

Chris Winfield (10e20)

Kim Krause Berg (Cre8pc)

Jim Boykin (We Build Pages and IM Ninjas)

Other instructors for future classes include;
Ammon Johns
Bill Hartzer
Barry Lloyd
Todd Malicoat (Stuntdubl)
Shaun Anderson (Hobo)
Brian Turner (iBrian)
Tony Wright

The three other SEO Classes will be held

June 23-24 Edinburgh Scotland (4 hours of formal training each day, rest of time is sightseeing/networking with other SEO’s)

September 22-23 San Francisco, California (4 hours of formal training each day, rest of time is sightseeing/networking with other SEO’s)

November 17-18 Dallas,Texas (17th training day, 18th free bus trip to Buffalo Gap.)

SEMPO Institute offers live search marketing training

David Temple — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:52:50 +0000

The SEMPO Institute is offering instructor led training to compliment their online training course. The cost of the live and online training is $750 per person. I personally like that approach since I learn better in a classroom setting than I do online or self study. Everybody has different learning styles so this is a good way to cover both. It will be interesting to see how this method works. So if you’re in the Boston area on March 28th, give it a go and let me know how it went.

Instructor-led training from SEMPO Institute will be held on March 28th at Bentley College’s Center for Marketing Technology in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Practical Search Marketing is one day of Search Marketing Training that builds on the well-reviewed Insider’s Guide to Search Marketing (formerly Fundamentals of Search Marketing).

Your instructors, Andy Komack and Derek Edmonds, are experienced search professionals who will intertwine theory, real-world examples and hands-on exercises on the following topics:
Search Engines
Keywords
Copywriting
Reporting
Search Advertising
Participants in the day’s training also receive Insider’s Guide to Search Marketing. This online and self-paced course will give you deeper coverage in the topics above and nine additional lessons.

Search Engine Bootcamp February 14, Brisbane Australia

David Temple — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 10:17:56 +0000

Brisbane’s Search Engine Bootcamp – Feb 14, 2008
Brisbane Hilton – AU $595 + GST

Search Engine Bootcamp is divided into four sessions covering all the important SEO and PPC topics plus a few that you may not even have thought about, each session is designed to cover important search marketing techniques.

For example, session one – PPC Essentials deals with keyword research, creative management and PPC “Quality” Scoring, all three topics work together to effect where you rank and what you pay per click on search engine advertising platforms like on either Google Adwords.

We also incorporate topics that have a bearing on both SEO and PPC, search term research for example is relevant to both topics and there is at least one “Key Topic” in each session.

SEM training workshops and free lessons for a month

David Temple — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 23:14:03 +0000

Search Engine Strategies Conference and Expo will hold sem training workshops in London on the Friday February 22nd after the conference. The training will include optimization and advertising strategies, tactics and best practices. In addition, SES is offering an additional month of free training, Market Motive, to all SES London attendees. These include online lessons as well as question and answer sessions with leading Internet marketers. Instructors for the sem training workshops include Greg Jarboe, Amanda Watlington, Jennifer Laycock, Christine Churchill and Matt Bailey.

About the Instructors

Greg Jarboe is the president and co-founder of SEO-PR, a search engine optimization firm and public relations agency with offices in San Francisco and Boston. He is also a partner in Newsforce, developer of an integrated suite of press release SEO tools.

SEO-PR has been praised by world-renowned search authority Danny Sullivan for “focusing on search as a public relations tool.” SEO-PR is one of 10 companies that Larry Chase’s Web Digest for Marketers named to its Who’s Who in SEO Experts. SEOmoz.org has put SEO-PR on its Recommended List of SEO Consultants, Experts, Firms and Service Providers.

Amanda G. Watlington Ph.D., A.P.R. Before setting up Searching for Profit, Amanda was director of research for a leading Search Engine Optimization firm. Her consultancy focuses on how businesses can leverage search engines and new media such as blogging, RSS and podcasting to achieve marketing objectives. She has over twenty years of experience as a communications, sales and business strategy consultant, and ten years as a Web marketer.

Jennifer Laycock is the Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Guide, an online publication aimed at educating Small Business owners about search engine marketing, viral marketing, social media marketing and blogging. Jennifer also operates as an independent online marketing consultant specializing in organic search marketing and viral marketing. Her clients have included companies like Verizon, American Greetings, Highlights for Children and Option-Line, a national crisis-pregnancy hotline. She is also the author of the popular e-books “The Small Business Guide to Search Engine Marketing” and “Zero Dollars, a Little Talent and Thirty Days.”

Christine Churchill the President of KeyRelevance, is a recognized expert in the field of Search Engine Marketing. She is a strong advocate for ethical search engine marketing, and was a member of the founding Board of Directors of the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO).

Christine currently serves as the Chairman of the Dallas-Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Association (DFWSEM). Ms. Churchill holds a Masters Degree in Business and has over 10 years online marketing.

Matt Bailey is president and founder of SiteLogic Marketing and an internationally recognized authority on search engine marketing, website analytics, usability, and accessibility. As a consulting and training company, SiteLogic focuses on helping organizations take control of their websites and their web marketing plans.

Sought after worldwide as a seminar presenter and teacher; Matt speaks regularly for The Direct Marketing Association; Search Engine Strategies Conferences and Training; the American Advertising Federation, and many private training seminars. Matt is known for his conversational, entertaining speaking style and his ability to make technical topics both understandable and practical.

Elite Retreat to be held in San Francisco, April 3-4

David Temple — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 10:48:01 +0000

When it comes to sem training there’s an abudance of seminars and conferences available today. Elite Retreat however sets itself apart by the number of instructors (or “leaders” as they are called) to student ratio. They also “screen” the applicants to make sure they are a good fit for the program. I have an idea that newbies aren’t accepted and you should have a good level of internet marketing experience to get the most out of this program. Here’s how they position it on their website;

Two days that will change your business life!
This event is very exclusive and has limited availability. Attendees will be chosen by an application only process. The purpose of this event is to take your business to another level. Bring your business plan or current site objectives with you and we will help you optimize your business structure.

Leaders at this Elite Retreat in San Francisco are Jeremy Schoemaker, Neil Patel, Aaron Wall and Brian Clark, Andy Liu, Margie Zable Fischer with the keynote from Guy Kawasaki. Here’s feedbck from the frst Elite Retreat held last year in San Antonio, Texas by Chris Hooley of ThinkBait.

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 (more so 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!

SEM training breaks into college, a study by Vertical Measures

David Temple — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 06:43:39 +0000

SEM training moves up in the world with courses at Harvard, DePaul, James Madison, George Madison, Rutgers and others. According to a recent study by Vertical Measures, an Arizona search engine optimization company, some prestigous universities are offering sem training yet at the same time “the overall findings were a bit disappointing”. The study looked at into SEM and SEO training programs and resources available at the university level.

“Some of the programs we found are outstanding said Arnie Kuenn, Vertical Measures’ president. Unfortunately, what we found overall is a major gap in university-level training for this important field of study.” The methodology and results of Vertical Measures’ study can be found online at www.verticalmeasures.com/education.html.

The company welcomes information on SEM or SEO training programs available that are not included on the list to ensure the resource is as current as possible. “We set out to create a comprehensive listing of the best university-level curriculum available,” said Kuenn. “While the results are not quite as high as we would have liked them to be, we stand ready to update and add to this resource as new, high-quality programs are brought to our attention.”