Search Engine Marketing is a Hot Buzz among college students, and this is understandable. The demand for qualified Internet Marketing professionals is increasing exponentially as more companies are discovering that there is more marketing their product, service or company brand online than just throwing up a web site.

The demand is there and traditional universities are starting to catch on and offer courses in this area. Looking online you will see different courses in related fields, but in general the universities have a long way to go to have a comprehensive training in Search Engine Marketing or related Internet Marketing fields. Here are a few of the offerings I came across:

UC Berkeley: Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Marketing (SEM), a popular and ever-growing Web marketing application, is the overarching term to describe marketing a website through search engines, including single or combined efforts to improve organic listings, running pay-per-click ads, using pay-per-inclusion, and getting listed in vertical search placements. This workshop, intended for a variety of marketing professionals, teaches the basics of SEM and provides a solid foundation to intelligently and cost-efficiently apply SEM to a current or future business.

UC Extension Santa Cruz
Marketing and Search Engine Marketing

Your website is your showcase marketing window to the world. But how will the world find you and will they stay to look once they arrive? How can you score better with search engines by having an active organic search (SEO) program?

When does it pay to advertise online and to use SEM campaigns? What are the options? How do I track the spending and results? What tools are available to me? These and other related topics, up to and including what Web 2.0 features to use (or not use), will be covered so that you can create a complete, effective, Web-marketing program.

Topics include:

• SEO–Gain as much as possible through organic search
• SEM–Effective results via pay-per-click and other ad programs
• Beyond Google and Yahoo, all the other ways to win online
• Measurement and analytics–major tools and statistics
• Lead tracking and conversion
• Tie-ins with other marketing communication programs

Once the basics are covered, items like blogs, animation, videos and online competitions will be explored in this interactive hands-on course with live case studies and projects. Bring your own interactive marketing needs to class and learn first hand how to cut through the noise and promote your company and products online. (Sounds Like MIT!)

The most Comprehensive Course I came across is at Excelsior College, in Albany, NY. Professional Development Program.

Excelsior College: Search Engine Marketing

Course Overview/Description

The Search Engine Marketing training series has been developed in direct response to the skyrocketing growth of the search engine industry.

No longer the territory of geekdom, search has exploded into the mainstream over the past few years and businesses are falling over themselves to get seen by online searchers. And they’ll pay big bucks to search engines for the privilege. Search giants like Google, Yahoo and AOL can’t fail to make money because everybody wants a bit of the search action.

According to a recent article on MSN Careers, the position of Search Engine Optimizer (a sub-set of Search Engine Marketing) is considered one of four jobs on the cutting edge right now. Below is a definition of SEO provided by MSN Careers:

“Search engine optimizers (SEOs) increase a firm’s Web site traffic by improving its search-engine page rankings. This is an especially important task in today’s Internet-driven world, where many customers first learn of an organization and its products or services through the Web. Because of a shortage of experts in this relatively new area, many top SEOs receive multiple job offers. SEOs typically supplement their knowledge of how various search engines operate and determine page rankings with strong marketing skills, as well as the ability to communicate effectively and program using HTML.”

Wikipedia defines Search Engine Marketing here.

A job in the search industry can be unbelievably lucrative. As noted recently by Jennifer Laycock of Search Engine Guide, “There are quite literally more jobs than there are skilled marketers and salaries can skyrocket to almost embarrassing levels.”

This extreme demand means Search Engine Marketers can pick and choose their jobs and/or clients. The more skilled marketers are head-hunted regularly. Experts in select specialties such as Pay Per Click Advertising (another sub-set of Search Engine Marketing) are currently enjoying even higher demand than usual, as advertisers out-bid each other to have their site shown for popular keyword searches on Google, Yahoo! and MSN. Another indicator of high demand is the sheer number of search-related job postings seen on employment sites.

Job candidates who hold specific industry certification in Search Engine Marketing may well have an edge over their fellow applicants when it comes to interview selection. The Search Engine Marketer series is a bundle of 5 courses designed for persons who want to jump-start their career path in the fast-paced search engine industry.

The Search Engine Marketer series consists of the following 5 individual courses:

1) Search Engine Optimization 101 +

2) Search Engine Optimization 201 +

3) Pay Per Click Marketing 101 +

4) Pay Per Click Marketing 201 +

5) Web Site Copywriting 101

Search Engine Optimization 101 will show you step-by-step how to optimize your web site to obtain better search engine positioning on the world’s most popular search engines and directories for target keywords and phrases. It will also show you how to choose the best keywords to target and how to monitor and maintain successful search engine rankings for those keywords.

Search Engine Optimization 201 will take your knowledge of SEO to the next level by teaching you how to further increase your site’s compatibility with search engines and how to optimize a web site that uses more complex design technologies such as dynamic content, Flash and tables. SEO201 also introduces the concept of pay per click search engine advertising and shows you how to accurately measure the Return on Investment of your search engine optimization efforts. There’s even a bonus lesson for persons wanting to start their own SEO business.

Pay Per Click Marketing 101 will give you the knowledge necessary to set up, monitor and maintain a successful campaign to promote your web site on the pay-per-click search engines and their network of partner sites. It will walk you step-by-step through the process of setting up a PPC campaign from scratch on the two most popular services, Google AdWord and Yahoo! Search Marketing. Taking the course will ensure your advertising campaign is designed for success from the very first impression.

Pay Per Click Marketing 201 will take your knowledge of PPC to the next level by teaching you how to Improve the Return on Investment of your PPC campaigns on the major search engines and their network of partner sites. The course will show you step-by-step how to improve your ad click-through and conversion rates, create effective landing pages, measure campaign effectiveness, conduct split testing and tweak your campaigns for better performance.

Web Site Copywriting 101 will provide you with an understanding of how to integrate your target search keywords into your site and design your web page copy so your site appeals to more visitors and encourages them to take the desired action you want them to take (e.g. purchase, sign-up or bookmark your site).

The text within your site needs to inspire empathy and interest in those who read it. Unless it convinces the reader that they genuinely need the service or product you are offering, you are not going to convert them to a customer or loyal visitor.

The Web Site Copywriting 101 course gives your site the best chance possible of converting your site visitors to customers by teaching you how to write powerful and effective copy that describes your products and services appealingly and entices a reader to purchase or sign up. At the same time, you will learn how to integrate search keywords naturally within the copy to ensure your site is found easily in the search engine results for related search queries without disturbing the flow of text for the reader.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this program, you will be able to:

Set up, monitor and maintain successful search engine optimization or pay-per-click campaigns for your sites or your client’s sites on the world’s most popular search engines and directories.

Make web sites search engine compatible and designed to attract the right kind of qualified search engine visitors who are more likely to buy or sign up from the moment they arrive on a site.

Prepare for starting your own search engine marketing business or applying for a job as an SEO (search engine optimizer), SEM (search engine marketer), PPC Marketer, Online Advertising Executive or Web Site CopywriterCourse OutlineI. Search Engine Optimization 101a. Course Introduction
b. Introduction to SEO
c. Search Engine Basics
d. SEO Requirements Gathering
e. Keyword Research
f. Title and META Tag Creation
g. SEO Copywriting
h. SEO Integration
i. Search Engine and Directory Submission
j. Search Engine Spam
k. SEO Reporting and Conversions

II. Search Engine Optimization 201

a. Course Introduction
b. Overview of SEO
c. Site Architecture
d. Text Content
e. Dynamic Content
f. Graphics
g. Flash and Splash Pages
h. Frames and Tables
i. Link Popularity
j. Pay For Performance
k. Measuring SEO ROI
l. Starting Your Own SEO Business

III. Pay Per Click Marketing 101

a. Course Introduction
b. An Introduction to Pay Per Click Marketing
c. Pay Per Click Campaign Preparation
d. An Introduction to Google AdWords
e. How to Set Up an AdWords Account
f. An Introduction to Yahoo! Search Marketing
g. How to Set Up a Yahoo! Sponsored Search Account
h. Keyword Research for PPC Campaigns
i. Ad Copy Creation for PPC Campaigns
j. Landing Page Creation for PPC Campaigns
k. PPC Campaign Conversion & ROI Measurement

IV. Pay Per Click Marketing 210

a. An Overview of PPC Marketing
b. Pay Per Click Search Engines
c. Key Elements of a Successful PPC Campaign
d. Building Effective PPC Ads
e. How to Structure Your PPC Campaign
f. Effective PPC Bidding Strategies
g. How to Create Killer Landing Pages
h. Tracking PPC Conversions
i. A/B Split Testing
j. How to Measure ROI on PPC

V. Web Site Copywriting 101

a. Course Introduction
b. THE Most Important (and most overlooked) Aspect of Copywriting
c. Discover What Copy Type Fits Your Target Audience Best
d. Guess What? Men and Women Are Different!
e. Writing to Please Everybody
f. Headlines - The Beginning and the End
g. Features vs. Benefits - Do You Really Know the Difference?
h. Adding Emotions & Dreams and Tugging On Heartstrings
i. The Power Points of Your Copy
j. A.I.D.A. and the Buying Process
k. Search Engine Optimization - Copy Is Crucial
l. Final Thoughts

Prerequisites/Audience

The following skills are required for taking this course:

Keyboard skills

Search engine usage

Internet Browser usage

Email usageThe following skills are recommended for taking this course:Some HTML knowledge
Advanced search engine usage

Who Should Take This Course:

Marketing executives entrusted with the responsibility of promoting their company’s or clients’ web sites.

Webmasters wanting to increase traffic to their web sites via search engines.

Small business owners wanting to learn how to promote their web sites on the search engines.

Owners of e-commerce sites that want to increase their site’s visitor to customer conversion ratios.

Web site designers wanting to offer search engine marketing services to their clients.

Search engine optimizers (SEO) or search engine marketers (SEM) wanting to improve their industry skills.

Persons wanting to learn how to optimize web sites for search engines in preparation for starting their own search engine optimization business or applying for a job as an SEO or SEM.

Copywriters wanting to learn how to write for an online audience.

Copywriters wanting to learn how to write in a way that attracts search engines AND appeals to readers. Webmasters wanting to increase traffic to their web sites via search engines and prepared to pay for it by the click.

Small business owners wanting to learn how to promote their web sites on the search engines via paid listings.

Marketers of e-commerce sites that want to use PPC to measure their site’s visitor to customer conversion ratios.

Search Engine Optimizers and Search Engine Marketers that want to learn about pay per click search marketing and offer PPC campaigns as part of their product offerings.

Webmasters or small business owners currently running pay per click campaigns, who want to increase their ad conversion rates and ROI.

Search Engine Marketers that already sell pay-per-click search engine marketing campaigns as part of their product offering and want to expand their knowledge to a more advanced level.

Persons wanting to achieve a higher return on investment from their search engine marketing campaigns.

engines AND appeals to readers.
Webmasters wanting to increase traffic to their web sites via search engines and prepared to pay for it by the click.

Small business owners wanting to learn how to promote their web sites on the search engines via paid listings.

Marketers of e-commerce sites that want to use PPC to measure their site’s visitor to customer conversion ratios.

Search Engine Optimizers and Search Engine Marketers that want to learn about pay per click search marketing and offer PPC campaigns as part of their product offerings.

Webmasters or small business owners currently running pay per click campaigns, who want to increase their ad conversion rates and ROI.

Search Engine Marketers that already sell pay-per-click search engine marketing campaigns as part of their product offering and want to expand their knowledge to a more advanced level.

Persons wanting to achieve a higher return on investment from their search engine marketing campaigns.This course is tutor-supervised with a tutor assigned to guide students through the lesson material and review their assignments. The following materials will be provided within this course:

32 downloadable PDF Lessons (585 pages in total)

2 downloadable PDF worksheets

3 Excel spreadsheets

40 interactive online review quizzes

26 Assignments

4 interactive online exams

1 offline exam

4 case studies

Extensive Internet-based resources

12 months access to online classroom area

12 months access to online quizzes and final exam

12 months access to lesson updates

The Search Engine College Seal of Certification* for display on a web site

Search Engine College Certificate of Training* for wall or resume display.

There is a definite need for a Professional Certified Training in Internet Marketing and related fields. This is why we have decided to Step Up and are in the process of application to the state of MN to become an fully accredited Online University, to offer AA and BS degrees in Internet Marketing. Our Courses will be offered completely online. Watch for more details to be coming as they become available.

My MIT Workshop (Millionaire Intensive Training) gives you a College Level Course in Search Engine Marketing in a Live 3-Day Hands On Training Workshop. The next MIT is coming up August 1-3rd here in Bloomington MN.

In the mean time there is a wealth of Training and Resources available at IMTrain.com our online training service.

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