Search engine optimization ("SEO") has evolved immensely over the past several years. Are you and your organization keeping up? More importantly, have you fully exhausted the potential that SEO provides? If not, this two-day intensive training is for you. Expert practitioner Stephan Spencer will share the secrets of the SEO: what works and what doesn't; what you should be measuring; what tools to use; where trouble looms and untapped potential lies; where search engines and the industry are headed, and much more.
Explore how to use the targeted, low cost and high return marketing channel known as "natural" or "organic" search -- i.e. the unpaid search results of Google and the other major engines. SEO is the ultimate weapon in the web marketer’s promotional arsenal.
Join us for a hands-on, two day workshop on search engine optimization and marketing that covers all the bases. With a live Internet connection, attendee websites will be deconstructed -- with attendees playing an active role in diagnosing what ails each site from an SEO standpoint. Such sticky issues as making your database-driven website "search engine friendly" and workarounds for "spider traps" and poor search engine practices will be tackled. Google’s secrets will be revealed, including details around PageRank, blended results ("universal search"), indented listings, sitelinks, and more. Case examples from B2C, B2B, nonprofit and higher education will be shared, including the "inside scoop" on what worked and what didn’t.
You will walk away with loads of practical, actionable tactics and tips, a number of which are not widely known in the SEO community. For example:
• Minimize duplicate content and keep your site from getting hit
by Google's duplicate content filter
• Identify, in unconventional ways, high PageRank-endowed, industry-
specific, authoritative links that will increase your position in the search
results
• "Take away" a competitor's second indented listing
• Reverse engineer your competitors' backlinks to look for link
opportunities for yourself
This workshop is designed with non-technical marketers in mind. But even the Internet-savvy techie will get a lot out of this tailored, intensive workshop. Through interactive presentations and exercises, case examples, and best-practice implementation reviews, participants will leave with a comprehensive understanding of how they can profit from search engines as a marketing channel.
First five paid registrants for each venue who submit their URL (or a competitor's URL if they prefer) to workshop@netconcepts.com will get an interactive, real-time critique of the site’s search engine findability during the workshop.
Learning Objectives:
• The changing landscape of SEO and how you can make the most of it as a marketer
• The lingo that will enable you to work efficiently with your Web team and vendors
• How customers use search (eye-tracking, click-tracking, search terms)
• How to rocket past competitors in search rankings
• How to maximize search traffic and exploit targeted brand building opportunities
• How to sell the value of SEO to management and partners
• What to look for when hiring a search agency or in-house SEO staff
• What will make you look like a savvy search marketer to employers and colleagues
• How to benchmark against your competitors
• What to measure for maximizing the return on your search marketing investment
• How to budget interactive marketing campaigns to include SEO
• How to effectively leverage content, online tools, social networks and social media to create buzz and links
Who Should Attend:
• Sales and marketing executives of any size organization
• Marketing directors responsible for digital or integrated marketing strategy
• Marketing managers in charge of their website, search marketing or online marketing for their organization
• Anyone involved in marketing one or more websites for their company or clients
• Ad agency executives, production staff, and account managers looking for a competitive edge for clients
Prior Knowledge Required:
Knowledge of computers, basic Internet terminology and a cursory understanding of Internet marketing is desired. A basic understanding of search engines will be helpful, but is not required. This two day workshop offers something for all skill levels, from search marketing "newbies" to advanced search engine marketers.
About the Instructor:
Stephan Spencer is founder and president of Netconcepts, a leading natural search marketing firm which boasts clients such as Home Shopping Network, AOL, Verizon SuperPages.com, Discovery Channel, and REI. Stephan is an author of the upcoming O'Reilly book "The Art of SEO" with co-authors Rand Fishkin and Jessie Stricchiola, due out in 2009. Stephan is a Senior Contributor to MarketingProfs.com and to Practical Ecommerce, a monthly columnist on Search Engine Land, and he's contributed to Multichannel Merchant, DM News, Catalog Age, Catalog Success, Building Online Business, Unlimited, and others. He is co-author of the analyst report "The State of Search Engine Marketing 1.0 - New Strategies for Successful Cataloging" published by Catalog Age. Stephan has spoken at hundreds of conferences around the globe -- everywhere from Berlin, London, Toronto, Santiago and Auckland to New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Stephan is an avid blogger. He blogs primarily at StephanSpencer.com, but he's also been known to blog on the CNET Blog Network, the Shop.org Blog, Natural Search Blog, BusinessBlogConsulting.com, and elsewhere.