Diploma in Search Engine Optimisation (Dip. SEO.) with Social Media Marketing & Google AdWords modules by Distance Learning
Introduction
Search Engines have revolutionised the way people look for information. It’s not all that long ago that someone looking for information about a particular topic would have to go to the local library and carry out a manual search of the books available to find what they were looking for.
The technology of search engines is constantly evolving and improving to give more relevant results in a shorter time and this course will give students the skills to;
A module on web metrics and analysing search results is included and also a module that covers the use of sponsored advertising or Pay Per Click advertising with particular emphasis on Google AdWords and Google AdSense.
Course Content
Search Engine Optimisation
Introduction to Search Engine Optimization: How people search the web
Why do you need to know about Search Engine Optimization?; A brief history of Search Engines; How people search the web; How do Search Engines actually work?; How is the information collected for Search Engines to use?; Algorithm Based Ranking Systems – Crawling, Indexing and Ranking; Web Crawlers, Spiders and Robots, ; Search Engine Query Interfaces; Understanding GoogleBot; Analysing Ranking Factors; Advanced Searching techniques; Determining Searcher Intent – Types of Searches; How people scan search results pages; How people click on search results; Organic Listings vs. Sponsored Listings; The Google Toolbar PageRank Tool; Vertical Search Engines; Country Specific Search Engines; Search Directories.
Determining your objectives and defining your site audience
Setting out your SEO Goals and Objectives; Outlining and Developing your SEO Plan; The importance of having a good SEO Plan prior to website development; Researching your potential audience; Finding your niche on the web; SEO for raw Traffic; SEO for E-Commerce sites; SEO for Branding; SEO for Direct marketing; SEO for Reputation Management; SEO for Ideological Influence.
Planning your SEO campaign
The importance of planning; The importance of site architecture; Defining your websites architecture; Technology decisions that can affect your SEO; Structural decisions that can affect your SEO; Auditing an existing site to identify and SEO problems; Server Hosting Issues – Server Timeouts, Slow Response Times, Blocked IP Addresses, Shared IP Addresses, Server geography; Who are your competitors?; Measuring your success – Server Statistics Software; Website SWOT Analysis
Keyword Generation
The importance of Keywords; Traditional Approaches to Keyword Research; Choosing Quality Keywords or “Trophy Words”; Understanding how Keywords are used; Selecting the right Keywords; Analysing your competition with Compete.com; Analysing your competition with SEODigger; Keyword Research Tools; Google’s Keyword Tools; The Google General Keyword Search Tool; The Google Crawler Keyword Search Tool; Keyword Research with KeyCompete; Using the Word Tracker keyword research tool; Researching, Analysing and Filtering your keywords with keyword Discovery; Other Keyword Research Tools; Determining Keyword Value; The Importance of Long-Tail keyword Search; White Hat and Black Hat SEO; Determining your potential Return On Investment (ROI); Deciding on your Quality Keywords.
Adding Content and Meta Tags
The importance of page content; Choosing the correct file names for web pages; Formatting your site with HTML; Formatting your site with CSS; Page Structure – adding emphasis with Heading Tags; Using Text Modifiers; Optimizing Images; Working with Forms and other page elements; Validating the page HTML; The Meta Description Tag; The Meta Title Tag; How Search Engine Spiders interpret Meta Tags; Configuring Meta Tags – The Keywords Meta Tag, The Title Meta Tag, The GoogleBot and the Robot Meta Tags, The Revisit Meta Tag, The Location Meta Tag, The Subject Meta Tag, The Author and Copyright Meta Tags, The Redirect Meta Tag; Adding your site to GeoURL.
Link Building
The importance of Link Building for SEO; How to get quality back links; Some definitions of link building; Link Building – how to start; Keyword Rich Anchor Text; Building Links from Different IP Addresses; Deep Link Building; Shallow Link Building; URL Canonicalization; The No-Follow Attribute – how to find and use the no-follow attribute on a web page; Link Juice and Page Rank – The PageRank Calculation, Using Effective Anchor Text; Link Exchange and Page Rank, Internal Links; Article Directory Submission; Requesting One Way Links; Purchasing Links; Search Directories; Content Generation; Creating and Distributing Content; Posting Content; Encouraging others to share your content; Link Building Resources and Tools.
Developing an SEO Friendly Website
Making your site accessible to Search Engines; Optimizing your site information architecture; The Importance of site maps; Creating a HTML sitemap; Creating an XML sitemap; Sitemap creation tools; Root Domains and Sub Domains; Optimizing Domain Names and URL’s; Structuring your URL’s correctly; Optimizing your website for multiple web browsers; The World Wide web – creating different language versions of your site; Keyword Targeting; Keyword Density; The Importance of HTML Tags in Keyword Targeting; Meta Tags and HTML Tags; Using Images and Flash files; Using the “Alt” Tag – the importance of Alternative Text; Content Optimization; Avoiding Content Duplication; Controlling Content with Cookies and Session ID’s; Specifying Content for Search Engines – The robots.txt file and the Rel=”NoFollow” attribute; protecting your site with a .htaccess file; Redirecting traffic with 301 ReDirects; Redirecting non-WWW traffic to WWW; Using Content Management Systems (CMS’s); Targeting your site for different countries; Targeting your site for Mobile Devices; Other considerations for your website.
Optimizing your site for Major Search Engines
Optimization for Google; Google PageRank; Google Webmaster Tools; iGoogle; Google Technical Suggestions; Google Content Suggestions; Optimizing for Yahoo, Bing, MSN and Microsoft Live; How Yahoo works; Bing Technical Suggestions; Bing Content Suggestions; Optimize Blog Posts for Technorati; Optimize your website for Delicious.com; Optimizing your images for Google Images; Increasing your exposure on Ask.com; Using Craigslist to drive traffic; Using Shopping Engines to drive traffic; Using eBay auctions; Using Amazon.com for drive sales.
Submitting your website URL to Search Engines
Submitting your site to Google; The Google Webmaster Central; Adding your site to Google Analytics; Submitting your site to Yahoo; Submitting your site to Bing; Bing’s Webmaster centre; Submitting your site to DMOZ; Submitting to Jayde for Business to Business websites; Submitting to Alexa; Submitting to the Librarians Internet Index (LII); Enlisting your URL and Company on Merchant Circle; Enlisting your URL on WhatUSeek; Submitting to National Directories; Website Submission Engines.
Local Business Listings
Adding a Local Business Listing to Google; Adding a Local Business Listing to Bing; Submitting your site to other Local Business Directories.
Pay Per Click and Google AdWords
What is Sponsored Advertising?; Questions you should ask before setting up a Sponsored Advertising Campaign; Types of Sponsored Advertising; Pay-Per-Click Advertising, Pay-Per-Impression Advertising; Pay-Per-Action Advertising; The Google Factor; Google AdWords; Setting up an AdWords Account– Types of AdWords Accounts; Monitoring your campaigns; Managing your AdWords Account – Billing, Reporting; Writing Good AdWords Advertisements; Understanding the Importance of Good Landing Pages; Google AdSense; Setting up an AdSense Account; How to integrate AdSense into your website; Microsoft AdCentre; Setting up an Account; Managing your Account – Billing and Reports; The AdCentre Tools Tab; Click Fraud – Types of Click Fraud.
Measuring your results – Web Metrics
The Importance of Analysing your Web Traffic; Measuring Search Traffic; Knowing what Metrics are important for you; Using AWStats to track web traffic; Google Analytics; Integrating Google Analytics code in your website; The Google Analytics Keywords Report; Measuring the Bounce Rate and understanding its importance; Setting Goals in Google Analytics; Using Goals to measure ROI; Using Filters in Google Analytics– specifying your web metrics; Setting up and Customizing Reports in Google Analytics; Setting up and maintaining User Accounts in Google Analytics; Mobile Reporting in Google Analytics; Tips to help you utilize Google Analytics.
Things to that might adversely affect your SEO
Abnormal Keyword Delivery; SEO Spam; Using automatic linking software and websites; Doorway Pages; Meta Jacking; Keyword Stuffing; Page Cloaking; Link Farms; Spamblogs, Page Highjacking; Linking to bad sites and span sites; Using standard Titles and Meta Tags through your website; Spreading duplicate content throughout your site; Creating a site entirely in Flash; using Frames in your site; Understanding how search engines recognise Forms.
Working with SEO Plug-Ins
Introduction to SEO Plug-Ins; Installing the Google Toolbar; Installing the Alexa Toolbar; Using the SEO for Firefox Plug-In; Optimizing Titles with the WordPress Title Tag Plug-In; Optimizing Descriptions with the WordPress Description Tag Plug-In; Creating Sitemaps with the WordPress Sitemap Generator; Using the Permalink Redirect Plug-In; Building sitemaps using XML-Sitemaps.com; Creating sitemaps using Site Map Creator software.
Online Marketing
Doing Business on the Internet
Doing Business on the Internet, The Benefits of Digital Marketing # Online Marketing Planning, Key Concepts in Internet Technology, Business Models on the Internet, Online Market Research.
Analysing the Web
Website Hits, Website Page View Analytics, Recording Online Visitor Statistics, Time of Visit to website, Keyword Phrase Used, IP Address Information, Website Arrival and Exit Pages, Logfile versus Page Tagging, Web Click Tracks and Google Analytics, Benefits of Web Analytics.
Promoting Your Website
Promoting your Website, Online Promotion Techniques, Web 2.0, Services & Applications, Email Marketing, Online Advertising.
Google Adwords
Google AdWords and Online Advertising: The Basics
Where did it all begin? Google Adwords essentials: Why use Google AdWords?,
Google AdWords Basic terminology, Getting started with Google AdWords,
The Google world and AdWords, The difference between Sponsored Listings and Organic Listings, The Pay-Per-Click revolution, Google AdWords and Direct Marketing.
Tour of Google AdWords Environment
Benefits of AdWords: Relevance, Return on investment (ROI) and Reach, Targeting the right audiences, Keywords and placements, The power of positioning with Ad Rank, Paying for results only, Discount features, Avoiding speculation.
Features of AdWords: Variety and advert formats, Accessibility via Search and Content Networks, Ad performance and monitoring, Quality Score and Click-Through Rate (CTR), Report Centre, Conversion tracking.
Google AdWords Statistics explained: The Snapshot Screen, The All Online Campaigns view.
Creating and Managing a Google AdWords Account
Different editions: Starter versus Standard, Opening a new Google AdWords account, Google AdWords: Organizing and Managing the Account, The Google AdWords Campaign Management Tab.
Building an Google AdWords Campaign
The Online Marketplace, Online Profitability Predictions, Online Marketing Trends, Positioning an Online Business Strategically, Building a Google AdWords Campaign from scratch, Setting up Your Google AdWords Campaign for Success, Common Mistakes to avoid when Setting up Google AdWords Campaigns.
Social Media Marketing
Introduction to Social Media and Social Networking
What is Social Media?; A brief history of Social Media; How Social Media Works; Why should a business use Social Media; The power of Social Media in the Marketing and Advertising Arena; Introduction to Social Media Marketing Techniques; Understanding your audience; Social Network Platforms and Applications; Media Distribution; Establishing new categories of relationships with your customers; Accumulating Social Capital; The future of Social Networking.
How Social Media is transforming the way we do Business
Social Sales; Transforming the Sales Cycle; Building relationships with your customers; Using customer testimonials on your site; Building a rapport with your customers; Online customer support; Social Network Marketing; Hypertargeting; Creating specific advertising campaigns; Reaching Passive Buyers; Loyalty and Engagement; Social Networking Communities; Brand Advertising; Social Distribution; Social Ads; Viral Marketing; Challenges and Limitations; Social Innovation; Concept generation; Crowdsourcing; Collaboration and Feedback; Commercial Implementation; Continual Iteration; Social Recruiting; The use of Social Networks for recruiting; Sourcing Candidates; Active Candidates; Passive Candidates; Candidate References; Getting Referrals from Extended Networks; Targeting Specialized Networks; Employer Reputation; Keeping In Touch.
Facebook
What is Facebook; Who uses Facebook; How can Facebook benefit a business; Understanding the Facebook environment; Signing up for a Facebook account; Defining your profile; Editing your profile; Searching for and adding friends; Using the Facebook Wall feature; Using pictures on your Facebook profile; Using the News Feed feature; Controlling what people see – using the Hide feature; Facebook Messaging; Facebook Groups; Facebook Links; Facebook Applications; Browsing for Applications; Including Business Applications; Finding Help – the Facebook Community; The Architecture of a Facebook Page; Understanding Facebook Advertising; Developing a Facebook Marketing Plan; Facebook Groups, Hosting Facebook Events; Case Study Sites.
Practical Assignment: The students are required to set up account on Facebook and become familiar with the tools and architecture of the site. The students are also given a case study of a Facebook marketing campaign to analyse.
Twitter
Introduction to Twitter; Understanding a Tweet; Decoding the elements of a Tweet; Signing up for a Twitter account; Creating and modifying your profile; Adding a profile icon; Finding people and uploading contacts; Following someone on Twitter; Adding followers to your account; Using Twitter Badges; Creating a Tweet; Working within the constraints of a Tweet – getting your message out in 140 characters or less; Re-tweeting; Sharing Links – Using TinyURL.com; Using Twitter with Mobile Devices; Using Twitter Goodies; Adding Twitter to Blogs; Connecting Twitter to Facebook, Direct Messages; Planning your Twitter Marketing Strategy; Building a Twitter Tribe; Case Study Sites.
Practical Assignment: The students are required to set up accounts on each of these websites and become familiar with the tools and architecture of the sites. The students are also given a case study of a Twitter marketing campaign to analyse.
YouTube
Introduction to YouTube; Understanding YouTube; Browsing on YouTube; YouTube as a social media site; YouTube as a business tool; YouTube as an educational tool; Creating a YouTube account; Linking to your Gmail account; Creating a video for YouTube; Using Open Source Video Editing Software; Adding voiceovers, soundtracks and special effects to your videos; Formatting Videos for Uploading; Uploading Videos to YouTube; Downloading videos from YouTube; Linking and Embedding videos in your own website; Posting comments on other peoples videos; Comparing YouTube and Facebook; Sharing Videos with Facebook; Sharing Videos with Twitter; Case Study Sites
Practical Assignment: The students are required to set up accounts on each of these websites and become familiar with the tools and architecture of the sites. The students are also given a case study of a YouTube marketing campaign to analyse.
Online Public Relations
Online Influences on Present PR Practices
Internet influence on News, Internet Journalists, Economics of Online News Production, Internet Critics and other influences, the PR Practitioner as an Online Publisher, Ethical Internet PR, Truthfulness and Duty of Care, Online Ethics, Debate, Guidelines and Best Practice.
Monitoring and Evaluation of Social Media Discourse, Trends and Value. Policy Influences, corporate speak. Implications of Social Media for Corporate Social Responsibility.
Social Media and PR strategy
Local versus Global Communication, Landscaping Platforms, Channels and context, Online PR Organisational Analysis and Segmentation, Developing Online PR Strategies, Online PR Tactics and SEO considerations, Online PR Planning, Managing Online PR Risk and Opportunities.
The Social Media Landscape
Blogs, Microblogs, Chatrooms, Delicious, Email, Flickr, Twitter, Instant messaging, Message Boards, Mobile Internet , New Media Releases, Online Conferencing, Online Surveys, Pay per click, Podcasts, RSS, Search Engines, SEO, Social Networking Service Sites, Video Sharing, Virtual worlds, VoIP, Wiki and Widgets.
The Internet as a Media
Commercial Implications of the Internet, Social Interaction with the Internet, Web 2.0 and its Implications, Internet Convergence, the Network Effect, Internet Information Exchange, Internet Audience Size and Exposure, Internet Culture and Communication, Transparency and the Internet.
E-COMMERCE - Website Creation
The E-Commerce module is broken down into two sections. The first one deals with the Theory of E-Commerce and how to set up an E-Commerce solution for a business. It also goes into some detail on the various types of E-Commerce. The second section deals with web site design. This covers HTML, XHTML and CSS and serves as an introduction to web site design and development.
The Theory of E-Commerce
What is e-commerce?; Definitions; Advantages of e-commerce; Limitations of e-commerce; The 1st and 2nd waves of e-commerce; Categories of e-commerce; Methods of accepting payments online; Working with PayPal; Electronic Wallets; Metered Payments; Off the shelf e-commerce solutions.
Introduction to Web Site Design
What is HTML?; The structure of a HTML web page; Introduction to HTML Tags; The <html>, <head>, <body> and <title> Tags; Creating a basic HTML web page; Working with text; Basic formatting – the <b>, <i> and <u> Tags; Other formatting Tags – the <p> Tag and the Heading Tags; HTML Attributes; Working with Hyperlinks; Using colour in a web page; Working with Images; Formatting images for the web; HTML Lists – ordered Lists, Unordered Lists and Definition Lists; Creating Tables in HTML; Formatting Tables;
XHTML
What is XHTML?; Why XHTML is important; Differences between HTML and XHTML.
CSS
What is CSS?; How does CSS work?; The three types of Cascading Style Sheets – In-Line CSS, Internal CSS and External CSS; Examples of formatting using CSS; Linking a web page to an external CSS page; Formatting the page with CSS; Font and Text formatting; Working with Links.
Presentation Skills
Preparation and Research; Speech Content; Subject Matter and Objectives; Speech Delivery and Variety; Body Language, Eye Contact, etc.; Presentation Aids e.g. Visuals, etc.; Management of Locations and Audiences; Presentation Structure.
SEO Campaign Project
The project is an important part of the course. Each course participant is given the project brief. Participants are asked at the end of the course to produce an SEO campaign proposal with their recommendations to their subject expert. This gives participants the opportunity to use the knowledge they have obtained during the course in a focused way and develops pitching skills.
Methods of Training
Online Lecture Modules, Subject Expert Feedback Sessions after each Module, practical case studies, end of module assignments. etc.
Subject Experts
Fitzwilliam Institute has a panel of Subject Experts.
Who Should Apply
Anyone working in Online Marketing in a senior or support position or those who wish to make a career change to Online Marketing specialising in search engine optimisation. The course will also benefit anyone who has marketing as part of their job specification.
Qualifications
Successful candidates qualify for the Diploma in Search Engine Optimisation (Dip. SEO). The Diploma is awarded at Distinction, Credit or Pass level. The diploma is accredited by the Advertisers Association of Ireland.
Start Date
Enrolment for this course will take place on the 10th February 2012.
Course Application
Application for this course is available immediately online through our Course Payments Page.
Course Duration
14 weeks to 1 calendar year depending on individual progress.
Fees
€995
Fees may be paid online through our Course Payments Page. Alternatively payments can be made by cheque, bank draft, credit card, laser card or bank transfer.
All fees must be paid before the course begins.
Brochure
Request a Brochure for this Course.
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