OK, so, you’re probably asking what’s search engine optimisation (SEO) training in Manchester, social media training, cormorants and good food got in common? Well, if the Search & Social Media Marketing course site hasn’t made it apparent yet … yes they can all be found at the University of Salford in Greater Manchester – cormorants and the food a little later!
SEO training Manchester – getting it right first time
The importance of getting the right search engine optimisation and social medial training for a small business owner cannot be underestimated. Most website designers will offer you great service in converting your sales literature into attractive on-line web pages. However, what do you do next if only a few people visit your web pages? One of the major sources of web page traffic are search engines and social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook etc. Everyone who has a web page on a certain topic is competing for the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) positions – and only those whoa are on the first three pages have a higher chance to get a click from the prospective customers – no-one wants to be left behind! This means that two of our key customers have to be our visitors first then search engines and social media platforms which help our website visitors to find us.
The very first thing that I realised as part of this course is a thorough understanding of the customers or – prospects needs. What keywords do people use to find your products or services? What sites are they likely to visit for social media and how could we all engage them in a conversation which helps them to solve their need and us to keep a business going? These are some of the key questions which need to be determined and researched prior to commending a full website implementation. Yes, you might say a website is never set in stone you can always change it – right, yes, you can! But, it is an additional cost and drain on resources and for someone like me, who is already busy running a business – spinning the plates – the last thing you want to do is change your website hierarchy every six months! Therefore, getting it right first time – if you are on the quest of carving out a career and making a living in the world of SEM (search engine marketing) – then from my experience, it is essential that you start with strong solid foundations that will set you up in the long term, namely a good SEO and social media training course.
But, get it wrong at the beginning – as most of us do when venturing into a new area – and it can be a very frustrating experience costing you time and money. Personally, I feel learning from mistakes of others is a good way to keep you focus on important things, but I know I have done it myself sometimes you think there is a short-cut to things and you might just be able to do it yourself…
The nature of "the beast" (the Internet) can be overwhelming – there is too much information to digest out there in fact, you will find that the majority of us mere mortals will get sucked into an arena that generates a lot of noise which contains a lot of false & contradictory information that inevitably leads to confusion and frustration – speaking from experience here. So, learn from my personal experience:
“to succeed in search engine optimisation and social media you need to get the basic fundamental’s right first time ….”
SEO newbie’s approach to self taught SEO training
So, lets look at the typical SEO newbie’s approach to self taught SEO training, and yes I speak from experience (yes I’ve done most if not all!) and in no particular order, my list of common would be newbie mistakes is:
- Signing up to multiple internet marketing “gurus” lists
- Shifting through 100+ email (offers) a day
- Believing some of those offers – you know they are too good to be true but you still hope they will prove you wrong…
- Joining as many SEO forums as possible
- Read contradictory & false “advise” in said SEO forums
- Downloading ebooks with the latest “how total SEO newbie made 10k in 1st month”
- Downloading more ebooks on SEO and Social Media training
- Downloading even more ebooks on search secrets
- Following the video hype of SEO training product launches by yet another “guru”
- Executing your new found training strategies half heartedly
- Reading SEO blogs from SEO ninjas and SEO wizards
- …..expecting organic search ranking results improvements overnight – but they never do!!!
- The list goes on …
Information overload and the “noise” created on the internet is a massive DESTRACTION that will no doubt get you FRUSTRATED, blur your vision and shift your focus from becoming a competent search marketer.
Idealised process for strategic use of Search (SEO) and Social Media Optimisation (SMO)
One of the main things that I took away from the Search & Social Media Marketing course is that there is some method to this “SEO and SMO madness”! Each week we refer to the 11 steps of SSMM which start from clear business vision and strategic plan for the website (bearing in mind organic SEO can take months and in some cases years to come to fruition) so if you are looking for results fast Pay-Per-Click and Social Media campaigns – also discussed as part of this course can come handy! Ok, what are these stages of search engine optimisation and social media optimisation? At the core of the optimisation process are these seven steps:
- Identification of organisational / business needs and how online media could help
- Setting Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Social Media Optimisation (SMO) goals
- Research the keywords that you prospects are likely to use to come to your site and benefit from your products and services
- Strategically position keywords in your website structure and architecture
- Tactical keyword placement on individual pages
- Optimisation of your off site profile in social media, mobile and if needed PPC
- Tracking and measuring of your results and learn from your actions in relation to the goals that you set in step 1 and 2
In order to succeed in search engine marketing you need to get the fundamental basics right first time, and University of Salford’s SEO and Social Media course – or to be more precise #SSMM (Search & Social Media Marketing) training course does just that and from my own personal experience – is the best starting place as it encompasses all the relevant mixes of search marketing in separate modules:
- SEO
- PPC
- Social Media
- Mobile Marketing
And just in case these do sound overwhelming still the sessions of the course are based on a method too – practical exercises during training and homework – like writing of this blog post and hence practising the use of SEO in social media! The course is packed with excellent industry guest speakers from the Manchester SEO community, SEMPO Institute online training material, online course support community on LinkedIn, Twitter hash tag – #SSMM and a Facebook page – just in case there are some cormorants about!
The mystery of Cormorants – are they interested in SEO training or Social Media training!
Right, have I mentioned cormorants already? well, cormorants are the full time overseas students taking part in the training too! Just in case you are wondering – these creatures did sit outside of the training room in the Maxwell building in Manchester. There are a couple of theories that explain their interest in SEO and Social Media training – a) interest in increasing their social media profile – tweeting in particular or b) the sight of good food or etc)?…
Have a look at the Search & Social Media Marketing course Facebook page for more evidence of these keen tweeterers!
An SEO training banquet fit for a king
… oh I nearly forgot to mention the spread at each session – a banquet fit for a king-fisher (or was it a cormorant!)!?
Why invest in SEO training?
Having been through the steep, frustrating, sometimes tedious learning curve in pursuit of my goal albeit in an unorthodox sporadic fashion, it’s a great relief to have found a well structured approach to learning the internet mix, that is SSMM.
If you wish to short-cut your path to success in the search marketing arena I would suggest that you seriously consider the training course in Greater Manchester’s University of Salford has to offer. If you don’t live in the Greater Manchester area it might be worth considering to move to Manchester for the 10 weeks time – it is a great place with a number of SEO and Social Media networking groups organised using LinkedIn and Meetup, MediaCity is also about to open its doors too – and as evidenced by the cormorants they did a bit of a commute too!
Now, although it looks like a blatant endorsement for the University of Salford’s commercial SEO training, well it is; part motive for writing this post is in the hope that individuals, business owners and professionals alike will see heed this message:
There is no substitute for good hands-on training that’s backed by a wealth of solid in-depth learning resources to maximize your online successes!
If you have any questions about the course – see when the next #SSMM open evening takes place or if you want to speak to me please get in touch:
PS: Do you have any of your theories to explain the "The mystery of Cormorants"? please use the comments sections below!
