SEO TrainingWe are deeply committed to SEO training, and have been for some time now, as we regard it as one of the most important factors in increasing our future business. This is for many reasons, among which are:- Working
for clients is not sufficient. We need to work with them, in a
partnership, and unless we can coach them efficiently, they cannot
contribute. Worse than that, we will be pulling in opposite directions.
- If
the quality of the market in general is improved, there is always more
work for the top achievers. Those less talented are a little more
obvious.
- The people who need SEO most have never heard of it. Many website owners assume that once their site is built, traffic will arrive; and that they will somehow automatically convert visitors into buyers. Neither of those is true, but getting that message out to them is not easily accomplished. Marketing to those who have never heard of your product and don't realise they need it is the hardest task of all; and in the end, the best way forward is to widen the general awareness of the existence of that service.
- During the process of coaching site owners and staff, we can clearly demonstrate why our performance is better than others. All search optimising consultants employ some sort of system, whether technical-based, marketing-based or a mix of the two. We need to show why the system we use works better, and training is one way since it helps owners to appreciate why.
- By training others we aren't removing a source of work: we are simply improving the type of work we get, and increasing awareness of just how good experts are at their job. There is no way we can train either the technically-competent or marketing specialists to precisely reproduce what we do, as the skillset and experience of many years' SEO and a lifetime of both technical and marketing experience unlikely to be there.
- A
completed SEO project isn't something that lasts forever; site changes
and market changes mean that tuning is required, and new direction is
needed. Owners can do a lot - and need to, if the process is to have
any degree of efficiency - but only the pros can achieve perfection.
- Coaching our clients has become more important as the market strengthens. In the USA and the UK, it is now impossible to reach the top in well-contested spaces without efficient SEO. This is in contrast to immature markets in other languages, where trading is much less intense. Even in major European countries like Germany, the trading environment is so much easier and relaxed; there, even in strong market areas it is still possible to get top results with no SEO consultant, in complete contrast to the situation in the busy English language spaces. The West's English language Internet market is fiercely contested and only training can produce better results in the long term.
- There are a vast number of people in our business who really don't know what they are doing. Clients regularly tell us of large sums wasted here. When they finally locate consultants who can deliver, at a fair price, and are willing to show how they do it - the word spreads. Success breeds success.
SEO training methods and syllabusCoaching our clients takes many forms, including by phone, via Skype, via text, in emails, during joint tasks, and in other conversations. However, one of the most important components is our documentation. For a long time now we have supplied clients with a comprehensive set of Guides to aspects of the search optimising process that build into a valuable training and reference resource. Here are some as an example:
Guide to Domain Management
Guide to Content Creation
Guide to Social Linking
There are more than twenty of these that together form a good reference for all the tasks a website owner must think about in order to maximise their site's potential. We cannot claim it is a complete guide to SEO, or even a complete guide to our system, as there is simply too much to cover.
For instance we can't coach owners on coding or in usability development, as the ability to do these things either takes a long time to learn - as in the case of coding - or is something you are either born with a talent for, or cannot see to save your life - as with usability issues.
There is also the fact that, in our experience, a website owner who is technically advanced enough to be able to code an htaccess file is usually lacking in marketing ability - and vice-versa. It is hard to develop ability in areas that seem to require an innate talent. This polarisation is a normal human trend of course, and is usually reflected in the staff make-up of any enterprise: the technical and marketing departments. Swap the personnel around and the balance sheet would suffer.
Nevertheless, we do try. After six months of working with us, clients should be able to carry on with confidence. They will readily appreciate the basics, and will be able to move forward even in new directions without worry. It's true that the final touch may require an expert's attention, but that is the case in any field of activity. We are, after all, doing it all day every day; and just as importantly, we get to see and work with a massive variety of sites. One thing none of us can see too well is our own website - we're just too close.
How did we qualify as SEO teachers?A useful question that should be asked of anyone who has placed themselves in that position, as against being selected to do it.
Firstly - what do we know about the subject, and what results do we get?
You can probably see from the resources on this site that we know more about the technical background of SEO than most. The resources here on hosting, server issues, CMS, search penalties and many other areas, together add up to a website technical knowledgebase that is unequalled in this field. Our qualifications in that area are unimpeachable.
Then, you must consider the marketing and usability components that are vital to the success of an Internet property. Our Marketing Director has over twenty year's offline and online experience, and is a qualified management consultant. As regards website usability development, it cannot be learnt and and it cannot be taught to those who do not have a natural affinity for it. It can be taught and improved in those with a talent for it, but otherwise it is either very hard or impossible to teach. The principles can be appreciated by anyone, but in order to qualfy as an expert and as someone who can teach the basics to others - there are few indeed who qualify here.
In this area we are very lucky as both the partners work with usability development; and our clients' sites reflect that in full. One of the things we are most proud of is that sites we work with are straightforward and easy to use. This isn't easy to achieve, as you must surely realise by the vast numbers of websites that are not clear at all. Of course, this contributes to the bottom line.
The comment we are proudest to hear that one of our clients received from a website customer is "Your website is so easy to use"; or, "Your website is much easier to use than the others". These comments are the highest testimonial that a site can receive. They are superior to any other type or form of comment that is made. Our sites regularly receive comments such as this. There are very few sites that get this sort of feedback and they are the best sites of all.
Usability is the third, equal part of the triumvirate required for a website's success: the technical, marketing and usability factors. And as regards results - all our full SEO clients' websites place at global #1 to #4 for their main terms, and have increased their site incomes far beyond expectation. We have multiplied a client's revenue by a factor of ten on occasion. And we do it ethically and organically, with long-term dependable methods that don't include any risky plays or big PPC spend.
Secondly, some people are born to teach, and luckily at least one of our team qualifies here. Our Technical Director was a successful sports coach at national and international level for thirty-five years, and as a senior coach was reponsible for the training and examination syllabus for competitors, officials and coaches of several sports associations. It isn't possible to contribute at that level for that length of time in amateur sport - over forty years in total - unless you have a talent for coaching and a deep commitment to teaching for the sake of it and without reward. You'd have to ask a regional or national coach about that - but they will fully understand the requirements.
The SEO ContractAn important component of ours is that we train the client. It's part of the way we do things. We exist as part of a consultancy, support and partnership network; we don't aim to charge a fee and then fade into the background. If you need us, we're there.
Formal training sessionsWe only run formal classroom sessions for client staff at present. There are a large number of issues here, such as how we could describe such a course as anything other than "A Brief Introduction To SEO", if it were less than a week-long full-time residential affair. However, times change, and it may be that a one-day introduction becomes more desirable.
PPC trainingOur PPC management partners run on-site Adwords training courses, and provide an online training course. Ask and we'll put you in touch.
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SEO Training
