Search Engine Optimization Black Belt Seminar

IMPORTANT: You do NOT need to have a technical background to learn SEO best practices at this seminar. No programming is required.

• Cut thru the industry jargon, Find the Eternal SEO Truths
• Focus your optimization efforts on the factors search engines care about, and
• skip the ones they don't
• Stay away from common SEO mistakes that punish your rankings
• Learn the SEO Essentials:
• Chose the BEST keywords (not as easy as you think)
• Make your site "search engine friendly"
• Create and execute a winning linking strategy
• Build on those SEO Essentials with expert tips, tactics, techniques and tools of the trade
• Hear real-world case studies that illustrate what to do, and what not to do
• Determine, measure and track site-wide Key Performance Indicators

8am - 8:30am: Check-In

• Check-In for pre-registered attendees.
• On-site Registration.
• Collect Material, software, books, bag, t-shirt, etc.
• Coffee, juice, soft drinks, soda, danish, bagels

8:30am - 10:10am: Session 1
Overview of Search Engine Marketings

• Welcome
• Review of Proceedings
• Introduction to Search Engine Marketing 101
• The Search Engine Landscape
• What are SEO Ethics, and Why They Matter
• White Hat versus Black Hat
• The SEO Winning Process™

Types of SEO

• Understanding Search User Behavior
• Why Focus of Effort Changes for Different Types of Sites

Content, copywriting and keywords

• Role of Copywriting and Content Creation in SEO
• Understanding and Determining keywords
• RSS, Scrapers & Issues Surrounding Duplicate Content

10:10am - 10:30am: Break
Coffee, juice, soft drinks, danish, bagels

10:30am - 12noon: Session 2
Page and Site Architecture Considerations

• Site Architecture
  • Taxonomy
  • Ease of crawl-ability for search engine spiders
  • Directory Structure
  • Spider Traps
  • Robots Exclusion
  • URLs
  • Domain Names
  • Cookies
  • Redirects
  • File names
• User Interface
  • Internal linking strategies
  • Site maps considerations
  • Pull-down menus
  • AJAX
  • Flash
• Page Construction
  • Frames
  • Forms
  • Page size
  • HTML coding requirements
• Search Engine Spam
  • IP Cloaking
  • Improper Redirection
  • Page Bait and Switch
  • Keywords Stuffing & Keyword Stacking
  • Font tricks
  • Mirrored content
  • Doorway Pages
  • What is Improper Linking ?
  • Getting Illegal with CSS
  • The Mini-Net Strategy

12noon - 1pm: Lunch
Lunch is provided

1pm - 2:20pm: Session 3
Linking Strategies and Tactics

• Link Building and Target Site Identification
  • Why a Well Thought-out and Executed Linking Strategy is Essential
  • What are hubs and authorities? Why are they important?
  • Finding the vertical directories and search engines for your industry
  • How anchor text affects the links that in turn affect your rankings
  • Paid links: Some are OK and some are not... Which are which.
  • How & why to get deep links
  • Uncover the linking opportunities most sites miss
  • Linking Tactics Gone Bad - how not to piss off the Search Engines
  • Link Bait & Viral/Swarm Marketing
• Classic Public Relations meets SEO and Link Building
  • Getting your new web site or new content noticed
  • Maximizing the effect of online press releases
  • How to get your site reviewed (and linked) by the right people
  • How to use the Blogosphere, RSS and Forums as Force Multipliers

2:20pm - 2:40pm: Break
Coffee, juice, soft drinks, cookies, brownies, energy bars

2:40pm - 4:00pm: Session 4
>Tools of the Trade

• Tools and the trade... the good, the bad and the ugly.
  • Free and Otherwise
  • Google Sitemaps, Trends, etc.
  • Yahoo Site Explorer
  • SEO Toolset
  • Optilink, SEO-browser
  • Search Engine tools, allinanchor, allintitle, links:, site:, etc
• Web Analytics and Measurement
  • Clicktracks
  • Google Analytics
  • Index Tools
  • Omniture
  • Webside Story
  • WebPosition Gold

4:00pm - 4:20 pm: Break
Coffee, juice, soft drinks, soda, cookies, brownies

4:20pm - 5:40pm: Session 5
Overview of Vertical Creep

• Local
• Shopping
• Images
• Videos
• Music

What does the Future Hold?

• Chasing the algorithm
  • What is important now, and in the future?
  • Today's white hat is tomorrow black hat.. what to do?
  • Is chasing the algorithm the right thing to do?
• Tracking patents - understanding the future
• Web 2.0 considerations
  • Understanding Consumer Generated Content
  • Wikipedia phenomenon
  • Tagging
  • Is Social Networking a fad, or a huge new online shift ?
  • Web 2.0 Tools: Del.icio.us, Technarati, Digg et al.

Best Resources to keep you up-to-date

• Websites
• Forums
• Blogs
• Podcasts

Industry Players, Organizations & Events

• Who's Who: Important Industry Players & Luminaries
• Industry Organizations
• Search Industry Tradeshows

Review and Wrap up

5:40pm: Seminar Concludes - Informal Q & A