Changing the Paradigm of SEO Training

Remember the last training or conference you attended?  My guess is you walked away from that event feeling absolutely overwhelmed with the amount of information you heard that day, or days.  There have been a number of studies that show the majority of training attendees retain only  10% of the information, next time you are trying to decide the value of a training seminar ask if the price is worth 10% of the information promised.  I mean, if that is the majority rule then it makes sense to use that as a value factor.  But I digress.

The point  to focus on is that the current paradigm of training in the industry of Search Engine Optimization and Marketing is to inundate the attendees with information and we all walk away feeling we got value.  I want to challenge that mindset and ask; wouldn’t it be more valuable to be given less information and have the time and opportunity to put it into action.  Let it ALL sink in, not just 10%.

Food for thought:  70% of America’s economy is fueled by small and micro businesses … 60% of those do not even have a website.  Here is where it gets good; there was a study done in New Mexico a couple years ago that demonstrated the positive outcome of a small business who is properly educated in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and stayed engaged in the process over two years saw a 30% increase in business.  WOW!  Now I can see how training small businesses on the basics of SEO and supporting engagement could begin to make a real difference on a national level.

Here is the catch, this segment of the business world is typically strapped for cash making it difficult to serve them.  But what if you could?  SEO LiftOff is attempting to do just that with a scaled down, focused training program geared to begin changing the paradigm of expensive SEO training.  Here is the program being tested in Albuquerque, New Mexico:

SEO Liftoff (www.seoliftoff.com) addresses this problem by providing a simple, cost effective four-point approach to the fundamentals of SEO:

1. How to target keywords
2. Desire driven content that sells
3. Find backward links to increase rankings
4. Demystify Google Analytics

That’s it, one entire day devoted to only 4 tactics taught live … not a series of videos.  Pricing is being tested starting at $97 with the test area scheduled to expand to Phoenix, Arizona in the fall of 2010.  I would like your feedback, there are a lot of lesson’s to be learned in changing a paradigm.

Emily Leach
SEO Strategy Group, llc