This document provides an overview of search engine optimization (SEO) and internet marketing strategies. It discusses the importance of optimizing websites for both users and search engines. Key topics covered include on-page SEO such as optimizing titles, meta tags and content; off-page SEO strategies like link building; and paid search engine marketing techniques. Helpful online resources for SEO are also listed.

1. SEO & Internet Marketing You have two customers… y our users and search engines. By Anne La Francis Marketing Manager, Online Strategy Kaplan AEC Education January 27, 2009

2. SEO Workshop Agenda Introductions Internet Marketing Introduction to SEO On-Page SEO Off-Page SEO Permission-Based Email Marketing Introduction to SEM Helpful SEO Resources Questions & Answers

3. Internet Marketing What is Internet Marketing? Internet marketing is also known as e-marketing or online marketing . It is the marketing of products or services over the Internet. Types of Internet Marketing? Search engine optimization ( SEO ) On-Page SEO Off-Page SEO Search engine marketing ( SEM ) Pay Per Click (PPC) E-mail marketing Affiliate marketing Display advertising/Interactive advertising Social Media Marketing ( SMO ), i.e. blog marketing and viral marketing.

4. Introduction to SEO What is SEO? “ Search engine optimization ( SEO ) is the practice of creating a Web site in a manner that allows it to be properly read and indexed by search engines. 2 Types of SEO: On-Page and Off-Page What are Search Engines? Search Engines/Search Indexes : Huge databases containing information from multiple Web pages . Search engines use spiders or robots (bots) or to scan and read Web pages . Search engine results pages ( SERPs ) are the listings of web pages returned by a search engine in response to a keyword query. Example: *Google, Yahoo What are Search Directories : A directory is a categorized collection of information about Web sites . Submissions are manual and sent to an editor for review. Example: www.dmoz.org or dir.yahoo.com . *To check to see if Google has indexed your site, use: site:http://www.yourdomain.com.

5. On-Page SEO What is On-Page SEO? Making your site search engine friendly. Designing site and navigation so it is easily spidered and indexed. Content should be populated with keywords . Web content writing is important to SEO. See Handout 1.1 Optimizing Keywords & conducting keyword research are key to SEO. See Handout 1.2 Usability and site architecture should be intuitive . See handout 1.3 for Best practices

6. Types of On-Page SEO What is On-Page SEO? Domain Name – Uniform Resource Locator ( URL ) Meta Tags and meta keywords They are information inserted into the &quot;head&quot; area of your web pages. Title Tags (<title>your title goes here</title>): Title tags are the 4-8 word titles describing each page on your Web site. These tell the browser what text to display in the title bar, and they are very important to search engines. *Description Tag (<META NAME=“description” CONTENT=“your description”>): search engines use this to index it and it often provides the description for the SERPs if Google can’t find the keywords on the page. *Don’t use more than 150 characters here. IMG tag (<img src=“kaplan.gif&quot; alt=“Kaplan Logo&quot;/> ) embeds an image in an HTML page. Provides alternative text if the image is not available. Headers and Body <H1 & H2> On-page links (internal and external) HTML coding Page size 1024x768 pixels is a standard resolution. Site’s architecture and navigation

7. Off-Page SEO What is Off-Page SEO? All links from pages contained within the site and pages from other sites that point to your specific pages. Increasing link popularity and incoming links from other high ranking sites raises page rank . Link building- backlinks are links that are directed towards your site, aka inbound links (IBLs) Checking Backlinks: link:yourdomain.com Backlink builder: www.webconfs.com/backlink-builder.php Example: Kaplanaec.com vs Kaplan.com

8. Types of Off-Page SEO Blogs Social media optimization ( SMO ) i.e. facebook, linkedin, digg Viral Marketing Article marketing ( online article syndication) Forum marketing (writing on forums ) Classifieds Advertisements: www.craigslist.com has a page rank of 7 Topical directories Press Releases RSS Feeds : XML data feeds are predominately designed for large web sites or e-commerce sites with hundreds of different products that are mostly database driven (dynamically generated). Through normal spidering these pages might never be found and indexed. That’s why XML data feeds were created – as a means of getting deep content found by the search engines. Permission-Based Email Marketing

9. Permission-Based Email Marketing? What is Permission-based email marketing? This is an opt-in online marketing technique used to build value of a company’s brand, increase sales, and strengthen relationships with clients/subscribers. Recipients opt-in to receive information/news See Handout 1.4. Single opt-in is when a visitor subscribes to a newsletter via a form on the web site. They have opted-in once . Double opt-in is when a visitor subscribes to a newsletter via a web site and then is sent a confirmation email. Best practice What is the CAN-Spam Act of 2003? Legislation to protect unwanted spam emails from arriving in people’s personal email or work email inboxes. See Handout 1.5.

10. Types of Permission-Based Email Marketing Gathering contacts from tradeshows Online newsletter sign-ups Web promotional sign-ups Invoices Point of Sale purchases Credit card purchases Articles Press Releases Customer calls

11. Introduction to SEM What is Search Engine Marketing (SEM)? The broader scope of marketing across various search engine content, including both the organic and paid results (often referred to as sponsored or featured listings) in their results displays. Just think organic “ natural search results ” vs. “ bid for placement ” (or pay per click advertising (PPC)).

12. Types of SEM Pay Per Click Programs (PPC), Pay Per Ranking, Pay Per Placement or Pay Per Position Enables your site to list at top of search engine results pages by bidding for keywords . Example: Google Adwords & Yahoo’s Search Marketing (formerly Overture). Paid Inclusions Pay to get your site noticed or indexed quicker Example: Yahoo SearchSubmit Basic/Paid Inclusion/Ask Jeeves Affiliate Marketing Ad program or content placement program that where a business rewards affiliates for bringing clicks, conversions, or traffic to their site. Traditional Online Ads Web promotional strategies

13. Helpful SEO Resources Submitting your URL to Google: http://www.google.com/webmasters/1.html#A1 Keyword tools: http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/ https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal?defaultView=3 http://www.google.com/sktool/# Search Engine Optimizers : http://www.google.com/webmasters/seo.html Touchgraph (explore connections between Web sites): http://www.touchgraph.com/TGGoogleBrowser.html Search Engine News: http://www.searchenginenews.com/ Checking Links: http://www.iXquick.com/ SEO Copywriting http://www.excessvoice.com/archive.htm Webmaster Guidelines: http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html

14. Questions & Answers If anyone has any questions, please feel free to email me at [email_address] . To learn more about SEO or Internet Marketing , try doing a search using some of the techniques we learned today to get the most out of your query.