A new section of each course starts monthly. If enrolling in a series of two or
more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two
months apart.
All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons
are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have
to be present when lessons are released. You will have access to all lessons until
the course ends. However, the interactive discussion area that accompanies each
lesson will automatically close two weeks after the lesson is released. As such,
we strongly recommend that you complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.
The final exam will be released on the same day as the last lesson. Once the final
exam has been released, you will have two weeks to complete all of your course work,
including the final exam.
Week One
Wednesday - Lesson 01
With millions of pages already on the Web and more posted online every day, getting your Web site noticed isn’t easy. When students ask me what they can do to increase traffic to their sites, I encourage them to learn all they can about Internet marketing. In this lesson, you’ll receive a brief introduction to the Internet, learn the difference between e-commerce and e-business, and explore different types of business sites on the Web.
Friday - Lesson 02
The terms "Web site" and "Web presence" can be used interchangeably, but there's a subtle difference. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to establish a Web presence. In order to do that, you’ll need to understand your goals and your customers’ needs and interests, accurately identify your target audience, and establish a market position that makes you stand out from the crowd. We'll go over how to do all of that in this lesson.
Week Two
Wednesday - Lesson 03
In today's lesson, you’ll discover the importance of selecting the right domain name for your site. You’ll also find out how search engines work. And you’ll understand how you can use what you learn to drive visitors to your Web site.
Friday - Lesson 04
High-quality content will keep visitors at your site longer and encourage them to return more often. In this lesson, you’ll learn the importance of helpful, informative, educational, entertaining, or useful content. You’ll also discover how search engines use the following factors to determine ranking in response to a query—text viewable on the screen, code not viewable on the screen, and external factors.
Week Three
Wednesday - Lesson 05
In this lesson, you’ll discover the elements that make up "The Marketing Mix"—the four Ps. You’ll learn how the elements of product, price, place, and promotion relate to each other and to your target audience.
Friday - Lesson 06
Today, you’ll learn how to develop a message that will cause the members of your target audience to take the action you want. And you’ll become acquainted with online strategies you can use to advertise your Web site, products, and services.
Week Four
Wednesday - Lesson 07
Today you'll learn how to develop ads that inspire your target audience to take the action you want. And you'll understand how to advertise your web site using search engine (PPC) advertising, banner advertising, and more.
Friday - Lesson 08
In spite of the growing number of junk e-mail messages filling in-boxes, e-mail is a thriving medium. So it’s important to understand how you can use e-mail marketing to keep current customers and acquire new ones. In today's lesson, we’ll examine ways that you can use e-mail to promote your business.
Week Five
Wednesday - Lesson 09
If you want visitors to spend more than 30 seconds at your Web site, you'll need to make it interesting, entertaining, and informative. The factor that causes visitors to spend more time at your site is called "stickiness." In this lesson, you’ll learn the advantages of building a sticky site. You’ll also learn how to use content to make your Web site sticky.
Friday - Lesson 10
In the previous lesson, you learned to build site stickiness through the use of content. In this lesson, you’ll learn to build site stickiness through community. You’ll also become acquainted with synchronous and asynchronous tools you can use to develop a community experience for your visitors.
Week Six
Wednesday - Lesson 11
The last element you can use to build site stickiness is commerce—in this case, e-commerce. You’ll learn how to use commerce to keep visitors at your site longer and return more often. In this lesson, you’ll become acquainted with technology you can use to create an online store, including online catalogs, shopping cart software, and online payment systems.
Friday - Lesson 12
In our final lesson, you’ll have the opportunity to pull together all of the information you gathered during this course to complete an Internet marketing plan. To help you do this, I’ll provide you with an Internet marketing plan checklist and samples of the following documents: Internet marketing plan outline, a calendar, and a budget spreadsheet. You'll want to use this opportunity to complete an Internet marketing plan that you can use to promote your business.