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
In the lesson, you'll learn about the fascinating history of search engines. You'll discover the differences between search engines and directories, and you'll find out which ones you must get your Web site listed in.
Friday - Lesson 02
Today, you'll get a behind-the-scenes look at how search engines actually work. This fundamental knowledge is essential for you to obtain the highest search engine rankings possible!
Week Two
Wednesday - Lesson 03
Developing a keyword list is one of the most important things you can do to get your Web site listed with search engines. This lesson includes step-by-step instructions for creating astounding, comprehensive keyword lists that are second to none.
Friday - Lesson 04
In today's lesson, you'll learn how to perform a pre-submission analysis of your Web site. You'll learn the determining factors in keyword effectiveness. You'll also learn about an online tool that you can use to determine the Keyword Effectiveness Index of any keyword!
Week Three
Wednesday - Lesson 05
In this lesson, we'll focus on highly important HTML tags that greatly affect search engine optimization. You'll learn which tags to use, where to use them, and which parameters to include.
Friday - Lesson 06
Today, you'll learn how the layout of your Web site content can greatly impact your search engine rankings. You'll master the ability of developing the portions of a Web page that are heavily scrutinized by search engines. You'll also learn about the importance of using content related keywords.
Week Four
Wednesday - Lesson 07
In this lesson, you'll find out how domain names and file naming conventions can positively affect your search engine rankings. You'll learn which naming conventions work, and which characters to use when separating words within a filename or a domain name. You'll also discover how to develop gateway pages, which function as alternate entrances to your Web site.
Friday - Lesson 08
Today, you'll learn about spamming techniques to stay away from. Many novices accidentally use some of these techniques, and their use is often detrimental to search engine rankings. You'll also find out how much keyword usage is acceptable, and how much can be considered over-usage.
Week Five
Wednesday - Lesson 09
This lesson is all about the ins and outs of submitting your Web sites to search engines. You'll find out about a free service that enables you to submit your Web site to 12 major search engines all at one time.
Friday - Lesson 10
After you submit your Web site to a search engine, you'll need to monitor your success. Today, you'll discover how to do this in a post-submission analysis. You'll learn how to determine your rankings and how to view server log files to obtain information about your visitors. You'll also find out about referral logs, which can show you where your visitors are coming from.
Week Six
Wednesday - Lesson 11
Today, we'll explore powerful online promotion techniques that can dramatically improve your search engine rankings. You'll discover how newsgroups and e-mail signatures can play a powerful role in marketing your site. You'll also learn how noncompeting site links can add validity to your site and improve your rankings.
Friday - Lesson 12
In our final lesson, we'll discuss how you can improve your search engine rankings through offline promotion. We'll examine affiliate programs that can be highly beneficial. Finally, you'll learn how to monitor the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.