Syllabus for Search Engine and Internet Marketing (Summer 2008)

Workshop in Library and Information Science
Course: S603
Room: PV151

Introduction

Search engine marketing (SEM) is the art and science of ranking websites higher on Google, MSN, and Yahoo.

Why is this important for businesses and for your future employability?

• “Google” is now a verb in the American lexicon—synonymous with searching for information on the Internet.
• More than 6.7 billion searches are performed monthly on Google, MSN, and Yahoo.
• Search is now tied with email as the most popular online activity with 91% of all Internet users using search regularly.

The need for prominent search engine visibility has reached critical mass. It’s no longer acceptable for a business not to have a website. And, in a global market where Internet usage has increased 208% since 2000, it’s becoming increasingly unacceptable for businesses not to be more cognizant of how their potential customers can find them via search.

And besides, the concept of search engine marketing is compelling and makes so much sense—customers are searching for what you sell, what you need to do is make sure you come up in their search!

In this workshop you will learn about SEM—what it is, where is came from, how to do it, and where it is headed. The workshop will combine an overview of SEM with practical, hands-on experiences where you will develop a pay per click campaign and a SEM strategy map. You’ll work with real businesses here in Bloomington (which we’ll find for you) with real dollars from their own marketing budgets.

While there are no prerequisites for the workshop, you should be familiar with website design and the advanced features of search engines. Courses S401 (Computer-Based Information Tools) and S532 (Information Architecture for the Web) are helpful but not required.

About the instructor: Pat East is the President of Hanapin Marketing, a Bloomington-based firm specializing in search engine marketing and e-business strategies. East founded the company in 2004 after four years with AuthorHouse, a Bloomington-based book publishing company. Using SEM, he helped grow their revenues from $6M to $20M in just four years. Among their client base of 20, they count AuthorHouse as their oldest client and also have 5 Indiana Growth 100 companies, 2 Inc 500 companies, and 1 Fortune 500 company.

Objectives

At the end of this workshop, you will:

1. Understand the critical factors in how websites are ranked on Google, MSN, and Yahoo.

2. Understand how people conduct searches depending on whether they’re researching or buying and how their behavior changes depending the search engine they use.

3. Understand how to properly set up and organize a pay per click account on Google AdWords.

4. Understand how to generate qualified traffic and why this is more important than “high rankings” or “hits”.

5. Be able to market yourself to your future employers more effectively than many “professionals” currently working in the search marketing industry.

Course Requirements

To receive a passing grade in this course, you must turn in all of the assignments and the final project. You cannot pass this course without doing all of the assigned work, however, turning in all of the work is not a guarantee that you will pass the course. Grades of <I> (Incomplete) may be assigned in this course after discussion with the instructor, but, depending on the circumstances, there will be a penalty applied at the discretion of the instructor.

All assignments must be handed in on the dates specified in this syllabus. If you cannot hand an assignment or cannot deliver a project on the date it is due, it is your responsibility to discuss your situation with the instructor, preferably in advance. Given that your reasons or problems are legitimate, arrangements for the completion of the outstanding work can be made; this will occur, however, at the discretion of the instructor. There will be a penalty for work turned in after the assigned date, and this will also be applied at the discretion of the instructor.

Borderline grades will be decided (up or down) on the basis of class contribution throughout the workshop and other forms of participation.

Academic dishonesty
There is extensive documentation and discussion of the issue of academic dishonesty in the Indiana University “Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities and Conduct”. Of particular relevance is the section on plagiarism:

3. Plagiarism
A student must not adopt or reproduce ideas, words, or statements of another person without appropriate acknowledgment. A student must give credit to the originality of others and acknowledge an indebtedness whenever he or she does any of the following:

1. Quotes another person’s actual words, either oral or written;
2. Paraphrases another person’s words, either oral or written;
3. Uses another person’s idea, opinion, or theory; or
4. Borrows facts, statistics, or other illustrative material, unless the information is common knowledge.

From: http://www.dsa.indiana.edu/Code/index1.html

Indiana University and School of Library and Information Science policies on academic dishonesty will be followed. Students found to be engaging in plagiarism, cheating, and other types of dishonesty will receive an F for the course. As a rule of thumb, when in doubt, cite the source!

Grades at SLIS
The following definitions of letter grades have been defined by student and faculty members of the Committee on Improvement of Instruction and have been approved by the faculty (November 11, 1996) as an aid in evaluation of academic performance and to assist students by giving them an understanding of the grading standards of the School of Library and Information Science:

Grade	GPA	MEANING
A	4.0	Outstanding achievement. Student performance demonstrates full command of the course materials and evinces a high level of originality and/or creativity that far surpasses course expectations
A-	3.7	Excellent achievement. Student performance demonstrates thorough knowledge of the course materials and exceeds course expectations by completing all requirements in a superior manner
B+	3.3	Very good work. Student performance demonstrates above-average comprehension of the course materials and exceeds course expectations on all tasks as defined in the course syllabus
B	3.0	Good work. Student performance meets designated course expectations, demonstrates understanding of the course materials and is at an acceptable level
B-	2.7	Marginal work. Student performance demonstrates incomplete understanding of course materials.
C+ C	2.3 2.0	Unsatisfactory work. Student performance demonstrates incomplete and inadequate understanding of course materials
C- D+ D D-	1.7 1.3 1.0 .07	Unacceptable work. Coursework performed at this level will not count toward the MLS or MIS degree. For the course to count towards the degree, the student must repeat the course with a passing grade.
F	0.0	Failing. Student may continue in program only with permission of the Dean.

Other important information

There are three ways you can get in touch with me outside of class:

1. My office phone number is 812.330.3134 x106. If you leave a message, I’ll return your call that same day.
2. My email address is . I check email at least twice daily (except on weekends) and will respond to messages when I read them. This is a good way to for you to communicate with me privately - email messages do not get lost!
3. My company’s office is 525 S Walker St. The company is on the 2nd floor and specifically, my office is the closest to the entrance of the building. Please schedule any visits in advance.

Assignments

You will be evaluated on the basis of two projects that you will complete during the workshop. These are described below and will be discussed in greater detail during the workshop.

For this workshop, you will:

Set up a pay per click campaign on Google AdWords. The account will:

• Be prepared for an Indiana-based company
• Use real dollars from their marketing budget
• Include targeted, relevant keywords to their business
• Include regional targeting
• Include split testing for all ad groups

This assignment will be worth 15% of the final grade and will be turned in to the instructor in Module 3.

Create an SEM strategy map. This map will:

• Be prepared for an Indiana-based company
• Contain a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis for them
• Contain a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis for two online competitors
• Outline an actual SEM strategy they can implement
• Contain recommendations for pay per click
• Contain recommendations on link building and development
• Contain recommendations on basic and advanced SEO tactics
• Contain recommendations on the usability of their website

This assignment will be worth 60% of the final grade and will be reviewed by the instructor on Module 4 and turned in on Module 6.

Grading

This table shows the assignments you have to do and the percentage of the final grade each is worth.

Note that there is a large portion of the overall grade that has been allocated for class participation. For the purposes of this class, participation is defined as contributing to class discussion or demonstrating in other ways that you are making an effort to succeed in this class. In addition, as a professional, you will be expected to articulate your ideas in both written and oral form, therefore it is important that you think critically and present your ideas throughout the duration of the workshop.

Required texts

There are no required texts for this course. All materials are available on the web and are should be read before each class session.

Workshop schedule and readings

Below are the dates and times of each module and below those are the topics and readings for each module.

• Module 1: Tuesday, May 6, 1-4 pm
• Module 2: Tuesday, May 13, 1-4 pm
• Module 3: Tuesday, May 20, 1-4 pm
• Module 4: Tuesday, May 27, 1-4 pm
• Module 5: Tuesday, June 3, 1-4 pm
• Module 6: Tuesday, June 10, 1-4 pm

Module 1—Introduction to SEM

• Topics
• What is SEM (search engine marketing)?
• PPC (pay per click)
• SEO (search engine optimization)
• What isn’t SEM?
• Ethics—white hat vs. black hat tactics
• What do the search engines think of SEO?
• How it can help businesses, case studies
• Web stats, driving factors
• Introduction to keyword research
• What we will learn in this workshop
• Readings due for this module
• None

Module 2—Pay per click

• Topics
• Continuation of keyword research
• Google AdWords
• Yahoo! Search Marketing
• How to setup and organize an account
• How to determine bidding
• How to determine goals
• Readings due for this module
• 5 Steps to Effective Keyword Research
• Five Common Paid Search Mistakes That Can Sink Your Campaign
• How to Organize Keywords Into Groups
• The Benefits of Using Benefit-Driven Ad Texts: What’s in Your Tackle Box?
• How to target regional audiences

Module 3—Search engine optimization

• Topics
• On-the-page factors
• Off-the-page factors
• Link building and development
• Indexing, crawling, and other technical issues
• Branding
• Readings due for this module
• The Beginner’s Guide to SEO
• Basic Guide to Learning SEO
• Link Building—Quality Over Quantity
• Guide to Linkbaiting

Module 4—Blogging

• Topics
• What is blogging?
• Why is blogging important?
• How can blogging help SEO?
• Readings due for this module
• Beginner’s Guide To Setting Up A First Blog Site
• Authority Building: Tools of the Trade
• Blogging - Step 1 of the Authority Building Process

Module 5—Web analytics programs

• Topics
• Software offerings
• Definitions of hits, traffic, page views, visitors (unique and repeat)
• Readings due for this module
• List of Web Analytics Tools (skim this only to brief yourself on the various programs)
• How to Choose a Web Analytics Tool
• Make Your Analysis Connectable

Module 6—Student presentations

• Topics
• Presentations of SEM strategy maps
• Future of SEM
• Readings due for this module
• None

Assignments and due dates: short version

This table shows the assignments you have to do, the dates that they will be discussed in class, other important dates, the percentage of the final grade each is worth, and the dates the assignment are due.