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Syllabus - Indiana University - Search Engine Marketing Course - 2007Introduction 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?
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:
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 here 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:
From: http://campuslife.indiana.edu/Code/Part_3all.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:
Other important information There are three ways you can get in touch with me outside of class:
Assignments You will be evaluated on the basis of two exercises/projects that you will complete during the workshop. These assignments 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 or Yahoo! Search Marketing. The account will:
This assignment will be worth 15% of the final grade and will be turned in to the instructor on Week 3. Create an SEM strategy map. This map will:
This assignment will be worth 60% of the final grade and will be reviewed by the instructor and your fellow classmates on Weeks 2, 3, 4, and 5 and turned in on Week 6. Grading This table shows the assignments you have to do and the percentage of the final grade each is worth.
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 (including Module 1). 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—Introduction to SEM
Module 2—Pay per click
Module 3—Search engine optimization
Module 4—Web analytics programs
Module 5—Alternatives to traditional SEM
Module 6—Student presentations
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.
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