So you’ve decided to learn more about SEO – either to better understand the principles and practices that can help your company achieve #1 in Google or to manage your own SEO. You can look to the internet for support, but an SEO training course can provide a focussed way to learn about SEO and get hands-on practical experience carrying out SEO with an expert. But who to choose?

Step 1 – What do you want to know?

Decide what aspects of SEO you want to know about:

• General principles behind SEO to help you understand it’s importance in internet marketing
• Practical aspects such as on-page or off-page SEO, link building etc.
• Latest SEO trends so you can maintain your current position
• Developing a complete SEO and web marketing strategy

SEO training courses will cover every aspect of SEO theory and practice, but it’s not possible to learn everything in one go, so be clear about you want to achieve.

Step 2 – How do you want to learn?

We all learn in different ways, and SEO training courses will reflect this. You may enjoy being part of large group, all bringing their own experiences and questions – and allowing you to take part. You may prefer to get together a team to take part in an SEO training course. This means that responsibility – as well as knowledge – can be shared amongst the team, and means the task can be spread across a group all with the same level of training. Workshops centred around your particular sector can maximise the impact of the training. And, of course, you may alternatively prefer SEO training courses that offer 1-to-1 sessions – often intense, but always focussed on you and your requirements.

Step 3 – What’s your investment?

As with all parts of the business, you need to decide on the value of the training. What ROI will effective SEO deliver for your business?  You may decide that a one-off SEO training course will deliver everything you need to know. Realistically, like all other training, SEO training is best delivered over a period of time. Aspects can be revisited as required and new staff can be bought up to speed so they can become effective at managing SEO too. Additionally, SEO is a process that changes all the time. A course on these latest SEO trends can show you new ways to improve your search engine performance. Planning a training programme for the marketing team should still be a cost-effective way to improve your web marketing

Step 4 – Choose your trainer

There are lots of companies offering SEO training courses so deciding who to choose is perhaps the most difficult decision to make. Practical considerations like where and when need to be considered, but the 3 most important factors are likely to be:

• Experience – Does the company ‘walk the walk’ as well as ‘talk the talk’. Do they have a hands-on practical experience of web design and SEO, not just a theoretical knowledge?
• Flexibility – Can they offer packages that meet your needs – and not theirs? Can they mix and match training delivery, put together a programme to deliver a cost-effective SEO training courses for your organisation and tailor the training to meet your needs or sector?
• Effectiveness – Before you sign up, talk to the actual trainer(s). After all you will be with them at least a half or full day, or perhaps even longer, so make sure you can relate to them, understand what they are saying and have confidence in their ability to deliver.

Be clear about costs, and what is included in terms of support material. Once satisfied, sign on the dotted line and enjoy your SEO training courses because the worst thing is to ignore your business SEO – that really will mean opportunities to develop your business will be lost. If you found this tutorial helpful then please click the Like or Tweet button below or leave a comment.

Image credit – SEOPlanter