Amazon has recently announced that they are working on an experimental version of a drone-based delivery system. The drones could carry packages up to 5 lbs in a 10 mile radius of their distribution centers. This could really speed up delivery and allow more customers the luxury of same-day delivery. Amazon hopes that the system can be up and running in just 4 – 5 years from now. If this is in our upcoming future, what else are they going to come up with?!
Today my Facebook page for Digital Marketing Courses and Training ranked on page 3 of Google. Now I know I have a bit of work left to do, but I’m pretty proud that I’ve gotten myself this close so far!
So Facebook recently offered over $3 billion in cash to the popular picture-messaging app, Snapchat. And guess what?? Snapchat turned that offer down! I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure that was necessarily the right decision for them. There’s rumors of Snapchat being worth closer to $4 billion according to a Chinese investment company, but I wonder how accurate or true that is.
I’ll admit that I am a Snapchat user myself. However, I’m not sure how much a future this app actually has. Evan Spiegel, Snapchat’s founder, based the app on the idea of sending quick snapshots of pictures to your friends with a short caption that would ultimately end up disappearing after a period of up to 10 seconds. After a while, people of course figured out how to save these ‘disappearing’ pictures though. After a little practice, it’s pretty easy to screenshot a picture while you are running the app. That in itself ends up kind of defeating the purpose of the app. You now are able to save a picture of your friend probably making a funny or embarrassing face at you; well let’s hope that’s all right? Screenshotting a picture isn’t the only problem either. A new app called SnapHack has been developed that allows users to save all those pictures that we were meant to believe ‘disappear’ after a few seconds. That’s a real big problem right?
In my opinion, if Snapchat doesn’t step up their game a bit more and fix some of these privacy/security issues, the app could be on the downfall real soon. That’s why in my opinion they probably should have taken that money from Facebook while they could have. However, I could be wrong. It’s hard to predict where we’re going with all of our technology in the future. Let me know what you guys think! Should Snapchat have taken the deal?
Georgetown University is another college that has come up with their own digital marketing courses and program. Like many other organizations now realize, Georgetown University notes that “The digital marketing landscape has changed more in the past two years than in the previous twenty.” Their recognition of this change is what has compelled them to come up with a digital marketing training program.
Georgetown University says their ideal candidate for this program is one that has 3-5 years of experience in the advertising, marketing, social media, or similar fields. They also encourage start-up entrepreneurs and independent consults to look into their courses.
In order to complete this Certificate in Digital Marketing, GU students must complete 6 courses within a 2 year time line. The required courses include:
Students are also required to take 2 elective courses which range from Code Literacy to Search Marketing to Business Storytelling and Brand Development for Marketing.
The total program tuition for all courses is only $5,370. Georgetown University even offers some discounts, for example 10% off if you are in the DC AMA Chapter. These digital marketing courses meet Friday and Saturdays and are typically offered every semester which is convenient. Most all course materials are also included in the price of tuition.
The only downfall some may see to this program is the fact that they require 3-5 years of experience, as well as a bachelor’s degree or equivalent. However, the university does offer options for international students which may be a plus for you. Student life is diverse and you’re bound to have some great opportunities considering the university’s ties with Washington, D.C.
Facebook, Twitter, and the likes have become so popular in recent days that many people may think that the email system is dead. Don’t be fooled–it’s not! Email can still be an important way of communication in the marketing world and it might be worth your time to check out these handy tips! How’s that for some quick digital marketing training? Check out our Pinterest page for other fun infographics like this!
An important aspect of digital marketing, especially when it comes to search engine marketing and optimization, is keyword strategy research. Choosing the right keywords is a crucial factor in the success of your search engine campaign and can really make or break you. Let’s look at some of the key factors you should consider when starting your keyword strategy research.
First, what type of keyword strategy are you trying to pursue? If you are trying to convert clicks into sales then you are working towards a ‘conversion’ strategy. If you want to get your name out there and create a brand for yourself you are working at a ‘branding’ strategy. And then of course, you are able to mix the two and consider more of a ‘hybrid’ strategy. If a conversion strategy is your goal then consider the fact that long-tail keywords are more likely to lead to purchases. For instance, someone is more likely to buy when searching for “womens high speed mountain bike” as opposed to just “bike.” On the other hand, if you’re working on a branding strategy, you want to use broader search terms. The broad search terms will work best for branding and impressions. It would be okay to just use the keyword “bike” in this case.
So, once you figure out your strategy how will you measure success? For branding strategies, success is measured by obtaining the #1 position on a search engine. However, for conversion strategies, the #1 spot is not so important. What is crucial is getting the most conversions per keyword. Therefore, you also want to focus on choosing keywords that’ll optimize conversion.
Continuing on that track, it is important to realize that you should pick and analyze your keywords based on more than just high search traffic volumes. Obviously your keywords should be relevant to your business and your landing page. Depending on your strategy, specificity is also another important factor to consider. Also consider your intent. Are you trying to inform people, help with navigation, or are you trying to obtain transactions. Analyzing keywords used by your competition is also often a good strategy to use because it helps you see how others in the industry and succeeding (and even failing).
I think those are some pretty crucial points when it comes to your keyword strategy research and making the most out of search engine optimization. What other thoughts do you guys have? Or any other tips?
In addition to letting you guys know about the different digital marketing courses and schools, I thought I’d also talk about some basic concepts and tactics in the field.
We could start out talking about basic guidelines to get your site to rank highly with Google. Keep in mind that it’s a rather complicated and time-consuming process. However, these tips can definitely get you going on the right path.
1. Creative, Original Content: Fill your site with unique ideas and consider what your customers or users are going to want, not the search engines. Don’t participate in activities that may appear like spam to search bots – duplicating a lot of content, keyword stuffing, or cloaking for example.
2. Keyword Density: It is important to place your keyword throughout your page. However, you want it to seem as natural as possible. Don’t “stuff” your page with keywords and don’t use them more than you would naturally in speech. Search bots can sense if you are using your keywords too much and that can hurt your page and how it ranks.
3. Relevant Tags: There are several places within our site where we want to make sure we place our keywords. First, the title tag is important. This is what appears in your tab when you open up a webpage and also it is the link that you click when you search on Google. The meta tag is also an important place to put keywords. The meta description is usually 2-3 lines and comes up under the title in a Google hit. Another important place to add keywords is the image tag, which is the description you come up with when you place an image on your page. Finally, the last important places to add keywords are the alt tags and anchor texts within your page. Just keep in mind that you want to place your keywords wisely and not overuse them too much. Use your best judgement and do what seems natural.
4. Link Building: Link building is perhaps the most important factor in getting your page ranked on Google or other search sites. Most experts believe that link building accounts for at least 75% of the importance when it comes to ranking. Link building is a bit complicated as well but here’s a few quick tips: look for thematically related links, contextual links are always great, and diversify your links.
These four areas really only hit on the tip of the iceberg when it comes to SEO and ranking your page. However, they’re a good place to start if you’re new to digital marketing!
Rutgers Center for Management Development offers a program that is similar in values with many other digital marketing training programs. They believe that technology is rapidly advancing and business programs must be altered to keep up with the changes. Rutgers CMD offers a nine-module certificate program that is taught by their team of top industry experts. Their training courses include:
In addition to the broad education in digital marketing topics, Rutgers supplies all its participants with an Apple iPad and a mobile application that helps deliver course content.
So who is this program designed for? Rutgers CMD suggests that executives working in marketing, advertising, communications, sales, and IT fields should consider their program if they are looking to expand their role in the marketing world. Also anyone that is responsible for developing digital or social media organizational plans would benefit from their program.
The courses are offered in New Jersey in either an accelerated one-week program or a nine-week program. The total cost of the program amounts to $4,995. More thorough information can be found on their website which is linked to in this article.
New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies (NYU SCPS) offers a certificate program in Digital Media Marketing. After the completion of six of the required courses, the program gives you the ability to:
The 3 required courses are Digital Strategies for Marketing, Web Analytics: Integrating Website and E-mail Data, and Strategic Search Engine Marketing (SEM). For your 2 other core courses and 1 elective, the program gives you a ton of class options. Options range from Internet Copywriting to Developing, Marketing, and Analyzing Mobile Apps and Platforms to Personal Branding. A complete course list for this program can be found here.
Courses range from about $300 to $200, with an average somewhere around $800. They can be taken online or on-site at the university. You also have the option to take all the courses in one semester or spread it out over time. Obviously, there is a very wide-range a courses you can take and your knowledge upon completion of the program will be very thorough.
One thing that may be a setback for some interested in this program is the previous knowledge requirement. Before starting the Digital Media Marketing courses you must have at least 2 years of extensive marketing experience. If you do not have the previous knowledge NYU SCPS does offer Marketing Intensive training. This prior program will cost you $3,500 and it will give you the knowledge you need to continue on with the Digital Media Marketing certificate.
Digital Marketing Courses and Training 