A couple of weeks ago I was asked to speak to an class of MBA students on the topic of search engines and leveraging search engines as a marketing tool. This invitation provided me with a bit of impetus to create a simple presentation (PowerPoint – keeping it simple here…) to help structure my talk.
Creating such a presentation – even an “overview” or one of an introductory nature such as mine – forces one to do a bit of organizing with respect to their thoughts and theories. Much like this blog, I’m hoping this pattern of creating and recording content (articles, editorials, presentations, etc.) will prove a valuable time-saving technique, as I often find myself answering the same types of questions over and over:
- How do search engines work?
- How can I get high search engine rankings?
- My site is better than all those other sites… Why isn’t my site #1?
To properly answering these and many other questions, I typically reverberate the same generic schpeal about how the search engines are only as good as their automated processes and algorithms (which are by nature limited) and how they must use a certain set of factors and components to automatically evaluate and rank websites for various queries… yada yada yada. In the long run I think this is best, as it certainly seems to pay off IMO to educate a prospective client so they are aware of what my role is and (hopefully) can appreciate and understand what is needed for a successful relationship between my firm and theirs.
Just as I take the time to learn about their business, I try and educate them about my business.
Anyhow, here is the link to the presentation. It was given for a class at Johns Hopkins taught by Kathy Paal (Katherine Paal). It is intended for those with little or no exposure to search engine optimization but “average” or better exposure to the internet in general and using search engines from a user’s perspective. Nothing real secretive here, I’ve just tried to provide a nice overview in 20 slides or so.
>> Search Engine Marketing Overview
Thoughts?