The Rise of SEM Education Programs
November 28th, 2006
Posted by: Erica,
Glad to see so many new “get the people educated” search marketing courses and seminars. Just in the past few months, these have been announced:
- The Direct Marketing Association’s SEO/SEM Certification Program, launched at Ad:Tech SF in October 2006
- The SEMPO Institute for training “the next generation” of search engine marketers - launching in Q1 2007
- MarketingExperiments.com’s Paid Search Management SEM Expert Certification Course, launching in Feb 2007
Sidenote: Adapt is contributing to the SEMPO Institute’s curriculum with a course about copywriting in the Advanced module.
We are happy to see the industry getting behind some level of standardization and education for professionals getting into SEM.
As search continues to evolve, though, how long will each SEM education program’s certification last? Will people have to get re-certified on a regular basis? And what will “certification” mean - what exactly will the standards be that are set?
Posted in: Default | Search Industry Trends
Yes, the PPC certification programs from the actual vendors only last a year, so it’ll be interesting to see how long they last for from these organizations. As for the SEMPO one, I believe that you won’t be certified should you pass, but will instead receive a certificate of completion for the courses that you complete. It’s a minor nuance, but they made sure to point it out a few times in Chicago (post this article being written).
There is certainly a ton of room for growth in this arena, with the ever growing use of PPC and other internet marketing methods.