Thursday , March 28 2024
I found Search Engine Optimization to be very informative, thoroughly enlightening, and incredibly easy to understand and learn from.

Video Training Review: Search Engine Optimization With Tony Wright From xTrain

Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of those topics that straddles the border between science and voodoo. While everyone tells you that you must get your page to show up on the front page of a search engine if you want to have any shot at all at competing in the marketplace, there are as many roads to get there as there are vendors selling snake oil.

In Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Tony Wright tries to take away much of the mystery and give you the tools that you can use to succeed. In this video he presents the basics of SEO and guides you down the path to building keywords, writing for the search engines, and the basic optimization skills that will give you a better chance of creating a successful website.

Search Engine Optimization is divided into five classes comprising fourteen lessons. I will break this down by class.

"What is SEO" is a 30 minute class that begins with an explanation of exactly what SEO is, how it works, and how, by careful use, you can increase your site traffic by as much as 200%. Here you will get an overview of SEO techniques, find out what you are striving for as well as seeing what the differences are between natural and paid listings.

"SEO Basics" breaks down exactly how search engines work. In this 50 minute class you will see how information is retrieved from your page for the search engine's index, and what could prevent this information from being indexed, thus restricting your website's success. You will also examine what the parts of your HTML page are, and how they relate to SEO. You will find out about keywords, how to figure out which ones you should target, and how to optimize them to increase the traffic to your site.

"Site Structure Analysis" is a 50 minute class that will explain how to see if your site is structured properly so as to be found quickly and easily on a search engine. You have to make sure that it is easily navigated so that the spiders and web-bots can get all the way through your site. In this video you will learn about tools such as Web Link Validator to check for broken links as well as how to structure your URL to optimize your site.

"Writing for Search Engines" focuses on how the wording on your site can be a great tool to help your site be found on the search engines. This 30 minute class will show you how to write title tags as well as optimizing the rest of the page. You will learn about branding, character limits, separators, and how information pages will convert for the consumer. You will also learn how press releases can be used to your site's advantage.

"Putting it all Together" takes everything you have learned and puts it all together. This 25 minute class will show you what it takes to make the most of your site — make it searchable, navigational, and user friendly.

Keep in mind that Search Engine Optimization is for the webmaster as well as for the person who wants to learn about SEO. It is not for someone who is intermediate to advanced and already has a good understanding of SEO techniques as much as for those who are trying to figure out the basics.

What I like about Search Engine Optimization is that it delivers what it claims to deliver and more. It gives all of the basics that one would expect but it does not get into the snake oil; too many people put together "training" to try to sell you products and not really show you anything instructive. This video really does give you information on what SEO really takes. The instructor also explains very clearly that when something is not conducive to SEO; take, for example, Flash Pages, or AJAX — he takes the time to explain what the problems are, and gives you alternatives to make it work.

Search Engine Optimization is available as online training from xTrain. There are three ways to purchase it. One is an annual fee of $199 which not only gives access to this class, but every one of xTrain's classes for a full year. You can select the monthly fee, which is normally $29, but for a limited time you can get it for $19.99 per month which gives you access to all classes for a month. Or you can purchase it by the course which is listed as $119.00.

I found Search Engine Optimization to be very informative, thoroughly enlightening, and incredibly easy to understand and learn from. Tony Wright is a great instructor who not only knows his subject, but is able to convey the subject in a manner that makes learning easy. I highly recommend this course.

About T. Michael Testi

Photographer, writer, software engineer, educator, and maker of fine images.

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