Netmark class: SEO

Netmark class: SEO

by | Oct 12, 2012 | Tech Tutorials

Last Monday’s lesson was about search engine optimization or SEO.  In my opinion, this is, perhaps, the most important thing that bloggers need to know when it comes to internet marketing.

If you read what other people say online you will see more than a handful of seo-haters saying how it is a waste of time and does not do what it says.

Heres the truth of it:  those people had expectations that were not met.  Perhaps they thought that applying SEO guarantees them a listing on the first page of search engines.  That is not an unreasonable assumption, is it?

monopoly manBut one thing that novice SEO practitioners forget to take into account is that MONEY TALKS.

What do I mean by that?  In a nutshell, what it means it that these search engines give companies (and individuals) the option to appear on the first page of every search by paying a premium which they often charge in a monthly or annual basis.

That aside, though, they say that the proof of the pudding is in the eating so I decided to give my students an opportunity to get their feet wet in the SEO sea.

I started the class by showing them this video by Common Craft.

After the video I discussed the importance of keywords, metadata, categories, and tags at some length before having them proceed to the days activity.

For the activity I decided to make it fun.  I tasked my students to reminisce about high school in their blog.  The requirements were:

  • 500 words minimum
  • use images
  • apply SEO

Afterwards, I asked them to write a learning journal that will reflect what they have learned that day about SEO.  These are what they had to say.

  • Joanna Empit – Search Engine Optimization: Black, White
  • Jen Gaba – Optimized Blog Writing
  • Yssa Garcia – Searching for the Right One
  • Kriz Laurente – Be Specific
  • Tiff Lu – The Power of Search Engine Optimization
  • Mike Mendoza – SEO: The Race To The Top!
  • Lexie Nino – You should know… It is not ENOUGH

I think that other people who want information about SEO may find their journals a good source of information.  In the coming weeks we will dive deeper into the SEO sea.  Hope they know how to swim. 😀

Teaching web design principles in SPACE

Teaching web design principles in SPACE

by | Sep 28, 2012 | Tech Tutorials

Tomorrow I will be teaching web design principles in SPACE for the new term.  SPACE is an acronym for the School of Professional and Continuing Education of the De La Salle College of St. Benilde.  Given my experience last term with SPACE students (most or all of whom have regular jobs and are just enrolled for additional knowledge) I have decided to simplify the syllabus some more.

This is a modular class we only meet for 6 consecutive Saturdays.  Teaching web design principles in space for six hours in six consecutive Saturdays is not an easy thing to do.  For one thing, there is only so much information the normal human mind is able to process in a day.  Ever since I was informed two days ago that I was going to be assigned this class I have spent a lot of time adjusting the lectures and activities to give the SPACE students the most information in a manner that they would be able to absorb better and, at the end of the day, they will feel that they have learned something useful and, they will not feel frustrated that they are unable to do the work required.

More or less I will be dividing the lectures and activities this way where each number will stand for the week/meeting:

  1. web basics and design principles
  2. designing with tables
  3. designing with css and divs
  4. content writing and assembling assets
  5. applying css navigation and spry assets
  6. using image viewers

Although the class is just 6 meetings I will request for a 7th meeting where my students will be required to present their final project to a panel.  Last term I had 4 students.  2 passed, 1 gave up, and 1 failed miserably.  I hope the statistics will be better this term and that we have better numbers.

fingers crossed

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