SEO as most people know of, i.e. Dumb SEO which gets your web page into top ranking Google search engine results page, is DEAD. And many SEO specialists who know nothing more than ranking will go out of business.

Here’s why:

• Google implemented Personalized Search for everyone.
• Facebook directs more online users than Google as reported in San Francisco Chronicle on Feb 15, 2010.

And if you have been following this blog, you would have read about my post on Smart SEO is Not just about #1 Ranking on 29 November 2008. Ultimately, you are optimizing the conversion of your web pages.

Time to see beyond SEO for Google

Even when Facebook was in its infancy back in 2007, I urged businesses to make themselves visible on social networks in the article “Time to see beyond SEO for Google” published on ZDNet Asia.

Conversion Rules

A website’s KPI should not be measured by the number of visitors alone. More traffic doesn’t always means more money, otherwise Facebook should be making more money than Google by now.

There is a great dollar difference between general traffic and targeted traffic.

Marketers must know how to define the most wanted response on each web page and measure that number. Use Smart SEO to help you to get your most wanted response and improve your bottom line.

I will be attending the Phase 2 module of the Certified Professional Trainers Course or CPT this weekend. I was invited by KC See, the master trainer of CPT to give a 1-hour presentation on How to Use the Internet to Promote Your Training Business. And I am still thinking if I should use these subject titles instead…

• Promote Your Training Business Online in 60 Minutes
• Exploit the Internet to Kick-Start Your Training Business

Basically, I have to provide enough information during the 1 hour so that all the Certified Professional Trainers course participants will have some good knowledge to start creating an online presence to describe their own expertise and the training or workshop they are offering.

I will show them how I have done it with my SEO Web Design Course and also how other reputable trainers and speakers, such as Ron Kaufman and Seth Godin use the Internet to promote their training business.

There are many free tools and resources available online for professional trainers to a promote and market their courses, workshops and seminars.

Social Media Marketing

One of the most powerful way to market online is through the social networking websites. MySpace.com and LinkedIn.com are just two of the many social networking websites that your can use. Other form of social networking includes forum, which is also a good place to get attention and potential clients for your training business.

Update December 22, 2006
In less than one week, this post is now ranked 13th for the keywords certified professional trainers and 8th for certified professional trainers course in Google. It will be nice if it can be ranked for professional trainer certification course too.