A quick introduction - I’m Rob and I work for Distilled in the UK office. This is my first post here on SEOmoz, so I hope you find it useful and I look forwards to your feedback.
Running well planned training sessions can be a great way to build the credibility of SEO at the same time as educating your organisation. But if you don’t put the effort in it can look unprofessional and sloppy. Who’s likely to care about implementing good SEO if you don’t even look like you care about it yourself?
Whether you work in-house, or provide training for clients and colleagues at an agency, here are my top tips for SEOs when it comes to planning and delivering effective training sessions.
Identify SEO Needs
SEO is becoming increasingly broad and complex - not everybody in your business needs to know the granular details of SEO from one end to the other. For example, a developer may be on your course to find out how to build SEO friendly sites, but they probably don’t need to know a wealth of link building strategies.
Call or email the potential attendees and identify what they are hoping to get out of the course. What are the key processes in their working day? How can you make them more effective or efficient through education? Don’t deliver a one-size-fits-all SEO course across your whole organisation - use these insights to build a course which addresses the needs of the attendees.
Prepare
There’s absolutely nothing worse than showing up at someone’s desk with no prep and trying to deliver some training off the cuff. They’re unlikely to actually learn anything, and it will not be a positive experience for either party. Make sure you prepare well in advance - give yourself time to create something truly effective.
Set up a good environment
The middle of an office is rarely a good place for training, so make sure you book an adequate room where you can set up an environment that is conducive to learning. You should also:
- Ensure you have the right equipment (e.g. projector, laptop) set up before the session starts
- Have all of your handouts printed and organised
- Put out notepads and pens in case attendees have forgotten them
- Making sure the lighting, temperature etc. is appropriate
- Get some drinks, water, and biscuits - people love biscuits.
Essentially you should make sure that attendees have everything they need so that they aren’t distracted.
You should also make sure that the room is arranged appropriately for the type of course that you’re delivering. If it’s going to be technical you may need to show examples on-screen, so ensure people are facing the screen and have a writing surface for notes. If you’re doing a creative session (e.g. linkbaiting ideas, content strategies) you could encourage sharing and conversation by arranging the room so that attendees are facing each other. Finally, if attendees will be undertaking team tasks, small clusters may work best.
Structure
Build your training session around a handful of key learning outcomes - these should be relatively easy to identify if your needs analysis was successful. For a course about optimising blog posts, they could be:
- How to use keyword tools
- How to identify good target keywords
- Where to use keywords in an article.
In addition, Aristotle’s (simplified) ideas on giving a speech are a useful guide for structuring training:
- Tell them what you’re going to tell them
- Tell them
- Tell them what you told them.
I usually use this to structure the course as a whole, as well as for each key learning point. It helps keep the attendees on track and clearly defines different sections.
Finally, if the course is an interactive group session I’d recommend using an ice-breaker to get people sharing and talking. For some ideas, check out these resources:
Combining the all of the above, your session may look something like this:
Slides
Powerpoint slides should be clean, minimal signposts for your session - an indication of how the training is progressing. You shouldn’t be filling your slides with text and reading it word for word (although there are some exceptions - if you’re teaching someone how to build an XML sitemap, you’ll probably need some XML up there). Light-hearted images can help to maintain a relaxed atmosphere, but don’t overdo it.
Effective learning won’t come from your crazy powerpoint skills, but it will come from...
1) An Engaging Presentation Style
If you’re not a natural presenter practice in the mirror, in front of your family, in front of your dog - whatever works best for you. The more you do it, the better you’ll get and the more you’ll relax.
If you’re a really nervous speaker, try to develop a routine before you start (e.g. setting up the room, hooking up the projector) that will provide a distraction.
2) Interactive Exercises
Teaching other people, sharing ideas, relaying tasks back to the group can all contribute to a deeper understanding of a subject and higher retention rates.
Exercises could be as simple as writing ideas for link targets on a board and explaining them back to the group, or using computers (if you have a training room that allows it) to research keywords in teams. You can also give attendees a short test on what you’ve just covered, although try to keep them fun.
I’d recommend working at least one exercise into each key learning outcome.
Learn about learning styles
Different people respond best to different methods of teaching. Honey and Mumford’s work on learning styles is well known and identifies 4 main categories:
- Activists (those that learn from doing)
- Reflectors (from reviewing)
- Theorists (from making conclusions)
- Pragmatists (by putting ideas into practice and experimenting).
These are usually identified by using a questionnaire, but I’ve seen very experienced trainers spot these traits on the fly and address them accordingly. For an SEO implementing their own training sessions this might be beyond the call of duty, but some reading about learning styles is another step on the path to becoming a training ninja.
Feedback & Follow Up
Finally, the one thing that I would absolutely recommend to all SEOs who want to get better at training is to ask every attendee to fill out a feedback form when the course is over (I've put together a generic feedback form you can use). Try to make the process anonymous so that you get their honest thoughts. It can be hard to take criticism at first, but you should look at each negative comment as an opportunity to get even better.
Soon after the course send a follow-up email with your contact details, soft copies of course materials, links to resources, and a thank you to the attendees for taking the time to come along.
Hopefully this post will give you some information that you can go away and use to deliver better training courses to your colleagues and clients. Of course, I’d welcome any feedback and suggestions in the comments below, or you can always catch me on Twitter.
Surely agree that :
SEO is becoming increasingly broad and complex - not everybody in your business needs to know the granular details of SEO from one end to the other.
But, posts like these vouch for the fact that each and everyone involved in the SEO project - the website owner, designers, developers, marketing & sales team , The PR people and accountants who determine the assets of the company (A website is a digital asset) should know about SEO.
The extent to which and the topics on which the training should be given will vary for each team but this will ensure a web culture in the organization which indirectly is going to help in the whole social and search optimization process.
Acc. to me the training content and style has to be spontaneously decided upon depending on the participants after you have judged to what extent they are search savvy. The trainer has to be equipped with all the material for all types of audiences all the time especially when it comes to SEO as some of them may need to start from the basics even when they tell you they know about SEO as most of the time they just know what SEO stands for but have no idea about what optimization is all about.
And educating the client and the teams and by sharing the SEO knowledge only we can add more and more value to the reputation of the SEO industry. Only when people will understand the process and benefits that can be accrued by optimization only then the trust can be gained.
Really great and useful post ! Thanks for it.
It's never easy to prepare such training session especially with people who know (or care) very few about SEO topics. I had once the experience to train a class about SEO, well, I can assure you that I would have loved to get those tips before doing it ^^
Hah Jeremy! Don't you hate when that happens! Hindsight is so 20/20
Lol yes of course, but we always need misstakes to learn and get even better :D
What an excellant post! clear, common sense, practical advice with awsome graphics... you nailed it Rob! Thanks :-)
I just hosted an SEO educational seminar for our area's Economic Development Committee. We had about 50 business owners attend so we set it up like a big boardroom style meeting so everyone could interact. It was our first formal training for outside the company and we covered basic SEO and took questions for about an hour.
It took some time to get everyone engaged (we didn't have any icebreakers) but what really got them going was picking someone out of the crowd and putting their website and analytics on the screen and giving some on-the-spot consulting. After that, just about everyone in the room wanted to participate :)
You have some good points here that will help us plan for our next one. I really enjoyed the experience, and should probably keep brushing up on the best practices. I appreciate your insights - a good first post Rob. keep them coming!
I admit it, I'm a sucker for colorful diagrams even when they just show seating arrangements. (I don't see my name by any of these so I'm going to assume there are no assigned seats)
Bonus, when I learnt a new thing, I have a flow chart to document it in. Sweet.
Actually, I am speaking to a college business class later this month so I may just swipe your whole post.
Keep up the good work
Sly
Really nice post Rob. Of all the things to do as an SEO, dealing with the people effectively is probably the most challenging for most people.
An Engaging Presentation Style If you’re not a natural presenter practice in the mirror, in front of your family, in front of your dog
You mentioned being totally prepared and the biggest part of that is knowing your material cold so it comes from your heart and not your head. I would rate its importance as critical. If you don't come across as smooth and believable, you will lose credibility in some people's eyes. Having been in sales for years, I've found that very often, my more successful sales, were less about what I said, and more about how I said it.
Thumbs up for a great post and topic.
I like Aristoteles idea - a wise man, indeed!
I have no point to disagree but may be unfortunately i am not use to of these process as in my side of the world SEO still sounds new but i hope people will adopt this kind of advice in order to have better educational session which is very important.
Great post Rob and really a general guide for any presentation, rather than just for SEO's. I like the room layout guide - that's often overlooked by many and paramount to ensuring the message is delivered.
Within the Conclusion of any training or presentation I find its useful to go through each point that you set out within the Introduction. I.e. run through the list of topics and objectives you set out to cover initially. This gives the feeling of a complete and structured training session.
It's also great to film yourself either practicing or giving the actual presentation. You can find the faults in your own presentation style with either your verbal or physical presence and be sure to iron out any habits :)
Good point. While reviewing one of my presentations I found that I kept saying "ummmm" several times in one sentence. It was painful to watch, however it gave me a chance to correct my style. Another thing I've learnt through recording sessions was to break up the monotony and engage people with practical sessions in between lessons.
Great advice! I run a weekly SEO Training session in the office where I invite one member of the team to do a 30 min talk on a certain aspect or development in SEO to help the whole team learn. It usually ends up in a discussion which can last an hour but it's good that we get the time to all sit down and discuss SEO. It also helps people get better talking in front of a group, perfect for then presenting to clients!
Thanks and very good 1st post.
I think that these guidelines (loved the training rooms mockups) can be used - with all the necessary adjustments - to speaking in public in other occasion than training classes, as it could be a conference session.
On the other hand, the in house trainings are perfect for SEOs also in order to gain self confidence and, with it, be a better "vendor".
Finally, on a practical note, I would add a simple trick. When talking, identify always 2/3 listeners - those ones you feel confortable too and are paying more attention to you - in order to be able to focus and to make less impersonal the training itself.
identify always 2/3 listeners - those ones you feel confortable too and are paying more attention to you
Word G.!
If you're giving any kind of presentation at the front of the room, never organise your attendees with their back to you as per the clusters diagram. If people have to twist round in their seats they won't feel comfortable.
Also Ice Breakers... be very careful when and how you use them. They can be unbelievably cringe-worthy, I guess especially so for us more reserved Brits!
Good post though, was certainly worth the read.
Thanks Bludge.
I certainly accept what you're saying about ice breakers - they can be slightly awkward. But on the other hand I've had sessions where I haven't been brave enough to do them, and it has been much harder to get the interaction going. Some of the examples in the resources I linked to will definately fall into the cheesey category, but you only need to find a handful that work for your sessions.
I'd also agree about the clusters - the diagrams aren't a hard fast rule. I was imagining a session where there was very little in the way of presentations, but if that was a more substantial element, your suggestion would work well.
Sometimes the ice breaker can simply be something unusual that grabs everyones attention. Back when fax machines were brand new (back in the ice age) I was trying to convince some prospects that they could benefit from owning one and I rigged it up ahead of time so that a $5 bill was in the output feeder and I showed them how I could "send" a $1 bill and it became a $5 bill. Needless to say it got their full attention as they watched a $1 bill go in and a $5 bill come out.
Thanks for Great post, thanks for sharing!!! I'll following the Twitter Good luck
I am about to run a training session on an advanced level. Any tips on how to make it a big success with programmers and savvy marketers who understand SEO already? One thing I wanted to do is to look up the individuals and learn more about their role within the company and provide a custom segment which would focus on what *they* could do to help SEO.
if you can find a good recipe for this please let me know - I was not able to do that in the past 6-7 years :)
I don't think you can emulate the SEO needs in a crisp manner within the development team (design, coding etc). Only by enforcing a straight forward set of guidelines that should be consider "as it is".
Hi I am working in a SEO comapy and I thinks traing programmes are very much essential for the quality production and innovative approach, to leverage the output. Thanks for the tips which are I found are beneficial for me.
Thanks
It is critical that you understand the needs and want of your audience before you begin any training seminar. If you have a room full of business owners who have never used Google Analytics and aren't entirely sure what SEO really means, you can't go as in depth as you would with a group of people who have been involved in the SEO of their site for a few years. Just like any product/service, you have to give the people what they want.
Nice article dude.,.
Its very informatic, crisp and clear....
This is great ROB. I really enjoyed your writing. I am new at SEO. I also trying to write Blogs. My wwriting is not as great as yours of course. https://shabnam25.wordpress.com
This is very helpful, I am about to host a series of SEO 101 seminars for new / potential clients & this gives us direction & fresh Ideas on how to present and make it more engaging. Thanks again!
Rob, I'm singing with the choir here - your post was excellent. I would have never guessed that it was your first blog post because it was such an ideal representation of this form of communication. Honestly, when I saw the title, the word 'training' specifically, I thought, "ugh, work!" and went on to other blogs. I am a student, so I guess I felt put-off by even a reference to the lecture-style presentations that make up most trainings. Your post wasn't like a boring lecture at all. It contained useful information and was exciting. I'm sitting here now with tabs opened to the icebreaker links that you provided. I agree with you, knowing the information cold is the way to lead a training session effectively. You also sold SEO a bit to me as well. I've been thinking about creating my own blog and totally forgot that a blog, though relatively stripped down, is a website with SEO concerns like any other.
Seoteric and Sly-grr, I really enjoyed your contributions to this discussion as well.
To effectively and efficiently train SEOs, I would highly recommend your training styles. It's good you're giving link to ice breakers. About the set-up of the room and the training session structure, very good illustration also! Over-all, very helpful post! Keep posting...
Great info. A very structured writeup for your first blog in SEOMOZ. Hope to have more soon.
This post is right on time for my situation. :) It'll help a lot since I'm starting with training my assistant.
I really like some of these recent not specifically SEO posts; this one, Rand's Presentation post etc.
Good stuff mate :)
Great first post!
I probably won't have a time where this would apply for SEO training but this article helps for preparing for a wide assortment of meetings.
Useful training styles to adapt to suit the subject of the training in question. Could they be adapted for very small groups? I've found that when training has been focused on a small group, group interaction works well.
First, very great article, Rob and very useful tips. Big thumb up for this post @Carly I think they could be used also for small groups and indeed, the comunication and interaction is better, which leads to a better understanding of the needds and the strategy :)
Perfect timing! I'm about to conduct an SEO introduction/training in the next two weeks or so. This guide would come in very handy. Thanks!
I have followed several of the tips you have mentioned when going through training sessions with other members of my marketing team. We continually work towards keeping a seam;ess message accross our marketing channels which includes using the right keywords for best seo results. Direct mail, pre-print, email and radio use the same high converting keywords in their creative that we see doing well in paid search and display marketing. Through doing this, we believe that continually using the right triggger keywords, we have seen true growth in natural traffic and revenue growth by staying consistent through every stage of marketing.
Shawn H
Hi Rob,
Very useful thank you. I appreciate the icebreakers too. If you are using slides to educate, you might look at Duarte's book 'Slide:ology' and or Altman's 'Why most powerpoint presentations suck'. Great info in both of those.
Thanky you.
Great post, thanks for sharing with us!!! I'll following the blog, hope to get all hot tips from you.