Let’s start off with the disclaimers: I am a SEMPO member, and a member of the SEMPO In-House Committee. Now that that’s out of the way, on to the topic.

A week ago SEMPO launched their Fundamentals of SEO course, covering such topics as
History of Search Engines, How Search Engines Work, Linking & Directories, Keywords, SEO Web Design, Copywriting, SEO Roadblocks, Submissions, Tracking & Reporting, Pay Per Click I, Pay Per Click II, Current Innovations, Intellectual Property, and SEO & PPC Resources. The cost for the course is $499 for anyone, $399 for SEMPO members, and $250 for military or students (12 credits or more). I wanted to see exactly how good the course was to determine whether or not it was something that I could recommend for the rest of my team, so I signed up for it on Thursday.

On Saturday afternoon I started the course. Each topic has a lesson comprising of 35-70 pages of subject matter and mini-quizzes, and concludes with a test that requires a 74% grade to pass. You are not allowed to pass on to the next topic until you have completed the test for the presious topic. By Saturday evening I was done, with all of the tests having been completed. So what was it like? Well, having taken the Sun J2EE and the NSDJA (National Sash and Door Jobbers Association) professional examinations in the past, I would have to say that it was closer to the NSDJA exam. What does that mean? Well, the Sun exam involved studying the course material, then going to a testing center to actually take the exam, under exam conditions. The NSDJA course was open book, with the quizzes being mailed in for grading (this was 1996, it’s hopefully been updated by now). The SEMPO course was basically open book, with a button being pressed at the end of every exam, and if you failed the exam you could retake it. Also, unlike the Sun exam, the questions were the same every time you attempted the exam, so if you happened to mark down your answers, you could run back through and change those that you were not so sure about, and regrade them until you pass. Some of the exams used the same questions that were in the in-lesson quizzes, so if you had completed those, you were set for the test.

There were also some minor typo’s within the lessons themselves (I sent in a list of the ones that I noticed), but since this is new (I believe I was one of the first dozen to sign up for the course), that’s to be expected. The lessons are also slightly out of date already, as this industry moves rather quickly, discussions on Yahoo PPC in some sections talked about Panama, but not in a detailed way in all.

All in all, its not a bad start for the SEMPO institute. I’d like to see them do some randomization in the questions, and maybe implement and external testing / maximum amount of retakes policy. Then the certificate of completion will actually mean more. As for whether I’ll recommend that the rest of my team take it. I will, but probably in a month or so, when some of the kinks have been corrected. I’ll also be signing up for the advanced courses when they become available.

Update: Today (2/12) the certificate showed up at work.