It never hurts to ask. If you don't see the answer here, please feel free to contact us. Getting quality information to you is what we do.

Q: Doesn't real experience trump any Certification?

A: We know Certification is no substitute for years of real-world industry experience. But whether you're just getting started in online marketing, or you're already working in the field, Certification can provide valuable professional validation.

• If you're new to the industry, getting caught up on a decade's worth of industry evolution and learning the latest in bleeding edge techniques from a respected source is an invaluable start.
• If you're an experienced online marketer, Certification still holds value. Just like attending conferences, trade shows and seminars, earning Certification from a reputable provider demonstrates your commitment to continued education in industry trends and best practices, and ongoing professional development.

Find out more about certification...

Q: What should I look for in a training program?

A: Many places offer programs and courses, but ultimately you should look to the expertise of the faculty when seeking out your education. Our faculty members are the proven leaders, keynote speakers, and bestselling authors in their particular disciplines. Faculty at other institutions likely learned from, and are teaching from, the publications and presentations of our esteemed faculty.

When you research Internet marketing training programs, look for the following things:

• Are the teachers visible and active in the industry or have they simply learned the material from other experts?
• How much contact will you have with the actual faculty (versus a teacher's aid)?
• Does the training program offer comprehensive cross-discipline training in all aspects of Internet marketing or are they just offering one subject? It is critical at this stage that one studies more than one discipline (e.g. SEO and Conversion Optimization or Social Media, Social Media and Analytics, PPC and Conversion Optimization just to name a few combos).

Q: Are your Internet Marketing training courses only offered online?

A: Yes. All of our courses are web-based, and include on-demand streaming videos, regular live webinars, 24x7 Q&A forums, quizzes, assignments, and more.

Q: What's the difference between the Self-Paced and Coached courses?

A: Members taking the Self-Paced online marketing course set their own schedule on their own pace, following an online curriculum of streaming video and recommended exercises, and need to pass quizzes along the way to ensure they're retaining the information before they can download their Certificate of Completion. Support is available through an online forum.

Students in the Coached online marketing course follow a strict weekly schedule over 90 days, receive personal faculty guidance through online conference calls, complete a rigorous real-world final project with faculty and peer reviews, and have to pass a dissertation defense to earn a Master Certification.

Q: How long do the courses take?

A: On the Self-Paced plan, it generally requires 2-5 hours of study time per week if you follow our recommendation of one module per week. Most students manage to complete a certification in a single discipline in about 10 weeks (though some have moved through much faster). Of course, this is simply a guideline. Ultimately, it depends on how well you're understanding the material in a given week - and how much time you've got to commit. Sometimes, things will just click and the concepts and strategies will make complete sense. Other times, it's necessary to revisit videos more than once.

In the Coached course, your curriculum is metered out in weekly assignments over a 90-day program. The weekly study time estimate is the same: but you'll also receive personalized feedback directly from the faculty on your weekly exercises, so there's a chance you might want to redo some work to apply their insights. Additionally, there are weekly "office hours" conference calls in the Coached course for you and your course-mates to talk directly with your faculty, and we recommend you attend those as well... it's a great chance to build a rapport with your fellow students, and get direct interaction with instructors. Add to that the final real-world project that makes up the last third of the calendar, and the Coached course is definitely the more time-intensive and challenging (but more rewarding) option.

Q: What kinds of subjects do you cover?

A: We offer courses in all the major disciplines of Internet Marketing: Search Engine Optimization, Web Analytics, Social Media Marketing, Online PR, Conversion Optimization, PPC Advertising, and a Fundamentals Overview.

Q: Who is your faculty? Are they qualified?

A: Our faculty includes bestselling authors, respected speakers, and highly sought-after consultants. They could be teaching anywhere they like, and they've chosen to work with Market Motive. Read about our Dream Team...

Q: Since online marketing is so dynamic and changes almost daily, how valuable will this training be to me in 6 months time?

A: The fact that Internet marketing DOES change is the very reason you should join Market Motive. Many of our members have been with us for years for the very fact that we consistently update our videos with new content AND we produce new videos every month... especially when there is a major change or a new tool to highlight. For a number of companies, we are simply part of their marketing budget for employees to keep up with what's new in Internet marketing. And since membership includes webinar-style workshops each month (7 per month), we can provide new information "live".

Q: Do your graduates get hired because of their training?

A: Our graduates have seen a great deal of success in the job market. Not only is the training and material extremely current with regards to what companies are looking for (which is, in truth, the most important thing), but students have reported back to us that they were hired because they received their training specifically from Market Motive.

One SEO student was hired at PC Tools because the two hiring managers were looking into Market Motive training for themselves. Another student at that same time -- studying Web Analytics -- landed a very high profile job at Ask.com when she completed her training with us. Many others have written to let us know about the promotions and increased responsibilities they've received thanks to the knowledge they brought back to their companies after their training. Check out our testimonials to learn more...

Additionally, the network of Market Motive graduates is very strong. We often have open recs sent to us letting us know that companies are specifically looking for Market Motive graduates. Needless to say, we're very pleased and proud of the attention our graduates are getting.