SEMPO membership -- a good investment?

SEMPO offers individual memberships for $300 per year, which seems to be in line with membership dues for a lot of other professional organizations. Are there any SEMPO members out there who can speak for or against signing up?

And they offer these advanced PPC and SEO courses -- it's nice to see that the member discount more or less equates to the annual membership dues... but overall is it worth it?

Thanks--

I never joined and most likely never will because they state, "SEMPO is an industry organization designed to promote search engine marketing in general, not an accreditation body for SEM firms. Membership in SEMPO is not a guarantee of a particular firm's capabilities, nor does it signify industry approval or disapproval of their practices."

They don't have standards for their own membership then I don't want to be associated with them. That is just me though others might not feel that is important. We don't have too many SEO only firms that are regular contributors here so I'm no sure you'll get many more responses. Sorry for the delay in responding too.

LOL same here only website like our website.

Is there any SEO organizations that do have this credibility associated with them? SEMPO is the only SEO organization I've heard of.

Become a regular poster at some good SEO forums and if you stand out they might ask you to be a mod. I think that is a pretty good credential.

SEMPO is a cash grab... There are many claims as to the good it does... but frankly, they haven't done a thing to foster industry maturity... the people within line their pockets with fat salaries and expense accounts and the firms/people that pay their dues get nothing to show for it that you can't get for free elsewhere.

I initially defended the ideals of SEMPO but those were lost the moment there was sponsorship money available.

If you want to get more credibility as an SEO Specialist - sure, it will add you more weight in the eyes of your perspective client/employer. Unfortunately I know few people who are SEMPO members, but they are quite new to SEO/SEM business, and membership was needed for them to land better positions and get some respectability. One person even was invited as a speaker to SES event. I personally don't feel any need to spend $300 on membership at this time, but who knows in the future...

But I had the impression that it is good to be SEO/SEM graduate under SEMPO. How far this is true? Infact I was planning to enroll myself with of the professional courses...

Zero managing members 'for or now were formally coursed in SEO/SEM... but they now teach it... how good are they?

Like any course it only gives you a license to learn. If you need the course to be a SEO, you likely won't be any better for it.

Take a course of SEOCHAT. Save $300 and start reading.

They're pricey. I looked them over a few times but never joined, didn't see the benefit in it.

I think most SEOs are self taught by time's trials and tribulations. This forum and others are great sources but I have to admit, in the beginning years I learned a few things from going to seminars, meeting others. A good crash course might help kick some ideas into gear. It might save time figuring out all that can be done.

Oh Ic! Yes I agree that this Forum is one of the great learning centres..no matter how old are u in SEO,SEM...I really really appreciate the efforts.

Thanks Guys for the eye-opener!

I really want to send this message home... "a course in SEO" will not make you a SEO, and it certainly won't allow you to be more valuable to clients [able to produce better ordered ranks".

It will only provide the basic understanding "what is a Meta Tag; a Meta Description; this is what it is used for; this is a likely maximum amount of characters; this is what you see in search engines when you use a Meta Description..."

What they won't provide is any research data that suggests or supports the use of Meta Description... to aid ordered ranks or to increase CTR...

There is no research data for what makes for better links, what is the most valuable copy, etc...

If they offered this... I would take the course.

The course... is merely another way for people that appear to have the "know how" - to make money off those that think they don't.