Internet Marketing Degree?

Internet marketing at colleges is a joke. At my college the degree stuck in the social media crazy loop.

Jan is right. By the time you graduate, much what you learned in year one will be obsolete.

Besides, IM is not something that always works well for the academic "thinker" type. It is better suited to the doers among us - most of whom never had time for "degrees" or any such nonsense.

I would say that careful and planned use of the immense real-world IM resources in this forum are worth more than any IM marketing degree.

Abdul.

I really think IM needs to be taught so that it can create more jobs. But on the other hand if it was taught there would be so much more competition and make things alot harder than it already is.

As for being outdated, it all depends on the instructor. If the instructor is stuck in his ways and keep dishing out old crap then of course the instructions will be useless. But that is the difference between a top notch Ivy league school and the community colleges.

I'm sure many of us would have benefited if we learned some intermediate Marketing and Avertising theories about targeting markets, market research, demographics, consumer psyche, etc. With this kind of knowledge in our back pockets IM would have been alot easier. The theories are the same it's the application and venue that changes with time.

If taught right, it can really benefit the kids. Not only can it be a high paying position but you have the choice to be an entrepreneur.

Internet Marketing changes every year: Whatever worked for PPC in 2007 doesnt work now. Facebook? hardly even existed. Tweeter? same thing. SEO rules change every time Google sneezes, etc.

In such a volatile market, how could anyone structure any type of college degree?

Good question. You can actually get a great IM education online for free. You just have to know which sources to glean...which blogs to read... which marketers to follow...whose advice to take...etc., etc., etc.

For example, if I were a newbie, just starting out, and I wanted to learn from the absolute best Internet marketers, I'd follow people like Lee Odden, Jim Daniels, and Michel Fortin. I'd read their articles, buy their books, and follow their blogs. You can't go wrong with those guys...they're the real deal.

David Jackson

I sure hope so, because I'm building one.

Seriously, if I join a membership site that promises to teach me some IM task, I have one question I ask every time the payment comes out of my account.

Did I get my money's worth last month?

If I get a "no" three months in a row, I cancel.

In four days, unless something drastic happens, I will get my third "no" on a well-known guru's membership site. I've been a member for almost a year, and it pains me to leave, but it's just plain not worth it.

You'll find that most good membership sites have a four-month retention rate. That's because most membership sites give good value in month 1, then less value in the following months. And, much like me, most people won't stay more than three months when the value disappears. They may not have a hard and fast rule, but 90 days without their money's worth will send them away in droves.

So for a membership site to retain my interest and my membership, it needs to deliver good value each and every month. This isn't easy - even the gurus can't always deliver, because they lose interest and chase after new shiny things.