Hey gang, what's shaking? All the best to ya from myself (Dave) and the entire Dojo team. We wanted to share a few additions to the site this week (we'll be having lot's this year, hang on to yer hats).

NOTE; all links in this post are for members only. We just thought to give non-members a sneak peek. Please login to access. Not a member? Join up today!

Search Patent Database

If there's one thing we all know I just won't stop talking about; it's that SEOs must learn information retrieval. Most of you also know my ongoing obsession to that end. As such, this new section was something I am kinda excited about.

We took all the more relevant search patents (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo) from the last 3 years and organized them into section by engine. If you're thinking of learning about a specific area of IR, then this list should be quite handy. I know it will for my own studies. We've started with Google and will be adding the rest (Microsoft, Yahoo) during the week. So go check out the new section now!

Just be sure to read the foreword before departing on the adventure.

 

Reading Level Badges

While I was in the Study Hall posting this stuff, I thought it might be a good idea to kind of tag the existing sections with 'Anyone' 'Beginner' 'Intermediate' and 'Uber Geek' badges.

This seemed like a good idea because some folks coming into the Dojo might not know where to start and may be confused by jumping into the deep end to soon. In the coming months as we add more and more content, we shall further refine the Study Hall to ensure it keeps on being effective.

That's about it for now... safe travels!

...for a day at least.

One of the more popular aspects of the SEO Training Dojo is our private chat room (on Skype) where the members can hang out and talk shop (among other things) during the week. There are some 80 members in there and it's generally active 24/7 as we have folks from all 'round the world in there.

Each Friday we hold a formal chat on various topics and have had guests on such as Dan Thies, Debra Mastaler, Garrett French, Raven, Majestic and many, many more. We have been doing the sessions for a few years and have them all in the archives (stored in the forums).

OPEN to the public!!

This week, as part of the 2nd Anniversary celebrations we're going to open up the chat session to the public so everyone can come in and get a sense of the awesomeness that is the Dojo chat.

Date; Friday December 2nd 2011
The topic; Google Algo Changes 2011

We shall be looking at the important and seemingly not-so-important algorithm updates from 2011 and talking about what the mean and where we might be headed in 2012 (beyond the world coming to an end of course).

It should be a good session and we welcome members as well as non-members to come and hang with us. To get added (space will be limited) to the chat be sure to track Dave down on Skype.

Username; huomah (David Harry)

We look forward to seeing you there!

Yup, it's that time again... it's our birthday!!! YAY!

As of this week the SEO Training Dojo is now 2 years old and still going strong. It started with a dream of a private locale to talk shop and share ideas and has grown into one of the best known communities in the world of search. And we're damned proud of it!!

And what exactly is going on here at the Dojo?

• Enhanced profiles for networking
• Active and current topics in our forums
• Lot's of great reading/learning in the Study Hall
• One of the largest video libraries on the web
• Resources including spreadsheet for productivity
• List of some of the best tools of the trade
• Event calendar for member to meet and greet
• Marketplace to exchange and find services
• Dedicated chat room open 24/7
• Weekly 2hr Friday chats for advanced learning

And what's coming up for year 3?

• Mentor program to teach and learn from other members
• Tools – a few tools we haven't seen elsewhere on the web
• More resources and spreadsheets
• New content including keyword research section
• New sponsors for more savings

Yes, that's right, we're adding new sponsors with even more savings that before!! To get things rolling we're proud to announce that the Local Citation Finder and Get Me Listed are now official sponsors!!

In fact, for $1/day or less you can access over $1000 in savings fomr some of the top marketing tool providers on the web today!! Check the entire list of sponsors/savings here.

Get FREE schwag and discounts!!

This week, to celebrate our birthday, we will be giving out FREE Dojo wear (your choice) to the first 10 people that sign up for a 1 year membership!! What the heck is Dojo wear? Just check out this post to learn more!

Not enough?

Ok, fine... then how about 25% off of ANY membership package here at the Dojo? All you have to do is using up with the code; DOJObday

 

What our members are saying

We also added some new testimonials to our members speak up page here. We're damned thrilled when the gang cares enough to say nice things... here's a few to get you started;

Testimonial; Dave Harry and Terry Van Horne have done a wonderful job developing the SEODojo over the last two years, the community spirit is strong with people freely sharing their SEO and marketing experiences. If I need to know about the latest patent writing, or have a more technical issue explained in detail, I head for the Dojo. Dave and Terry do a great job simplifying complex issues so they're easy to understand. But it's not all work at the Dojo, there's also a lot of fun going on. The community is friendly and always willing to share a story or two, the regulars make sure newbie's feel welcome and are part of the conversation. If you're looking for a place to learn, network and just have fun, consider joining the SEODojo. - Debra Mastaler- Link Marketer - Alliance Link

Testimonial; People often ask me where I have been hiding - the Dojo is my "home from home", my "local", and my SEO help line rolled into one.
Andy Beard - Blogger - Andy's Blog

So really... what are you waiting for?, Head on over to the sign up page and join us today!! Easily one of the best value offerings in the search worl today!

Back last fall we posted a bunch of potential T-shirt designs over on my personal blog, the Fire Horse Trail. It had started as a suggestion from our members and was well recieved as far as some of the designs we had come up with.

We then set about looking at ways to get them made. It became apparent quickly that buying a bunch of stock wasn't feasible given the many designs we were after. So we polled the Dojo faithful and decided to use Zazzle to get them done. Today I am thrilled to announce that they're available to all!

Get your SEO Dojo wear!

While many of the designs are Dojo centric, we've also created a bunch of others that just about anyone can wear as a proud search geek. Here's a few of the more popular ones;

You get the idea. There are a few more with some fun phrases as well as a whole bunch of SEO Dojo wear and other goodies (mousepads, beer mugs etc...). We will be adding some more in the near future and hope ya'll find something that ye like.

To see more check out the SEO Training Dojo store on Zazzle

If you don't see something you like or would like us to create something specific, please do leave a comment or get in touch and we'll try and get that for ya! We're really not sure where this will lead, but it's been fun doing it. We're considering a nominal mark-up on them so we can send the proceeds to a worthy cause. We'll see how sales go first though to ensure it's worth it.