My Purpose to #ISS2010

Alas am on board iss2010 thanks to OMEBang members who made the most. I have learnt more in my life as digital marketer OMEBang plays a major part of it by taking it to the next level. I would like to say more about the core members of my gang of bang who are the supports for full extinct. Especially for few people who boast their knowledge without expecting anything in return.

There are several ways where people make only money where as OMEBang members is the one till now which is spending free without expecting anything in return. Now time to take rest will carry on later as I am writing in midnight that too on train where all are sleeping other than my pals as I don’t want to disturb them as well.   The first day of iss2010 gone very well learnt new aspects of digital marketing.

Suresh (seobangalore) started presentation… This was gone well. The main attractive of the event was Raghavendra Satish (Raghavasatish) who steals the show he was the only person I most admired of rather than SEOMom on the second day. I would just thank the ISS2010 team for making more successful. The positive factor was meeting people like Kiruba, Ashwin,  Sanjay, KapilNakra, Sanjay Agarwal and others along with Google’s employees with exgoogle person Jayashreer which was a good interaction. The most major thing I forgot to inform that after Raghava presentation. He was a celebrity type where everybody was attracted to him after he spoke about the LYPGSM for the website in marketing industry. The presentation of Raghava will be posted online as he comes to Bangalore. Second day was good but not as the yesterday and SEOMom presentation thrown the lights to the new sector of mobile as well as social media.

I personally spoke to few persons of Google about the negative reviews which they informed to look into… I had a wish to take part in the speakers List. Maybe next time let me will consider this with help of my friends who support always. Yeah Kiruba also good the way he spoke in various style and the way he presented on stage by showing example by dipping his hand in a bucket for business blogging. I wished to do live streaming for Kiruba also unfortunately my cell ran out of power. Most of the speaker persons didn’t make up due to various reasons I wished to speak Amish who was my friend in old times even he didn’t as he missed the flight. I have done live streaming of few videos which I will be posting ASAP.

Even after the events all our OMEBang gang who attended iss2010 spoke to Ranjan and Meena along with Shiv about the events in late nights. Thanks to those guys who listened calmly as it was midnight where we disturbed the sleep. We Missed Chaitanya, Ranjan, BabaSEO, PraveenRavi, SarathKS, Pavan and Meena a lot and we discussed how good it would have been if they were all with us in the event.

This one I am writing while I am travelling back to Bangalore by bus. Now it’s 2.00 am and am noting down the few details of the event where we attended along with others where we shared our knowledge and gained more. Jaya TV had come to interview Raghava where he spoke about the members of OMEBang and ISS2010. And it will be telecasted in a week. So saying bye for now I need a quick nap as I need to go to office and have a clients meetings where I should move..

I would love to say that ISS2010 gave us big opportunity to gain more knowledge about Marketing Industry in various points of view.

Enthusiast in Bangalore for Social Media, Search Engine Optimization, Online Advertising and Analytics

Online Marketing Enthusiast Bangalore (OMEBang) a group of young professionals come together every month and educates small businesses in and around Bangalore. OMEBang has educated several businesses and more than 200 employees, entrepreneurs through its monthly meet up initiative. The workshops and seminars are free of cost and this August 21^st, will be their fifth monthly event.

Online marketing enthusiasts Bangalore (OMEBang) is pleased to announce its fifth monthly workshop on All about Face book for businesses in Bangalore. OMEBang offers seminars, workshops and educational materials to for small businesses, employees, employers. Start ups and for anyone who like to learn how to market their business online.

OMEBang is dedicating to providing and promoting online marketing education classes to all businesses. We are thrilled that we are reaching a record number of attendees who come to monthly meet ups.

Last month’s workshop was about Digital Media Analytics, Chaitanya from HP was one of the presenters in OMEBang. Attendees for these events include marketers, VP’s, CEO’s, marketing specialist, entrepreneurs, marketing managers/Directors, creative directors, E-Commerce manager, brand managers from companies like HP, Wiley Publications, Mondera, Vayama, TRX, Credirity, IMB, Sonata, Catalyst Labs and more. Preetam Venkky aka IdeasMaverick a well known Social Media Expert will be presenting in this month’s event.

Some of the feedback from the past attendees includes:

• “ We like the informal presentation and interaction “
• “Really helpful to gain knowledge and to build relationships “
• “The amazing attendance from so many companies and knowledge sharing”
• “This is knowledge capital “
• “ Liked the fact that even fundamentals are explained there are others who may not understand”
• “ Focusing on the fact that it’s a community and everyone chips in and shares insight/knowledge”
• “ Liked the content, knowledge and presentation”

Pictures, Videos and presentations can be found here: http://searchenginedetails.com

The event is organized by a group of young passionate online marketers whose aim is to build an online marketing community, help participants network and share insights on how businesses are using SEO, PPC, real time search results such as Twitter, Four Square, and Social media in their respective industries and the latest happenings in the web marketing world.

This month’s session to be held on August 21, 2010 between 4pm to 7pm at the BluePetal Hotel in Koramangala. This event is free of cost and is expecting more than 100 attendees around the city. There are also a few slots for start ups and small business owners/managers to participate in this event and be a part of the discussion

Please visit: http://omebang.eventbrite.com to know more about this event or visit the Online Marketing Enthusiast LinkedIn Group:

OMEBang Moves Next Level

Yesterday we had a meeting with raghavasatish, seobangalore & shivseo about the #OMEBang. Our meeting concluded on various topics of SEO, Social Media and taking the OMEBang to the Next level

This time in OMEBang the topic which will be discussed is Social Media and Preetham Venkky of Catalyst Labs will be heading the event.

People who are related to Social Media or Newbie can also Post their Queries will be answered in the event of OMEBang..

I would love to tell that OMEBang has been successful this upcoming months and lot of good response from the members of this community, we would request the Volunteers and Speakers for the OMEBang community to share their knowledge

5 Rules For Successfully Selling Search Services

I’m a pretty idealistic person. I’ve been known to put unicorns and rainbows in my presentations. And I like to sit back and fantasize about various pie-in-the-sky scenarios. In one such (recurring) “blue sky” daydream, I head to the office on my bike under dawn’s pink glow. As I enter the office, the sun is shooting rays of early morning light through the windows. A fresh gourd of yerba mate sits on my desk next to a bowl of glistening orange nectarines and red cherries. And a steaming plate of crisp bacon. Some sort of perfect music is on. It’s going to be a great day.

As I power up for the day’s work and gaze at my perfectly positioned, dual 27″ monitors, I feel at one with my work and surroundings. Then I realize the real reason why I feel so good. It’s not the dual monitors, the morning, the surroundings. Nope, it’s because in this fantasy I no longer need to create proposals, log time on discovery calls, give prospects yards of documents proving why my company is the one they should work with, and answer RFPs. Ah… what a dream!

The business of selling search

The reality is much different. You have to engage in the business of selling your services, regardless of industry. It’s the nature of the beast. Being in the service industry, we have a duty and obligation to play the game (and sometimes, the dance) of prospecting and business development.

In all honesty, I count myself lucky. My company doesn’t have a single salesperson. Our business development primarily consists of answering the phone and responding to the demand we’ve earned over the years. We have a completely reactive business development approach, aside from the marketing that conferences and speaking engagements naturally provide. But we still have the quandary of proposals, RFPs, discovery calls and on and on. The work of selling—regardless of any proactive cold-calling or prospecting—takes tons of time and money. It’s an expensive but necessary part of the business.

It’s not all bad. I actually enjoy the dance of competing on a proposal and the thrill of each discovery call, proposal review, business development meeting and coffee with potential clients. It’s invigorating, educational and can even be inspiring. It’s about the relationships and the thrill of pursuit and ultimately, triumph. We earn a company’s trust throughout the proposal process and if it’s a good fit, they earn ours. But it’s also hard work. The large search agencies are heavily armed to wage war on the prospecting battle field. These behemoths are often (sadly) long on sales and short on results, in the timeless words of Aaron Wall. Some of the larger search agencies employ massive sales teams and put the majority of their efforts into winning new business rather than servicing their clients.

Five rules for successfully selling search services

I’ve arrived over the years on five principles for business development that work well for us. These rules are ours alone; we don’t assume they apply to everyone. However, they might be useful for you and your company. Here they are:

Don’t give away your knowledge. Your expertise, your knowledge, your experiences, are valuable commodities that should be guarded closely. Have a potential client asking for lots of details, specifics and free advice? Tell them you’re not in the business of giving that away.

Give, then take. These immortal words are immortal because they’re based on fundamental truths. And they’re as accurate today as they’ve ever been, especially online. Don’t forget rule #1, but remember: you have to give in order to receive. Strike a smart balance.

Spinning wheels waste everyone’s time. There’s nothing worse than spending four hours putting together a document “proving” the value of your SEO tactic, when you know deep down no amount of documentation can guarantee a single thing. You can’t expect a potential client to give you ink based on faith. But you can expect them to respect your time and not make you jump through unnecessary hoops, exercises and last minute fire drills. Spinning wheels waste everyone’s time (unless they’re pinwheels–then they’re kinda cool).

Mutual respect is mandatory. You can’t get anywhere without respect. If you sense it’s not mutual, if you sense the prospect will treat you more like a “vendor” than a “partner,” then simply, professionally, move on.

Most RFPs have very poor ROI (for you, not necessarily your client). Unless you are staffed up to handle them, RFPs mostly waste everyone’s time. There are many reasons why this is true, such as the fact that many RFPs are simply a formality for marketing teams that already have an agency picked, but have a need to follow protocol or cover their butts. We have found that most RFPs (not all) return a poor ROI and are discriminating in which ones we respond to.

Until the magical day arrives where I no longer need to engage in proposals and business development, I’ll stick to my five rules above. But I would still like a steaming plate of crisp bacon on my desk…