Hiren Joshi does stuff on the Internet to grow businesses online. He has helped 500+ brands to create buzz online and to grow their business online. 7 years later, he still does the same thing every day with the same pace. Hiren has worked fo brand’s like Philips, Baskin Robbins, Sahara India Pariwar, Fasos, Quikkr, Starbucks to name a few. He is the CEO & Co-founder of Bee Online & working as a for other 13 digital agencies & more than 200 clients. His core adjectives are planner, strategist, leader, dedicated, passionate.
How did you get into Search Engine Optimization?
Hiren: I was kind of nocturnal during my college days, I use to love strategizing things right from the beginning. One fine day, I met Mr. Nevil(renowned SEO guru) while I was Googling for SEO experts in Mumbai. I made him my mentor for SEO and he was modest enough to share his expertise with me at the initial stage. He also gave me live international projects to work on, whereby I got an opportunity to dive in more deep into the search ocean
What makes Search Engine Optimization an essential subject for Entrepreneurs, Marketing Professionals and Students? Please share separately for each of these profiles.
Hiren: Great things in life take time to shape well! SEO teaches a very good lesson of life, which is ‘Patience’. SEO is really essential for all as Being on the first page is just as important as being top of mind & for a simple reason that 50% of the consumers spend their 75% of their time online.
For Entrepreneurs:
It directly relates with the ROI here, everyone knows ranking on top positions is like having a cash cow that keeps giving you benefits. They really spend a lot on SEO to curb down the paid marketing spends & increase overall conversion rate of the website (as the organic conversion rate is always high).
For Marketing Professionals:
Traditional marketing strategies are a big ‘no-no’ now since they have lost their sheen in the era of Digital Media. Almost all companies have aligned SEO as one of their leading marketing strategy & hence a lot of opportunities for professionals. Having the right SEO skills will help them to move on the next levels of the career.
For Students:
Students should take SEO as their success path to career as the compensation for SEO employees is equal to or even higher than that of developers, designers and marketers. Moreover, it’snot necessary for you to possess a PG degree. Anyone with strategic brains and passion towards Search can learn & pursue the career in the domain of Search.
Please share top 3 mistakes committed by organizations in leveraging Search Engine Optimization.
Hiren: There are several mistakes they do but would like to highlight top 3 mistakes, which I have experienced personally in (ascending order).
- They forget that “Quality comes with the cost” & opt for mediocre SEO agency to handle their SEO.
- In SEO, ‘change’ is the only thing, which is ‘constant’, I have seen SEO evolving from 2004 to 2016 but most of the organizations fail to evolve with the algorithm of Google.
- Slow & study doesn’t really wins the race, a website with slow loading time will ruin your SEO efforts. Page speed is one of the crucial factors of SEO that many organizations overlook at, I have personally seen many organizations who spend very much & still misses out the basics.
What are the key Search Engine Optimization topics you cover in the training program that you lead at Digital Vidya?
Hiren: I train complete SEO from scratch. From how search engines work to understanding customers who search on Google for your products/services, finding right opportunities (keyword discovery) to content marketing (link building strategies).
List top 5 takeaways for participants of the Search Engine Optimization course you lead at Digital Vidya.
Hiren:
- Core of Search
- Technical SEO
- Revenue Oriented SEO Strategy
- Content Marketing
- How to Convert your visitors into customers (Conversion rate optimization)
In your experience, what are the key advantages of ‘instructor-led, online’ delivery format?
Hiren: It’s like a virtual classroom where people can connect and share their unbiased views about the topic during the session. It also improves empower you and other members to learn on your schedule, at your pace and with confidence.
What challenges do you face and how do you overcome them while delivering an online course?
Hiren: Literally, I don’t really face any hardcore challenge as such apart from any technical glitches at times.
What are the top 3-5 trends you foresee for Search Engine Optimization in 2016?
Hiren: Google’s knowledge graph would evolve even further.
- Brand mentions may be considered as a ranking signal.
- SEO would become a bit more competitive in India with the increasing competition among startup companies in India.
- SEO would be a lot more about people talking about the brand as against just the links.
Are you inspired by the opportunity of Search Engine Optimization? Start your journey by enrolling for our Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Certification.
