Workshop on “Skill Set Enhancement on Search Engine Optimization and Marketing”

The workshop was organized under PITB's project Demand Based Training (Phase-II) on July 14, 2009 as a result of special efforts made by Ms. Nazia Malik (Project Manager) and DBT team. Click here to view workshop pictures.

Workshop was jointly conducted by the following speakers

a) Mr. Badar Khushnood, Google Pakistan Country Consultant (For his detailed profile click here)

b) Mr. Adnan Ali, Assistant Professor & Knowledge Unit Head (Information Systems) at University of Management & Technology Lahore (For his detailed profile click here)

In the beginning, Mr. Adnan Ali defined the term Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and why it is important. He then discussed what factors are important for SEO like key word selection, website design, content refinement. Whereas, keyword selection acts as mother of SEO. The presenter also explained the phenomena of figuring out what other people are searching for. He expressed his views on both the parts of SEO i.e relevance and popularity. Participants got the idea of the “seed” keyword selection and becoming the search engine favorites.. The lunch was taken at 2:00 pm and the session restarted at 3:00 pm.
The participants were asked to create their own blogs. The topic of the blogs had to be selected after thorough analysis and insight about existing traffic and the viewers interest in the topic related keywords using Google insight and Google trends for keywords. After selection of the topic and creation of the blog the attendees were asked to get the traffic on their blogs using the techniques taught. The presenter also highlighted the benefits of the social networking sites, social markers, networks and online advertising. At 4:30 pm, Mr. Badar Khushnood summarized and recapped the whole discussion followed by Google standards for search engine optimization. Looking at the comments given by the participants, session remained successful and very informative. Workshop ended at 5:00pm followed by a group photo.

Seminars On Internet Marketing and Blogging (Monetization)

The Seminars were organized under PITB's project Demand Based Training (Phase-II) on July 13, 2009. The events took place with the special efforts of Ms. Nazia Malik (Project Manager) and DBT team. Click here to view seminar pictures.

Mr. Badar Khusnood was the speaker in both of the seminars. Mr. Badar Khusnood is Google Pakistan Country Consultant and acts as a local Google evangelist (For detailed profile of Mr. Badar Khushnood click here) .

The first seminar started at 8:30 am. The speaker was Mr. Badar Khushnood. The seminar was graced with the presence of Chairman PITB and among the other attendees were GM (A & O) PITB, Project Managers/In charges and the technical staff from PITB and ITD. The seminar was started with the Introduction to Search Engine (precisely in the context of “Google”) Marketing and some empirical study on Internet Marketing from all over the world. It was elaborated through real world cases that how effective this type of marketing is, as far as economy and accessibility are concerned. The session was ended at 10:30 am followed by refreshment.
The second seminar (Blogging (Monetization)) started at 11:00am and it was also conducted by Mr. Badar Khushnood. A thorough perspective of the topic was given to the participants. The speaker reflected that blogging is a great source to share one’s ideas and to have others says. Blogging can be an effective and cheap tool for Govt. departments as well in order to be interactive with the public.

The success stories of the following bloggers were discussed in the seminar,

1. Haris Nadeem, F.Sc. student
2. Maryam Nasim, housewife
3. Uzair Sajid, B. Sc. student
4. Hasan Mubarak, MBA student
5. Farhan Janjua, BBA student
6. Saad Hamid, B. Sc. student

It was encouraging for the participants that the youth of Pakistan is receptive about the country environment and reflecting that in their content over the web. This behavior is contributing a lot in creating the positive image of Pakistan to the millions of audience of the web.
The seminar ended at 1:00 pm. The participants found the content very informative and useful. They appreciated and demanded to conduct such seminars in future as well.

About PITB (an autonymous body of Punjab govt.) offering Demand based Trianings in IT

The Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) was set up by the Government of Punjab as an autonomous body with the mission to “develop IT as a major sphere of economic activity, and promote its use in the public and private sectors for increasing efficiency and competitiveness”. PITB has achieved considerable success in a short time towards realizing the objectives for which it was formed. Following are some of the achievements:
1. Software Technology Park (STP)
2. Human resource development and capacity building through Demand Based Training Program
3. Computerization of many of the Government Departments of Punajb Govt.
4. Computerization and linkages of Punjab High way petrolling posts

Free and Subsidized Trainings offered by Punjab Govt.

Demand based project (Phase-II) is the development project of Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB), Punjab Government for the capacity buiding of Human Resource in the IT Industry specifically the IT professionals and IT Managment and Decision makers.
The scope of the project is to conduct training, workshop, seminars, conferences to promote IT and IT related services. As part of this project approximately Fifty Thousands (50,000) individuals (including IT industry professional, teachers, and government employees in IT and IT related services) will be trained.
The project is also aimed at providing e-readiness through training of the individuals in the govt. departments. In, the projects like automation of got departments and common applications, the training of the targeted beneficiaries will be an essential component which will be covered through this project. So that before the software deployment even during the conceiving stages the required human resource must be ready to utilize it which may be referred as e-readiness at an initial stage.
The trainings, seminars, national and international conferences and workshops will be categorized in the following five broad categories:
a. Training for Executives and Decision Makers
b. Core Information Technology Trainings/Advance IT Trainings
i. Basic ICT Training
ii. Basic ICT Training for Teachers
iii. Basic ICT Training for govt. employees
c. Other Demand/Need Based
d. Seminars, Workshops, Conferences and Mega events

As a policy PITB will pay 100% of the cost for the government employees. PITB will provide a subsidy of 50% for private sector companies and individuals. PITB will reimburse 100% certification cost / fee to Punjab Govt. Employees (Contractual & Permanent both). The Certification fee will be reimbursed after successful completion of the certification.