When I first started conducting Expert Speaks Interviews, I had a few names from the industry in my mind. One of them was Amit Panchal. At that moment, I just knew that he is a fantastic digital marketing consultant from Gujarat.
We were connected on several social media platforms. Due to some or the other reasons, I couldn’t conduct his interview back then.
But today I feel privileged to interview him. He is one of the finest digital marketing professionals & an amazing individual too.
Before we jump to the Expert Speaks interview, let me give you a brief overview about Amit Panchal.
Who is Amit Panchal?
Amit Panchal is a digital marketing consultant with 10+ years of experience in this field. He consults brands and helps them create an amazing online presence with the help of his marketing strategies.
He is a social media influencer with more than 45,000 followers on Twitter & more than 10,000 followers on LinkedIn.
He is very well-known for social media marketing, content marketing, SEO and online reputation management.
Let’s explore more about him in this interview.
Expert Speaks Interview with Digital Marketing Consultant – Amit Panchal
#1. Amit, you completed your BCA in 2007 and started your first job as an SEO Executive in 2008. How did you land up in an SEO role immediately after your bachelor’s? Were you already aware of it or it just happened in flow?
After completing BCA in 2007, I appeared for the MCA entrance exam but unfortunately couldn’t make it. My GCET rank was 951, and the admission cut-off was 900.
At that time, I made my mind to do a full-time job and part-time study. A few months later, I started an MBA from SMU (Sikkim Manipal University) on a part-time basis. Due to a heavy workload and attempts to grab other opportunities, I had to drop the last semester. In a way, I started my first job back in 2008 as an SEO executive.
My first job after completing BCA was Data Research Analyst. But, I left it in just 25 days because it was a night-shift and completely changed my lifestyle. There was no family life, no celebration, and no enjoyment! You can say, my work-life balance was utterly disturbed.
Then I joined the eCommerce and BPO Management course in GLS CME, Ahmedabad. There was one chapter about SEO in the eCommerce part of this course, and it was my turning point!
SEO attracted me a lot, and when I applied for the post of an HTML developer in IndiaNIC in March 2008, I ticked on the SEO skill! After getting a call from HR and giving two interviews in a day, I was selected for HTML developer and SEO analyst posts. But, I chose SEO because it had more salary (INR 6500 a month) than the HTML developer at that time.
#2. You have even worked as a Customer Success Manager. How did your previous SEO experience help you in this role?
I joined Tatvic as a Digital Marketing Consultant. My job profile was to manage clients who have blogs with good revenue from Google Adsense. I helped them gain more traffic, increase visibility, and revenue by optimizing their blogs as per Google Guidelines.
After six months, Google changed its AdSense management platform, and I had to move toward Google Analytics as a customer sales manager. I left that company in February 2016 and started working as an independent Digital Marketing Consultant in Ahmedabad.
#3. Buzzsumo has featured you as one of the top digital marketing influencers from India on Twitter. How did you achieve this?
I was unaware that I am one of the Top 100 Digital Marketing Influencers 2020 in the list of Buzzsumo.
One of my friends tagged me on Twitter, and I got to know about the same.
Let me admit that it was never my goal to come in the Top 100 influencers’ list.
I share all the useful information and insights to my friends and followers on various social media platforms. I think the consistency and quality of insightful information shared by me on Twitter and other platforms have given me a place in the top 100 Digital Marketing Influencers worldwide.
#4. What will be the roadmap for becoming a digital marketing consultant like you?
I have shared my experience on “How to Become a Digital Marketing Consultant” in my blog –https://amitpanchal.com/become-a-digital-marketing-consultant/
#5. Amit, it is disheartening to see that many people from the digital marketing world are creating trivial courses with the content that is already freely available on the internet. And then they are selling it at an extremely low price. As they are already experts in this industry, they run attractive promotions, and innocent people get trapped. What will be your advice to someone who wants to learn digital marketing?
I would advise them not to get trapped in such promotional offers. This type of offer is just created to get more registrations and sign-ups. Later on, they use their data to promote their product and services through email marketing.
Here I mention a few beneficial courses which are freely available on the internet and help you to build your career in Digital Marketing-
- Fundamentals of Digital Marketing by Google
- Content Marketing by HubSpot Academy
- Social Media by HubSpot Academy
- SEO Fundamentals by SEMrush
- Facebook Blueprint Certification by Facebook
#6. What is the best way to build quality backlinks as per you?
Yes, Building Backlinks is still the most common and effective way to Improve Search Engine Rankings and generate more traffic on the website.
You need to follow all the ethical practices to build quality backlinks. Here I mention the best SEO practices that I am following and suggesting to my clients.
- Guest Post
- Broken Link Building
- Question and Answer Posting
- Blog Comments on Relevant Blogs
- Brand Mentions
#7. Getting back to digital marketing, what are the top 3 tips for growing on Twitter?
To my mind, Twitter is the most powerful platform to build your brand and strengthen your presence on social media.
These three tips can help your business grow and get more followers on Twitter-
- Tweet Often and Share Less Information About Yourself
- Join Live Twitter Chats
- Leverage the Power of Hashtags
#8. You would have faced several challenges in your life till now. What are the top 3 challenges you faced in your professional/personal life, and how did you overcome them?
Call me a family man! I can’t spare time even for my clients when I am at home because all my time is reserved for my family there. However, I don’t consider it as a challenge. You may count it.
The real challenge I face is time management. It is somewhat challenging to manage the hectic schedule as I meet many people across different verticals in a day. Since I started working as an independent digital marketing consultant, I used to schedule my day while stopping at the traffic signal!
Another challenge is communication. Many of my friends complained that I do not remain in contact with them, at least, not as frequently as they expected.
Then I started to call them on the move. I have to visit many places because of my passion and profession- digital marketing. I used to call my friends on the way and stay connected.
#9. Amit, besides digital marketing consulting, what excites you? What do you do in your free time?
I love to explore my city and captured the beautiful moments from my Google Pixel 3 in my free time. Being a Food Lover, I have visited many cafés and restaurants in Ahmedabad and other places.
During this COVID19, I started reading books in my free time!
Besides, I call my friends and colleagues and talk with them without any purpose or plan.
#10. What will be one message that you would like to share with students who aspire to make a career in digital marketing?
I would suggest them to establish and strengthen their presence on Social Media Platforms like Linkedin and Twitter.
#11. As you know, the Expert Speaks Interview Series is an initiative to share stories, experiences, and actionable tips from experts like you. I thank you for becoming a part of this initiative. Would you recommend a few more industry experts who must contribute to this series?
I would love to recommend Boni Satani, Dipali Thakkar, and Parth Suba as industry experts. Their useful insights and valuable tips can enrich this interview series, and people will know more about digital marketing.
Conclusion
Thank you for the amazing responses Amit. Your answers will definitely help digital marketing enthusiasts.
Dear Readers, this brings an end to another Expert Speaks Interview. Thanks for reading. I hope you would have learned something from this interview.
You can follow Amit Panchal on Twitter for amazing digital marketing content.
You might also like to read Interview with Digital Marketing Consultant Jitendra Vaswani