Digital Excellence: Internet Webpages Newspaper
March 14th, 2017Topics: Communications Marketing / Sales
Tuck School’s Center for Digital Strategies takes part in several Executive Education programs offered throughout the year, and in a number of locations. The “Digital Excellence Program“, offered in partnership with Google, was first offered in June 2015 and is geared towards the Minority Entrepreneur. The goal of this biannual program is to provide participants with the tools needed to bring their digital marketing and communication skills to the next level. Programs are hosted at different Google headquarters throughout the United States. Class sessions vary in topic from Google Analytics, to AdWords, to business leadership skills.
Edmund Dante Hamilton, CEO and President answered some of the CDS’s questions about his business and how it is impacted by digital technology.
How does the use of digital technology or strategy help enhance your business?
I specialize in instructor-led, hands-on, interactive training for bloggers, brand ambassadors and influencers at 1-Day WP Workshop in my downtown, Chicago office. Specifically, I show attendees how to deploy an Ecommerce website and blog using WordPress on Google Cloud Platform.
The Digital Excellence Program allowed me to run Google YouTube video ads, which I started while enrolled in the class. One of the Digital Excellence Program presenters (Rudi) helped me set up my ad. I was able to put the Digital Excellence Program to use while I was still receiving the training. This helped me promote my training to target audiences, which resulted in me obtaining attendees for the “Red Carpet” 1-Day WP Workshop level in December 2016.
The Digital Excellence Program helped me become a Google Partner and advertise my core business offering and obtain customers and confidence to further educate myself.
What was a key takeaway for you at the Digital Excellence Program that has helped your business?
My company became a Google Partner on December 7, 2016, about 6 weeks after completing the course. That was the most significant takeaway. Additionally, I was told at the program that Google places a high regard on training and education. After becoming a Google Partner I immediately set my goal on becoming a Google Partner Premier Level. In order to achieve this level I must study, pass an exam and obtain one certification.
I am happy to say I enrolled in Google Cloud Platform for Systems Operations Professionals, a specialized training developed by Google and Coursera to become a Google Certified Professional Cloud Architect. I must pass four online courses and the certification exam. I received a 98.8% final grade in the Google Cloud Platform Fundamentals, the first course in the series. Another important takeaway for me is I now have the confidence to study and become certified. This was influenced heavily by my Digital Excellence Program experience at Google Chicago October 21-23, 2016.
Are there any specific digital or tech policies that have helped create a positive internal culture for your team?
Presently I do not have employees. However, I will be looking to hire 1-2 paid interns in Q2 2017 so I can achieve the Google Partner Premier Level, which requires that my company obtain at least two certifications. Since 2011 I have hired over 25 paid interns, including college, university and high-school students.
Going forward my policy with team members will be to only employ those who can become one of three Google Certified Professionals for Google Cloud Platform.
What has been one big surprise around the impact or influence of digital on your company?
I recently learned how to develop mobile apps for iOS and Android using WordPress. This was not something I set out to do originally, but was a surprise development. 27.6% of all global websites run on WordPress. Now that WordPress is an application framework I’ve learned to execute for my own brands and clients, I forecast it will impact 2017 revenues by 50% or more over last year earnings.
My company maintains over 40 domains and nearly 20 of them run WordPress On Google Cloud Platform. Previously I ran all of my websites and those for clients on Rackspace Cloud Sites. I am very surprised that I moved to Google Cloud Platform because I had no idea how to deploy a virtual machine or use a secure shell to configure an instance. I can now setup a fully functioning Ecommerce website or blog using WordPress On Google Cloud in less than two hours. I never imagined I would be this proficient in cloud technology, and I am thirsty to learn more.
Finally, I have projected that my business will potentially generate $200 Million dollars in annual revenue within the next five years, mainly from digital technology deployments on Google Cloud Platform. In March 2017 I announced that I am setting up a new corporation and set of brands to focus just on Google Cloud Platform and cloud technology opportunities.
Executive Bio
Edmund Dante Hamilton, CEO & President, Internet Webpages Newspaper, Inc.
Digital Excellence, October 2016
1DayWPWorkshop.org
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