Ms. Myers was awarded with a cash prize of $1000 for her insightful observations and remarks on the online market place posted on the LimeExchange website. The contest was the first in a series of such contests that LimeExchange is running in association with The Indian Blog and New Media Society (IBNMS). The blog contest was judged by a team of leading industry experts and analysts.

Congratulating the winner, Ms. Felicia Myers, Mr. Pawan Agarwal, Head of Operations, Lime Spot India said: “The online market place has immense potential for commercial proliferation especially for freelancers and small enterprises. Growth to its full potential is increasingly dependent on the level of awareness about the opportunities that the medium offers as well as on exchange of ideas. To encourage such knowledge-sharing, we have decided to launch these series of blog contests and we are extremely satisfied with the initial response that we have received”.

Mr. Ajay Jain, President, IBNMS said: “We are delighted that a member of IBNMS has won the blog contest hosted by LimeExchange. On behalf of IBNMS, I would like to congratulate Ms. Felicia for winning this contest. Her win should be a motivation to other IBNMS members to actively participate in similar contests in the future and come out as winners.”

LimeExchange will soon announce the launch of the second contest in this Blog contest series.

You can read Ms. Felicia Myers’ winning blog entry on the topic ‘PPO & Online Services Marketplace’.

More information is available on the company’s website: http://www.LimeExchange.com.

All sessions will be highly interactive, allowing participants to raise specific queries and also to try their hand at what is being discussed (you will need to carry a laptop and datacard for this).

Schedule: The sessions will take place in the Gulmohar Hall, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi from 6.30 - 8.30 pm on the dates given along with sessions below:

Session I, Saturday, June 28
Blogging Technology: How To Set Up And Manage A Blog

What is a blog? How to set it up on platforms like Blogger, Wordpress etc? How do you get your own domain like www.myname.com? Hosting on your own server. Custom options. Adding photos and videos. Adding subscriber sign up boxes. Using tools like LiveWriter. And more…

Session II, Sunday, June 29
Marketing Your Blog

How do you make your blog more visible? How do you generate greater traffic? How do you get comments on your blog? What is SEO? How do you generate advertising for your blog?

Session III, Monday, June 30
Benefits Of Blogging For Executives, Businesses And Professionals; How To Make Money As A Blogger

Using blogs for personal and corporate branding. Engaging with stakeholders through blogs. Using blogs as a PR and communication tool.

HOW TO REGISTER
There is no attendance or registration fee. You can register on the spot, or in advance by sending a mail to ibnms.in@gmail.com. You may attend one or more sessions.

WANT TO VOLUNTEER / SPEAK?
If you would like to speak at any of the sessions above, do let us know and we will be happy to consider you for the same. And we are always looking for volunteers - call us if you can spare some time.

And do help us by spreading the word around.

CONTACT US
You may contact the following for any queries, clarifications etc:

Ajay Jain, President, +91.99100 44476, ajay at ibnms.com
Abhishek Kant, General Secretary, +91.9899115375, abhishek at ibnms.com
Ashish Chopra, Director (Communication & PR), +91.9891977333, ashish at ibnms.com
Amit Gupta, Director (Technology), +91.9868445814, amit at ibnms.com

UPDATE: Slides from the 3 day workshop available here.

IBNMS & LimeExchange share the mission of promoting Indian Bloggers globally as not just aware, creative & talented but also as Subject Matter Experts.

For the same, LimeExchange is proud to assist you with your individual initiative to raise the level of visibility & the way global community sees bloggers in India.

If you think you have a need for any of the following to help market your blog or your individual online presence:

1. Any UI design needs – Logo, Theme changes, Widget creations, Flash or any attractive content creation.
2. Any special web programming (blog plugins, scripts) needs for you to monitor, track, manage your blog in your own customized way.
3. Any content specific needs - special writing / translation needs.
4. Any SEO/SEM needs to monetize your blog better.
5. Any Print Designs, Graphic Design, 3D modelling, Animation, Games etc. needs.

Then, please follow the following steps:

1. Register (this is free) on LimeExchange (please click here to register, so that your registration can be tracked and you can be awarded a free $50 promotional code), as a Service Provider & Buyer.
2. Send an email to support@limeexchange.com, with your contact details for LimeExchange customer support team to contact you and help you with the process, inform you of the promotional code, understand & help you post the project and get the same executed quickly.

Please do not hesitate at any time to contact LimeExchange guys at support@limeexchange.com if you have any queries; they are pretty good folks and will ensure that LimeExchange can help you in every way possible.

• BLOGCAMP DELHI: Saturday, May 24, 2008 in New Delhi. Click here to view the wiki and to sign up as an attendee or speaker. Sessions covered will include marketing your blog, technical elements of setting up your blog including various platforms available, avenues to make money from your blog, why businesses need to blog and more.
• BLOG & NEW MEDIA WORKSHOP: June 28-30, Gulmohar Hall, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, 6.30-8.30 pm daily. A 3-part workshop to cover the technical elements of setting up your blog, marketing your blog and exploring new media like photo and video blogging, video sharing, photo sharing, podcasting and more. Details will be available soon.

To make sure you can participate in and be informed in advance about these and upcoming programs, make sure you sign on to be a free member of IBNMS. Click here to apply.

We are also excited to have landed the URL ibnms.com - call it pure luck, and a sign that we are on to something good.

Watch this blog (or subscribe through RSS or Feedblitz for weekly updates). The adrenalin is only going to get pumping more and more in the days, weeks, months and years to come.