About Bernie Borges

Here’s a brief background on yours truly – Bernie Borges. I’ve lived the geographic triangle in the U.S. – born in N.Y. city, moved to California (bay area) where I lived/worked 10 years, then moved to Tampa Bay (the other bay area) in 1992. When I dragged my wife to Tampa Bay her biggest complaint was leaving the 49ers for the Bucs (football team).

I grew up in the software industry. I started out in mainframe software (you can start guessing my age), and in the mid 80’s worked in the new and emerging PC software industry back when Microsoft’s chief competitors were Wordperfect and Lotus. The truth is those were fun times. We rolled out some cool products (at that time). I straddled the line between marketing and sales by working in both roles. When I moved to Tampa Bay, I joined an ERP software company in its early days. I ran marketing where I was responsible for all aspects of marketing communications and lead generation programs. When the internet craze struck, I joined a fast paced, high flying, web development company. It was well over 100 people in size at its peak with clients around the U.S. I was the chief sales dog and ran around the country doing deals with my sales team.

When the internet bubble burst, I realized that companies still needed websites, but at a fraction of the price tags we had previously sold them. The entrepreneur bug hit me and I started a small website development company in 02. I quickly realized that the biggest need among the companies I served was marketing. That was when I got into website marketing, aka, search engine optimization and pay per click advertising. In 06 I re-branded my company to Find and Convert. I had figured out that companies need to be found on the web, but that isn’t enough. Visitors need to be converted to sales leads. The new brand has been well received.

In the summer of 2009 my book hit the online bookshelves. “Marketing 2.0, Bridging the Gap between Seller and Buyer through Social Media Marketing.” My book is aimed at SMB execs eager to learn strategies and how-to insights. It’s choc full of real world SMB stories of businesses and individuals having success with social media marketing.

I enjoy speaking at industry conferences and local events. I speak on Internet marketing topics with a focus on helping executives connect docs about how to create profitable relationships online. I enjoy using many of the popular social media tools, but I don’t put much weight in the tools. It’s all about strategy and using the tools to create profitable connections through content marketing and online relationship building.

I have a podcast show where I interview interesting people about their strategies and tactics on the web as they implement best practices with learning experiences and successes along the way. Subscribe to my podcasts in iTunes on the right.

I live in Tampa Bay with my wife and two children age 18 (daughter) and 13 (son). I have a few hobbies, but not enough time to enjoy them. I enjoy spending time with my family, my church family and my friends and colleagues at TBTF.

I like hearing from industry peers and the user community about innovative ideas and opinions on industry trends. Drop me a line or tweet anytime. Here’s my contact information:

Bernie Borges

bernie@findandconvert.com

http://twitter.com/berniebay

727-234-0952