Laurence Ashmore - Search Engine Marketing Consultant

Personal Information:

Marital Status: Single
Nationality: British
Date of Birth: 06.08.1981

Present Situation:

I have recently moved to Toronto, Canada, and am currently available as a Search Engine Marketing consultant for UK and international companies. I am also interested in permanent full-time or part-time employment in the area of Toronto. I have three years of professional work experience in Internet Marketing, specifically in the area of Search Engine Optimisation, and I wish to continue in this area of expertise. Since leaving my previous employment I have been keeping up-to-date with developments in the field of Search Engine Marketing and have been working as a freelance SEM/SEO consultant (as both a Search Engine Optimiser and a Web Developer/Coder) for a number of clients (e.g. http://www.thevaultimaging.co.uk, http://www.ctshirts.co.uk and http://www.loans4.co.uk - references available).

Work Experience:

01.12.2003 - 23.12.2005 Spannerworks
Role: Senior Search Engine Analyst

I joined the Spannerworks’ technical team after completing University, eventually becoming Senior Search Engine Analyst. My role was to undertake all technical aspects of my clients’ Search Engine Marketing campaigns, with a view to improving their Search Engine Visibility. As Spannerworks is one of the leading Search Marketing Agencies in the UK, (the UK's 8th fastest growing digital media agency in 2005) I had the opportunity to work on a number of campaigns including http://www.halifax.co.uk, http://www.moneysupermarket.com, http://www.onetel.co.uk and http://www.bluesq.com.

My duties included:

Understanding Client's marketing objectives and fully analysing their online sector and competitors.
Creating a complete Search Engine Marketing strategy for my clients, taking into consideration their marketing objectives, current positioning in their online sector, usability and design issues, and any technological restraints they may have.
Implementation of our SEO strategies, involving: building web pages (in HTML, ASP, PHP), constructing XML/RSS feeds, writing technical change request documents, suggesting copy changes and recommending meta data.
Communicating directly with clients (both marketing and technical contacts) to smoothly implement our SEO solution and answer all of their technical queries.
The ongoing monitoring and re-evaluation of clients' strategies to maximise their results across all major Search Engines, involving Web Analytics (using HitWise, tracking packages such as WebTrends, raw logs, etc), re-optimisation of client’s site and content, and the sourcing of new and relevant links for clients' sites.
Building and developing in-house tools to aid in both SEO and PPC analysis and implementation.
Researching developments in search engine technologies through testing and analysis of search results, reading patents/white papers and participating in forums such as WebmasterWorld.
Giving technical workshops and training for clients (and new members of staff), including copy writing workshops and general SEO workshops.
Analysing websites of potential clients to prepare the sales team for new business pitches and also being a technical representative during pitches to new clients.
Writing articles for and assembling the company newsletter, which was distributed to all clients and any other interested parties.

As Senior Search Engine Analyst I was also responsible for all technical decisions in the absence of the Head of Search.

My job regularly required knowledge of HTML, JavaScript, RSS, XML, ASP, Virtual Basic, .Net, Cold Fusion, IIS, Apache, DNS, W3C, DDA (disability discrimination act), WebTrends and Content Management Systems. I also gained invaluable experience working in a busy office/marketing environment, where I was required to work independently and also as a project team member. The ability to prioritise my tasks from a large workload was essential. I also gained invaluable experience of how best to maintain client-agency relationships.

Education:

2002 - 2003 Sussex University
MSc Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems (66% average)

The course involved research within the fields variously know as Evolutionary Computation, Artificial Life and Simulation of Adaptive Behaviour, being primarily concerned with the understanding of adaptive mechanisms in nature and the ability to reproduce this flexibility and robustness in artificial systems. I completed several research projects regarding the application of evolutionary theories to the artificial evolution of various robotic control systems. This considerably increased my research skills; the acquiring and analysis of relevant information and the writing of detailed and clear reports, for which organisational skills and self-initiative were crucial.

1999 - 2002 Birmingham University
BSc Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science - 1^st Class, Honours (80% average)
Awards: School prize (awarded to the best Artificial Intelligence & Computer Science for both 1^st Year and 3^rd Year.

My studies included a substantial software and research project (worth 25% of the final degree mark) for which I produced a self-contained and fully working ‘evolutionary art’ Java application along with a sixty page report. My work on this project has used by other researchers, and also cited in several research papers (e.g. http://ivizlab.sfu.ca/media/eva05l.pdf). Another major part of the course was an 'Intelligent Robotics' team project where I worked as team leader, in a group of three, to produce a robotic head that was featured on the local Birmingham news and CBBC, as part of a science week. My degree improved my computer literacy and gave me further programming experience in Java, JavaScript, C, HTML, VRML, POP-11, Prolog, Visual Basic and Pascal.

1993 - 1999 Lawrence Sheriff School (Rugby, Warwickshire)
A-Levels: Maths (A), Computer Science (A), Biology (C)
GCSE’s: Maths (A*), Media (A*), I.T. (A), Biology (A), Physics (A), English (B), Chemistry (B), D.T. (B), French (C), Geography (C)

1997 - 1998 East Warwickshire College (Rugby, Warwickshire)
GCSE’s: Photography (B)

Main Interests:

My two greatest passions are music and photography. I’ve played bass and guitar in many bands, including recording for various CDs and gigging around Birmingham and Warwickshire (UK). Photography has fascinated me since I was young and I’m interested in all aspects of it (be it technical, artistic, journalistic, etc.), I’ll rarely go anywhere without my camera. Naturally, I also enjoy graphic design, especially relating to Website design and construction, and I’ve coded and maintained a personal website since 1996. One of my other main interests is travelling - seeing the world is very important to me. In 2005 I climbed Kilimanjaro and raised over Ł3000 for a children’s home in Moshi, Tanzania (http://www.amanikids.org). I also have a keen interest in health and fitness, primarily cycling.

References:

Nilhan Jayasinghe - Head SEO
Spannerworks
1 Palace Place
Brighton
BN1 1EF
01273 828 100

Jeremy Wyatt
School of Computer Science
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston, Birmingham
0121 414 4788

My CV is also available as a Word Document here.