Heady times at Optimisey Towers today (and by “Towers” I mean my laptop, in my front room).
Firstly, the first ever Cambridge SEO MeetUp is full.
Better than full, there is a flippin’ waiting list!
When I first decided this was a good idea I hoped a handful of people would be interested and it wouldn’t just be me, talking SEO on my own… again.
There are now more than 70 people interested in coming and nearly 100 people in the group overall. This is me right about now:
Thank you for all signing up, showing an interest and the amazing support you’ve given Optimisey.
Which leads me to the next big announcement.
The Beers are on Brand
No, this doesn’t mean I have an Optimisey beer (yet!).
Thanks in no small part to your support (let’s not pretend they wanted to sponsor me sat talking SEO to myself) Brand Recruitment have agreed to sponsor the Optimisey MeetUps.
Brand are great – and I genuinely mean that, they’re not paying me to say it. When I first moved to Cambridge (nearly ten years ago) and was looking for a job they were really helpful.
Everyone I spoke to had positive things to say about them then and that continues today. Even in the early days of setting up Optimisey people would say: “You should talk to Brand…”
They’re not horribly pushy like some recruiters (who shove your CV forward for every job that comes up, just to tick boxes) they want to match great people with great jobs.
So if you’re looking for a career change; or you’re planning to come to Optimisey to ‘upskill’ so you can move jobs; or if you run your own firm and you need some help with the recruitment process talk to them. They’ll be coming along to the MeetUps too (again, in a supportive not pushy way) so even if you’re wavering on one of the above have a chat to them.
Their support means I can afford some beers and nibbles (to make the networking/learning flow a little more smoothly) so I’ll be, literally, raising a glass to them at the events.
Cheers Brand!
Please note – other beverages will be available – not just beer!. In fact, if you’re reading this and haven’t taken my quick four question survey – you’re missing your chance to influence what there is to drink/eat!
First speaker
I’m also delighted to announce the first speaker at the first ever Optimisey event. Over to him to introduce himself:
“Andrew Martin is nosey, nerdy, and creative. Since building his first website back in 1998 in a bid to help him find dead people, he has spent almost 20 years building websites, interpreting user behaviour, and learning UX and responsive design.
SEO is his natural home, allowing him to stay technical, creative, and always learning something new. He loves Structured Data, UX, yellow t-shirts, terrible puns, and having #nerdgasms.
Stalk him @AndrewDoesSEO.”
Andrew has only himself to blame for all this. It was him that convinced me to go to my first BrightonSEO conference… and the germ of an idea was formed.
He’s too modest to say himself but he knows a lot about SEO. He’s worked on a lot of different websites across many sectors (including the gargantuan Cambridge University Press) and now works for price comparison site BoilerJuice. Price comparison in any sector is highly competitive – so he knows his stuff.
Better yet, he’s going to take it back to the 101 stuff and – as it’s the first talk at the first ever Optimisey – deliver a killer session on some SEO 101s (working title “SEO First Steps and the 7 Dos”).
If you’re rolling your eyes at this, the second speaker (announced soon!) will follow-up with some more technical stuff – but if you’re an SEO newbie, bring a notebook. You’ll get lots of great advice.
SEO in Cambridge
If this is the first you’ve heard of Optimisey or free beer plus learning how to get more traffic to your website sounds good come along to our free Optimisey MeetUps:
What do you think?
Got some ideas to make the events really great? Know another sponsor I could/should talk to? Got any other questions about the event/speakers, let me know in the comments – I’d love to hear from you.
Or, if you’re shy, get in touch with me personally.
