The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 45: Oct/Nov 2019 | Page 25

TECHNOLOGY REVVED UP One of the UK’s leading experts in SEO joins Smarter Media as non-exec director The former SEO Director of ZPG for brands including Zoopla, PrimeLocation and uSwitch is taking on a new role in Swindon, working with the team at digital agency Smarter Media. The company’s founder Karl Paul has been watching Lukasz Zelezny for a while and has finally persuaded him to help his thriving Wiltshire company to grow and develop. Lukasz, who is 38, said, “Smarter Media is a great company with amazing people and fantastic atmosphere. I am working on improving the search engine optimisation (SEO) process to make it more efficient. “I will also be sharing regular tips on Smarter Media’s website. My ultimate goal is to make Smarter Media one of the leading digital marketing agencies in the UK.” Karl, of Smarter Media, said, “I could not believe it when Lukasz agreed to come and help us grow and develop our services here in Swindon. I’ve been watching Lukasz for some time and felt he had the skills to help us move our business to another level and also improve our services to our clients. He’s an amazing addition to our team.” Lukasz will be the new non-executive director tasked with improving the service further and ensuring the highest quality of results and return on investment for clients. Lukasz was born in Tarnowskie Góry, (a beautiful town steeped in history) in Poland in 1981. When he was 24 he moved to Zakopane, a resort city where he helped B&B owners improve their performance through digital marketing and website design. After a year and a half and with only £400 in his pocket he arrived in the UK in March 2007. “Back then it was really challenging to save as those days the pound was very expensive compared to Polish currency and £400 was a lot of money for someone who lived in Poland,” he said. Lukasz had embraced the concept of SEO automation in the early 2000s. At that time he was a DJ producing his own music tracks. He created a website and started to consider how to get traffic to the site. In those days, people often referred to ‘clicks’ and easy analytics were not established at that time. He developed his own skills and others began to pick up on his success so he was never short of work. “I love working within SEO and the variety it brings. It’s more of a lifestyle than a job. SEO is a world of conferences, meeting with clients, meeting with other bright SEO professionals,” Lukasz said. Music is still one of his passions today. He particularly loves playing his Roland FA08 workstation and Yamaha CS2X synth and, completely randomly, likes to grow super spicy chilli peppers! He’s also committed to travelling across the UK to immerse himself in the country’s culture. “In last 12 years, I’ve seen some really cool places including the Shetland Islands, Skye, Isle of Sicily and more local places like Lechlade on Thames. Once every few years my wife and I travel by Caledonian Sleeper to Scotland or Night Riviera to Cornwall. The UK has so many interesting places to visit.” Lukasz said. Lukasz took up his new role in September. Smarter Media is a growing agency which works with companies large and small throughout the South West. It has an impressive client list that includes Amaroc, Excalibur Communications and Moovahome. For more information visit: www.smarter-media.co.uk or call 01793 292171 or email [email protected] That moment you know your website is nothing but trouble! by Paul Eagles, founder of Midwinter Web Designs One of the biggest problems I solve for my clients is sorting out websites which are driving them mad! Often, in business, companies make choices for their websites based around price. They do this because they think about the price tag, and not about the value – or the lack of it. Going for the cheapest option, because this is an online tool, can prove very expensive in the long term. Almost weekly, I’m approached by business owners or teams where their website is seriously broken. Common problems include being infected with viruses, being insecure and there is no knowledge of who built it in the first place or where it is hosted and by whom. There is no record of passwords and no knowledge of how to get behind the scenes to sort out the difficulties. If I mention the word ‘back up’ or ‘access details’ – they have no clue what I’m talking about. Why does that matter? Well it doesn’t until something goes wrong – and it will. Having a website is part of the business journey and it needs to evolve and grow with the business. The internet is an organic virtual space and it throws up challenges regularly. A good website designer will know this and will go on the journey with you. When a website becomes a headache, many companies put off getting it solved for months and months and do not realise this damages their online reputation, their relationship with major search engines and ultimately their reputation with customers and potential customers. Approaching someone like me, or one of my team, to ask if we can solve the problems can be a very difficult decision. It’s amazing how emotionally attached we can be to our own website. After all, it’s a shop window and business owners can suddenly feel very embarrassed they’ve not taken care of it, maintained it or respected it in the way they would a physical space. The truth is, I don’t judge anyone for that – I will simply work to put things right. We have to acknowledge the digital marketing world is of increasing importance as the Millennial generation becomes the biggest buying generation in history and the first to grow up in a digitally connected world. Your online profile is key to their decision making when buying. If it is for them – how important do you think it is to the generation below them? Gen Z. Working with me means we can sort it out and ensure your website stays fit for purpose. Your site will be secure. You will know where it is hosted, what platform is being used and you can pick up the phone to ask questions without worrying about being thought ‘silly’. I can even offer an end-to-end service. Working with my business associate Fiona Scott, of Fiona Scott Media, we can deliver appropriate content as a one-off project or with ongoing blog and social media support to drive traffic to the website and improve your search engine rankings over time. While I ensure that the website functions correctly, Fiona can ensure you are telling your stories in the right place and the right way to make your company highly visible. Fed up with your website? Get in touch by calling on 01793 706020, email: [email protected] or visit: www.midwinterwebdesign.co.uk THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2019 25