Preparing the portfolio0%
I've worked in digital marketing and web development for close to 20 years, although the story started much earlier.
Scenes from the journey
I built my first website at 14 for my dad's business, back when Microsoft FrontPage was still the tool of choice and drag-and-drop editors barely existed.
I spent evenings trying to understand what every little piece of code did. When the site finally went live, my dad surprised me with a Nintendo GameCube. That was the moment it clicked: I could make something real and watch it come alive online.
I later studied Graphic Design and Illustration at university. That gave me a visual skill set I could bring into websites, with aesthetics and user experience considered from the start.
Open the archive
I opened Appropriart while I was at university. Looking back, it was a decent-looking website and an early attempt to join design, web development and digital marketing in one business.
View the archived siteBy around 18, WordPress was changing how websites were built and found. I launched Optimise That with the aim of ranking for "SEO Agency UK". Ranking sites then was a very different job. I used tools such as Xrumer, which could build tonnes of low-quality links in a short time.
View the archived siteSEO was, and still is, heavily driven by content published across websites and blogs. I needed writers to scale the business, but I did not want to pay agency fees.
So I started talking to articulate people in online chatrooms. Some were mothers in the United States who were at home and welcomed the extra income. This was the golden era of Yahoo Chat, and a few random connections slowly became a working team.
One day, a troll appeared in the chatroom and started bullying everyone. He was also the most well-spoken and wittiest troll I had ever seen. There was raw intelligence behind it.
He had no profile picture. His username and real name were Jared. I knew immediately that I wanted to work with him.
"Listen, mate, I'm not a Nigerian prince, but do you fancy making some money from the comfort of your own home?"
Jared was apprehensive, but I managed to persuade him. His writing was exceptional. As he became curious about why we needed so much content, I showed him the wider picture across web design and digital marketing. He picked it up fast, and we have worked closely ever since.
To this day, I have never seen a photograph of him, spoken to him on webcam or heard his voice on a call. He wants to remain completely anonymous.
With Jared as my right-hand man and a team assembled through Yahoo Chat, I launched websites across almost every industry I could think of.
WeHeartNails reviewed manicure tables and pedicure chairs for salon owners.
TheGadgetNerds.com focused on reviews for gadgets and technology products.
The wider portfolio included YouFro.com for Afro-Caribbean haircare products and veryceleb.com, an AdSense site that reached around 300,000 monthly organic visits at its peak.
Alongside my own businesses, I worked with agencies and brands in senior digital marketing, SEO, paid media and consultancy roles.
I eventually opened WiWy Ltd, which I continue to trade through today.
The portfolio grew quickly, but I made mistakes along the way. One of them was being far too liberal with paid link placements.
With veryselect.com, AdSense income was joined by money from people who wanted links placed on the site. I said yes too often and linked to websites without enough quality control.
The site was eventually penalised. I took it as a blunt lesson in how quickly short-term income can damage a strong asset when poor-quality associations start to build.
The wider portfolio was still in a strong position. I sold most of it, put down a mortgage on a home and bought the car I had wanted for years.
Revenue means very little if the method quietly destroys the asset producing it.
AI arrived soon afterwards and changed the digital marketing industry and the wider world. It reshaped how I approached SEO and digital marketing, and reset the playing field for people entering the industry.
Before returning properly to digital marketing, I took a break to learn Polish. Poland had fascinated me since I first visited Warsaw and Krakow, and I wanted to understand more than the tourist version of the country.
Poland / 01
Poland / 02Today, my work still sits where websites, search, paid media and practical AI meet.
I founded and launched M0VE.com, a property platform that uses AI and UK housing data to estimate property values and identify investment opportunities.
Visit M0VE.comI built and manage my dad's website for the British Institute of Lasers, including its SEO and PPC activity.
Visit BritishLasers.comI'm a massive chess fan and spend a lot of time playing online. On Chess.com, I have played more than 25,000 games. I also own RetiOpening.com.
I'm interested in psychology, technology and AI trends. A big part of my life is also looking after my mum, who is my rock. She has a heart condition and has previously battled cancer.
I have stopped trying to count the countries I have visited. These are a few photographs from more recent trips.
10 / Get in touch
Drop me an email or send me a WhatsApp message. I read both.
