Matt Paines Bio

Matt Paines is the MD of XSEO Ltd an Internet Marketing / Search engine Optimisation (SEO) Company.

Trained as an Electronics Engineer in the early 80s, Matt stayed within the electronics industry for 15 years. The latter part of this period was as MD of HHV Ltd, part of the Hawco Group. During this period Matt spent a significant amount of time travelling around Europe, Hong Kong, China, Japan and the USA. By chance in the mid ‘90’s the group chairman uttered the now immortal words –“this internet thing, we should do it”. Like many site owners at the time the company made the mistake, that companies are still making today, internet marketing is not about building a web site, painting the van fleet and printing some coffee coasters with the web address on it.

That is where the search engine optimisation expertise came from, it started with a need as an “ordinary punter”, having built a website how do you turn it into something that makes a return on investment? So when in 2001 Matt took the reigns of the first incarnation of what was later to become XSEO, he was very much aware of the needs of the end user / web site owner.

In 2004 Microsoft decided introduce its own search engine to rival Google and Yahoo, to do this they decided to put a team together of SEO's, Academics and Power Users. To Matt's surprise Microsoft invited him to join a very select team to fly out to Seattle to discuss the software giants new search engine. Being one of only 8 SEO’s globally and the only UK SEO, he could hardly refuse. The "Search Champs" now meet on a regular basis at Redmond and continue to be part of MSN's external team.

Matt has spoken at various local and national events on the subject of SEO, including the world famous Search Engine Strategies (SES) Conference. Matt writes a search news blog, runs SEO training courses and seminars and even publishes free tutorials on the subject.

As for living and working in Stafford, he is often asked why he set the company up in a small town surrounded by green fields in the middle of England, why not Birmingham or London? The answer is simple "we are an internet business provided we have a connection we can work anywhere". "When we were considering our new offices in August last year we had considered perhaps moving to Birmingham or Manchester, but there is also the issue of carbon footprint. Whilst being a self confessed petrol head - my mileage has reduced to about a sixth of what it used to be. We employ as much as possible local people and where they are not local many of our staff are able to work from their homes."