Taking The Scenic Route To BrightonSEO
The Weather’s improving and we’re already thinking about the sunlit roads, warm breezes and long relaxing drives that the summer will bring. Our very own Marketing Manager Chris Ellison got an early taste of the summer last weekend though as we sent him off down to the South coast in order to attend BrightonSEO, probably the world’s largest digital marketing conference.
As the name suggests, BrightonSEO takes place in Brighton and is primarily focussed on the subject of SEO, or ‘Search Engine Optimisation’ and related fields. SEO itself being the various strategies by which businesses create and maintain their web presence in order to be found by their target audience. (For example, if you type ‘Van Hire WIgan’ into your search engine of choice, you’ll see us first – SEO is how we achieve that). As leaders in the automotive sector, it’s imperative that we keep abreast of all the latest technology and trends online as well as behind the wheel, so it’s important that we glean the freshest information and the most cutting edge thinking in order to bring the benefits of our matchless brand and peerless service to more people.
The main conference itself runs for two days and is held twice a year at the Brighton Centre – the only venue big enough to hold over 3,000 attendees who travel in from all over the world in order to learn from the best and brightest in the digital industry. If your company has a web agency looking after your website, BrightonSEO is likely where they’ll go to learn the latest developments in digital from the world’s most knowledgeable speakers. Chris was formerly ‘agency-side’ before he joined Westwood and is a veteran of the event, regularly attending for several years in order to keep his knowledge current.
Over the course of the two day event, the Brighton Centre is transformed into a Mecca for Marketers. The main foyer is filled with providers of various software solutions, tools and services tempting delegates with freebies to bring them in for a chat about their products, but the real draw are the talks from a who’s who gallery of experts.
Typically there are up to eight rooms to choose from, each room, from the main auditorium to smaller meeting rooms simultaneously holds four sessions on each of the two days, each of the sessions consists of three ‘related’ talks. So simple maths tells you that, over the two days, there are getting on for 200 talks to choose from. Ranging from subjects with broad appeal, to the really niche and technical. Of course, it’s physically impossible to attend every talk, but this should give an idea of just how massive this biennial event is. The conference is one thing, but BrightonSEO also provides various opportunities to connect and network at various other organised parties and gatherings across the seaside town. It’s no wonder there’s no other event like it anywhere else in the world.
We sent Chris down to Brighton in one of our new Kia Sportage GT-Line hybrid SUV’s and he’s since reported back what a fantastic car it was on his round trip of several hundred miles. The very latest version of the Sportage and near the very top of the specification scale, it’s no wonder this car has won so many awards. Chris is a sucker for gadgets and wasn’t disappointed by his phenomenally well equipped ride. He didn’t want to give it back!
The weather was glorious, so the climate control, electric vented seats and panoramic tilt/slide sunroof were exceptionally welcome on Chris’s trip to the seaside, but his favourite feature was the ability to drive the car forwards and backwards remotely via the keyfob while standing next to it. More than just a very cool ‘gimmick’ this feature came in very handy when he returned to the Sportage only to find someone had parked too close to allow him to open the driver’s door (see the photo below) – Chris was saved an undignified clamber over from the passenger side by being able to drive the Kia forward remotely so he could get in… with a certain degree of smugness!
Chris also commented on some of the other features which made the long drive a joy. The adaptive radar cruise control as well as active lane keeping assist are, naturally, great quality of life features for any long journey, but the repositionable 360 degree parking cameras, (something you typically only get on high end German cars,) was very useful indeed. The blind spot monitoring was also helpful, however, it’s the blind spot cameras which earned the most praise from Chris for being such a simple, yet well-implemented safety feature. Essentially, if you indicate left or right, a portion of the instrument panel is temporarily replaced by the feed from a camera nestled under each wing mirror, showing live footage on your dash from down either side of the car – it provides angles you just can’t see in your mirrors and makes motorway lane changing so much easier.
With the trains being unreliable, expensive and prone to being affected by strikes, driving was by far the best choice. Chris’s fuel and even the unreasonably expensive parking fees in Brighton still worked out cheaper and faster than sending him by rail. Why go by train when you can be a master of your own itinerary and travel in style for less money?
Back from BrightonSEO, armed with the very latest thinking to help us get the word out about the best car hire and van hire deals you’ll find anywhere, Chris will be applying this new knowledge to our website and social media over the next days, weeks and months. You’ll mostly find Chris at our Bolton branch, if you catch him, feel free to throw any website related questions in his direction, whether it’s about ours or yours – he’s always happy to talk about anything digital, as well as being a bit too enthusiastic about the hi-tech features of our latest vehicles!
