SEO Expert | Mark van den Haak  - Sales & Marketing Manager

What does SEO mean to you? 
SEO means ‘lean forward’ marketing to me. Almost everyone is actively using Search Engines on a daily basis nowadays to find products or services. SEO means increasing the visibility of website(s) for our clients, driving quality traffic to their website and converting that traffic into sales and revenue. 

Why does SEO appeal to you so much? 
SEO’s main appeal to me is the importance of Google and other Search Engines in everyone’s daily life. People are spending more time on the internet than they spend watching television. SEO and other forms of online marketing are therefore much more targeted and effective than other forms of advertising like TV, print or radio.

When you are not up to your elbows in keywords what do you do? 
Being Dutch, I still love to go to the beautiful beaches in Australia, especially in Sydney. I love to watch action movies, thrillers and historic epics such as Troy or Gladiator. I like to read books by Dan Brown, spend time surfing the internet and social media websites, go out for dinners with my girlfriend and socialise with friends.

Three things that make you tick? 
Three things that make me tick are people with an interesting story to tell and a good sense of humour, delicious food and playing tennis and other sports.

Favourite food? 
Anything Asian....such as Massaman curry, Tom Khai Khai, Chicken Tikka Masala, Sushi, Som Tom (papaya) salad...  You can wake me up in the middle of the night for good food!

If you could host a dinner with any three people, who would you choose and why? 
William of Orange (aka William the Silent) who defeated the Spanish in the 16th century resulting in the independence of the United Provinces of The Netherlands. He could tell some fascinating history lessons. Beyonce because she is beautiful, makes fantastic music and seems like a really nice person. The third person would be Roger Federer to find out how to become and stay the number one in the world.

If given the chance to skip work for a day, how would you spend the entire day? 
After a nice and relaxing breakfast buffet and my morning coffee, I would play a challenging game of tennis. In the afternoon, I would go to the beach with some friends or a good book, have a few drinks and canapés, a nice barbeque or Thai meal, a movie and finishing off the night in a local pub.