Anyway, did you know that Search Marketing Expo is being held at Stamford Bridge this year? Kind of a weird place to have it, but I’m sure that the conference facilities will be absolutely top-notch, even if you do hate Chelsea FC!

Haven’t got your ticket to SMX London yet? Don’t worry, there’s still time! Can’t afford a ticket? Don’t you worry either, you’re still welcome to attend our LondonSEO event as always! In fact LondonSEO has been welcoming SEOs to free parties with free beer for over 7 years now!

I’m sure that most of you keep a browser tab permanently open on my Twitter stream and are thinking, isn’t Rob working out of Ayima’s New York office this month?! Well luckily Ayima’s latest SEO Apprentice recruit, Janaya Wilkins, has stepped up to the plate and helped me out with the venue hunt. Janaya joined Ayima back in November as a part-time Reporting Analyst, and has now joined full-time after completing her Masters degree in Marketing, specialising in Internet Marketing.

Like all Kiwis, Janaya spends most of her spare time creating balloon animals and watching bootleg VHS tapes of “One Man and his Dog”.

Now before I tell you the venue, I’d like to point out that we have yet to find a sponsor. This is mostly my fault as I always forget to call back the people who offer to do it. So, if you haven’t tuned out by now or scrolled down to the venue details – PLEASE CAN YOU SPONSOR THIS PARTY! You’ll get everyone’s business card in return, plus SEOs, Affiliates and In-House people will remember you as the cool company that bought them beer

• Date/Time: Wednesday 16th May 2012, 6ish until late
• Venue: The Butcher’s Hook
• Address: 477 Fulham Road London SW6 1HL
• Nearest Tube Station: Fulham Broadway (District), or walk from Earls Court (Piccadilly)
• Directions From Conference: [Google Map] [Bing Map]
• Cost: Free (no invite needed, just bring along your business card)

Remember to put aside a business card for us, otherwise you won’t get free beer!

Looking for the beers during Search Engine Strategies in London this year? LondonSEO is happy to announce that the SES London 2012 networking party will be held on Thursday 23rd February from 6pm in the Westminster Arms.

If you’re attending the conference, we’ve chosen a pub right next to the venue (the QE2 Conference Centre this year). If you’re not attending SES London, you’re still welcome – everyone interested in SEO is welcome at our events!

Oh Rob, it’s too cold to be drinking girly lager during this snow-teasing February.

Well a) Grow a pair b) The lovely landlady at the Westminster has informed me that they’ll have 7 Real Ales on tap, to warm your cockles with just-above-room-temperature soothing compassionate alcohol.

The event will be sponsored by the Enterprise SEO platform Linkdex, and our very own Ayima. Why’s Ayima sponsoring again? Well, we’re trying to get you drunk so that we can poach you for one of our open job vacancies

• Date/Time: Thursday 23rd February 2012, 6ish until late
• Venue: Westminster Arms
• Address:9 Storey’s Gate,Westminster, London SW1P 3AT
• Nearest Tube Station: Westminster (Circle, District & Jubilee)
• Directions From Conference: [Google Map] [Bing Map]
• Cost: Free (no invite needed, just bring along your business card)

Remember to put aside a business card for us, otherwise you won’t get free beer!

Due to security being on the door and a4uexpo attendees needing to register for the conference, we’re going to run a guest list on the door for LondonSEO people. The good thing is that the guest list isn’t exclusive and attendance is still free (including free beer). You do need to sign up here though, unless you’re a fully paid conference attendee of a4uexpo this year (although feel free to still sign up with us if you are).

Please make sure that you and everyone attending LondonSEO with you has signed up via the above Eventbrite page, otherwise the bouncers will bounce you away! When you get in, you’ll be given a free drinks sticker.

What? You want more than loads of free beer at a free party?! OK then…

Searchmetrics have just informed me that they’ll be giving away a free Amazon Kindle at LondonSEO. Simply stick your business card in a jar at the registration desk. No purchase necessary, blah blah blah.

Yay, PARTY!

So what’s the plan? We’ve only gone and hired out an entire trendy bar and got ourselves a £4,000 bar tab! Before you start offering me gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, I should point out that both of these EPIC WIN’s (shoot me now) are thanks to a4uexpo and our awesome sponsors at Searchmetrics. If you haven’t dabbled with Searchmetrics’ SEO software yet, try and blag a free trial out of Kevin Thiele after he’s had a few pints!

The LondonSEO/a4uexpo lovefest will take place at Grace Bar in Piccadilly Circus / Covent Garden.

The venue looks rather posh (for me), so I may dress up in my James Bond outfit – what do you think?

Anyways, have you checked out a4uexpo yet? Fancy going? Want your Uncle Rob to get you a cheeky discount like you got for Pubcon? I spoil you lot sometimes! As it’s you, here’s a nice 10% discount code:

a4uexpo Discount Code: LONSEO10 [Register Here]

Enough of my ranting, here are all the grusome details – I expect to see you ALL there!:

• Date/Time: Monday 17th October 2011, 6pm onwards
• Venue: Grace Bar
• Address: 42-44 Great Windmill St., London W1D 7NB
• Nearest Tube Station: Piccadilly Circus (Piccadilly & Bakerloo) and Oxford Circus (Central & Victoria)
• Maps: [Google Map] [Bing Map]

Cheers,

Rob

LondonSEO, as your favourite money saving website, has bribed, blackmailed and kidnapped – until the PubCon organisers agreed to offer our Loyal London Legends of Links an exclusive PubCon Offer Code! Up until 15th October, you can get 20% off conference passes, but don’t delay – register today! (yes, my rhyming skills are worse than [insert rapper]).

Remember – this is an awesome conference and an awesome location. Don’t ponder over the cost, you can repaint the spare bedroom next year!

PubCon Offer Code: ls-5879420 [Register Here]

Feel free to buy Mike, Carl, Jane or I a pint for saving you $$$ We look forward to seeing a big turn-out of LondonSEO regulars and catching up with our foreign brethren once again!

PS. I couldn’t find any family-friendly photos of LondonSEO peeps at PubCon Vegas 2010 on my iMac, so you have a picture of Rand in the shower instead. Photo credit: Barry (what were you doing in the shower with Rand, Barry?)

Copyright - Old Red Cow

Does the new generation of Search Marketing conference goers put fear into your heart? Do you yearn for the old days of SEO meetups in small private pubs, where only the dedicated few dish out stories and ideas from the frontline? If so, you’ll want to come to LondonSEO Off-The-Clock!

The first LondonSEO to take place on a weekend, we’re going to make Saturday afternoon more than just Ant & Dec and a dodgy ruby from the Sheer Khan Indian, Chinese & Thai Take-Away. Chat affiliate ideas, SEO tricks or just about the price of petrol – you’ll be with friends in an environment to speak freely.

Although this event won’t be sponsored, we have hired out the whole top floor of one of the best pubs in London (I should know, I’ve been to most of them). With a dozen fantastic hand-drawn beers at the downstairs bar and a further dozen lagers, pilsners and IPAs/APAs from around the world at the top floor bar – you really are spoilt for choice. Even if you get through all of the beers on-tap, you’ll find a mouthwatering assortment of Belgium, German and US Microbrewery bottles in the beer fridges behind the counter.

This really is an event you do not want to miss – the most exciting LondonSEO in a long while! Real SEOs and Affiliates, real knowledge and tips.

So here are the details…

• Date/Time: Saturday 2nd July 2011, 2pm until late
• Venue: Old Red Cow
• Address:71/72 Long Lane, Smithfield, London, EC1A 9EJ
• Nearest Tube Station: Barbican (Circle, H&C & Metropolitan), Farringdon (Circle, H&C & Metropolitan) and a 10 minute walk from Liverpool Street
• Driving: There’s a secure underground car park under Smithfield Market (EC1A 9DS) – No congestion charge on weekends
• Hotels:Citadines, Fox & Anchor, The Rookery, The Zetter

I look forward to seeing you all there!

Rob

UPDATE:

OK, so we were a little unprepared for LondonSEO this time around – although we do have real jobs you know!

Last-Minute Larry was unable to secure a sponsor to pay for our beers at this year’s SMX London conference next week (Monday 16th – Tuesday 17th May). Ayima can’t keep dipping into its pockets whenever (unnamed) agencies/suppliers decide to skip their beer rounds, so we’ll be going unsponsored! Saying that, we’ve had someone jump in last-minute as a sponsor before, so never say never (that saying doesn’t make sense).

So… below are the details of a pub for us to all spill into on Tuesday after the conference’s best session this year - Extreme Makeover, The SEO Edition featuring Mad Dave, Dickie Baxter and Pav, with me MC’ing.

• Date/Time: Tuesday 17th May 2011, 5:30ish until late
• Venue: Hereford Arms
• Address: 127 Gloucester Rd, London, SW7 4TE
• Nearest Tube Station: Gloucester Road (Circle, District & Piccadilly)
• Directions From Conference: [Google Map] [Bing Map]

As always no conference pass is required in order to attend LondonSEO, just bring along a business card to prove that you work on the interwebs and in case we find a sponsor (they’ll need your card to exchange for beer).

Everyone who was paying attention will have seen that we’re putting on our sixth “Big Party” at SES London next Tuesday, February 22. To celebrate five full years of good SES times, and to usher in the sixth, we’re doing something a little extra this year. There is no need to worry: this won’t take much brainpower, and you can drink whilst taking part!

We’re putting on a little competition, and entry is simple: take a photo (or photos!) that you think best show the spirit of LondonSEO. Of course, you’re going to have to come up with that definition yourself

Get the photos you take to us either on the night or in the days following the party. You can either email them to londonseo@ayima.com, tweet them with the #londonseo hash-tag or post them to our Facebook page.

We’ll compile them into a blog post, linking to the site of your choice beneath your photo. There’ll be a vote, and the community will decide which one they think is best!

Since two of the spirits of LondonSEO are beer and wine, the winner will get to choose either a case of beer or a case of wine as his or her prize.

So what might the true character of LondonSEO events be? To us, LondonSEO is where many of us have met some of our best friends and current colleagues. It’s where you need nothing but a business card to come in, drink beer and have a laugh. It’s certainly where I first met the people I now work with, and where I remember feeling very welcome as a visitor from Seattle, in London for a few days, three and a half years ago.

Come down to the pub, bring a business card and a camera phone. It’s shaping up to be a good night!

Some previous “this is LondonSEO!” photos for you…

Scaring American visitors with our building safety codes (and punctuation)

Losing the ability to see properly

Rishi!

Miniature Guinnesses

This

How could you bear to stay away?! See you there

~ JC

LondonSEO is, and always will be, about having fun and making new friends + business contacts. No bullshit – just great conversation and happy memories.

Search Engine Strategies London will be held at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre this year in Westminster, so we’ll be moving to a new pub close to the SES venue.

We’re also delighted to announce that this year’s sponsor of the Big Party will be Searchmetrics, who offer a suite of SEO Software for SME’s and Blue Chips alike. They’ll be putting their card behind the bar for many hundreds of pints, so please say hello to them and take a look at their service offering.

Now here are the details that you’re looking for…

• Date/Time: Tuesday 22nd February 2011, 6pm until late
• Venue: The Lord Moon Of The Mall
• Address: 16-18 Whitehall, Charing Cross, London, SW1A 2DY
• Nearest Tube Station: Charing Cross (Northern & Bakerloo Line), Embankment (Bakerloo, Northern, District & Circle Line), Leicester Square (Piccadilly & Northern Line)
• Directions From Conference: [Google Map] [Bing Map]

Photo Courtesy of Chrystal

We are putting on a LondonSEO following the SEOmoz / Distilled PRO Seminar on the evening of October 26. The event will be at the Plough in Bloomsbury, which is a lot closer to the seminar location and official hotel than the pub we chose last year!

We have an upstairs room reserved from 7pm, although the room isn’t terribly big. However, the rest of the pub shouldn’t be too busy, as we’ll be in there on a Tuesday. The guys at Distilled have also agreed to fund the night to the tune of a £1,000 bar tab. We’ll be handing out cards to use as beer currency when you arrive.

If by some chance the pub does become very full, check out the Museum Tavern on an adjacent corner as well.

Holborn, Tottenham Court Road, Goodge Street and Russell Square tube stations are all very close by. We’re looking forward to seeing lots of you next Tuesday!

Plough, Bloomsbury by Ewan-M on Flickr.