I’m James. Hello.

My background in marketing and PR started right after I graduated from Lancaster University. After working as a consultant at a national accountancy firm, I soon found where my passion was: SEO.

This passion was tested to its limits once Google rolled out its first algorithm update on poor-quality links. This was a big one. So big, in fact, that it meant the entire accountancy website was taken out of Google.

The agency that managed the SEO of the website was sacked, and it was up to me to remove the penalty that was losing the business tens of thousands of pounds per week. No pressure.

Over six months of intensive work, I got the penalty removed. The website was back owning the SERPS, and I was ready for the next challenge.

That’s when I became an SEO specialist at iProspect for some of the UK and Europe’s biggest brands. As well as working on additional Google Penalties and on all areas of SEO, my venture into digital PR meant securing one client a three-page spread in The Sun.

Three years on, I was SEO Lead for Thomas Cook and Pets At Home, growing their annual organic search revenue to over a quarter of £1 billion for the former.

I met Patrick and it was love at first sight on the train into work. We talked about developing an offer that could really work with clients to grow their businesses. Countless late nights, long weekends and much coffee drinking later, we had a plan. We launched Hot House Digital. The rest is history.

Hi, I’m Patrick.

It was a pretty winding road that led me to launching Hot House Digital. And that started with telesales. Not a job for everybody.

After completing my Master’s in creative writing, I took an internship at a surveyor company.

They set up a directory for surveyors and my job was to write punchy web copy. I basically smashed out article after article on industry topics to help them rank higher on Google.

Despite not knowing it at the time, I was doing hardcore SEO. And I absolutely loved it.

Fast forward a few years (which included a year of teaching English in South Korea), and I became an SEO Manager at iProspect in Manchester. It was here that I got to know James, Hot House Digital Co-Founder.

We both wanted something ‘more’. Sure, the work was enjoyable – and we were great at it. But we missed being close to the clients – you guys.

Eventually, the opportunity to do some work for a specialist food marketing agency arose. Our second client soon followed, and after months of working evenings and weekends, we were ready to launch full time.

Good things come to those who wait. And apparently, also to those who work in telesales.

Fair play, but just in case you’re on the fence, here’s how our services can drive big successes for your brand.