Get to know Sam Stansfield, Digital Marketer, ESI Media

Sam Stansfield. I’ve worked in digital marketing for over ten years and at ESI Media (The Independent and Evening Standard) since 2014.

Googlebots can now read content almost as if they were human as opposed to a robot and so whereas content, SEO and user experience were once three separate things they are now one. Also, mobile is now a key consideration and has some big differences to desktop.

I’ve always appreciated technology, worked in digital marketing and had an interest in SEO but it has become a passion and important part of my role since joining ESI as a content marketer.

We have masses of content so I work hard to keep it organised, constantly optimised and ensure that all our content follows the same principles. Tools such as Rankwatch help in keeping the content optimised as I can easily see which articles need focus and attention.

I think good SEO is achieved from producing quality, unique and useful content that is easy to read and with the on-page elements optimised.

Unlike other disciplines digital marketing is constantly changing and evolving so you need to keep up with the constant developments in technology to stay relevant. To achieve this, subscribe to the many newsletters available, read as much as possible and figure out who/what is displaying best practice and what can be learned. New technology doesn’t always provide benefits whereas some is very useful and can make things more efficient so it’s good to be able to decide quickly which is which – testing is often required. Stay open minded as technology and companies that didn’t work well initially can find success later on and successful companies can lose their edge if they don’t look to constantly evolve, differentiate and provide value.