Alan Charlesworth

Back in 1996 I stumbled into this e-marketing* malarkey when I was asked by a friend if I wanted to help out him and his brother in their new business venture … an Internet marketing company. I agreed – and then asked the question; 'So what is the Internet?'

Although that very small company eventually became one of the biggest in its field, in those early days there were only five of us in total. That meant I had to learn fast about the new communications medium - and its impact on business and society – at the sharp end. For example, I know a lot about domain names simply because I advised – and still do – so many organizations on what name to register and I know the basics of search engine optimization because I spent hours trying to get a domain name registration website to the top of the likes of Hotbot, Excite, Alta Vista and the other pre-Google search engines.

Also during that period I spent a lot of time [oh yes, a lot of time] in front of Business Clubs, Chambers of Commerce and the like 'preaching' about the Internet and how businesses must be ready for its coming ... and then later, how to best match the potential of the Internet with the needs of the organization and customers.

As that organization grew and more staff were employed I went back to my chosen career in Higher Education – first in a university research unit and then as a marketing lecturer specialising in the teaching of – yes – marketing on the Internet.

Although I retired from full time work in April 2020, digital marketing remains as one of my hobbies.

I still keep my hand in at consultancy [it's the only way to keep up-to-date in a subject as dynamic as mine] but most of my spare time is spend writing books on digital marketing - which is why I have this 'author's profile' on Amazon.

I live in Sunderland in the UK and my own website is alancharlesworth.com.

* Over the years it's been known as e-marketing, e-commerce, online marketing, new media marketing, virtual marketing, Internet marketing and more lately digital marketing. Don't worry ... they are all the same thing :-)