A brief history of me

Personal Details

Full name:Susan Geraeds
Address: Rome, Italy
Email: superzu [at] gmail.com
D.O.B.: 27 June 1973
Nationality: Dutch

Career History

  • SEO Manager at venere.com - Venere Net SpA
    March 2006 - Present
    Organic Search Engine Optimization for one of Europe’s market leaders in online hotel reservations.
    Responsabilities include:

    • setting overall direction and strategy for SEO
    • keyword research and development
    • competitive research
    • improve site architecture, code, accessibility and other SEO issues
    • on-page optimization
    • analyze opportunities for quality organic traffic from major search engines
    • create detailed search engine optimization recommendations, best practices checklists and technical specifications
    • SEO training of in-house development teams, copywriters and translators
    • optimizing content copy
    • link development
    • stay on top of industry news and shifts
  • Sales and Marketing Manager at Hotel Des Artistes, Rome
    January 2002 - February 2006
    Responsabilities:

    • Creation and maintenance of hotel web sites, as well as natural search engine optimization, search marketing and offline marketing. Web sites created:www.hoteldesartistes.com, www.hostelrome.com, www.myhotelrome.com, www.lodgingitaly.com, www.rome-hotelcarlitosway.com, www.hotelrome.net
    • Tracking and reporting sales and revenue results. Design strategies for higher inventory sales and guest satisfaction survey programme
    • Successfully increased hotel occupancy and guest satisfaction
  • Sales and Marketing Manager at Hotel Scott House and Hotel Aphrodite, Rome
    September 1998 - December 2001
    Responsabilities:

    • Creation and maintenance of hotel web sites, including search engine optimization and online marketing. Web sites developed: www.scotthouse.com, www.fawltytowers.org, www.accommodationinrome.com, www.romanhostel.com, www.dormbedsinrome.com, www.centralromehotels.com

Internships and Volunteering

  • Associated Press Italia, Rome
    1998
    Three-month internship at AP’s Rome office.
  • Journalist Internship
    1998
    Assistant to Marc Leijendekker, Dutch correspondent in Rome for NOS (Dutch broadcasting company) and for the leading Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad.
  • Open Directory Project
    2001 - 2004
    DMOZ editor for category Rome and subcategories.
  • Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo, Milan
    May 2007
    Speaker at Copywriting and Keyword Research & Targeting sessions of Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo Milan.

Education

  • University College Antwerp
    Hoger Instituut voor Vertalers en Tolken
    Antwerpen, Belgium
    Oct 1992 - Jul 1996
    Department of Applied Linguistics: Translation studies Dutch, English, Italian
    BA (1994)
    MA (1996) with distinction

    • Thesis: A translation into English of selections from “Vandaag of Morgen” - a column in the NRC Handelblad by Koos van Zomeren (distinction)

  • UIA University of Antwerp
    Antwerp, Belgium
    Oct 1996 - Jul 1997
    Supplementary postgraduate course of International Politics
  • Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”
    Rome, Italy
    Oct 1997 - Jun 1998
    Recipient of a scholarship offered by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
    Courses at the Faculties of Letters and of Political Sciences

Language Skills

  • Dutch: mother tongue
  • English: fluent
  • Italian: fluent
  • German: understanding excellent, speaking and writing good
  • French: understanding good, speaking and writing basic