by Mike Grehan, Smart Interactive

London - 16th February 2005 - Chairman of the SMA-UK working group, Barry Lloyd, speaking after their meeting yesterday in Northern Ireland, was delighted that financial targets had been exceeded and it is now ready for lift-off.

The search marketing association (UK) is preparing to accept nominations for eight official committee members.

Two formal elections have been proposed. The first election will put the initial eight members into place by single transferable vote. The second election will be for the members to select from those eight a President and Vice President of the association.

This election will be held on a "first past the post" basis, with the member with the most votes being President, and the member with the second highest number of votes becoming Vice President.

Both elections will be run by the electoral reform society.

"We are getting the clear message that the industry wants and needs an association to bring together members. It is our responsibility to give those professionals the association they seek" said Barry Lloyd.

Following the initial groundswell of support the group attracted when it was formed towards the end of last year, those who have converted to voting members can nominate themselves, or choose to nominate another member for the eight committee seats.

Andy Atkins-Kruger, working group deputy chairman, was keen to comment on the quality of the membership: "The quality of the people who have committed to SMA-UK is astounding. It proves that those who participate in professional associations are predominantly the committed professionals."

March 31st is the closing date for nominations The timetable following the nominations has been posted at the SMA-UK web site and will be progressively updated during this second phase of the proposed association's formation. Anyone wishing to sign up as a member in time to be able to vote in the elections can do so here.

The meeting also saw founding working group member, Simon Collingridge, Managing Director of NETsposure elected as temporary treasurer.

SMA-UK is forerunner in the global movement to unite search engine marketers under one banner. Already SMA-EU (Europe) has been formed as well as SMA-NA (North America).

More announcements of independent, international SMA groups will be made in the coming weeks.

About NETsposure

NETsposure are a leading UK Search Engine Marketing and Website Promotion company. Specialising in organic Search Engine Optimisation, Paid Placement and Cost-per-Click marketing and Website Design and Development, NETsposure has a well deserved reputation for customer care, quality of service and achieving success for their customers and partners. For more information about NETsposure please visit www.netsposure.co.uk.