What is PromoSEO?
PromoSEO is a UK digital real estate and performance-based lead generation company founded by James Dooley on 12 July 2010. It builds, ranks and owns lead-generating websites, passes the enquiries to businesses, and is paid only when those leads become sales.
PromoSEO has generated over 2.3 million leads for businesses across the United Kingdom, in more than 650 industries. James Dooley is its founder and chief executive.
PromoSEO at a glance
| Founded | 12 July 2010 |
|---|---|
| Founder | James Dooley |
| James Dooley's role | Founder and chief executive |
| Registered company | PromoSEO Ltd, company number 07311410 |
| Registered office | Wilmslow, Cheshire |
| Leads generated | Over 2.3 million |
| Industries served | More than 650 |
| Pricing model | Pay on results: a share of the value of each sale the leads produce |
| Website | promoseo.co.uk |
How did James Dooley start PromoSEO?
James Dooley joined Soft Surfaces in 2006 as a project manager. The company had no marketing team, so he taught himself search engine optimisation to win contracts. On 12 July 2010 he incorporated the company that became PromoSEO, to generate leads for other UK businesses with the same methods. It traded as Wet Pour Graphics Ltd until July 2016, when it took the PromoSEO name.
PromoSEO secured its 100th lead generation client in 2012, passed 1 million leads generated through organic search in 2018, and passed 2 million leads in 2025 across SEO, pay-per-click advertising and Meta Ads.
How does PromoSEO's pay on results model work?
PromoSEO builds and ranks its own websites in each industry and location, then sends the enquiries they generate to a business in that area. The business pays a share of the value of the work it wins from those leads, rather than an upfront fee or a monthly retainer, so the risk sits with PromoSEO rather than the client. This is the Leads First model James Dooley sets out in his book of the same name.
What services does PromoSEO offer?
Alongside its own lead-generating websites, PromoSEO offers:
- Organic search engine optimisation
- Google pay-per-click advertising
- Social media marketing
- Video production
- Retargeting
- Fractional chief marketing officer support
- Business advice
Who runs PromoSEO with James Dooley?
James Dooley is chief executive. Scott Calland is managing director, and Scott Calland, Kasra Dash and David Snell sit on the board with James Dooley. Since 5 April 2025 the company has been held by Dooley Investments Ltd, James Dooley's holding company, and Soft Surfaces Holdings Limited.
How does PromoSEO connect to James Dooley's other companies?
PromoSEO is the main vehicle for James Dooley's digital real estate model. FatRank is the brand he built alongside it, LLM Leads extends the same model to enquiries from AI search, and Be The Brand AI Recommends applies Decision Engine Optimisation for businesses that want to be recommended by ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews.
Related pages
- FatRank
- Soft Surfaces Ltd
- Leads First, the book
- Digital real estate in the James Dooley Lexicon
- UK Lead Generation Podcast
Every company James Dooley has founded, owns or invests in is listed on the companies page, and the verified facts about him are in the Brand SSOT.