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Went Hot: March 28, 2008 - 4:40 pm
Posted By: vangogh 194 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://www.stonetemple.com)
Category: SEO
1. Don’t always tell you what you want to hear, right from the start.
2. Use a teaching oriented approach.
3. Start strategic.
8 Comments
Comments
I like #1. I often find myself having to break the bad news to a client about something they are on fire about before we even sign an agreement. Better to get it out up front so they know where you stand and you feel like you can succeed.
I think that's a good way to set realistic expectations and also weed out clients who are always going to want more than can be delivered.
"Preach link volume and high value links in balance." Getting more and more important as Google gets better at analyzing link quality. You simply must have so good stuff thrown in the mix.
#2 - Use a teaching-oriented approach
amen, eric. this is the most basic measure of value that a SEO can bring to the table. as we've seen in both the pro and con "SEO Standards" threads this week, a huge barrier for our industry is a lack of client initiative to learn the basics of SEO.
clients (in my experience) can't be bothered to learn the basics around a marketing discipline that they may end up spending many tens of thousands of dollars for. which freaks me out. it's like a client that's ready to spend $3MM on a superbowl ad, when they've never watched a TV advertisement being created before.
"here's my money - MAKE SOME MAGIC HAPPEN!!!"
it seems ill-advised at best.
but it highlights the necessity for us SEOs, as professionals, to recognize a general client need, stop selling so hard, and make sure the client has a basic facility with the nuts-and-bolts of SEO before they enter into a contract.
as aggravating as it may be - spend the time. teach. your business and our industry will all be better for it.
#1 - Don't take this the wrong way folks! At the end of the day you still need to sell you services. Be realistic and 100% clear about what you can and can't do but saying "oh yeah I can't get your this or do that" is just bad sales.
I think an open and honest exchange with a potential clent is a must. It's our approach and it's great to see this endorsed here. Some great points raised and well made. Thanks.
d
I try to get them to learn at least the basics. Current project has the client sending me content already marked up with HTML heading, paragraph and list item tags, along with class names for the matching CSS. There's also a note at the top with a working page title, and text for the meta
description. They do the keyword research now, and I just sanity check it as the site is assembled.
Good list! True. And these are the basics too. We should always take note of the list.