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If you find your site looks awful on a mobile device, than www.getmobile.com is a great service for producing a mobile version of your site from your wired site. I have no affiliation with them - but found the service to be quite useful for getting mobile!
I agree. We often work hard with our clients to ensure that they are converting the traffic we are sending them. These days, if a clients site looks like it won't convert traffic, and we cannot replace their site we'll try not to take their business. Why? Because they won't realize the benefits of our services and will not be long term customers. We try and invest our talents into clients we know will make the most of them.
Awesome post. At Spark we spend time each month clearly articulating to our clients what we've done for them, why and how we did it. Ensuring they understand exactly what we are doing is one way we help them understand the value of our services!
I just wrote a piece titled How To Hire a Search Engine Optimization Company - I said exactly this. If the SEO firm your thinking of hiring won't tell you their process you should not hire them. I pose this and several other questions too. While there are some "secrets" to what we do, the processes should not be - and those need to be shared with customers.
If you keep your customers informed about your monthly activities on their behalf - they'll be happy, and you'll come off looking like a reputable firm.
I agree completely! Consider this - if a prospect is really hard to win - than they may not be worth winning. I'm not referring to lots of proposals and meetings. What I mean is having to explain value, and necessity, answering pointless questions, or having to adhere to a level of quality that does not fall into line with the scale of work being proposed. If this is happening than you need to consider that the prospect may not be worth it because you may not be profitable on their work!
Thanks for pointing this out to everyone!!
We're going to PubCon this time. The lineup looked a little better this time round and being forced to choose we opted for Vegas!
We have many clients running yellow pages ads and we'e confirmed that the quality of traffic is pretty darn good. In some cases we're recommending clients get listed with Yellow Page because of it.
This is a great list! I'd also add writing a press release, and telling all your friends and customers via your e-newsletter or direct mail.
Thanks for reminding of us some of the pages in a site we tend to take for granted. While we recognize the importance of the About Us page most people rarely contemplate the relative importance of each aspect of information on it.
That's a very good question. I think services like this will have to go underground somehow, just to stay off the radar screens of the Search Engines.
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I would! I'm having the time of my life right now. I've connected with quite a few people from highschool recently via Facebook, and it's been great!
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Having been in the software development business for a long time I've learned that the following are must haves before engaging on a development project:
1. Detailed Requirements Document. If you want one I will share a great template
2. Detailed Quoting / Estimating. Again, if you want one I will share a great template
3. A solid project plan preferrably in MS Project, or atleast in basecamp, or some sort of task tracking app. I currently use AutoTask. Note: track your work progress, and forecast incomplete work. Also track costs over time.
4. Contact with "The Decision Maker". Not just a manager, but the one who is really calling the shots. In a small company, it's the owner even if they have delegated to an office manager. In a larger company it may be the CFO - you never know who. You just gotta investigate until you find out and that means asking alot of questions.
If you have this setup - and it's not that hard to do, then you'll have no problem controlling an unruly client, even if they are irate on the phone :)
Finally, my tip on firing an SEO or PPC client - raise their rates to cover your costs. If they don't like them transition them to your favorite SEO / PPC partner whom you feel can handle the clients requirements.
Story: Going Mobile - Ah, So This Is How My Site Looks