This post is dedicated to those hard-working white-hat SEOs helping websites obtain top search engine rankings the right way. Sometimes we have to remind the client that slow and steady wins the race. However, the majority of the time the client doesn't want to hear that, especially if they are paying for SEO services month after month.
Yes, SEO is an investment; however, showing them that they are investing in your services and skills requires a little more than just performing SEO services. Due to the search share click distribution, the client can’t really expect major increases in traffic until they reach the first page of the SERPs. Sometimes they can see instant increases in traffic via long-tailed terms after completion of thorough on-page optimization. But, for the most part we have to educate them so that they will be patient. Remember, they hired you because they are not experts in SEO, it’s important to teach them the benefits as well as the slow process of organic SEO.
Below are five things you can do to help your client rest assured that you are doing an effective job, and with time, traffic will come.
#1 – Rankings reports and keyword improvements
This is kind of a given, because traditionally all we could do is show the client that we helped them go from the 100th position to 50th position. That almost never reflects more traffic, but it does show improvement. It also shows effort, and if you get two consistent upward movements, you can show that there’s a trend in their favor.
Another keyword improvement you can show them is total keywords bringing traffic to their website in Google Analytics. If you go to Sources > Search > Organic, then scroll down to bottom right, you can see how many total keywords have brought traffic to their site in the current date range. If you change the date range to a range pre-SEO work and that number is smaller than the most recent, you can say that you are increasing their overall visibility. So, if you can show improvement in rankings and that they are getting more organic traffic via more keywords on the SERPs; you are showing them that they are making progress. For most clients, this is enough.
#2 – Working logs
Every once in a while, a client may want some updates on how the SEO is going because they aren't seeing an increase in traffic or conversions. In other words, they want to know what you have been doing.
I recommend recording all work you've done for the client regardless of the complexity and time it took. Create events in Google Analytics or your SEO tool software. These are easy ways to document your work while showing correlations with traffic. Another way I've satisfied my clients is having something like BaseCamp or a time tracker that they can sign in to and see what has been accomplished.
Behind the scenes, we know things are going good and we know that we are doing work to get those rankings up, however the client doesn't. Anything you can do to allow the client to check on what you've done for them, whenever they want, can sometimes prevent emails or phones calls questioning your efforts.
#3 – Summary reports and updates
Sometimes, emailing the client or getting on the phone with them weekly or bimonthly is all they need. When you reach out to the client before they reach out to you, you are squashing embers before the fire starts. It shows them that you are proactive and more importantly that you haven’t forgot about them. Emailing or calling them just to let them know that you've accomplished something or that you were thinking about them while working on their account can go a long way.
I believe this is arguably the most important thing you can do to build long term relationships with your clients. It can be something as simple as "Hey, I just wanted to let you know that we wrote up some content, emailed a few webmasters and been working on your rankings. Just an FYI, give you more details in the monthly report." This communication can make a client’s day and maintain their trust for you and your services.
#4 – Other metrics to report
Assuming that you are doing your job, you can report other metrics to the client if rankings and traffic have not kicked in yet. Metrics such as total links contacted out of total link goals, total tweets, fans, +1s, shares, pages per site visited, site bounce rate, conversion rate, total live links, subscribers, etc. Anything that will show them that the website is doing better than when you started. However, in order to provide these types of stats, you have to create a benchmark to show how where they are now is better than where they started.
#5 – Resources vouching that SEO takes time
In the case that the client is still skeptical and the results are not yet able to prove your work, the best thing you can do is show them that even the authorities such as Search Engine Watch, Moz, Search Engine Journal, Google, etc., all confirmed that rankings don't happen overnight. Perhaps you can do a better job educating them about the fact that it’s a campaign to catch up with the competition; that the competitors who are ranking high have performed a long list of tasks over years to get to where they are, and you are emulating them in the most efficient way possible.
So...
...there you have it, five ways to let the clients know that you are doing what needs to be done in order to obtain top rankings. Just don’t forget that the client may still need to trust that the tasks you are accomplishing actually works. So you may have to prove to them that your strategies have helped other clients, or that you are doing what the algorithm, case studies and the competition proves needs to be done.
I hope this helps my fellow white-hat SEOs performing legit services keep good relationships with their clients.
#5 - Providing Resources: This is the first thing that in my opinion every company should start with as the very first question any client ask, SO HOW LONG IT WOULD TAKE TO MAKE MY SITE APPEAR IN 1ST PAGE OF GOOGLE? Almost every company deal with this type of question and the answer is same, we don't know exactly. Because some may take upto a year depending upon the competition of keywords and a lot more factors.
I would say a good post and to sum up the post "EDUCATE YOUR CLIENT ABOUT SEO and RANKING FACTORS" in their own words that they can understand.
Hey Alicka, I totally agree. I guess I was saving the best for last :P
I like how you said, "we don't know exactly" when a client asks the infamous question on how long it takes. As much as I would like to give an exact answer and sometimes feel obligated to have a ballpark figure, I have to stick with the truth! Good to hear other SEO's keeping it real with other client's too. Thanks for the comment Alicka.
Sorry, hate to disagree with this.
SEO should stand up to other business tactics that provide projections on return. As SEOs we should be skilled enough to provide "ballpark" estimates - back yourself to get a result.
Totally agree that clients need educating on the variable factors, but this lack of accountability within the industry is frankly unacceptable.
Businesses understand that there is risk in any project, and certainly understand the concept of a forecast and estimate.
Hi DangerMouse, I used to for years give a ballpark estimate (and I still do), especially if working in a niche I worked in before or if I knew I was working on a very awesome website that just needed some attention.
But after years of working on all types of websites and with updates happening pretty often, the ballpark figure I give today is something like "it could take 3 weeks to over a year. I've worked on sites where I made a couple changes and viola, and for some it seems like hitting a wall month after wall, before it finally kicks in".
I also think you have to re-estimate or rethink the ballpark figure once they've reached the top page, because you'll have a little more experience and stats to gauge how much more effort is needed to get to the top few spots. Thanks for your comment. I really do think this is something the pros should have a better grasp on. Just really hard when there are 1,000's of factors.
First: Thats it - some onpage optimization sometimes is all to do for a ranking on page one. And sometimes you see a side with hard Keywords and a lot of construction areas. So thats what I say - maybe a few month, maybe a year
Second: not even 10% of my clients wants to get educated in SEO or want to learn how google works and why it is how it is. They simply say - thats your job - do and come back with results.
What should I do with them? Handle like today - come back with results...
James-I don't think you have to promise the moon, but as a business owner someone who tells me 3 weeks to 52 weeks is going to fail to get a call back-frankly it just doesn't come off as professional.
Telling them 6-12 months would likely land you more business while giving you enough time to show progress and some start on ROI, which is all that anyone really cares about.
I agree. No matter how good we are at SEO or even how much experience we have, there is always that some-things-are-out-of-our-control reality at play.
If I were a roofer or a plumber, I could probably tell you within a day (or even hours) of when I'd be finished with a job and I'd almost always be right. But, with SEO, we don't control the timeline. I think it's best to be completely honest about this and to offer our best estimate based on our experience and on the experiences of others we trust.
We usually offer our potential clients something like, "you can probably expect to see results in about one to four months" for local rankings, and "...up to six months, or longer in some cases" for national rankings. Often we can exceed those projections, which is always nice, but our goal is not to try to pin down an exact date, but rather to lightly educate the client and to eliminate any disappointment in the future.
Hey, nice post James!
@DangerMouse,
None in the SEO Industry expected the Penguine. Once upon a time the Anchor Link was the main focus, the more you have for a specific keyword or Key Phrase the more better ranking for those term. NOW THAT SAME IS DANGEROUS.
Once the article directories, blog networks like ning, Social bookmarking websites were the king for link building. NOW THOSE SAME ARE DANGEROUS.
Since the algorithm updates in google are non predictable hence the estimation to climb the SERP in google. We are not self dependent who is doing something which is in his own hand, BUT we are totally dependent on google.
We do the magic and on the next day we see that google has come up with another algo update and all our efforts goes in vain.
As being SEO we only give a ballpark figuere (I still give a certain figure, and I am pretty sure I'll achieve that If commited) but with a note "IF THERE IS NO MAJOR UPDATE OCCURRED DURING THIS PERIOD." Minor updates are always considered but any unexpected like PENGUIN has made all of us think thrice before giving any time limit.
I totally agree with you that being an experienced SEO professional we can give some time estimate to show the desired ranking. But again the same something unexpected comes in between and now we have to think and make our client a bit literate about what and how SEO (Search Engine Optimization) works.
Regards
Sasha
I tend to find myself thinking I am the only business owner around here at times, everyone else is a consultant of sorts.
I think that relationships clearly color's people and their vision for how SEO should be conducted. Frankly, I couldn't help but stop and simply say thank you for understanding where your clients are coming from.
Yes, there should be an explanation about how Google changes dynamics daily and how it is hard to know for sure, but 3 weeks to 3 years as an estimate? No, with some education about the process and potential pitfalls, most business owners are going to understand enough for you to give them a real estimate, at least the one's who are actually going to hire you in the first place.
I agree with you, please see I have mentioned something about the expected time to deliver the result. I have mentioned it like:
As being SEO we only give a ballpark figuere (I still give a certain figure, and I am pretty sure I'll achieve that If commited) but with a note "IF THERE IS NO MAJOR UPDATE OCCURRED DURING THIS PERIOD." Minor updates are always considered but any unexpected like PENGUIN has made all of us think thrice before giving any time limit.
I disagree with DangerMouse. I open a shop on the high-street, I can calculate and estimate the footfall and visibility based on position and proximity of shop fairly well. I can also do what I want to my shop window (within reason! But there aren't many taboos, at least in Europe) and understand my ROI well. I do not need to kow-tow to the local council or town-hall on how I run my shop but I do to Google for my website.
The big problem here is that there is no absolute determinate answer to this question of how long it takes. Even if you do things perfectly, you're subject to the whims of a third party. You have to be professional enough to explain it them even when it sometimes costs you sales when somebody else makes a random promise that they can't deliver.
Right. Awesome point out of the 3rd parties... So true.
"I recommend recording all work you've done for the client regardless of the complexity and time it took."
Agreed! Make little annotations in Google Analytics whenever you start something new so you can look back and say "we did this on this day and this is what happened." Little wins add up over time but you don't want to be scarmbling to find high points.
Absolutely. I actually meant to say annotations instead of events when I wrote this post. Was getting mixed up with Raven Tools :P
This was new to me so I quickly found a video for any one looking for a HOW-TO to Google Analytics annotation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfPx4Sus_CY
Analytics annotation is nice way for SEO and client! Thank you for introducing it here.
Great Post I have to agree that most clients need a "laymen" education on what ethical "organic" seo is. I have to add since there is soo many shady companies out there not doing any real work most clients feel that if they have read a little about seo in google then they understand maybe experts in the process and all your selling is hype. Although the bottom line is increasing traffic, click through and brand awareness most clients don't have enough knowledge to distinguish between the good the bad and the ugly.
I often get asked how long it will take to get to page one and whats the guarantee. My response will always be the same!.Results are statistical data that can be tracked and reported most clients see progress within a year nothing more nothing less end of story. And anyone I mean anyone guaranteeing less simply is either risking you getting penalized, irrelevant backlink spammer, guest blog spammer or just simply full of it.
Point nobody can guarantee page one or two end of story!
What you can guarantee is making your client the most relevant in his area of business, by good quality content, strong keyword strategy, maintain an addiction to constantly updateding and revising issues that are affecting seo and online marketing including SEM.
They all must be part of a total package, this is what I find most effective.
I will add that I do add to all my proposals a brief explanation of what good organic seo is, some clients read it some dont they dont bother and stay stuck on the bottom line conversions. This is always frustrating but you can lead a horse to water but you cant make him drink.
To combat this issue I always outline milestones and good reporting through moz. Statistical data doesn't lie and can be a great support for those clients who are simply fixated on page one and conversion.
I commend you on this post awareness of good ethical seo it needs to trump all the bad that is out there and giving us the real white hat or organic people a bad rep. Nothing is worse then failed expectations when you have invested hundreds if not thousands of hours on a client and have proven results.
I respect those out there who stand on my side of the field and appreciate all the hard work they have done in spite of it all......
It happens sometimes that in spite of guiding client about everything that how SEO works and what are we doing, after few months when they don't see any direct profits they do stop the service. By doing this they waste their money spent for the months they hired SEO services.
So clients should be made clear about this so that he may keep patience as well.
Usually for clients I like to write a nice piece of content with a good long tail keyword that I can get to drive some new traffic relatively quickly to their site. This will help show them you know what you are doing right off the bat. Then you can tell them to get where you need to be we need to do this....We lead the client through phases and tell them that they wont see much benefit until they get to a certain phase, but unless they do all this stuff now it wouldnt matter if 10,000 visitors came to their site tomorrow they wouldnt see many conversions because their website is not set up correctly. You just have to be honest. Besides, if you are honest and the person says they don't want to wait that long would you really want to work for them anyways? I hate the clients that call everyday for updates we make sure that we do not take any of those types of clients anymore its to stressful and your other clients suffer when you are scrambling to fill their needs 4-5 times a week
Doing something to get some instant results is a great idea RyanP, it does give them quick confidence, which can sometimes last until results really start kicking in.
Oh Lord, those call everyday clients...
Some clients only think SEO will make them conversions and they put least effort on landing pages or user experiences.They should be educated about this at early stages(if they ready to listen to you).
I've certainly found working logs (2.) or time sheets are great for clients, especially in the early days.
The client wants to see what they are paying for, and until you can really prove increases in their revenues, showing them what you have done does seem to satisfy them.
As SEO is not a tangible thing, so working logs actually helps a lot, I consider them to be something tangible that we can give our clients when his expectations are not met at a sudden.
When you reach out to the client before they reach out to you, you are squashing embers before the fire starts
Thats a big point. Conversation helps a lot. Ok there are some clients wich arent really interessted in what u are doin - they only want to see the results (wich mostly is P 1-3 for these kinds of clients - before it is 150 or so).
Not lose the topic - back to what I wanted to say - most clients are interested in what you are doing with their money and how the trend is looking. For most people Google is a mysterious thing - Page three will make them happy - a position where I think - hmm nice try for a start. But they really dont measure that hard.
You just have to explain/show/point at what u do - i guess 80% would be happy than.
Number 2 is a great suggestion! With a service like BaseCamp, you can set the client up with login information so they can check the progress at anytime.
Having been on the client side before, one of my most common frustrations was understanding how the consultant was spending their time, especially when we were paying them by the hour!
For client satisfaction we have to give the period of time but i think you are absolutely @Alicka , we should not setup any limit in SEO. although James clear all the things. very nice stuff and very nice communication here , I like to thanks to all guys ,love you
Nice article. Concise and gave me a valuable tip. Justifying the expense for SEO is more difficult than sales or something that has a tangible dollar amount. I use conversions and goals for a ton of stuff on a website so I have a lot of data points to provide the client with whatever they need. Plus, if you can give them something right when asked it takes the pressure off.
I like what you said about providing them with whatever they are asking for right when they ask. Shows you been working and have the proof, instead of having them wait a few days so you can do what you were supposed to do prior to them asking. Response Time would have been a good additional point/tip. Thanks for sharing!
Great post. I'd add the following recommendation to those struggling with client expectations of gaining top results very quickly. Yes, educate them on the time frame expectations but if they want immediate results recommend that they also hire you to manage a Pay Per Click campaign. It's a great way to generate traffic in the short term and the client can scale down their advertising budget as their SEO improves.
Yes, PPC campaigns do a great job at keeping them happy in the meantime. They can also show them that search traffic works. It can also give you some test runs with visitors to make sure your conversion optimization is in tip top shape. They can also help you identify which terms you should really be targeting. And if it works, it can make them some money to really put more trust (aka budget) in you and search engine marketing.
nice post, thanks to moz.
Excellent post James! I liked your little table of metrics and am totally stealing it :)
You cannot really blame clients who are not seeing the result of their SEO investment. I still think the best bet is to convince the client on the impact your strategy is having on ROI.
That said, these 5 ways are still very helpful and should be considered by marketers!
Awesome post! One thing I always here from clients when they talk about their old SEO, "I only ever heard from them if our bill was overdue or when we emailed them." As an SEO I believe it is extremely key to always be the first one to reach out to clients, even if it is just to check in and see how things are going.
BWrightTLM,
I used to be that SEO, and it has costed me in the past. I actually wrote about this topic because I have some history with all these issues and learned over the past couple years that the above 5 tips are arguably just as important as doing a good job.
"As an SEO I believe it is extremely key to always be the first one to reach out to clients, even if it is just to check in and see how things are going." - RIGHT
Dont you feel that Social Metrics should be a part of this
How many users engaged, liked through Twitter, Facebook
Influence score, Leads generated. Business Lead Generated
We pretty much only report on business KPI's and ROI. After all, what do rankings really mean apart from an ego boost?
LOL ptclark64, yes ROI is far more important. I guess statistically, that #1 spot has such a higher CTR that it should reflect higher ROI. But I rather get more traffic and conversions over a #1 spot that I just wanted for personal reasons.
I had a client that made its money off advertising space and his selling point was look our site is #1 on Google, and that actually made him more mula!
Also, years ago, when I ranked #1 for a certain SEO term, leads were ready to close no matter the price just because I was #1 on Google.
But those are rare scenarios..
Rankings are fine but SEOs should also focus on listings as well. It's up to us to make searchers want to learn more about our clients through content, titles, descriptions and many more factors.
Top post, James. Number three is definitely crucial. It's always good to maintain contact, continue to be proactive in your communication and keep them updated with regular reports on your work.
Thanks Webrevolve. I definitely learned over the years that communication is sooooooo important. I've seen some agencies keep clients for years w/o producing any results just because they did a good job at communication. crazy! (but not really)
So I used to work for James. He got me started on SEO and it's so cool to see him post here. :) Congrads James!
It's interesting seeing what others are reporting on these days, especially the backlink reports and the previous comment on "indexing new domains."
I've used some of those metrics before, recently my "immediate" results for clients are excellent content campaigns that get tons of legitimate shares via publishers in the industry. The buzz is kind of an ego metric, but it usually gets good links and opens up way more opportunity for future expansion, which is usually being acted on by the time the client is getting their report.
I usually report on conversions, traffic improvements and diversified landing pages that are getting more visibility..
Great suggestions, James. I always try to get our clients to understand point #5 before we even begin, which is that SEO takes time. I try to liken it to a marathon. I tell them that their competitors started running a long time ago and they are blocks, perhaps miles, ahead of them. We're not going to catch them in a few steps or in 5 minutes. We will catch up to them eventually, and even pass them up, but it will take a little time. We just have to run faster, harder, and smarter than they are.
By explaining it to them this way, usually our clients will understand and not set unrealistic expectations for us or themselves.
I love that analogy Touch Point! Perhaps blocks even miles ahead. Awesome way to explain it.
Great article. Two main points when dealing w/clients: manage expectations and educating.
The trap many firms fall in is overpromising to get the engagement and trying to backtrack once they receive it. Another trap is when the client heard someones brother-in-law/cousin/best friend was on the first page in a week. Most clients needs to be educated on why this is difficult and the amount of resources to get a site ranked high without promising anything.
Thank you for the post!! Its really a good one to satisfy and assure the clients. As an SEO expert, i also deal with the clients who want to know the results and the output of the SEO, some clients get satisfied when they see the positive results and some ask for more efforts to increase the traffic, visitor, sales and ROI on their site. It is really depend on client understanding whether the SEO is working for them or not and for this the mentioned points are quite good to assure the clients that we are doing really good for them in order to boost up their site ranking in search engine and to increase the traffic on their site.
Thank you for the post. I had it bookmarked for a couple days before I finally had a chance to get to it - but i knew by the title it was something i had to read - and also bc it made it on moz.com ;)
Anyway, I have to say as an SEO - getting my clients to understand the time and effort that truly goes into long-lasting white hat SEO is one of my biggest frustrations. Most of my clients have/had very little or no idea of how the search engines work.
I always try to educate them about the engines and as to how/why my fees are justified. However, with black-hat SEOs soliciting potential customers for $200 a month (scary) - some of the less educated or the ones refusing to believe the efforts of white-hatters they often times go with the cheap.
Anyway, before I begin an SEO project I have a 26 question questionnaire I have my customers fill out. This eliminates the ones that don't have the resources or who are maybe not that serious and helps to educate the ones that are.
p.s. thanks for the annotations tip - so simple, how did i miss this? ;)
Hi WebSEOology. Could you give me an example of the questions you ask these clients? I can imagine what they are but you sound confident in the asking so I thought I'd pick your brains. Thanks! :)
Thanks James. I do exactly what you recommend. Great post, for the debate it provoked. Enjoyed reading it.
This is super helpful for some of those new inbound marketers out there!
Great Post.
I Think that something definitely has to been done is to set goals clearly.
Too many times clients hire me to just improve one keyword, or promote a new services and from there start to pretend that all the site will be optmized.
Than, of course, call your clients before they call you is a huge advantage.
Great Post. I've been having a hard time educating clients my self. "SO HOW LONG IT WOULD TAKE TO MAKE MY SITE APPEAR IN 1ST PAGE OF GOOGLE?" really is the common question of clients. Even though you answer them that you do not know. They still insist of asking for a estimated time.
DangerMouse. "SEO should stand up to other business tactics that provide projections on return. As SEOs we should be skilled enough to provide "ballpark" estimates - back yourself to get a result."
I do agree with you on this one Then Again, We don't want to give our clients false hopes and expectations.
For me, No matter how awesome you think your SEO TACTIC is. Your competitors are also working their butt off to stay on first page.
Hey James,
In #5 - Resources you said "rankings don't happen overnight" that is the best thing to convince the client for SEO services. And that is good that by educating them about the facts is the safest thing because if you are failed to disclose the facts that you are in trouble. But my query is about the same point #5 that if you have the best search engine optimization company, and after making our efforts we failed to make our promises true what to answer them at that time?
[link removed]
Great article!
It depends on the client background, if he/she have some basic knowledge,it's not necessary to make things hard and explaining all the steps, in the other way, with no information with SEO and Google traffic, it's necessary to follow your steps in this article, and it will be much better to give the client a clear idea about the long term traffic that will come later.
Traffic is the key since over 80% comes from long tail. Being #1 on some number of keywords won't guarantee conversions.
I want to your help. I try to Increase my website traffic.
Would you please see my blog and give me suggestion.
my blog is www.szxnl.net
This would be a better question for our Q&A section at https://moz.com/community/q.
Every day I learn more of these excellent articles, thank you for sharing relevant information on the subject, excellent article
Hi James! Creating events in Google Analytics or on our SEO tool software is such a great idea. These are actually easy ways to document our work while showing parallel with traffic. Another way I think is to have something like BaseCamp or a time tracker that they can sign in to and see what has been accomplished.
thank you for this information. We should give clients time to time updates about what is going on to increase the ranking of their site, we should make them understand that the ranking has been increased may be not much above the older one but a little bit and we should also show them the keywords which we are using to divert the traffic to their site and the volume of each keyword so that they can come to know which keyword is diverting more traffic and which is diverting less so that if they want to make any changes can make it. We should show the progress in their work to make them satisfied and should make them understand that seo can't happen in one day and it takes time to improve the ranking of the page to great extend.
Dear James,
Great information share here.. Some times clients are looking for only leads/sales instead of these lengthy process (Ranking, Position, Links, Traffic etc..) When ever I'll be a client I'd be do the same, because I'm paying for more business of course.
On the other hand, as a SEO expert when we commit #1 page for the all keywords? there are million of webmasters are for same run.
thank you for sharing the post.
Great Post! Firm believer in sending weekly work logs
Another cool thing you can do if they're not yet a client and unsure of what SEO can do for them is to show them the numbers. You can use this chart here to show them how much more traffic they'll receive if they move up a few spots in rankings.
From there you could even ask them what their conversion rate is & value per conversion. Then you can very clearly outline to them how much more traffic they could expect, and also what the impact to their bottom line could be.
its very nice post. Everybody should follow
report on the results and of studies is very important.
Hi James, Good post! I think one of the most important points you make here is to keep a log of all work carried out. After all on page is completed, it can look like there is not much going on. However, if you show them a list of all work you have done to the website, they can clearly see what you have been working on behind the scenes.
Right, right, right. I'll even add small things like 'replied to webmaster of such and such blog that said to send him content, begin preparing content', or 'pulled ranking report to look for trends or needs for adjustments', etc.. like you said, even if it doesn't look like much.
Hi James, I am a little lost on #2. Would you mind rephrasing that and explain a bit more how to use it please? Thanks
Hi Sida,
James is basically saying keep track of what you do, in case the client comes to you and wants to know how you've been spending the time they've been paying you for. We work in billable hours and use ChronoMate paired with Freshbooks to keep track of all the work we do for each client and project, but there are plenty of other ways to do this - even something as basic as keeping a Word or Excel document to make a note of when you implemented changes/completed parts of the project.
Hope that helps!
Thanks Ria for the reply. Maybe you should write a post about all the many ways to track billable SEO work :)
Excellent idea!
Thanks Ria, what i was actually wondering is that how to create an event on GA or other systems? Freeshbooks look like an accountancy software. How do you use that?
This question is really i have been facing for several years and i agree with your 5 points. Beside those 5 points, i guess constant communication, sharing latest updates from industry, sharing selective new links created (with live links) help client to feel that the provider know what they are doing. Educating client about SEO process is the hardest part. Correct me if i am wrong.
Nope, you're right sandipbanerjee. A good example of this is something I like to do if Google comes out with a new update, send a notification email to client before they find out and let them know that you are already on top of it or that they don't need to worry.
I am agree with you that SEO is a long term process and you can not get instant result. But it is clear that if client pay considerable amount of money for each month,they want result.
Awe, the tug-a-war of SEO services; patience vs desires
Hi please send more detail about report. so we will clear every thing. Thanks
Hi this is also best plugin for tracking & outbound link WassUp Real Time Analytics plugin for wordpress.
Pssssst wassup is ok you want real power go with slim stat. Not only do you get real time refreshed traffic but also keyword entry and where is sits in the serp. You may find keywords you didnt even know you were ranking for and would that be nice to show off to your client in your moz keyword ranking report?
Overall its good post, but we need more detailed information for reporting to a client to traffic and other metrics. Also we should prepare all time for questions answers sessions, Normally clients can call at anytime. :D
Yes, I should have added call anytime about anything as a point, to #3 or as a finish to this post. The clients do need to know that they can call you anytime about anything, even if they feel its for what they might consider a stupid or simple question.
I realized I was looking for this when I found it. You really can't look at data for a new website in a meaningful until at least three or four months have passed. And I tell my clients it will take at least six months to a year to reach objectives depending on how competitive the niche. "It's always better to under promise and over deliver." -not my quote but now my mantra
Thanks James for the detailed post. Certainly the points that you have listed are the top priority ones and needs to be taken care. Even small things such as constant communication with the client will help to win his confidence.
Great post. I frequently deal with clients who are frustrated about the lack of knowing if SEO works. Some clients are satisfied when seing positive numbers in Analytics, and some need a more convincing factor, e.g. more customers, higher sales etc.
It oftens depends on the clients understanding of SEO and how it affects online marketing efforts.
Right rehan09. I probably should have stressed that educating the clients is top priority before delving into the top 5 list. Because, yes, that is ever so important
Brilliant article, James!
The greatest problem for us white-hat SEOs is the barrier to entrance with new clients. It's not enough to say you're a "white-hat" or even show your awesome list of very happy clients. Testimonials are one thing. Results are another. Having some clear-cut documentation from trusted resources is crucial when walking into a potential client meeting.
Thank you so much for sharing your tips with us. Even if some of them are not new, they serve as a great reminder of how to do our jobs right.
Thanks ShannonKSteffen, you gave me another post idea :)
They all make sense. My fav is #5 simply because I like to stress that it all takes times to increase rankings. I hate getting calls one month into a project where a customer expect to be on Google's first serp if you don't set up expectations early you will get those calls. Many customer seen the guarantee "will get you on the first page of google" So I like showing them authorities in field that validate that this is not easy and it does take time and money, rather than simply asking them to take my word it.
I totally agree. Looking back at it, I should have made #5, #1
In todays age of Google, how can anyone recommend keyword ranking reports of any kind as success metric??
That's a very good question.
If I don't have to, I rather report overall organic traffic, conversions from search and maybe average rankings. But almost always a client hires an SEO to get their rankings up. So unless you can talk them out of why they originally sought you out, into what we suggest, all we can do is improve their rankings (which usually results in more traffic and conversions).
In essence, that's what we do, we improve overall rankings. Plus there is enough stats to show that improved rankings (especially securing the #1 & #2 spot for target converting keywords) reflect in more traffic (and conversions). So even though our goal is more business, our business is to leverage rankings and the SERPS into our client's favor.
If you were a lawyer with a nice converting website and just needed visits to it, you wouldn't think securing the top spot for your target keyword as a success?
As a business owner, this is very informative article. Thanks you for this post.
Hi James, as a newbie here I must agree with your directions, #4 - Other metrics to report, your chart about where the ranking are at the start, and where they are month on month is also great. My current SEO provides this, I was more interested in getting more pages of our site on the front page, rather than concentrating all of the efforts to get 1 page to number 1. Getting to number 1 is a long term goal.
Biggest problem is that potential customers get hit with SEO's spam claim number 1 is easy, they then expect you to be able to achieve this out come as well. When it is not achieved, that's when we the customer will complain. I actually use 2 SEO firms which are moving in different directions, but they both started from a simular starting point. It was a more natural look.
Great article James,
I have to agree with you that it is indeed a long term process and you might not get instant result.
Teaching your clients this however, can sometimes be challenging.
Regards
George
Re. tracking events via Google analytics: If you're using wordpress, Yoast's Google analytics plugin is a great way I've found to track outbound links, including internal links that redirect out (e.g., affiliate links). I use his redirect method in tandem with the analytics plugin.
Josh-Lee, interesting... I like.
Great post, one thing that I think makes a huge difference is helping set goals outside of rankings. Rankings are a by product of a great internet marketing campaign they do not show the entire picture. Setting up goal values in analytics for goals like newsletter sign-ups or downloads can help clients see that while rankings have not increased (yet) our content marketing and site optimization efforts are leading to more leads which lead to more conversions. Then as time passes and rankings increase leads will then increase from organic search.
Agreed. I subtly implement goals within the 1st couple months by showing them where they started and the progress. Next thing you know, when they are asking where are the rankings, they find themselves looking at those other metrics and thinking awe ok, they are at least making progress.
I think a timed/dated goal with no guarantee is fair. As long as client knows it's possible you could be waaaay off :P Thanks for the comment InternetTrafficAcquisition
How should I reply to my question.
If I were a client, I'd prefer to pay for the total service instead of paying monthly. Because, that way, if I pay a reputable SEO whom I trust considerable amount of money, I know that I'll eventually get the results. I wouldn't have to worry if the SEO is indeed working on my project or playing tic-tac-toe. In an age when Google still takes considerable time to index new domains, it's pointless to check the SERPs everyday for significant positioning improvements.
I think it is impossible to estimate the total time of the project as this is not design or development where all stuff is in the human control... When it comes to SEO, Google is the main player and we SEOs are the Algorithm crackers so it is almost impossible to measure the timeline of the project (especially in the era when Google is crazy about updates)
I think monthly fee is the best idea, this way you will pay for each month and see the progress...results might not come quickly but continuous progress can always be witnessed!