How to be a Great SEO Client
Being a good SEO client will ensure a smooth and effective relationship with your search engine marketing company. Not to bash anybody but there are some things that a client should understand when they get involved with either a freelancer or an SEO company.
You Are Not Our Only SEO Client
You have to understand that you are probably not the only client your company or person is handling. If you need to get ahold of someone try pushing scheduled calls. If you call over and over during the day and you don’t get someone on the phone it is ok, they might be out of the office or have other engagements that particular day. Even though, you are not the only SEO client, at my SEO company, I always make sure every client feels like they are the only client. Meaning, we respond to every client phone call, email, question within hours. But, I always recommend that don’t take advantage of this.
Don’t Be Hyper!
SEO is not a fast moving advertising medium. Things take time to move around in the search results so if you don’t see things happening right away it is ok. If you are just starting off and you plan on relying on your search engine optimization for business things might take a little while especially if you are in a competitive space. At the same time, I always make sure to give realistic expectations for improvements for our SEO clients.
We Are A Team
If you go with a reputable SEO firm you need to realize that they are on your side. Search engine optimization companies want to keep clients for the long haul and they do not get anything out of having clients leave early except short bursts of revenue which are not very stable for growing a business. Realize that we are here to help you grow your business and we are in no way against you. We are all one big team.
Trust Us
This is important because you have to be able to trust us. You have come to us for help and you realize that you need assistance to market your business. You can’t question and argue every little step that we take or propose because it will be a long uphill battle to get anything done.
When you hire an SEO firm or freelancer you are going to want to have a fun and smooth process. Take the time to understand what goes into search marketing and the various steps needed to really be successful before you bark up a storm.
12 Responses to “How to be a Great SEO Client”
The Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Journal is Written by SEO Expert:
Nick Stamoulis
Tel - 781-999-1222
nick@brickmarketing.com
Brick Marketing - SEO Company
being a great client is very difficult, specially for SEO
some excellent points Nick! Question? Do you share this in some form with your new clients…perhaps a brochure or flyer or part of the agreement/contract? It is very insightful and might actually thwart some issues if shared up front. Thanks for posting!
Hi Mike,
Thanks for reading and for sharing your thoughts! Good point, I should mention this upfront and I do actually speak with a new client and explain and educate the process as things progress…
Take care,
Nick
Very good insight, informative and interesting. To be a great client when it comes to SEO is trying, however it can be done. Great blog and excellent information.
Nick, we put together a great checklist and roadmap via excel spreadsheet. Each client has access to thiers, we found that being very transparent and honest with our clients really helps and takes some of the mystery out of what we do. We found all of our client don’t want to do any of their own SEO, they just want to run and do their business and leave the SEO to us.
Nick:
You have some great points here. The vendor client relationship can be a tenuous thing at times. I think explaining how the process works up front is a great idea, but the main key is to develop a win / win relationship. We have been working together for several years now and I think you do a great job!
I hope that I am as great a client as you are a service provider!
Very true, indeed. You might also mention that it is important for SEO clients not to “undo” what you have done deliberately with regard to things like titles, tags, and descriptions as an example – since some clients tend to think that “more is better” and will add or modify terms for a myriad of reasons.
Good one! I feel it is very important for every SEO customer to have some basic knowledge about the SEO and how it works in general to get the best out their respective SEO company. There are few tricky companies who make garunteed assurances and make believe they are true SEO company and to be honest they are just novice who pretend to be great SEO specialist.
Hi Nick! I left you a voice message today, I need your services. Please call me when you have a moment. Thank you!
Thanks Alan! You are a great client!
Take Care & Talk Soon!
Nick
You have some great points. I also think it’s critical for clients to engage with feedback and participate in communication so that it’s easier for them to understand what work is being performed.
Hi Danny,
Very true! Thanks for the comment!
I actually just left a comment on a post yesterday at Search Engine Land that is very good that touches on the client side of things, here:
http://searchengineland.com/how-to-reduce-sem-churn-with-integrated-customer-intelligence-60415
Thanks again!
Nick