Dear Potential SEO Clients, Please Don’t…
Fair warning, this post may come off as a bit of rant. However, all of these tips stem from real experiences I’ve had with real potential SEO clients (usually with more than one).
There are a lot of blog posts out there about how to hire an SEO firm (I freely admit that I have written some tips myself!), but most of them deal with what a potential SEO client should be looking for in an SEO provider. I decided it was time to take a different approach and instead and am focusing on what potential SEO clients should be doing (or not doing) during the hiring process.
Here goes nothing!
Dear potential SEO clients, please don’t send a 50 page RFP and expect a small to medium SEO firm to reply. Be realistic with your RFPs. An SEO company like mine doesn’t have the time or energy to tackle a document that big. If you really want that form filled out, you should probably focus on large, national agencies.
Dear potential SEO clients, please don’t schedule 5 calls with me and then just vanish. My time is just as valuable as yours. If you’re serious about hiring an SEO firm, don’t string us along! I won’t be offended if you decided not to hire us, but please let me know. 
Dear potential SEO clients, please don’t blow me off when we have a scheduled meeting. Life happens, I completely understand. Sometimes you can’t make it to a scheduled phone call and it’s out of your hands; just shoot me an email and give me the heads up. I’ve reorganized my day to make time for our call, so please don’t leave me hanging with no warning.
Dear potential SEO clients, please don’t call if you aren’t looking to hire. I can appreciate that you’re shopping around, but please don’t waste my time or yours if you aren’t serious about hiring an SEO agency.
Dear potential SEO clients, please don’t call ask for client references, to call some of our existing SEO clients, waste their time and never get back to us again. This is not a good use of anyone’s precious time!
Dear potential SEO clients, please don’t forget that I’m here to help you! You should enter into a contract with your SEO provider like you would with any other partner. I promise to treat you with the utmost respect and to provide the best customer service I can. I hope you will try to do the same.
Dear potential SEO clients, please don’t turn crazy on me. We can fire you too. 
I think you could substitute “SEO” for any other service based industry and a lot of these guidelines would still apply. I know that every industry has their fair share of not-so-pleasant clients.
I would love to hear from other SEO providers about their experiences with trying to land a client. Do you have any horror stories you’d like to share or do think I’ve just had a string of bad luck?
4 Responses to “Dear Potential SEO Clients, Please Don’t…”
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My least favorite are the ones who go back and forth on the proposal with you (pricing, terms, etc…) one or MORE times only to disappear after you do concede. Those are buying indicators in my opinion. You know them…the “if you can make this adjustment or that adjustment to your proposal, I think we can do business”. Then when you take the time to actually redo the proposal and adjust your package or terms, you never here from them again.
On the other hand, I have had clients that we have gone back and forth as many as 7 times on the proposal and then received a signed contract….so I guess it works both ways!
Like you said Nick…I think it’s part of the business we are in
Hi Nick,
I recognize almost all of the points raised in this post of yours.
I must admit that I’ve been guilty of a few myself.
Over the years I’ve come to understand what’s Good and what’s not so Good to do when hiring SEO specialists.
I’ve changed and the world has become a better place. :-0.
In my defense there are a lot of SEO specialists who are really not SEO specialists.
BUT – that is no excuse for boorish behavior.
I wrote in just to let you know that I for one, who pay for SEO services, have read this post and agree with most of what you say here.
Well said Nick. My favorite point is the last one. It’s sad to say but I’ve had to cancel contracts before because of this fact. I’d also like to contribute one more to your list…
Dear potential customers, please don’t call me 12 times a day and expect me to answer each and every time. We do work with others as well…
Ah yes….the RFP response or lack thereof after submitting. As a common courtesy, if we fail to make the cut in an RFP review, it should be required (wishful thinking) that we receive a follow up call with an explanation of our shortcoming. For the half-day or more invested in replying, a 20 minute call is not much to ask for.
Nick, I agree with all your points, but I think we as SEO experts and search marketers carry some of the blame. There’s a real lack of transparency from the very top (Google/Bing) to sharing with clients what worked and what didn’t and why. There are far too many snake-oil peddlers (guaranteed #1 rankings) and clients willing to take shortcuts (JC Pennys). The lack of education leads to a lack of respect and it’s up those in the profession (SEMPO, etc.) to help the unknowing understand the value of what SEO/SEM professionals bring.
Dear potential SEO client, if you wouldn’t skip out on a doctor’s office visit or negotiate the cost of a surgery, why treat someone who can significantly increase your revenue with such little respect?