Getting The Best Out Of The Worst: SEO Clients

The field of SEO is Complicated – you have to worry about algorithm updates, keyword density, changes in search traffic, and creating amazing content. In addition to this, there is the client who has their own ideas about what SEO is and How it should be implemented on their site.

With these inflexible ideas come clients who will be easy to work with and those that will take a bit more work.
A client that seems to come with “problems” isn’t essentially wrong, they just require you to expand your view on how to run your campaigns and collaborate with your SEO clients.

So how do you Deal with Clients who have their own ideas about how their campaign should be run? The first step is to analyze the situation and then prepare a solution.  So, where is your client coming from?
Once you believe their point of view, you can work towards rotating the client relationship into an ongoing partnership that is both productive and successful. 

The Unresponsive Client

The Situation: Sandy, the owner of a local company, was very excited to start improving her SEO with your company, but now she has missing steam and isn’t returning your phone calls or emails. You have reached out to her twice a week through email and have left some messages on her answering machine and with her secretary.

The Solution: Sandy is the owner, this means she has a lot on her plate and she might feel like she doesn’t have time to meet you. With that being said, make the attempt to get yourself on her schedule and meet with her. Set up a time to go visit Sandy at her office. By putting yourself in direct contact with Sandy, you will be able to ask her if she is pleased with your efforts and catch her up on her SEO campaign. Make sure to have a list of all probable questions, since you might not in contact with her again anytime soon.
Remember, Sandy is super busy so you need to be efficient, but also make sure she understands the value of your service and get her excited about the campaign again.

The Controlling Client
The Situation: Bill is the marketing coordinator at a local corporation. Bill is requesting that he approve every detail you want to modify on the site. This is creating a problem for results because he takes longer to approve changes than you would like.

The Solution: Bill isn’t wrong in wanting to have a say in his campaign, you just need to change the way you approach him. Since you are previously working with Bill, start preparing everything you want to do during the next month now.
Once you have a comprehensive list together, set up a timeline for when you will have things over to him for approval and dates they need to be approve by.
Make Bill feel like he is on the team and so he can see his significance to the campaign’s success.

The Know-It-All Client

The Situation: Kelvin is the vice president of an international company. He has come to you looking to improve his SEO and has a lot of ideas on how to do it. Once you work through his site pointing out places you can make improvements, he says that he will make those improvements and wants you to instead work on adding the up-and-coming technology to his site. The latest advancements aren’t standard yet and adding them to the site will prevent a large part of their goal audience from accurately seeing their website.

The Solution: Be honest with yourself and with Kelvin. You are not here to offer free ideas to Kelvin. Take a step back and examine your relationship. First try reasoning with him, show Kelvin that your skill set and tools will be able to take his campaign to a place he won’t be able to and let him know that the advanced technologies are not going to optimize his website. If he is still dead set on you applying the new technology on his site, then it might be time to end your relationship with Kelvin on the SEO front and look for other ways that you can aid him in his SEO efforts, such as a website redesign.

The Uninvolved Client
The Situation: Alpesh Sharma, a business owner, lives in a different part of the state. He has hired your firm to provide the SEO because she has heard great things about your company. He has told you that he just wants you to get his to the top of the search engine results. He doesn’t care how you do it, she just wants you to make it happen.

The Solution: Try to have as much contact with Alpesh Sharma as you need while remembering he has allowed you to make executive decisions. Alpesh Sharma will be a great client as long as you set his expectations and make sure he understands that SEO takes time and she can’t expect to be number one tomorrow. Let his know of successes and keep his updated weekly even if he doesn’t respond. He will be appreciative that you are trying to inform her of what has been going on with her SEO.

When it comes down to it, remember that even the toughest situations can be turned around. You just have to show the client your value with results. Let them know that you will be able to devote the time needed to their campaign on a standard basis. Fill them in on any major changes as you get ready to make them.

Even if you are only making minor changes, update them weekly so they feel involved. Don’t forget to set realistic expectations for search traffic and completely explain your process so that the client fully understands what they are getting from your services.

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