I just read an interesting article about being a bad seo or being a bad seo client. You can find that article here:
Do You Have a Bad SEO Company, or Are You Just a Bad Client?
That’s an interesting topic because it extends out much further than search engine optimization. This is a topic that touches every service-based business on the planet.
The author of the above piece is making some valid points. He’s saying that sometimes clients do inconsiderate things that make the job of the optimizer very difficult. I agree. As he said, they don’t return calls, they overwrite work. Sometimes they’re just mean. We have clients that pay us down payments and then disappear. That’s not a terrible thing on our end. But it’s not a great relationship.
While all of this goes on, I’m hesitant lay the blame on the client. I feel that if a client mistreats you, doesn’t communicate with you or sabotages your work, it is the service provider who has failed. It isn’t the client.
The service business provider has failed in two ways: They have failed to set realistic expectations. And they have failed to teach people how to treat them.
Every time a client is upset with us, it is always because we didn’t set realistic and clear expectations. This is a major problem with the search engine marketing industry.
So often clients are told that the sun will rise and set with their search engine optimization campaign. They are going to be #1 on all the engines for their best key phrases and the orders are going to come flooding in. I am the first to tell people that conversion rates are better in search than in any other marketing, that it is an ideal way to reach a niche audience, that the dollars you spend on TV and print are going to be much more expensive than the dollars you spend on search. But there are clearly problems with search. First, there is a saturation problem. You can’t reach the numbers of people you can in a newspaper or on TV. Secondly, and most importantly, you have absolutely no control over when, how and if the search engines will index you. If making next month’s payroll is all rolling on whether or not Google is going to get you in its index, I would rather you take that money to Las Vegas. Your odds are probably going to be better at the blackjack tables. Marketing is an endurance game. If you play it as a sprint, you are probably going to lose.
But really, this kind of thing is true with any service business. If you don’t let people know exactly what it is that they will be getting, they are very likely to decide for themselves. That’s going to put you potentially in a very bad position.
The only way you set up good expectations for the search engine optimization field is to keep an ongoing record of all the failures you encounter. Here are some of the things I like to tell people before we set out to work together:
- Key phrase research is done with your input. Expect up to 3 rounds of research and probably 2-3 hours of your time.
- Page optimization takes about 2-3 weeks(a big project will take longer) and then will be uploaded for your approval. Once you approve it we will move it into place.
- Indexing in the search engines will take 45-60 days. Even though your page will probably get indexed there is no guarantee you will appear for your targeted key phrase.
- Search engine positioning reports start 30 days after all of your optimized pages are up and linked on your site.
- The more competitive a phrase is the longer it is going to take to rank well for that phrase. It is possible that one specific phrase will never rank high in the search engines.
- Search engine optimization is nothing more than writing good content and getting good, quality industry-related links. Trust that system and you will not fail.
I know it’s scary telling clients those things up front. But it’s much scarier telling them after they’ve waited 3 months to see their results.
The other thing service business people don’t do is they don’t train people how to treat them. I think sometimes clients look forward to abusing service business people. They can be rude and just plain mean. I refuse to work with anyone who does not treat me with respect. No amount of money is worth any abuse. This is how I handle it, if someone is treating me poorly:
First, I make sure they know that I understand the situation. “So I have made you angry that your site is not coming up for the word “computer”.
Second, once I am sure they know I understand their feelings, I tell them my position. I make them understand how I feel. “I never work with anyone who treats me disrespectfully. No one ever yells at me. Do you understand?
Third, I tell them what I want. “From now on we both will treat each other respectfully and considerately.
I never make any ultimatums at that point. I can decide what to do if they ever treat me poorly again. I can fire them, raise their rates… whatever I want. I’ll tell you what, though. I have never been treated disrespectfully ever again by someone I’ve had that conversation with.
This is Assertive Communication 101. I highly recommend learning more about this if you are working with the public. It will save you a lot of stress.
I went to a Disney Institute seminar once. One of more memorable things they said was:
It may not be your fault but it is your problem.
Taking that stance will significantly help all of the relationships you encounter… business and personal.
