Innovative SEO : Inbound Marketing Blog

Hello Friends,

With this post, I am starting a blog series namely “Project Inception“

Why : Few days back, I got a couple of questions on Facebook from industry colleagues on SEO Project Management & managing SEO clients. So, I thought to share my experience in SEO Project Management with my readers & as a result “Project Inception”.

Here we go with the first post in the series.

Managing Awkward SEO Clients with Tight Budget

Image Source : www.SEOGreezer.com

So, My friend had a client who,

Thought that SEO guys are owning Google
Not raising budget for content
Keep asking for suggestion and they getting agree on the same as well but not ready to implement the same…. Same process repeat…

My Response:

Communication is the key.
Branding / Trust makes your life easy.

Okey, Now let’s try to understand it with an example.

During my employment with a company, I came across such client who has no idea how Google works, and beside this he tends to work with TV/Print media so looking for quick results as well. The real issue was, Client was already dissatisfied with Development task of his project with so has lost trust & became more aggressive.

Now, Before starting the project, what I did is sent couple of Videos to client about How Google works, Prepared a presentation on What is SEO , How it works & Why Google ranks the best site & What are the solutions for quick results-concepts that are deeply rooted in SEO fundamentals.

We had arranged a Quick Project Kickoff meeting, where I asked couple of question to client about his objective behind creating a website then I have explained the client the integrity of the project, what I can deliver, How quick with the Presentation. Documented the minutes & got it approved by the client.

By the end of 3 months, the Client who was unhappy with the Development team & blaming management team, now satisfied with SEO performance. BOOM…Miracle, Client is happy

Well, So what’s that which worked with me ?

Earned Trust:
I have added client on various Social media platform.
Keep sharing my updates by Google on this platform with the client.
Keep updating him with weekly reports with a note : WE ARE DOING PROGRESS

Communication :
Set clear expectations with Documentation
Set clear idea what matters to client (Visits / leads / design ?)
Send 4 point mailer weekly to client with Current status, what I needed from him, Why & How it will help.
Reminder mails on what I need along with helpful resources by which he can get things done for me.

Results :
Got few local results in short span of time.

So, here things which worked favor in me is basically, the Trust factor & Communication. Mostly, Business do not fail because of Bad services or Products, it gets fail because, they failed to fill the expectations which they have communicated in their marketing. This becomes even more critical when working on SEO for startups, where expectations and timelines need to be crystal clear.

I hope This helps you to get insights to reevaluate what went wrong with the client in your case. Just ask this 3 simple questions.

Did I shared clearly what I am going to offer ?
Did I gave my best to earn the trust of client ?
Did I communicated clearly – with an intention to help & not to blame ?

If your answer is Yes, for all then, I think you did your part best.

Yes, I do agree that certain clients are stubborn but that because no one has educated him/her about how it works right? In that case, we left with 2 choice, either educate the client Or just decline the project. What to choose is your choice: P

Please share your thoughts in comments section, here is your chance to COMMUNICATE, Loud & Clear so that I can be more specific where required.

In the next post, i.e. SEO Project Management Part 2, Will try to cover other issues shared by other friends till then keep Googling 🙂