Working with SEO clients
SEO Client Expectations by Jill Whalen of "High Rankings.com" and author of "The Nitty-gritty of Writing for the Search Engines."The other day a new client of mine wrote to say how busy they were,
and although they wanted to proceed with an SEO campaign, they weren't
sure how much time they could personally invest in it. They asked me
to spell out what we'd be expecting from them and how much time it
might take. This client knew that a professional SEO campaign is a
team effort and wanted to be sure that they would be able to do their
part.
It was really a great question to ask.
Many clients never think about that aspect until the campaign has
already been kicked off and we start nagging them for things we'll
need to get started. For instance, there's some essential information
that needs to be provided by the company before any SEO work can get
off the ground. This includes target audience information, keyword
phrase ideas, recent statistics and reports, and info regarding the
overall goals of the campaign. It also helps to be provided with an
overview of any SEO work that may have been previously been done to
the site.
Once the campaign gets underway, there is some additional client
involvement needed. For example, during the keyword research phase,
the client will need to review the keyword lists and remove irrelevant
phrases, then order the relevant ones in terms of importance to their
business. It's critical to have the client involved in this phase,
because as much as we know the SEO side of things, the client will
always know their business better than we could.
We'd also need to run any copyediting and/or copywriting by the client
for their approval. Once these are approved, and HTML tags are
created, we'd need someone to create the HTML files or templates, and
then upload them to the client's server. This normally falls under
their Webmaster's jurisdiction, as many clients don't like to provide
full server access to anyone outside of their company.
The bottom line is that in the end, it is the client's site, and
therefore it's imperative to keep the lines of communication open at
all times -- especially where changes are being made to the visible
content on the site. At the beginning of any project, there will
generally be more client involvement necessary than later on in the
game. Once things kick into high gear, the approval process should be
much easier and less time-consuming.
In addition, we've found that clients appreciate it when we provide
them with our info in manageable chunks, instead of a ton of stuff to
approve at once. It also helps to have one point of contact and a
smart Webmaster on the client's side who can quickly and easily make
the recommended changes.
This info should help both SEOs and potential SEO clients understand
what might be expected of them during the SEO process. Getting it out
in the open before a contract is signed, and in fact, adding it to all
proposals, should avoid many problems and lag time once the campaign
begins.
Jill Whalen of High Rankings is an internationally recognized search engine optimization consultant and host of the free weekly High Rankings Advisor search engine marketing newsletter.
She specializes in search engine optimization, SEO consultations and seminars. Jill's handbook, The Nitty-gritty of Writing for the Search Engines teaches business owners how and where to place relevant keyword phrases on their Web sites so that they make sense to users and gain high rankings in the major search engines
posted by Jen @ 5:48 AM
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