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

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:

1. Communication is the key.
2. 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. 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.

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.

1. Did I shared clearly what I am going to offer ?
2. Did I gave my best to earn the trust of client ?
3. 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 (SEO Project Management Part -2), Will try to cover other issues shared by other friends till then keep Googling 🙂