Comments on: SEO Witchcraft: Use Keywords on Your Clients

By: Gaurav Gurbaxani

Gaurav Gurbaxani — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:06:46 +0000

I think the most important thing is to constantly communicate and educate your client. Keeping it as transparent is important.
Especially things like backlink building we generally include the exact location of the post as well as the written article.

Clients would be happy to see that the commments actually add value to the existing blog as stay away from the usual spammy stuff.

By: Angie Haggstrom

Angie Haggstrom — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 22:27:39 +0000

Hey Ben,

Link was well deserved 🙂 And hey, I’m pretty sure that qualifies me for 50% of the profits doesn’t it? Well, so long as SEP lives, I’ve got proof of the site’s origins lol

Angie Haggstrom
SEP/Angie’s Copywriting

By: Ben McKay

Ben McKay — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:36:03 +0000

P.P.S. typo: “embarressed” – how embarrassing! lol

By: Ben McKay

Ben McKay — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:34:28 +0000

Thanks for the mention Angie!

Totally agree on so many of the points raised above. For ongoing client relationships, data-collection, education, workflow agreements and reporting can all make the relationship far more honest and effective, which can remove strain on the expectation for immediate results too. Backtracking for data and clarification is a no-go so often with agencies and consultants as they are embarressed by their poor service in retrospect, so getting those bits lined-up at the earliest opportunity can make a massive difference! Cool stuff.

P.s. I’m off to buy DrinkingandDomainBuyingDoesntMix.com 😉

By: Angie Haggstrom

Angie Haggstrom — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 03:44:40 +0000

Chris — I couldn’t agree with you more. The worst part of that story is that many clients not only want this kind of ‘cheap route to millions’, many of them insist on it only to find out that it wasn’t the best route after all.

Sean — Sure, that sounds great. I have to admit that even I enjoy seeing my site hit number one for silly terms, but I do understand the difference between profitable keywords and those that aren’t. However, I can’t help but think it could work to your advantage in a way, particularly for highly competitive terms.

Thanks you two. Greatly appreciated.

Angie Haggstrom
SEP/Angie’s Copywriting

By: Sean Morrissy

Sean Morrissy — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 10:12:28 +0000

You made some good points there, I’m going to forward this to a friend of mine who runs his own SEO company. I teach people about it and find that they start to love SEO even if you can get them ranking for an obscure keyword that no one even types into Google.

Even though it’s not going to give them great results, people seem to love to see their website at the top of page one, regardless of the keyword.

Have fun!

Sean

By: Chris Benedetto

Chris Benedetto — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:05:39 +0000

Great read! As a sales person I know first hand you better know your customer inside and out and know their expectations up front. There are too many competitors out there selling an “off the shelf” or “cookie cutter” solution to anyone that will listen.

If you are going to sell something that most of population can not understand the value of you must believe in your team 100% and that they can deliver the goods and then show the customer in a true and clear picture.

By: Angie Haggstrom

Angie Haggstrom — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:43:40 +0000

Hey Miguel,

You’ve just made my day 🙂 And as for the snake oil thing, I have a lot to say about that too, and I’m afraid a lot of it is asked for. But, that’s a whole new blog post!

Thanks,

Angie
SEP/Angie’s Copywriting

By: Miguel Salcido

Miguel Salcido — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:21:32 +0000

Angie, you’ve done it again! You’re quickly becoming one of my favs.

Getting clients to “SEE” the value has always been one of the biggest challenges. Even when there is super clear conversion data like, sales (with ecommerce clients), or clear lead form conversion, clients often can’t SEE the value.

Unfortunately its all the snake oil salesmen out there that have give people a negative connotation towards SEO, which doesn’t help either.

By: Cary Johnson

Cary Johnson — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:59:15 +0000

Hey Nick,

You hit the nail on the head. Too many SEO companies are giving price without even looking at the site. Although the client does not need to understand all of the work that goes into it, they need to understand the work you are going to do and the expected result. A good SEO company will understand the client’s goals and current site architecture before determing costs.

Thanks for the post!

Cheers!
Cary
eVisibility