5 Sure Fire Ways To Win Your SEO Clients’ Hearts

Author: Gab Goldenberg

This is a guest post by Arnold Zafra for TopHost.gr, a hosting company offering shared web hosting plans as well as dedicated servers. The English is a little awkward at points, but Arnold still shares some valuable tips.

So, you just snagged a deal with a client. Everything seems to flow smoothly and according to plan. You’re able to deliver the goods, but somewhere along the way, you client become restless and starts playing hardball.

And you wonder what could you be possibly doing wrong? Why is the deal running not so smoothly, where in fact you’re doing everything that you promised to do. How can you re-establish rapport with your client especially when your SEO deal is still ongoing?

Here are five easy ways of improving your relationship with SEO clients.

1. Check if you’re bringing the goods you promised

If you set a deadline to achieve first page SERPs ranking for you client’s site, check whether you have achieved it. If not and you’re already nearing the deadline, explain to your client your progress. And assure him that you’re going to achieve the agreed target.

If you think that you won’t be able to achieve the set target, explain to your clients the reason why you’re not going to meet the deadline and if possible ask for a reconsideration or extension. Then work doubly hard to make sure that you achieve the target the next time as earlier as you can.

2. Explain intangible SEO results/achievements

Use all the available analytics tools to explain to your client what your SEO work has achieved so far for the client’s website. Present site traffic trending, traffic spikes and downturns and site related statistics in the simpler terms that can be understood by your client. These results/achievements may not be fully understood by your client so much so that the client may think that you are not doing anything. So, it is of utmost important that the client understand the nature of SEO work.

3. Listen to client’s follow-up requirements

If in case your client demands some extra output from you, gladly listen and find out whether what is being asked for is achievable and within reason. Avoid replying in a negative way, unless you want to lose your client’s trust. If what the client is asking for is not achievable, explain the prerequisites to achieve it and negotiate whether the client is amenable to amending your SEO contract to reflect the changes in the client’s requirements.

4. Explain what you are doing in the simplest layman’s terms possible

We got to admit that the SEO field is full of technical jargons that only we SEO workers can understand. Hence to improve your relations with your clients, it is a must that the two of you are in the same level of understanding in terms of general knowledge about SEO terminologies.

5. Establish a personal relationship

Many people will tend to disagree with this point. And there’s nothing wrong with that since SEO is still a business endeavor and so client relationship must remain at the business level. But then, the SEO field is still an informal industry characterized by workers who go against the norms if those norms are not technically related. So there’s nothing really wrong about establishing a good relations with client. And to achieve “good client relations” that relationship may or can extend to a more personal level.

Being friendly towards another still works, no matter how old of a business trick it is.

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Comments

  1. I think that sending your client a monthly report with the state of the site ranking and traffic using google analytics is very impressive. But I still think that the old fashioned way of personal reltionships wins it all, every time.

    Comment by ????? ???? - December 29, 2009 @ 2:42am
  2. You can tell this is written by someone who english isn't their first lanaguage but some great sentiments though.

    Comment by kelvin newman - December 29, 2009 @ 4:53am
  3. The most important points I come across time and time again are that I constantly need to explain SEO in very simple layperson terms. I don't mind; as long as the client is learning and understanding what I'm doing, things work well. I find the explanation in point #5 very curious, because nobody does business with you without some sort of personal relationship. There's really nothing wrong with establishing good relations with a client? Ummm...actually, it's critical.

    Comment by Nancy E. Wigal - December 30, 2009 @ 5:46am
  4. Communication is probably one of the most important things when managing an SEO client. Always communicate and build that relationship.

    Comment by Nick Stamoulis - January 4, 2010 @ 12:52pm
  5. I agree with Nick Stamoulis, that communicating regularly and managing your clients expectations is important.

    Comment by Jamie Search - January 6, 2010 @ 6:21am
  6. I agree with Nick Stamoulis in some points but i also disagree with him in some points you can only win the heart of your client by providing excellent services

    Comment by khushi - January 15, 2010 @ 1:06pm

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