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My client blame me for less visitors & business

by mileagedriver
21 replies
My website is getting visitors and climbed to PR 2 in just two months. The problem is, the website is getting good hits(its on top now) but not business and the client is blaming me for that. I tried to convince him but he is pointing his fingers on me. How do I be reason for no business!!. How to overcome this situation. Any help ?
#blame #business #client #visitors
  • Profile picture of the author Stuart Walker
    So you did some SEO work for him, have got him ranking higher but his business has not increased?

    You should tell him that your job is simply to carry out SEO and rank him in search engines NOT to provide him with business. You can't force his customer to buy his products.
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  • Profile picture of the author mileagedriver
    Yes...I told him the same but he thinks that seo guys needs to pull all visitors and turn them customers. Hectic....but I think I have to face it anyhow!! Thanks for your reply RLF.
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  • Profile picture of the author owenlee
    Go out and try another keyword..the keyword that was ranking might not be the buying keyword...

    Good luck
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  • Profile picture of the author Stuart Walker
    In future when taking on clients, be sure to have a disclaimer that you are in no way responsible for customers actions once they visit the website and you will not guarantee them sales or indeed anything. Your job is simply to carry out the SEO part of things and attempt to improve their rankings.
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    • Profile picture of the author john-7665
      Originally Posted by RockingLastsForever View Post

      In future when taking on clients, be sure to have a disclaimer that you are in no way responsible for customers actions once they visit the website and you will not guarantee them sales or indeed anything.
      I totally agree. In the future you have to establish some limits. You have done your job by bringing a good amount of visits and increasing his rank. The sales are his problem. Maybe he should reconsider the products.
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      Free stuff the guide
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  • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
    Either you/he are targeting non-buying keywords
    OR
    The design/content of the site doesn't grab a visitor's attention enough to make them want to stay on the site.

    Would your client let you post a link?
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    Originally Posted by mileagedriver View Post

    My website is getting visitors and climbed to PR 2 in just two months. The problem is, the website is getting good hits(its on top now) but not business and the client is blaming me for that. I tried to convince him but he is pointing his fingers on me. How do I be reason for no business!!. How to overcome this situation. Any help ?
    I hate to break it to you, but a client can't pay the bills with hits or the number on a toolbar or a SERP ranking. They hire guys like you to make the register ring.

    Outside the SEO world, hits on a page are bandwidth - an expense on the ledger. Unless that expense can be converted to revenue above and beyond the expense, it's a failure.

    I haven't seen a SEO 'consultant' yet that pitched me on just increasing my rank and bringing visitors. Rather, they tell me that they'll get me to the top of Google, where people searching for me will make me rich. "#1 on Google" is the secret password to the treasure trove online.

    As Rose said, either the traffic you're bringing is the wrong traffic or something on your site is turning off the visitors you do bring. And if I'm a paying client, I'm laying either one of those at your feet...
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    • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
      Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

      .....
      As Rose said, either the traffic you're bringing is the wrong traffic or something on your site is turning off the visitors you do bring. And if I'm a paying client, I'm laying either one of those at your feet...
      A tad unfair, perhaps, if he had nothing to do with the design. Although he could, as part of his seo service, offer advice on whether he feels a site is user friendly and will convert.

      Sometimes clients design sites themselves, are wedded to the design (however awful) and simply can't let go.
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  • Profile picture of the author WebEminence
    Explain to him that converting customers is different than ranking in the search engines. You can rank well and pull in huge traffic but if there is no "buy now" button, you aren't gonna make any sales (extreme example). Or what if the price is 50% higher than the market will pay. Again, no sales. There are many reason why a website might not be converting sales and prospects.

    I sometimes turn down clients because I can tell their website will not be successful and they have unrealistic expectations. Bad for business - good for my sanity.
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  • Profile picture of the author talfighel
    You need to explain to him that he has paid you for more rankings and not for more sales. The main problem for him is not you but his offer which as you can see from his complaining that it does not convert.

    Just because their offer is getting a lot of visitors, does not mean that they are going to get a lot of sales. The product may suck. It is the job of the person with the website to work towards a better conversion for what ever he or she sells.

    If their ad copy sucks, no one is going to buy or a low percentage will.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by rosetrees View Post

      A tad unfair, perhaps, if he had nothing to do with the design. Although he could, as part of his seo service, offer advice on whether he feels a site is user friendly and will convert.

      Sometimes clients design sites themselves, are wedded to the design (however awful) and simply can't let go.
      I thought of that before I posted, and it's true that sending visitors to a crap site won't convert. But when the OP posted "my website is getting visitors", I read that as him designing the site. Which would lay conversions on his shoulders, at least in part. The offer made has a lot to do with it as well.

      Originally Posted by mileagedriver View Post

      My website is getting visitors and climbed to PR 2 in just two months. The problem is, the website is getting good hits(its on top now) but not business and the client is blaming me for that. I tried to convince him but he is pointing his fingers on me. How do I be reason for no business!!. How to overcome this situation. Any help ?
      Sometimes clients design awful sites and refuse to change them, and sometimes SEO/web design companies forget what the ultimate goal of a business website is. Instead, they opt to put up sites designed to please an algorithm instead of customers.

      If the site/service was indeed sold on the promise of higher ranking only, the OP may have a legitimate gripe. I just don't see many offers laid out that way.
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  • Profile picture of the author TeamBringIt
    Like mentioned, either the keyword is bad and is a non-buying keyword or his site has horrible conversions. I remember doing PPC for a client and had the same keywords his competition had. The site was a mess and the business owner, did not want to do anything about it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    Originally Posted by mileagedriver View Post

    My website is getting visitors and climbed to PR 2 in just two months. The problem is, the website is getting good hits(its on top now) but not business and the client is blaming me for that. I tried to convince him but he is pointing his fingers on me. How do I be reason for no business!!. How to overcome this situation. Any help ?
    Well, did you promise more business? If you did then that
    is what he will expect. I can't see a client blaming me for
    the lack of what I didn't promise.

    I would imagine that most SEO companies pitch will
    go along the line that they can get you moving up
    in the search engine rankings so you can make more
    money--get more business. What other reason would
    you want exposure for your business?

    So if you did not promise more business then state
    that. You did your job now he has to do his.

    -Ray Edwards
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  • Profile picture of the author seobro
    Back in the 90's a person told me that only 5% of his visitors did buy his product and it should be at least 50% - I am not making this up. I told him that 4% is the industry average. Needless to say, yesterday I was on the internet checking to see if he was able to get his company to survive. Well, the answer is no.
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  • Profile picture of the author fabriano
    What is the goals of the website. No one will buy at the first time when they go to the site.
    Couple things you can do here,
    1 check the google analytics to see what keyword / refer the visitors come to the site
    and why people left the site
    2 is there any CALL to ACTION on each page, this is very basic but most people forget.
    You want to have call to action on each page, either phone number or form to fill out.
    3 if this is your client ( not your business partner ), then do the track on the ranking so you can show him that the ranking and visitors are increasing ( so you have done your part ). and others is not your problem.
    Sometimes, people have to find someone to blame for, and if he is that type of people, you might have to let him go. I have the same problem before.


    Fab
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    Love Fabriano

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  • Profile picture of the author TotalWebsiteControl
    PM me the keywords and i will check them out. Also send me the URL and i will see how good/bad the content is

    Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author MA Robinson
    Regardless of the number of hits the site gets or how high it is in the search engine results page if the product or service is not what the customer wants, nobody should expect any sales at all. Even if you actually get quality traffic but the website has nothing interesting to offer, I would say it's just a waste of time... on the part of the visitor.
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