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What to say to this?

by Paul Tovey
7 replies
  • SEO
    • |
My Boss: "Yes, we can provide you with a full SEO Report of what we've done this month."

Lady: "Well, it says here that you wrote some comments, made a 3x 500 word blog post, made some forums accounts and put some posts up, added some RSS feed, changed some of my website h tag codes and added some back links. I could do any of this, why should I pay you for that?"

My Boss:"uh..."

What do you say to this, how do you explain what an SEO does in a way that doesn't sound simple?
  • Profile picture of the author Icematikx
    Why should she pay you for that? You've done nothing basically.
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    Just got back from a #BrightonSEO. I was given room 404 in the hotel I stayed at. Couldn’t find it anywhere!

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    • Profile picture of the author panic
      1. Time is money, all those things you said take time, that is why she should pay you for it. I could do a lot of things myself but I rather pay others to do them. I have a competitive advantage in some things...and use that to pay others who have it in other things.

      Originally Posted by Icematikx View Post

      Why should she pay you for that? You've done nothing basically.
      This does seem to be relevant, a few crappy backlinks, an article some h tag changes and rss can't take more than an hour or two...not sure what your boss values your time at...but you could outsource that for about $20.
      Signature

      ~

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  • Profile picture of the author zannix
    Originally Posted by Paul Tovey View Post

    I could do any of this, why should I pay you for that?"
    She can also kidnap a cow, feed her grass and milk her every morning to have something to go with the cereals. Or she can... buy a bottle of milk.
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    • Profile picture of the author Karan Rawat
      Originally Posted by zannix View Post

      She can also kidnap a cow, feed her grass and milk her every morning to have something to go with the cereals. Or she can... buy a bottle of milk.
      Yes a cat can't do The Work of a puppy, because she meww..! doesn't barks!
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      1800CS
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  • Profile picture of the author TheContentAuthority
    Paul,

    Good question here. Sometimes we have to deal with people that may have the same level (or close to it) of expertise as us.

    I would say that in this situation, you really have to identify the pain of the customer. For many SEO clients, part of their pain is that they don’t know how to do SEO. It’s the same thing when your transmission gives out or your hot water heater stops working. One of the biggest things stopping you from fixing those items yourself is that you have no clue where to start. For SEO clients that don’t know anything, its easy to sell them.

    On the other hand, a client like the one you illustrate does have some knowledge so you have to identify different pain. In many cases its time. They may know what needs to be done but don’t have the time to do it.

    Frankly paul if you have a client asking this question, it may already be too late to take the approach I explained above. If you have already done work for a client and they are asking why you are doing things they could have done themselves, was there something that was misleading when your boss originally spoke with the client? Or is this just a hypothetical question? The best way to deal with questions like these is to prevent them from coming up in the first place. If you know your client is knowledgeable, sell them on the other ways your service adds value (i.e. saving them time, saving them money).

    Hope that helps,

    Shawn
    Signature
    Outsource to the experts...

    We customize your Blog, eBook, Press Release and Sale Copy content with your message.

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  • Profile picture of the author linkbuildr
    Lol you would have been fired for being a snake oil seo slanging spam.
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    Linkbuildr.com
    @Linkbuildr
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    If you cannot explain the value in what you do, you probably shouldn't be doing it.

    That being said, sounds like the SEO services provided are pretty lacking. That might be what the client is getting at. Not sure what your company is charging, but I wouldn't pay much for the work described.
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