How do I handle this? Client expects Googles first page in a week? (Not even selling monthly SEO)

Tell her you aren't doing the SEO for her, you are the website designer who just created an optimized site, the SEO to get it to the top is an extra fee.

Manage client expectations from the beginning? Or get a ton of SEO work done asap ? Honestly did you get paid for the SEO work or just the design work?

I hope before you built the website you told her about her doing SEO when its done. This way she knows the "next step".

What you can do is say Google will index the site but if someone types in her URL in the search box she will be #1. To be #1 for her keywords thats extra

Okay then just tell her that it's not in the contract and it's not what you discussed when you spoke to her about her site. The free mobile site thing I can't really help you on

Ok, I think there might be a genuine solution that will make her happy AND not cause you to lose to much valuable time working for free.

Ask her what are a few of the phrases she want to be found in the number one spot for.

Do some quick keyword research for those keywords using something like Traffic Travis (free version)

Traffic Travis will tell you how difficult it is to rank for a particular keyword phrase based on the number of stars. The ranking factors goes from "Easy to Very Difficult"

Get back to her with one or two keyword phrases Traffic Travis has determined is "easy" to rank for. If she wants more than 2 keyword phrases then mention it will be an additional fee per keyword phrase.

One additional thing I would recommend going forward is to not commit to trying to rank keyword phrases that are "difficult or very difficult" per Traffic Travis. Outsourcing SEO , press releases, google plus set up and social media management, to a reputable Warrior or company with a White label or Resellers program might also prove to be your best friend.

One more thing, when you get her on first page for those 2 keyword phrases, have her write a positive review about your SEO services before continuing on with any future work. Be firm here. This will help to CYA (cover your assets) should she become demanding and crazy wanting more SEO work done for free. This review will possibly help keep her in check as she would have a lot of explaining to do if she on the one hand liked your services, wrote a positive review and then went AWALL on ya'

If you have a Wordpress blog for your company then definitely get a recent WSO like RS Testimonial that allows your client to leave a review on your site and have the golden stars show up in Google Places.

I'm sorry to have gone all Columbo on you with the one more thing but I just feel like this client might be a little spitfire.

I think that is where it all went wrong.

For those of us in the industry, an optimized site is just that - a website that is put together properly so the search engines can make sense of it.

But for someone who is not in the loop, "an optimized website" could easily be mistaken for a high ranking one.

As has been suggested before, use simpler - layperson friendly language. If not that, then add a lot more information to the contract about what exactly an optimized website is.

In regards to the free mobile site... Did she know she was getting the mobile site for free when you got started or did she arm-twist you into building her one?

On a different note... You can also use the free service as a bonus to sell other services you offer . From my experience people tend to appreciate a freebie a lot more when they understand it's true value.

So instead of...
John, since we value your business... I'll throw in a mobile version of the website at no cost.

The conversation may go like this...

You: John, we'll have your website up'n running in 2 days...
John: Great!
You: Since we'll build it to focus on generating leads. Getting targeted web traffic to your website will ensure tonnes of new business. How will you promote it?
John: Ah... I will add the information on our business cards and flyers... umm. What do you suggest?
You: That's definitely a brilliant idea, John! It'll start some traffic trickling in... But since you already have the resources to handle a lot of extra business -why don't you/I suggest that you- optimize your website to turbo charge the traffic getting part so you can start getting more clients sooner.
John: (Confused look) Optimize it?
You: Yes. Most people in {city} find local {business type} by searching online. Optimizing would be the process of getting your website to rank higher on the search engines so these targeted clients see your website before your competitors.
John: I like the sound of that! How do I optimize the website?
You: (Briefly explain exactly what is involved in site optimization. For example...) You will want to generate interest in your website through social media. Create helpful content to show your expertise, get relevant links to your website. Promote your website by syndicating articles and video. Get industry related reciprocal links and social bookmarks yada yada.
John: I don't have the time to do all that. Can you help me with that?
You: I can most certainly take care of that for you, John. In fact we have an in-house expert to ensure the best possible results. Typically our optimization service is $475/month. But right now we actually have a special package for {business type}s. For that nominal charge not only will our in-house seo expert optimize your website we'll build you a mobile compatible version of your website - which is usually $975 - absolutely free!
John: Wow! Sign me up...

John is obviously too enthusiastic in the conversation above. But "You" just got a seo contract in addition to the webdesign.

My company has had great success with this approach.

If you want to improve her relationship with her, you might want to try offer something special to her, like helping her to setup email marketing campaign, etc?

I think you'll need to explain to her there are two different parts of ranking on Goole. There is the on-page SEO (optimization) and off-page SEO (link building, etc.). Tell her that what you did was the website development and in-page optimization. That if she really wants to rank on 1st page she'll need to do the off page SEO as well and that is a separate service. In the future make sure you explain this to all clients up front. We have met a lot of clients who were under this same impression tha If they had a website they would be on first page becuase the previous web design company never explained this to them. They were pretty annoyed when we explained why they weren't showing up yet in Google. It's all about educating the customer so they can make an informed decision.

Patrick

Communicating and dealing with clients expectations is key and the problem here is the word 'optimized'. After years of working with local business clients I realized that they have no idea how online marketing works.

You have to educate them and assume they know nothing.

In this case I would make it clear to your client that you have over delivered on your work by providing a fully optimized website that delivers all the right ON PAGE factors for their site to rank ... plus you delivered a mobile site.

Now they need to work on the OFF PAGE factors which were not in your brief. The off page factors account for 90% of SEO and need to be completed regularly.

When we were putting the training videos together for our local business online marketing training we had to create each video so that anyone, their staff or family could work through the modules.

Put it down to experience but ensure you protect your reputation by explaining to the client the difference between on page and off page SEO.

Doesn't matter how well you explain it, how many times and the fact it's in emails, the proposal and signed contract. You'll either get played or have a customer that still doesn't get it. My favorite response is "I haven't gotten any calls yet."

You didn't sell google page 1. You sold and over delivered a market ready website with all the right ingredients for visibility and accessibility and a good user experience. The bonus mobile site is huge but you can't expect every customer to see the value you know it carries.

If you covered site indexing and included it (not all designers do) and explained the Google dance she's giving you an opening to sell internet marketing services. If you didn't cover this you should now and give her a dumbed down explanation because all they want to hear are results.

Either way take the offense position with something like "well, that doesn't surprise me...because...site indexing and google dance, competition, etc. To get on page 1 you'll need to .... The website is your foundation and hub for all of this. I suggest we start with ..."

You can get $100 credit for google adwords and set up a ppc account for her. That niche is likely to give her longer on page 1 than a more competitive one and may be all you need to buy time to see where her site will settle on the strength of the site and onpage seo. But I'd charge her to set it up.

Mercedes. Purely as a business matter, I think you should give the client her money back. This will do you far more good than going back to offer her more services you don't know enough about.

I visited your website and it's clear that you're a copywriter who thinks she's a web developer. There's enough indication in your web copy, and in your original post, to make me believe that you probably made promises you're not qualified to deliver.

I know you don't want to hear this, but do not be discouraged. You can make the leap to web developer when you learn more about it. You're just not ready yet.

You MUST MUST MUST cover all this at the start of the project.

Always assume they are going to assume all sorts of crap and cover it off right at the start.