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SEO 101 for clients

by chaotic squid
16 replies
  • SEO
    • |
So, I'm going to be giving some advice to a local small business about how they can improve their search engine rankings and ways to better market themselves online. They have a very basic online presence and the manager's brother made their current site (cookie-cutter template and no optimization). I was talking to the main manager about their current online strategy but she has no technical knowledge and I start to lose her as soon as I start talking about heading tags, titles, anchor text, backlinks, etc..

I guess I'm mainly wondering how some of you go about talking to your clients about SEO? Do you give em a lecture? Beat around the bush? Tell them you'll just take care of everything?
#101 #clients #seo
  • Profile picture of the author fastreplies
    Tell them:
    You wanna have visitors = sells, we can buy them. The word is Marketing.

    As soon you start confusing them with words like SEO, SERP... forget about it.



    fastreplies
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  • Profile picture of the author chaotic squid
    Thanks fastreplies, yea I may need a simpler approach
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    What's the clients goal by hiring you? Are you supposed to be training them on SEO, or doing the SEO yourself?

    If they're hiring you to do the SEO for them, why bother going into detail for something they won't understand? Do they even want to understand? Example, If the transmission went out on my vehicle I don't need to know the details, I need to know the transmission was fixed properly (does the car move?) & how much it will cost me.

    Unless a business has dedicated in house tech support, doubtful they want to know the fine details, they most likely only care about ranking in the SERPs for their keywords (traffic/$$).
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    • Profile picture of the author nik0
      Banned
      In today's climate people probably want to know a little more what the SEO is doing.

      People are not stupid or something, if they know about ranking in Google they also know about the risks of it.
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      • Profile picture of the author yukon
        Banned
        Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

        In today's climate people probably want to know a little more what the SEO is doing.

        People are not stupid or something, if they know about ranking in Google they also know about the risks of it.
        That's easily proven wrong by the thousands of people buying junk links. That still happens today in 2013 & it will still happen in 2014, 2015, etc...

        You can't undue the internet, there's been 15 years worth of millions of people selling junk. That stuff will be floating around the net for the next 50 years. Now pile on all the new junk being created every day...

        You can't save the world. Besides, most don't want to be saved, they have $5 burning a hole in their pocket (junk links).
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        • Profile picture of the author nik0
          Banned
          Originally Posted by yukon View Post

          That's easily proven wrong by the thousands of people buying junk links. That still happens today in 2013 & it will still happen in 2014, 2015, etc...

          You can't undue the internet, there's been 15 years worth of millions of people selling junk. That stuff will be floating around the net for the next 50 years. Now pile on all the new junk being created every day...

          You can't save the world. Besides, most don't want to be saved, they have $5 burning a hole in their pocket (junk links).
          How many people do you still see selling Senuke campaigns on this forum?

          Well I can tell you a lot less then last year, and I know quite a few of those people and often got questions from those sellers if my business was also so bad lately. Not really lol.

          Years ago when I called a few companies to offer SEO services I already got bombarded with questions if it was all safe and well so I imagine it only got worse these days.

          There's quite a difference between people planning to spend a few hundred month and the ones buying a gig for 5 bucks.
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          • Profile picture of the author yukon
            Banned
            Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

            How many people do you still see selling Senuke campaigns on this forum?

            Well I can tell you a lot less then last year, and I know quite a few of those people and often got questions from those sellers if my business was also so bad lately. Not really lol.

            Years ago when I called a few companies to offer SEO services I already got bombarded with questions if it was all safe and well so I imagine it only got worse these days.

            There's quite a difference between people planning to spend a few hundred month and the ones buying a gig for 5 bucks.
            This forum still has thousands of pages based on junk links, & I'm sure there's several people still filling orders for the same types of links.

            Lol, have you ever known any link seller that would tell a client his/her links aren't safe? They're all safe, all you have to do is ask. :rolleyes:

            There's no difference when someone is shopping for the lowest price, one guys $5,000 budget is another guys $5 budget, most people still think they're getting the upper hand on a link seller when they find the lowest priced seller. Even million dollar business cheap out, remember JCpenney?
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            • Profile picture of the author paulgl
              The best advice to give local businesses, is to start advertising.
              Forget SEO. Then go with maps, yelp, etc. They need no SEO or
              website, for that matter.

              Any local business that is going to rely on SEO, is DOA.

              Paul
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              • Profile picture of the author yukon
                Banned
                Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

                The best advice to give local businesses, is to start advertising.
                Forget SEO. Then go with maps, yelp, etc. They need no SEO or
                website, for that matter.

                Any local business that is going to rely on SEO, is DOA.

                Paul
                I don't know about anyone else but I search Google SERPs for local business.

                This is how I personally search (subject + my zip code):
                • plumber 12345
                • landscaper 12345
                • pizza 12345
                • etc...

                I'll search Google maps for driving directions, other than that G Maps is a bit clumsy & doesn't offer much info. about a business. I know they have Pages but that stuff is basically hidden, I find it easier to look at a web page owned by the business.


                The examples above (plumber, landscaper, pizza) don't really require me to travel anywhere, they all show up at my front door with a phone call. Still, I want to see a business web page & possibly a special promotion (ex: pizza deal).

                I've never done my own searches for a business on Yelp or online yellow pages. Maybe I'm just getting old?
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              • Profile picture of the author chaotic squid
                Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

                They need no SEO or
                website, for that matter.
                Paul
                What!? No website or seo? I believe every business should have a website, at least for info, awareness, and credibility. Seo too for local searches, very important imo.
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            • Profile picture of the author nik0
              Banned
              Originally Posted by yukon View Post

              This forum still has thousands of pages based on junk links, & I'm sure there's several people still filling orders for the same types of links.
              Perhaps but most are threads that hardly ever get bumped anymore. Do you keep an eye on it on almost daily base? I do to check on which page my threads are and I can tell you that I see a LOT less crappy public link building services at the front page.


              Originally Posted by yukon View Post

              There's no difference when someone is shopping for the lowest price, one guys $5,000 budget is another guys $5 budget, most people still think they're getting the upper hand on a link seller when they find the lowest priced seller. Even million dollar business cheap out, remember JCpenney?
              Of course there is a HUGE difference, when I plan to buy a second hand car for $10.000,- I put a lot more time into it then when I look for a $500 car. With an extra check from the ANWB (car organization in Holland that tests a car for 250,-) in case I don't have anyone with me with expertise etc etc.

              Same applies when buying a TV, you're not going to compare a lot more when you plan to spend $2000,- for a TV instead of a tv for 200-300 bucks for your kid in the sleeping room.
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              • Profile picture of the author yukon
                Banned
                Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

                Perhaps but most are threads that hardly ever get bumped anymore. Do you keep an eye on it on almost daily base? I do to check on which page my threads are and I can tell you that I see a LOT less crappy public link building services at the front page.
                Yes, I still see people asking about fiverr type SEO, that means they're looking to buy junk links.




                Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

                Of course there is a HUGE difference, when I plan to buy a second hand car for $10.000,- I put a lot more time into it then when I look for a $500 car. With an extra check from the ANWB (car organization in Holland that tests a car for 250,-) in case I don't have anyone with me with expertise etc etc.

                Same applies when buying a TV, you're not going to compare a lot more when you plan to spend $2000,- for a TV instead of a tv for 200-300 bucks for your kid in the sleeping room.
                You're missing the point, $5,000 to a lot of people isn't much money, on the other hand $500 is a lot of money to some people.

                Trust me, stupid purchases has no boundaries when it comes to money. Again... JCPenney.

                Go on & save the world If you want to, lol. Keep in mind most don't want to be saved because they know a guy with lower cost links than what you have.
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  • Profile picture of the author bigcat1967
    In the past, it seems like every client had studied up on SEO. In my case, there wasn't much explaining to do, however, they would send me emails with links to articles on various ways to do SEO. They would always ask if we could do it this way or that and try to steer from the original plan. I always hated that.
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  • Profile picture of the author creztor
    Don't get technical. Tell them what they need to know. Break it down to the basics and explain why what you can do for them will make them money and how.
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  • Profile picture of the author kmanbloquet
    Most people fail to understand the value of SEO. All they want to see is that they get more traffic and thus more sales. You must educate people on the value of search engine optimization so that they can understand why they are paying you.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ben West
    My advise is simple. Tell them that it is complicated, explain how that it is complicated, but end every sentence with "which means you earn more money!".

    But most of all, just tell them the truth. I find my client love nothing more than transparency.
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