Have you noticed how much negativity SEO can generate? SEO is very important to an online business yet there does still seem to be a lot of negativity surrounding SEO, especially SEO companies. After hearing some of the horror stories of providers promising to make your website the best and appear top of the search engines in a ridiculously short amount of time and then not delivering on their promise, you can see why there is such negativity surrounding SEO.
Consequently, for the majority of honest SEO providers, it makes it tough to operate in such a market. So, to help, here is our list of 10 tips for becoming a better SEO provider.
Educate your customers
I know what you may be thinking, if I tell our customers how we optimise their sites, they will do it themselves and not pay us to do it. This is not the case. Educating your customers shows your knowledge in SEO and it will reassure your customers you will deliver them their results. It can also help set out expectations of what you can deliver. Most clients are not interested in doing it themselves, if they were, they would research the many tools available to them on the internet and not enquire about your services.
Admit it when you don’t know something
If a client asks you a question and you cannot answer it, don’t make an answer up. You are misleading the clients by doing this and in the long term, you will eventually get found out. Honesty is the best policy. Tell the client you do not have the answer to their question but tell them you will find an answer to their question. After all SEO is a constantly changing environment. There may well be times when you do not always have the answer.
Keep learning about SEO
As I pointed out in my previous point SEO is a constantly changing environment. This is why it would be of benefit to you keep on top of all the changes happening in SEO. No customer wants an SEO provider whose knowledge is 3 or 4 years out of date. They want someone who is up to date with the latest developments.
Dont guarantee results
It is impossible to guarantee your customer they will be top of the major search engines. There are many factors which are out of your control. All you can do is optimize their page to help them achieve the results. Imagine if you promise your customers top rankings and you dont deliver these results, imagine the damage which will be done to your reputation.
Set Expectations
You do not have to guarantee your customers the results. It is realistic for clients to expect timescales on how long it will take you to carry out activities. It would also be beneficial if you educate your customers on what you did for them.
Tell the client what you can deliver
Be straight with the customer. Tell them what you can deliver in what timescale. Use the opportunity to tell them what you cant deliver. There is no point in telling clients you can deliver the world when you cant.
Dont push the boundaries
There is a fine line between white hat and black hat techniques. Make sure you are using white hat techniques and do not even risk using a technique if it can be considered black hat. Imagine the negative press you get when their website gets penalised by major search engines.
Be willing to provide references
This is the best way to tell potential customers that you are the real deal. As I outlined above, there is negativity surrounding SEO. Some customers will be unsure whether they are making the right decision to choose you. Show them references and this goes towards eradicating these fears. One way to do this is provide case studies of past customers in material such as websites.
Dont confuse organic SEO with PPC
This may seem obvious. But it has happened. There may be customers who do not know the difference. If you are a reputable provider, you should explain the difference. It educates the customer and it helps go a long way to getting rid of the negativity surrounding SEO. If the customer does find out you misled them, it will do irreversible damage to you the SEO provider as well as the industry as a whole.
Dont exclude other search engines
Google is the most popular search engine. It has the highest market share. BUT this does not mean that all the other major search engines should be excluded from your optimisation packages. Millions of users everyday still use other search engines such as Yahoo and Bing. It is important you do not limit your services to just Google.
Following these simple rules can go a long way to getting rid of some of the negativity surrounding SEO and can help in gaining your clients trust and reassure them that you are there to help them.
From a customer perspective, you should be checking if your SEO provider follows these guidelines to ensure you are getting the most from your website, SEO company and money.
If you have anything further to add or have experienced
