I admit it, our SEO services are pretty bad.
Speaking of bad, the Beatles couldn't sing a tune, John Grisham has never written a decent novel, Dell makes crappy computer's, TiVo's and iPods suck, the Lord of the Rings movies lacked imagination and video killed the radio star. (OK, that last one might actually be true!)
Do you see where this is going? To somebody, one or more of the above statements are true. Not to the vast majority, but some people do feel that way. No matter what the product or service there will always be those that are dissatisfied. Have you ever heard of a company with a 100% customer satisfaction rate (outside of their own marketing gibberish)? I haven't.
There have been a number of blog and forum posts and articles recently about what to do if you're with a bad SEO company. All good advice, but sometimes it's not the SEO that's bad, its the client. Yeah, that's right, sometimes the client's are just plain clueless, have unreasonable expectations, or fall prey to the "grass is greener" scenario presented by competition. Yes, sometimes clients are bad.
It's Not You, It's Me!
Like every other company, product and service on the planet, search engine optimization firms will always have dissatisfied clients.
Our firm has a significant number of very satisfied clients since 1998. We have also had a handful of clients that walked away dissatisfied with our services. I'm sure the same is true with every other SEO company out there. Does that make them bad SEOs? No, not necessarily.
Can good SEOs sometimes produce bad results for their clients? Absolutely. Happens all the time. Let me give you a few examples.
We worked with one client for several years. In the early phases of their campaign they selected some really poor keywords. We let them know this but they were insistent that we move forward. We were able to get most of their keywords ranked very well on the search engines, but as we suspected, sales did not increase. Every few weeks the client would call us asking if there was anything else that can be done to increase sales. We often made suggestions on how to improve their site along with recommending they change their optimized keywords. The site improvements they considered and often made. They keyword changes were considered but never approved. Eventually they left us.
We often find clients changing their website causing our optimization efforts to be overwritten with un-optimized versions of their pages. Those clients will then call us wondering why their rankings dropped. Duh! When this happens repeatedly with the same client you start to realize that you're just not going to get any good sustainable results. [Shameless plug: our new CodeMonitor tool notifies SEOs and/or clients when page changes are made.]
Still other clients have limited our ability to optimize their websites with all kinds of restrictions. Don't change this, can't change that. There is always a "good" reason, but when your hands are tied there is only so much that you can do.
So What's the Problem?
I recently had a client leave dissatisfied because his rankings dropped for a couple of weeks and he felt we just were "not working for him" anymore. The worst part about it is that he just canceled the contract without talking to me or anyone on our team to find out what's going on. I took me several emails and phone messages to find out why he left.
We often get calls and emails from clients asking why rankings dropped which affords us the opportunity to explain things and usually ask for patience as these type of fluctuations occur every now and then. One client did just that and once his rankings popped back into the top positions he emailed me just to say, "hey, you were right!".
We get a lot of calls (and clients) that come to us from other SEO firms that just didn't pan out for them. Before I go off telling them that their SEO company is bad I try to find out a few things. How long have they been optimizing your site? What changes have they made? Is their name Traffic Power? Etc., etc. A few such questions will usually give me what I need to know to determine if they have cause to jump ship or not. If they have been with the company only for a few months I usually tell them to hang tough and give them a chance to produce results. Unfortunately SEO does take time, especially when a site gets sandboxed, and you wont' always know that you're with a bad firm for quite some time.
Talk to Me, Baby!
Communication is the key. If you have difficulty getting calls and emails returned, or are not quite sure what your SEO company is doing for you, then there is a good chance you're not with a great firm.
One company came to us from one of the largest SEO firms after their one-year contract expired. We checked their rankings only to find sub-standard results. There were no penalization or sandbox issues, just lack of good performance. I was able to determine that their current firm simply wasn't doing a good enough job. Once this client signed with us we were able to get most of their keywords on the first page within the first two months.
nother firm came to us after their previous SEO got them banned from Google. Coming to us we couldn't guarantee any more than we would fix their site to make it compliant with search engine guidelines and work aggressively to get them back into the index. After fixing the spam issues, and several months wait? and several phone calls asking "when", Google finally re-included them, and with great rankings on top of it.
Denial is Often the First Sign of a Problem
Nobody wants to think they are a bad client, but here are some signs:
The signs of a bad firm are pretty obvious, bad communication, spammy optimization, getting your site banned, etc. If you work with one of them then run away as soon and as fast as you can. It's usually pretty easy to tell a good from a bad. Communicate with (don't harass) your SEO firm. A trustworthy and respectable firm will keep open lines of communication. Just be ready to listen to what they have to say and implement recommendations that they provide, even if those recommendations are to be patient.
Maybe it's you. Maybe it's them. Get the facts before you do anything. You definitely don't want to be stuck with a firm that's just sucking your money away and doing very little work for it. On the other hand, you don't want to jump ship mid-way in what will turn out to be a substantially rewarding campaign just because things didn't happen fast enough. Before you dump your SEO, make sure the problem isn't you!
Stoney deGeyter is president of Pole Position Marketing, a professional search engine optimization and marketing firm providing SEO services since 1998. Stoney is also a part-time instructor at the community College in Reno, Nevada where he resides as well as a moderator in the Small Business Ideas Forum. You can read his SEM blog at (EMP) E-Marketing Performance. You can email him with any questions at stoney@polepositionmarketing.com
In parts 1 - 5 you learnt how to develop... Read More
When exploring good keyword choices there are several steps one... Read More
HELP! My PR page rank is grey, call the development... Read More
Getting top search engine listing is perhaps one of the... Read More
1) Title Tag - The title tag is the most... Read More
Search engine optimization is very important for your online business... Read More
Localized search engine optimization is often overlooked as an excellent... Read More
Search engines are frugal things. (Froogle, too, haha! Sorry, lame... Read More
A few months ago I was looking through the search... Read More
I came across a new website the other day and... Read More
In the Global Internet era the industry presence is undoubtedly... Read More
Definition:Google banning occurs when Google removes your site from its... Read More
Google, the most popular, and many say best, search engine,... Read More
Search engine optimization is THE most cost effective way for... Read More
Keyword Research is the first task in optimizing your web... Read More
Back in November 2004 I discovered a way to get... Read More
I want to touch base with selecting the title of... Read More
The Dream: You wake up one morning and notice your... Read More
Getting listed in Yahoo! (The Very Top Search Engine/Index) is... Read More
It all happened 3 months back, I have a blog... Read More
Among the many things you need to worry about for... Read More
We all know that the most targeted traffic we can... Read More
If you want to develop a successful search engine optimization... Read More
One thing is for sure, you don't want to spend... Read More
I am ranked #1 for that silly phrase at Google.... Read More
We all want to get our websites high up in... Read More
In this three part article, you'll find many tools that... Read More
With Google delivering so much traffic, it is only normal... Read More
After the latest PR update at Google and MSN's beta... Read More
It's difficult to dispute the rational behind the rant since... Read More
SEO training can be overwhelming. There are literally hundreds of... Read More
If you've been feeling like Tom Cruise climbing up the... Read More
For those of you who are not familiar... Read More
In a perfect world, everyone would be honest.In a perfect... Read More
Uniquely built web sites can create unique issues when being... Read More
Webmasters always anxiously wait for a search engine update. Those... Read More
Computers have become a way of life for people around... Read More
Google is quickly changing...With the big buzz of Novembers fall... Read More
Keyword Research will reveal answers to 3 critical questions:1. Is... Read More
It is a well known fact that writing, distributing and... Read More
It's no secret that Search Engine marketing can drive significant... Read More
The point of optimizing your website is so that you... Read More
In order that someone finds your website and buys your... Read More
Search engine copywriting has become an extremely important part of... Read More
You have heard the phrase LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION. But wait,... Read More
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is something you should be aware... Read More
This is the first lesson out of 6 that teaches... Read More
Almost all SEO's agree that using too much javascript can... Read More
Listed here you will find the five of the most... Read More
Search engine optimization is the process of increasing the amount... Read More
I get half of the world traffic for the term... Read More
Introduction"Link Popularity" ? these words may have caught your attention... Read More
If you are a webmaster, then you've probably submitted your... Read More
When online "Use it. Use it. Use it."Google is our... Read More
You've got a cool new website with all the works:... Read More
If you've been involved in SEO (search engine optimization) for... Read More
You need to be extremely careful with keyword research so... Read More
"HLE" is a bit of a joke term, (or possible... Read More
Purchasing web design service is confusing with all of the... Read More
Unfortunately, not many Search Engine Optimization companies know what this... Read More
Welcome to part two in this search engine optimization series.... Read More
Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world. You may... Read More
Lately, there have been a lot of heated discussions regarding... Read More
Search Engine traffic has always been and continues to be... Read More
The Budget Webmaster's 6 Step Guide to Improving Existing Rankings... Read More
What do the words "Search Engine" make you think of?... Read More
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) |