Client Education in Search Engine Optimisation
A recent busy period at work has unfortunately been beset by a catalogue of complications and problems (not my making I may hasten to add). This has highlighted to me the importance of client education and an effective project management strategy.
I have always been of the view that any relationship, be it business or pleasure, is a two way affair and requires a mutual understanding of roles and boundaries. In order for business relationships to develop and grow it is important that a firm foundation of understanding is set out at the beginning so that everyone involved is fully aware of the project boundaries, areas of responsibility, project goals and any timescales/deadlines involved. If this is done correctly, the whole process has a better chance of running in a smooth, professional and cost effective manner. From experience, I have found that where these details are not clearly set out and agreed to in the early stages, then this will often result in a long drawn out and painful affair potentially resulting in bad feeling and wasted time and money.
Below I have tried to formulate some of my ideas in making the process of client education and of managing client expectations smoother in relation to the search engine optimisation of their website.
Reality Check
It is a common misconception which probably stems from the early dot com boom era that has given rise to the idea that the internet is a quick fix, fast track to riches. This has resulted in several complaints from clients along the lines of, “My new ecommerce website has been live for three days now and I haven’t had any orders. It must be broken.”
Today’s internet is full of millions of websites, all of which are competing for your business and high search engine rankings. It is therefore important to deliver a reality check to a client in order to avoid such dumb ass comments.
I would always advise clients who I deal with to consider their reasons for wanting to sell products online and question their commitment/understanding to a long term strategy of search engine optimisation. It is vital to have a realistic understanding of the task ahead and the amount of work involved so that the search engine optimisation campaign can have the best possible chance of succeeding. If you have this, then both parties are off to a good start.
Identifying areas of responsibility
From the outset of any project it is important to allocate areas of responsibility and the field of search engine optimisation is not exception to this rule. Depending on the agreed level of SEO services you are providing there will more than likely be a certain amount of work that the client will need to provide themselves, this maybe in the form of research material or actually supplying new content for the website. By identifying areas of responsibility you can avoid comments like, “I’m to busy to write extra content for my website, I thought that’s your job?”
At work a lot of the search engine optimisation I carry out is contracted out in short monthly time blocks. This is due to the client having a budget. Frustratingly, the subsequent time constraint doesn’t offer me the opportunity to fully get to grips with the intricacies of each and every clients business. Consequently this means I have to cut back on areas such as content development. For this reason I will ask that the task of providing new website content falls to the client. After all they are perfectly placed to understand the in’s and out’s of their business, product and industry and would be able to provide a far greater level of quality content than I could deliver in the restricted time available to me.
For those clients with bigger budgets I then have the ability to liaise closely with them to gather the source material I need to write this content myself or even outsource it to a specialist seo copywriter.
By setting out these areas of responsibility in the beginning you will help to avoid conflict and blocks in work flow at a later date.
Communication
Communications is an important part of any project and as search engine optimisation services are largely an unseen process it is vital to keep all those involved fully informed on a projects development.
By keeping a client informed about the work you are doing, the information that you require from them, by reporting on the successes and any problems or areas of concern you will help to build a close working relationship and understanding with the client about the work you do and ultimately that which the client is paying for. In time the results will speak for themselves and will help to avoid more dumb ass comments such as, “I’ve been told that it’s free to submit my website to Google so why are you charging me for seo services?”
Managing Expectations
Managing client expectations is probably one of the most difficult areas of a client’s education and project management. If done well it will enable you to avoid such comments like “It’s been a month since you started search engine optimisation on my website and I still can’t find my website on the search engines”.
Good management of a clients expectations is a process that will encompass all the above factors and many more besides. It involves keeping a client’s expectations realistic, of emphasising areas of responsibility and binding this altogether through good communication dialogue and reporting.
And Finally…
I believe in being honest and open in the work that I carry out for people both in search engine optimisation and website design and development. Where I have control of a project and the ability to work closely and unhindered with a client I often find the above factors help towards a healthy working relationship. However, in those projects where this control and client interaction is not possible or in someone elses hands then I very often find that chaos rains supreme and the result being an unprofessional service and one I am currently unhappy to be associated with.
Tags: Search Engine Optimisation, seo