Adding value to clients

In the SEO industry there are many, many companies offering some sort of SEO service, from the small one man bands, basic bulk link builders and small to medium agencies to the large powerhouse agencies. So, there’s a lot to choose from if you are a business looking to get your regional or national brand out there. What’s unfortunate is that an uneducated business owner may fall for the spiel of someone who might not be particularly good at the all-round service- which is someone who not only offers just page 1 in Google but who also offers specific stats on performance and narrows down what type of enquiry, and how many of them you need for ROI.

So, I just wanted to talk about some of the factors that I think add value to a client’s experience when working through an SEO campaign.

Get to know the clients business and industry

Anyone can use a list of keywords, areas, analytics data and text on a business’s website to create copy for link building, acquire links and create basic performance reports. However, I think actually getting to know the business is invaluable to any campaign. To achieve this you could complete a business review, ask questions about the client’s industry, get to know their products, prices, best sellers, what they want to achieve short / long term and so on. This info helps with every aspect of their campaign from writing decent copy through to creating engaging reports that tell the client exactly what they want to know. And when the time and opportunity comes to expand a campaign it will be so much easier to make that decision and convince the client due to the knowledge you have about their business goals, realistic budget and so on.

Get to know the client

I like talking to people in general, so when it comes to talking to clients I don’t mind just talking to the client on a more personable level. Yes you have to keep a professional distance but I think adding a bit of personal touch can help, and it’s just better than being a robot on the other end of the phone. Obviously some clients just want the info, have their questions answered and be done and that’s perfectly fine, but for the clients that are more open, I think building a rapport with them can be a good asset to a campaign. For example, I have a few clients that I have gotten to know fairly well, and I have tried to find out what their role really means to them within the company, and what it means to break even for a month or quarter – to some businesses this is the difference between being inconvenienced to being put in a bad financial position.

I have found that this extra effort helps when it comes to identifying potential problems that would specifically affect them. There’s also more trust there as the client sees that you are making an effort and that you have their best interests in mind, and I think this could help, for example in a situation where you have to suggest and implement something in order to make that campaign flourish.

Custom reporting and ROI calculations

It’s a more techy point, but I think being able to communicate analytical data in a digestible and effective way is paramount to reporting on a campaign. This point is a no-brainer I know, but I think some people do just show basic web analytics, and I think as a minimum it’s essential to calculate how many enquiries a client will need in order break even on their SEO retainer, and then for their monthly target.

I have a client who offers loans to people and they get a lot of traffic from their keywords, so they wanted to know how many visits and potential enquiries a set of new keywords could bring, so I gave them something like this:

Keyword	Keyword search volume	Google Search results	Google Allinanchor value	Price	Estimated ranking time	Estimated click through (5% of traffic )	Estimated applications made (20% of click through)
Keyword	14800	121000000	8890000	£00.00	9-12 months	740	148

It’s not that complicated to make up and after viewing this data they got a rough idea of what these new keywords could mean to their performance for the next year.

So, it’s things like ROI calculations, Assisted conversions in the new analytics, click tracking, what people are using i.e. mobile phones (getting more important now), Ipads, Internet explorer, where people are coming from and so on, anything customisable towards their campaign.

Final thoughts

I think this extra effort can really help a campaign excel, as well as help with client retention, and help your SEO service/agency grow and grow as your reputation for good service will spread.

I personally like doing what I do as I find it fulfilling to see a campaign do well and be involved in it first-hand, and I want to deliver a good service. To me that includes communication, immersing yourself in a client’s business and being proactive, so it’s that drive that keeps me on my toes.

So, I think maybe an extra ingredient is taking pride in the work just like with any job, thanks for reading!