For 10 years my agency has hired 100’s of people around the world, in 20+ different languages and 20+ different countries. We started using Upwork a few years back, and it’s literally changed my core business methods. I can also graciously say Upwork has saved me hundreds of thousands of dollars. But it wasn’t great at first. We almost stopped using Upwork many times, until we realized the problems we had were not the fault of the freelancers we found on Upwork; we were the problem.
I love my web design and SEO clients, even the crazy ones. You know who you are. I’m not trying to bite the hand that feeds me. I know if it weren’t for you I’d be out of a job, but some of you ask the craziest questions. I’m sure my clients also get crazy questions from their clients, we all do. So, I thought I’d share a few of the craziest questions I’ve heard from my web design and SEO clients over the last 11 years.
I guarantee that you will close more SEO deals if you follow this super simple SEO sales meeting tip. Keep in mind, I have done this for over 10 years, and my agency has generated millions in SEO sales. This is one of my super secrets that helped us dramatically increase our closing rate in sales meetings. It doesn’t matter if you sell SEO, CRO, web design, or online PR; this simple sales meeting tip is worth millions in potential revenue.
Ever have this problem? Your staging site accidentally gets listed in Google’s search results. This is very bad for many reasons. The first reason is the fear of being penalized for duplicate content once the production site goes live. Second, it’s really embarrassing when the client Googles themselves and sees the staging site in the results. Generally, the staging server should only be viewed by the developers and the client. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen because the staging site wasn’t properly blocking Google, resulting in the site being listed in Google.
Did you know that it will cost your company 5 times more to gain a new client, than to retain an existing client (Five Customer Retention Tips for Entrepreneurs). Pause and think about that for a moment. Now, ask your self how much effort goes into resigning your existing SEO clients versus gaining a new ones. Do you even have an SEO client retention plan? Well, today is your lucky day! I’m going to share my SEO client retention plan with you in the form of just 5 easy steps.
MySiteAuditor is now pulling key SEO data from Moz, the most reputable SEO software on the planet. This means two things: more SEO data, and more accurate SEO data. Since our launch in 2013 our members have asked how we collect our SEO audit report data, and now I’m proud to say that many of our link related checks come straight from Moz’s API.
NEVER walk into a new SEO client’s kickoff meeting without The Ultimate SEO Questionnaire. This two page document includes every question you’ll need to ask your new SEO client before starting their SEO campaign. You can download a PDF or Word Document format so you can easily edit it online, or email it to your new client.
Every SEO professional dreads this seemingly unpreventable conversation. It’s about 3-4 months into your client’s SEO campaign, and deep down inside you can sense it coming. Then, the phone rings. It’s your client and they want to “talk”. They are worried, and overly anxious about the campaign’s progress. They’ve already forgotten everything you’ve told them about time and progress. They want results, and they want them today!
First of all, don’t get thrown off by this title. Just because I’m saying SEO is only 20% technical does NOT mean that technical SEO is not important. After all, SEO is a formula or recipe, and when one element or ingredient is removed the results are never as good. So, technical SEO is very important but it should never take more than 20% of your time when optimizing your website, blog post or landing page.
Fact: The better you explain SEO, the more likely your prospective clients will sign with you. Humans don’t like overly complicated things. We love everything to be simple. So, the more clear and simple your explanation and views on SEO are, the more comfortable your prospective clients will feel about working with you.