When working on an SEO campaign for a client, it is important that you take the time to communicate with your client before you actually start any work. This will help you set your client’s expectations about the campaign as well as clarify the type of work you will be doing and the type of deliverables you will be giving them. By effectively communicating with your client before you begin your SEO campaign, you will run into much fewer issues down the road.

Brendon and Sam working with their clients Tim and Thomi (Photo credit: Samuel Mann)

Manage Expectations

The biggest thing you will want to do before starting an SEO campaign for a client is to manage their expectations. By explaining what the SEO process is, how it is done and how it is not an overnight miracle workers, you will be able to effectively manage your client’s expectations when it comes to gaining exposure in the search engines. Telling your client that it can take several months to see any positive movement in the search results as well as a number one ranking cannot be guaranteed, you will reduce the chances of your client become frustrated with your work after several weeks when they do not see their website in the search results. Jeff Gross wrote few articles with bunch of details about managing clients in SEO industry.

Provide On-Page SEO Analysis

After you have properly set the expectations of your client to not expect first page rankings over night, you will want to move on to the on-page SEO analysis of your campaign. During this portion of your SEO campaign, you will need to perform an analysis of your client’s website and make recommendations of any changes they should make to their site in order to help their rankings improve. While giving your recommendations, you need to effectively communicate why your client needs to make these changes to their website in order to assist the SEO process. By being able to get your client to understand why they must make the changes to their website, they will start to get an understanding of how the SEO process works and realize what is expected of them during the campaign.

Monthly Reports

At the onset of your SEO campaign with a new client, you will want to tell them exactly what type of monthly reports you will be providing them. Providing your clients with reports that detail the work you have done and the effects it has had on their site’s rankings and traffic numbers will allow you to showcase your worth to your client and that they not wasting their money on an SEO campaign. Even if you are not seeing drastic improvements in the rankings of your client’s website, you can show them that their money is being put to good use through your monthly reporting. As long as you are using SEO best practices, your work will be rewarded with improves search engine results. Showing to your client that you are using SEO best practices and explaining that the improved search rankings will come in due time will help you keep your client satisfied with your work while you wait for Google to move your client’s website up in the rankings.

Providing SEO services for a client can be a bit challenging at times. Clients seemingly want first page rankings overnight, which is virtually impossible in the world of search engine optimization. Properly managing your client’s expectations, providing in-depth on-page SEO analysis for your client and creating monthly reports detailing your work are just some of the ways you can appease your client while waiting for their website’s rankings to improve.