The term SEO can be such an ambiguous term and employing the right SEO strategy can promote a business beyond even the business owners expectations.
Expectation is key
That last word is the key to SEO I think, setting the expectation levels. Time and time again I hear of companies literally guaranteeing top SERPs. Whilst your somewhat limited in this respect, it does not stop you giving a client details of your own task list for their business and relevant time frames that you can realistically accomplish those deliverables in.
I fell into the trap early days of pretty much guaranteeing top serp results to people, putting unnecessary pressure on myself and raising their expectation levels.
Knowledge is Golden
Anyone who tells you they fully know SEO is talking through their rear. Why ? Because so much changes within the industry in a very short time frame. Think you know the search engine algorithms ? Or at least have an understanding of them….think again you need to check out more SEO blogs and stay on top of recent developments.
Steady Wins the Race
When you start really going for SEO on an individual website often the levels of risks your willing to take will increase. Keep within ethical seo practice and you won’t go wrong, but at the same time, sometimes its wiser to make a few changes to a site then take a step back from it for a while.
Find and Answer don’t make one up
Once again I fell into this trap years ago. If i didn’t know the answer to a specific SEO question I’d fumble and perhaps come up with something I thought was near the mark. Now, I simply say I’m not 100% sure on this, but I will find out the answer for you. So much easier than having to back track further down the line.
Expect the Unexpected
One minute a client is ultra happy that you have achieved some of their keyword rankings, the next day they call up deeply upset that certain other phrases have dropped in the Serps. To be honest if you have taken the right steps in educating the client initially and not kept all the information to yourself such conversations will be less likely.
What I am saying here too though is don’t loose confidence in your own abilities, even if other people do.
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swasa 04.04.09 at 5:16 am
very nice and useful tips.Great job.
Xtence 05.26.09 at 9:08 am
Good explanation towards the client will save time afterwards, cause many of them don’t understand the way SEO work at all, i allways make sure the client’s involved in the process of analysing keywords and analytics.
Very good post !