A recent Borrell Associates report suggested that web marketing company service fees total in the hundreds of billions in 2016, and while that may seem like great news for a thriving industry, it’s also meant a lot of superfluous spending by SEO companies. If you feel as though your SEO company’s process isn’t quite as cost-effective as it could be – or if you’re shopping around for a budget-friendly SEO company in your area – the following 3 tips should help!
Streamline Your SEO Process: Save Money for Everyone Involved
- Gather your tools and materials before you begin. This tip is so obvious that it’s almost not worth typing out. And yet, many SEO companies struggles begin in the preparation stage. Just as a painter can’t begin without his brushes, drop clothes, and roller trays, an SEO company can’t get much done until they’ve gathered client materials. This is especially important if your client does business in a technical industry, or if the content you produce could expose them to some kind of legal liability. You will need to have proposed topics, keywords, selling points, company history, and target audience materials at the ready before you begin.
But gathering materials isn’t only for the benefit of the SEO company. You need to have your ducks in a row on both sides, which often means creating a roadmap for the client that they can use as a reference throughout the project. This roadmap will include some basic SEO information to help them come to terms with proposed expenses and timelines, understand reports, and prepare better info to inform your content marketing.
- Create realistic deadlines, even if you’re pressured to deliver results at lightning speed. You’ve heard the old adage: slow and steady wins the race. But clients don’t want to hear it, especially when you’ve promised them quick results. Remember that overnight Google-1 rankings only happen when your process is exploiting and abusing crawler knowledge, and those results never last long (and usually backfire!). Promising too much too soon will only add stress, reduce client satisfaction, and crush morale around the office. Always ask yourself if the proposed timeline leaves everyone happy: your clients, your staff, and yourself! As in any relationship, it’s always easier to set parameters by being honest in the early stages.
- Remember that details are better than discipline when it comes to staff issues. Many managers are quick to adopt a disciplinarian approach when a detailed explanation would yield much better results. Unless you hired some real bad apples, most office issues will be owed to ignorance rather than maliciousness. Don’t assume your employee is trying to pull one over on you and coast through the workday; they often think they’re doing everything that’s asked of them, and simply require a thorough explanation to fix whatever issues you’ve identified. Before you start yelling or scrunching your face into a disapproving sneer, take a moment to evaluate your own explanation of the task you assigned. Did you provide those instructions for your own benefit – AKA less work – or for the company’s benefit by cultivating a deeper understanding of the process? Understand that not everyone is working from the same knowledge base or start point, and make the effort to explain yourself in a way that benefits the employee – not just your task list.
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