pageoneresults - 9:41 pm on Mar 24, 2005 (gmt 0)

How hard can it be to dump a list of target keywords selected, pages modified, any brief specifics done per search engine, etc. into a report?

Not hard at all. I guess I work a little differently than others. My clients don't want those types of reports. They want to see that their website is generating ROI. The only way for their websites to be generating that ROI, is for me to be focusing on what I can do next to maintain and/or improve that ROI.

Besides, if your client wants it - BILL THEM FOR the report, and if you really don't want to write that report bill it HIGH enough that you'll enjoy writing it.

Of course, by all means. The time it takes to assemble those reports is the factor. Most of us have various programs available to us that present reports to the clients based on a wide of variety of factors. Ever watch a client look at one of those reports? lol! They get that glazed look? You know what I do now? I send them screen shots of the bar graphs showing a summary of the month. I then include a few paragraphs of my commentary. They see the continued improvement in their monthly traffic and it also translates to increased sales for their company. All of my clients have Brick and Mortar businesses, so I am in a slightly different position.

I think it's more fear that they'll figure out they can do it themselves.

Nah, I doubt very seriously that most will even want to try and figure all of this out. Sure, you can teach them the basics, but who is going to take care of everything beyond that? Do you think the small to medium size business owner is going to want that responsibility? I can tell you from experience that 9 out of 10 of them won't. I've tried it, been there, done that, etc.

There is just too much involved in today's SEM environment for a client to even think about doing it themselves. Which comes back to the topic of discussion, what questions should the client be asking their SEM provider?