Forum Moderators: LifeinAsia
They have offered me a deal of tracking the KW rankings and paying me a rate for say improving rankings from N0.4 to N0.1 * competition factor. A sliding scale sort of thing.
Sounds ok, but they also run the largest affiliate program in the industry and getting links will be more than a hastle. Besides I am offering consultancy, not services. Any monkey can implement my advice and I am too busy to work the site. They need to purchase links.
So I am crafting a letter, it's in alpha atm, basically a first draft and it may be a little harsh. Have a read and please offer some advice. I hate writing and get too pissed off and sound like a twat.
I am sure some of you have experienced similar situation - tell us about them, what did you do about it?
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Hi Billy,
(sorry if this sounds abrupt, but this is how I feel - a nice rant if you will...)
I have been giving this some thought and I would like to offer an analogy.
Why are my SEO services not perceived as professional (esp, considering my level of experience and some of my results)?
Would you pay a plumber a deal of x per y to unblock a toilet, install a hotwater system, or any other service for that matter? I think not. How about a lawyer? Sorry but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I offer professional services and I am one of very few SEO’s in Australia that not only know’s what they are doing but has amassed such a deep understanding of how search engines work.
I am sure you’d happily pay a plumber $150p/h (or more) + materials and he’s certainly not making you money. Why do you not perceive it this way? Imagine offering a plumber, or builder, or worse a lawyer a deal such as yours. I can make you guys far more money than any lawyer, and I know you’d pay 200+p/h for their advice with out blinking.
It baffles me how a company can rent soooo much traffic, yet be afraid to buy it. I simply don’t understand, where is the ROI in that model?
You have to bite the bullet and see. ###’s attitude towards spending real money on SEO will always be your problem, not mine. I am busy enough to take it or leave it. That said I think we could ROCK the serps, and I’d like the feather in my cap (it would look good ; ).
My knowledge is best paid upfront and in good trust, if your not comfortable with this (and how the SEO industry does business) I suggest you take your business else ware like PPC (hehe, or an agency, or SEO company) and get a quote on what your offering. I know you will be very, very, very surprised. Even then most SEO companies would do bugger all, trust me I have worked for and with them.
If you want to work with me (as a consultant) and leverage my know how, you have to pay, it’s that simple. Revenue share is one option (too much contract work and tracking involved), a paid customised plan of a way forward would be another. I’d rather just offer advice and you guys can implement it, I am happy to help with more complex things like link buying etc.
Either way you need a full site audit on all the sites and to fix some other things. These will directly impact your rankings most heavily (the best ROI). If you want external links I suggest you pay for them, because given your position within your market, I can’t see may travel operators jumping at the chance to link to you when they are already affiliates. Or why not ask me to devise a report on how to leverage your affiliate links for rankings (that’s even better ROI).
Basically it’s not down to me to get your website ranking (get a quote from an agency if that’s what you want), that’s the monkey work - anyone can do it with guidance. My time is best spent else ware (like researching or making money). I am far, far busier than you imagine. I do consulting for 5+ business, work part-time for another, run over 10 domains of my own, have all sorts of other JV projects and many, many leads I struggle to keep up with.
Hope you understand where I’m coming from, and I mean no offence to yourself or #### whatsoever, it’s just how it is.
Cheers,
Ben
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So what do you think? Should I add/remove anything?
You have very specialized knowledge to offer. They either understand and respect that, or they don't. Focus on how availing themselves of your services would be productive.
How would your fee compare to a day's worth or a week's worth of PPC advertising? That might be a useful comparison to work from.
If you undertake any sort of performance-based agreement, I'd suggest that you make the benchmark be overall growth in their search engine traffic, not the rankings of any term in particular. If you do things right, they'll pick up traffic from a lot of long tail terms besides the main terms you'd be targeting and you should get credit for that.
Business Writing Rule 2: If you feel the need to apologise for saying it, don't say it. If you feel the need to apologise for it BEFORE you say it, REALLY don't say it.
What you've written above is the sort of conversation you might have with this guy in person over a beer on a Friday night IF you grew up living next door to him AND you were best man at his wedding AND you call his mum 'Mum' AND you don't care if you lose the business or not.
HOnestly, follow Buckworks advice - burn the letter and start fresh, and keep it business.
If you've decided you don't want the business, then just send them a short polite note saying that.
This seems to me like the kind of letter that it's great to write - to get your feelings out of your system - but it's really a bad idea to mail it.
It seems like they're suggesting performance-based remuneration, and you're feeling insulted by that - but (imho) you needn't be.
You seem to be seeing it as hourly rate = they respect you, performance based contract = they don't respect you. But in my opinion, that's not the case. It's just another way to write a contract. In fact you could do better out of it than you would for an hourly rate, if you negotiate the terms well.
hth, a.
We've all been there, done that, felt exactly how you're feeling. But as a professional you can't let it spill out into your communications with your clients.
It might be amusing to file that letter away for a while. Pull it out and read it again in a few years, and you'll have yourself a good laugh that you ever even considered sending that to a potential client.
You did mean offense and got that across well.
Don't know why, but I suspect they have either been burnt before, or they are a little too tight?
Play on this. Address their concerns and be PATIENT. Make them understand WHY the other SEO's didn't work, and show them how you are different in your approach.
The more you WANT a client, I've found that over-eagerness can put the client off. I've found cheerful ambivalence is a pretty good way to win over many clients. They'll come to YOU when they're ready if you display proficiency, qualifications, and professionalism. Though you'd LOVE to work with them, it is often that eagerness can come accross as aggressiveness, or worse yet desperation that puts people off (believe me I've done it)
Give generalized specifics of what they can expect. Fill them in on your process and give them a conservative timeline. They'll be plenty of time for telling them their baby is fugly after the ink dries, and it's generally not a good way to make friends.
How would your fee compare to a day's worth or a week's worth of PPC advertising? That might be a useful comparison to work from.
This is great advice. Use specific examples and comparisons from THEIR background of knowledge that they can relate to for a better understanding of who you are and what you do.
