Lessons from an SEO Contractor

Many of the information and advice I post on here from time to time is straight technical traffic strategies and that was my original intention. However, it’s been on my mind to pass on some of the hard lessons of 2009.

For the last 6 years, I’ve provided SEO, Copywriting, PPC, and a whole heap of other services through my company, AnswersWanted Inc designed to boost client website traffic and of course, sales.

With the issues facing the american economy, I was forced to many jobs this last year that aren’t really my specialty… Things like accounting, sales, customer service, contract writing, and a whole host of other hats that I’d never had to wear… This forced me to learn some amazing lessons worth their weight in gold that I’d like to pass on to my friends and readers.

The Top Lessons in Offering SEO Services as A Freelancer…

#1. Always ALWAYS get a signed contract…

Yeah, small job, right? No need to get it all out on paper! I mean, seriously this job is going to be super simple and the client understands all the technicalities, and all the challenges etc… YEAH RIGHT!

Truth is, if you don’t outline what your offering, what your expecting from them, how much you expect to make, where you’ll meet, how often you’ll report, how many hours they get, where they’re money is going etc..

And.. plan for what happens if your strategy or plan doesn’t work… Sure, it worked the last 36 times, but that doesn’t matter. Plan for when it stops working and write a plan in your contracts for what then…

#2. NEVER offer anything free…

Seems so rude, rough and mean to say… In fact it’s hard for a guy like me to say that… over the years I’ve offered so many things free… Consultations, meetings, analysis, research… I want to help clients so badly that I’ll do anything to ensure they succeed…

Aaron Wall pointed out some time ago, and it’s a well known fact in business that the more you offer free, the more they want free. It never ends and it continues to de-value your work… Completely un-doing all the reputation earning and hard work you’ve done…

One day, you deliver an invoice and they scoff at it… How dare you charge? You’ve done it free all this time! Both you and the customer loose.

#3. Set expectations and deliver on them

Always create deadlines, and communicate them to your clients. Put things on the calendar, always give projects and jobs a timeline and stick to it. Just like being late for an interview, no one hires someone 15 minutes late. Always be on time, always set a deadline and meet or BEAT it.

Not only expectations within time, but expectations about the project…. How much traffic will a customer get with your strategy? How many keywords you focusing on? How many media outlets you distributing to? Seems like lots of work ironing out those details, but it’ll burn you if you don’t.

#4. Set specific hours, and take breaks.

Insanely important to not answer emails, phone calls or text messages related to work during your off time. You’ll never have a girlfriend or a wife very long if you’re taking calls, emails and texts during dinner, anniversary’s or honeymoons.

It’s not only that, having downtime helps you think, it helps you rest and prepare for a hard week. Some weeks might feel like you need less or more. In the end it’s like air, you don’t know how badly you need rest until you stop taking it.

#5. Don’t answer your phone

I’d even go as far as to say turn off your cell phone and office line durring business hours and respond to voicemails twice a day. Never answer calls… Why? When someone calls you if you respond while in the middle of a project they steal your time, your productivity and your energy.. They can blind-side you when you’re not prepared for it.. They control that call because they initiated it…

Let the voice mail catch it, educate your customers to leave DETAILED messages or they don’t get response… You can follow up via email if they phoned to check the number on an invoice or some other insignificant thing…

** Update ** – This isn’t really targeted toward 100% of clients, but i’m sure you have call display, and some clients can easily phone so much that you don’t get any work done. Anita and others are right though, there should be some hours you turn off the phone maybe 3-4 hours a day and just focus on work. Turn off MSN, Gtalk and other distractions too. Rich Schefren I think talks about the 45 minute egg timer of focused work for productivity too.

This isn’t my suggestion to IGNORE folks, or not provide good customer service. These are critical. What most probably don’t realize when reading this is that my business model often includes a weekly or every 2 week conference call. Not always, but often. With a setup like that, we’re always keeping in touch.

#6. Use some kind of online organization

One saving grace that has helped me over the last 2 years more than anyone knows is my Wiki. I use it like a CRM system for managing customers and clients.. I don’t always remember to use it for everything, but even just for passwords and contact info it has been a life saver. I can access it from home, office, client places and everywhere. It’s amazing.

#7. Trust your gut instincts all the way

Yeah, it’s hard if you don’t have a strong self esteem to trust your guts… and sometimes it’s tough to NOT take a deal or contract with a pushy client if your struggling for money, but trust me… Don’t do it. Your guts are the most useful business tool you have and the right opportunity will come along and you’ll know it, and when it’s not… your instincts are vital.

A few times I’ve looked at working with clients where it just didnt’ feel right, but I was in a position where I needed an extra gap filled to keep all my staff employed… and when my gut told me no,  I took the deal and it backfired.

#8. Startups…

In the contracting world, whether it’s SEO, PPC or any other service… Unless you own it, or own 50% of it… You really don’t wanna help startups in many cases. They don’t know how valuable your services really are, they may never understand, they may not have proven their product or have a good conversion rate… It could be complete garbage… Most independent contractors will tell you that the best clients are those who have spent $10,000 on a magazine ad “test” and failed.. living only to test again.. Startups spend $1000 and cry all the way the bank.

Some startups, organized and started by folks who have started many businesses before could be a perfect fit… but trust your gut before working with just anyone.

Anyway, to any contractor looking for advice re-selling internet marketing services, these are some of my biggest lessons that should make 2010 the best year ever.

Daniel J Deyette