Thanks for the convo – don’t be a stranger!

John Barremore
Houston, TX

jb

Please know that my comment wasn’t intended to discredit you as a person, or a businessman. I was merely expressing my disagreement with your perspective e.g. your contention that professional SEO’s do not provide clients with guarantees for rankings and/or end results. And again, I could not disagree more.

Regardless of the initial contact and cultivated trust, by shouldering more of the risk and offering a keyword placement guarantee, your clients will tend to trust you and respect you even more. A guarantee shows that you have confidence in your abilities, that you are accountable for your actions and that your clients do not have to deal with an unscrupulous vender, or suffer incompetency. And not to say that either negative trait describes you in any way.

As an SEO pro working since 1999, I would have to say that forming a working “relationship” with the client is a good thing, however, it is not crucial to positioning their website. The latter is dependent upon your abilities as an SEO and your understanding of the client’s industry. A casual analysis of their site’s offer should be sufficient to conduct further keyword research and guide the SEO campaign.

Respectfully,

John Barremore
Houston, TX

Trust does not form over night, at least it hasn’t for me, which is why I take on a certain amount of risk with new clients, just as they take on a certain amount of risk when they hire my team. This then opens the door for significant cooperation between the SEO provider and the client so that the client sees progress and the provider keeps the job.

Performance guarantees are a crutch to quickly close a sale before either party knows enough to make an informed decision (by both the prospect and the provider) and it can prevent a real relationship from forming which in my opinion is absolutely critical to the success of any SEO campaign in today’s world.

Businesses and website owners want and need performance, not an investigation of their fears, not half-baked promises which may or may not be fulfilled.

Expectations for an SEO campaign should be direct with clear goals, understood by all parties and backed with a solid guarantee. By only saying “trust us” because we have the integrity to take your money, shows that you have doubts about your own ability, that you don’t have the client’s best interests in mind. An SEO service that looks for a weasel clause, or an excuse for failure should be avoided.