Avoiding bad seo clients

Every once in a while a thread pops up on the forum with a new shitty client story.

Clients making unreasonable requests
Requiring constant hand holding
Having their own idea of how things should work because they’ve read an article etc.

Basically, a lack of respect for the person's work.

So I though I’d pass on a tip for anyone selling business services who’s been in this position before.

Are you a professional?
Then charge like a damn professional if you want to be treated like one.

That’s the tip.

Also, SEO is a business expense. That means clients are spending company money, not their own cash.

So charge more.

Repeat after me.

Minimum $1,000 per month. Minimum six months. Always get a startup cash injection for upfront costs. This serves the dual purpose of showing that the client means business. Get everything in writing, and explain everything in detail to avoid surprises. Make no guarantees, especially in SEO.

Let your client know that you are in control, and keep communication on the phone to a minimum, opting instead for email. Be minimal, be concise, and be available when needed. Make sure you are always paid, and on time.

And don't be afraid to drop clients. Put a value on your time. I swear I've written that sentence 50 times on here. If that value is not being met, the effort is not worth the profit.

For the money you bring in, you are paying with hours of your finite life that you will never get back.

I say no right off the bat to 90% of the requests I get PM'ed here, simply because either their budget doesn't allow my level of work, or they can't properly communicate their needs.

Do these things and you will see yourself being treated as a high-level consultant, not an indentured servant. It sure feels better to have five competent clients than to try and track down thirty clients who don't communicate on a timely basis or pay on time.

• Five clients at an average of $2,000 per month = $10,000 per month. Three to four hours of work a day for one person, plus occasional outsourced needs. Multiply that by 30 days and that's $10,000 for 100 hours or so, or $100 per hour.
• Thirty clients at an average of $500 per month = $15,000 per month. Ten hours of work per day for three people. $5,000 per month per person. $5,000 per month divided by 200 hours is $25 per hour.

This has worked for me to grow my one-man side business to six figures a year with a few hours a day of work. I'm in the process of writing up a massive 10,000+ word thread about how to replicate just this.

Great advice, especially this point:

Sherbert Hoover said:

And don't be afraid to drop clients.

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Also, turning down clients who're not a good fit can actually increase your credibility in a weird way. I've had people come back with better projects because of that.

While thats good, even when you do that, there are always clients from hell that you cannot avoid...

What about the phrase "the client/buyer is the king"? I understand that someone need to value his work and don`t do it for free, but if I put myself in a clients position that has no clue about SEO etc... I would like to discuss the project/work in details and how it`s done. I would never work with someone that keeps the communication to minimum, or doesn`t even answer... for $1000 per month I would hire a serious professional, who has time for me to talk about the best options and I want to know what he is doing. I don`t want to be treated like a 100ish client, but I want that personal approach.

McPatrick said:

While thats good, even when you do that, there are always clients from hell that you cannot avoid...

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Sometime we will get punish for our job without knowing the reason.So i agree there are always clients from hell....

gaby81 said:

What about the phrase "the client/buyer is the king"? I understand that someone need to value his work and don`t do it for free, but if I put myself in a clients position that has no clue about SEO etc... I would like to discuss the project/work in details and how it`s done. I would never work with someone that keeps the communication to minimum, or doesn`t even answer... for $1000 per month I would hire a serious professional, who has time for me to talk about the best options and I want to know what he is doing. I don`t want to be treated like a 100ish client, but I want that personal approach.

Click to expand...

The client is king. In their field of work. I wouldn't trust a local neurosurgeon to know the ins and outs of how to rank their website and Google Places profile to obtain more clients. And I wouldn't trust an internet marketer to operate on my brain.

The clients who think in the way you mentioned above are not the clients I end up working with. My user base knows what they want, and they do not have the time to nitpick over small details. I send a bulleted list every week of every task I do throughout that week. I send a monthly report from SERPwoo showing changes in rankings for positives and negatives. I am available for the occasional quick call.

Otherwise, I tout the fact that I offer a highly hands-off approach for my clients, except when they want to get their hands dirty.

The days of "the customer knows best" are over.

I have never been providing SEO services before , but I have been providing proxy services for 7 years and severed simply more than 50k clients if not more . What I found is it doesn't matter what kind of service we provide , we will always meet some "crazy""weird""annoying" clients ....I still remember some clients just sent me money manually and never ask for any refund or product lol , or sometimes people paid and then asked like they have no idea what they just purchased .

We got to have our own pricing of course , it's important , don't discount big just because client begged for it , discount if he ordered BULK or he's your loyal client . I provided one type of service but used 2 domains with different pricing , and I got clients for both sites though pricing is very different .

Sometimes it's really annoying with some type of clients , but don't let them affect your service & how you deal with others . If you could not accept them , then just let them go , no hard feeling .

By being a seller , I truly feel how hard it is to provide a good service . That's why when I have chance to deal with others especially the ones who truly care about my business , I give them their respect & TRUST them to do their job . If they did badly , then it's not only their fault but my decision to blame . Period .

gaby81 said:

What about the phrase "the client/buyer is the king"? I understand that someone need to value his work and don`t do it for free, but if I put myself in a clients position that has no clue about SEO etc... I would like to discuss the project/work in details and how it`s done. I would never work with someone that keeps the communication to minimum, or doesn`t even answer... for $1000 per month I would hire a serious professional, who has time for me to talk about the best options and I want to know what he is doing. I don`t want to be treated like a 100ish client, but I want that personal approach.

Click to expand...

Yeah, depending on how much you're paying it makes sense to get that level of support. That's why agencies have account managers.

But for a relatively low priced "productized" service it's normal to keep hand holding to a minimum.
Productized = clear deliverables at a set price. So ideally both parties know what they're getting into.