Screwed by SEO client

I'm sort of perplexed at the fight fire with fire mentality of this thread. So someone else decided to be a bad businessman, that means you should be one too? If you really wanted to hurt them, do it legitimately and do SEO for one of their competitors. Don't attack them outright because you're just bringing yourself down to their level and you deserve to have the same done to you.

In the future, get a work agreement signed that states not only what work you will be doing, but payment terms and what happens when payment is not received within your specified time period. We always get work paid for in full beforehand. If you go to a store and buy a product, you don't pay for it after you use it. Even if you buy a service such as virus removal, they charge you before even hooking your computer up to the Internet.

So don't be afraid to ask for payment in full. The client is making an investment, just like any other investment they've made for their business. They pay rent on the lease, pay for all the equipment, etc. They don't pay for it after they use it, so don't let them pay for your service after you've worked hard.

What pisses me off is that they waited for the website to start ranking, then locked me out of their server and probably think they're smart.
That's even worse than the money lost, it would piss me off even if they paid (I'm going to try and collect anyway).

And for those that are wondering, yes, there is a contract, not signed, but agreed to via email, so still binding.

BTW, I can actually report them to Search engines as well, since they are using my intellectual property on their website.

The proper answer is to let it go. People learn form the faults they make so the only think that you can actually do is to be prepared for the next time .
thanks

Well, you learned your lesson. SEO work can not be taken back, and therefore you absolutely need to get at minimum a down payment. If you want to yo can threaten to bring his site down if he does not pay with blackhat tactics, and get his site totally de-indexed. That will probably work.

just take them to court and work for their competitor. if they are a corporation they will have to retain an atty to represent them in small claims court. this will probably cost more then what they owe you and they will want to settle (in most cases).

Just make sure its money upfront next time. Don't let it consume you.

I work in a city that is renowned for bad payer and shady operators. The best thing is always money up front unless your dealing with larger company that is above board.

send them a certified letter telling them the amount owed and a payment deadline : and just go to small claims court if they don't pay.

Threaten them with Negative Seo , Destroying their reputation online. You can say it very simply : I have the qualifications to take your website to the latest page of google the same way I got your website to the Top .

For next time, try to get some milestone payment thru escrow or something like that. I think money bookers offers this. Most safe way for seller and buyer.. But that is my opinion.

A few things here,
1st always require upfront payment
2nd if a client screws you, screw them
there are so many ways a properly skilled seo/orm professional can screw someone's business it's not even funny
if you don't know how to do it, you were requesting payment for skills you do not possess.

ThreadKiller said:

Rule of thumb is never to mess with a geek. Explain to them what negative SEO is. Threaten to run non stop scrapebox blasts to their money site forever and ever. Or find a do-not-spam list from some network, then send mail spam with their URL in it to that list. The antis will then give them a hard time for a very long time.

Failing that, do you have access to any of their server passwords? Just remove their site. You'd be surprised how many people run without backups.

EDIT: Also, is their main site weak? Make a site that beats them in Google.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that's right, do this client know that we can make their site up the rankings and also make it 6feet underground. If they are planning or still doing that, then they karma will come to them. Let them pray they don't fall into the hands of an seo that will do that because they have been cheated and that good for them. Clients, be aware of this, we hold everything and you can't cheat us!

I've only had this happen once and I've realized the power of threatening to take legal action against the client. It especially scares them if you mention a particular law office and even drop some names of relatives that you've tried to get in contact with (to show that you've done your research and you're undergoing a full-fledged investigation).

Don't make any threats but make clear that you mean business. 9/10 they'll begin to negotiate a payment plan.