Is Honesty the Best Policy in SEO?
Has this ever happened to you? You’re giving a presentation about your products or services to a prospective client and how to fix their website all of a sudden you notice that they are becoming very uncomfortable about what you are saying and you stand there wondering what went wrong.
This is exactly what happened to me a few weeks ago.
We had received a request from a B2B digital marketing firm who related they had been getting a number of inquires from clients who were interested in having local websites developed and have their Google Places accounts optimized and managed.
The caller explained that they had been outsourcing this work to another agency, however they were not happy with the results and were now interested in having a SEO training-consulting firm come in to provide training.
So I headed out to their corporate office for a presentation.
Everything was going great and within an hour we were wrapping up our presentation which focused on Local Search but then the Vice President asked if we could also provide consulting services for their own company website.
I told him yes and in fact we could begin this process right then by doing a real quick site review.
As the VP pulled up their site on the overhead projector other high level members of their organization were ushered into the meeting, which included the marketing director and the IT director.
Initially the group was in total agreement as I reviewed their site;
- Lack of Trust, no branding images above the fold
- No Call to Action, there was no call to action above or below the fold
- Visual Distractions, rotating header image that took up too much of above the fold real estate
- Stock Images, clients have seen these images before, they know that this isn’t you and they feel as if you’re lying to them
We then reviewed the coding of the website
- Non optimized Robots.txt file
- XML sitemap that was last updated 6 months ago
- Title Tag, no keywords
- Description Tag, lack of keywords and poor copy
- Code to Content Ratio very high
- Java based menu system, spiders unable to read and follow
The Marketing Director then related that they had just launched this site six months back and asked, “How hard would it to fix all this”.
I paused a moment knowing my answer was something that I was sure they didn’t want to hear but felt if they were serious about having a successful online business that it was something that they needed to understand and fix. So I found myself in the position that many of us in the field of SEO consulting that I had to break the news that they had an “Ugly Baby Website” that needed serious attention.
I also knew from looking at the outdated Java programming that the easiest solution was to build a new site by using more modern CMS and CSS platform so I turned, looked my audience in the eye and said “I would recommend starting all over and putting it on a more SEO friendly platform such as WordPress”
After the rolling of the eyes and gasps from the corporate staff what happened next was something I wasn’t expecting.
After a long pause the VP explained that the CEO’s son was the developer of the website and that he had come to the board six months ago explaining that he had worked at a SEO firm and that he totally understood what it took to build and optimize a site for SEO for their company.
So if in fact what I was telling them was true, that I was placing them into the uncomfortable position of breaking the news to their CEO his son’s website was in fact not SEO friendly and all the time and resources that had been expended was all wasted.
Over the past several weeks the VP and I have exchanged a few e-mails and in the last he related that they were not interested in moving forward as planned.
If you had found yourself in this same position what would you have done, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment area below.
Would you had been as blunt as I was in telling them that their website “sucked” and it needed help, or would you had sugar coated it hoping to land the contract and then made suggestions to make the site better?
In retrospect I think that I may had been a little more diplomatic and to ask them what their goals were for their website. However at the end, if they were not as committed as I would be to optimize the site and to have the right tools and platform, I would had walked away at the end.
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Comments
9 Responses to Is Honesty the Best Policy in SEO?
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sweet spot.
Catch 22
If you don’t point out the problems, you risk looking inept.
I have been in the web development/marketing business 14 years and the worse clients are the ones with an internal IT department.
No matter how you approach it, you always end up insulting someone, and when that happens they usually feel threatened, and launch a mission to prove your inadequacy.
My answer… stay away from clients big enough to have in-house experts, and focus on small owner-operated businesses. Much nicer to work with.
Someone inside big companies allways have a vested link into existing programs.
A better response would be to say with some major changes $ we could make your website SEO friendly.
Once the deal is approved by corporate you bill the frist month testing and reporting and collect.
Then do a complete rebuild without telling them you did it.
everyone saves face and you get paid and the client is in the money.
Roy what a great case study…I’ve just added SEO to my services in the last 2 years.
I’ve been doing a “strategy session” like you describe but I try not to talk processes too much. They mostly don’t understand the SEO language they just know they need it.
I’ve been approaching it by trying to get the company to define 3 things: Their objectives of their site and why it’s coming up now, what metrics they will use to measure the success (how they will know the project is successful) and what is the value of success to them (dollars).
This clearly defines the project so there’s no scope creep. Let’s you know how they will be measuring the projects success…is it in terms of traffic, more leads, increase PR and repute? Then, what is an increase in repute worth to them in dollars? What are 10 new leads a month/week worth if they could close 30-40%? What is that worth over the course of a year or two. Then you can come up with a return on investment. Is it a 10 to 1 return or better then it’s a no brainer to charge 5K or more. You’re then in the sweet spot because you can justify it all as opposed to having to explain the processes of SEO.
Just a strategy I’m working with in the Chicagoland area. It’s dog eat dog up here and this seems to be a great way to differentiate myself from others in the business.
First, I probably would have done the same thing – honesty is the best policy. However, using the “I learned from flying that….” theory. ( A pilot thing, where we learn from others faced with situations we haven’t ) So with the benefit of hind site 20/20, I feel I have learned from this post and unfortunately would have to decline the opportunity to critique the site on spot and on demand, with as much grace & integrity as possible in the moment. Then move for a more private meeting. This buys time to gather requisite player, objective & budget information. This affords grace, the opportunity to not needlessly offend another. It’s amazing how much saving face & egos have to do with the price of eggs in corporate/business management.
It’s this kind of sharing that I like to see. Learning has taken place for sure! Thanks a ton & keep up the AWESOME work Roy & the rest of the team there!
Thank you for this nice article. Congratulations! What happens is what happens! I think your approach has been direct but not bad. Probably it has been the best approach for that case. To be honest and realistic is great value and those clients, mature enough for your services, will be glad to work with you. The other way – polishing things and being driven by ‘contract’ movation – is a short term one and only a material success.
Thanks for your comments guys my feelings are that if a client is not committed to their success from the beginning of the project why should I think that they will be committed down the road.
I think you did the right thing, i would have stated that you were called there to help them, and not tell them just what they wanted to hear. If this company really cared, they would just chalk up their mistakes and learn from them. Any business that really wants to succeed will learn from their mistakes, not just take offense and look the other way. This is why i am still totally floored how some companies even exist, much less thrive. Your probably better off not working for this company.
Hi Roy,
I think people like choices, if you can give them 3 or 4 options, one being starting over from scratch, and the price points for each, and allow them to make the decision. You might find out that you’d have a better response. That way it isn’t a yes or no, but which program/package do you want to go with. This has worked for me in the past with my sales background. Great share
“…if they were not as committed as I would be to optimize the site and to have the right tools and platform, I would had walked away at the end.”
I think your statement above is key. Nothing is worse than when you are excited and so committed to doing the right things for a website, but because they don’t understand SEO, and usually don’t want to, and especially in your situation with a personal contact (the son) thrown in the mix, your chances of making it to the end of the project are real shaky. No matter how diplomatic, I think sooner or later you would run into a brick wall. That’s just my feeling, and in part from personal experience.
Whenever you are working with a client who already has someone who claims they “know seo”, you can almost always expect some challenges. If they truly know seo, I think you’d be ok, but if their knowledge is superficial, it could be dangerous.