SEO Clients Not Paying? What Do You Do?

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A BlackHat Forum thread has a topic that comes up every now and then - what do you do if your client is not paying you for SEO work you've done?

 

nothing

 

All of you should have contracts in place - and to be totally honest we charge all our monthly clients in advance, so if they cease paying we simply terminate their services until the account is satisfied.

WebDev

 

I do agree with @webdev

This is the situation where you need to get advance payment from your new clients.

In your case it's totally depend on your contract paper, if everything is legal then ask help from your legal adviser.

 

try to persuade him , Tell him that you need the money to pay your bills, and you are badly in need of that money, then he feels sorry for you and he will probably pays the money.
After that try your best to ruin his website, his business and his reputation for what he did to you

 

Both these suggestions are incredibly unprofessional.

Get payment monthly, up front - and you'll avoid these issues. And, if you INSIST on payment in arrears, make sure you have contracts in place and a legal plan to ensure you can pursue non-paying clients should they default on payment.

WebDev

 

Take some amount in advance is the best option in any case the client not interested to pay the money.

 

That's a better option for an seo firm which are not having any legal document first theywill take some amount in advance if the client is not satisfied means there is not at all wastage of your efforts....

 

You should make it clear to all your clients from the start that they must pay a month in advance for any monthly service so A. Not to risk this sort of situation where your clients can't or don't want to pay, and B. Have the funding to pay for anything additional you may need to spend out for to do your monthly work.

Out of interest, why is your client refusing to pay the bill? Is it because...
They don't have the funding?
They don't believe you have done your job correctly?
They simply don't want to pay?

You will need to take slightly different roots for each so without knowing the full store behind your question, its a little hard to advice you for your specific occasion.

 

I have an SEO service, and I would never take on a client that isnt willing to pay upfront, That to me is a scam waiting to happen. I would rather just pass on that client and get another one. Its that simple.

 

Banged their Business by using Blackhat. And show them don't mess with IM'ers.

 

Get payment upfront if at all possible. Then, keep invoicing and trying to contact them if they are behind on payment. If they don't catch up then stop work. I would never go back and try to harm their site or take back any of the work done. That's just time waster and bad for business in the long run.

 

Best choice is negative seo I guess, for me I just ignore them, because I get paid half payment at first, and it's usually not low I know a client by the face, I only sell SEO service online when I get paid full? and I sell half payment or pay later service for AFK clients.

 

I think, ruin their online reputation, post negative about them and stop contacting. This is a effective and best way to affect their business.

 

That's really unprofessional business. I would never suggest doing this at all.
@op A seo professional should have contracts in place and try to convince them. Offer a free month if they're not satisfied. Never do a negative stuff on any site.

 

If you are loyal with your quality services to the client you deserve to be paid, so if the client is an old one and skips one or two payments it doesn't matter, but if it's a new client then ask for a money in advance, so that if the client is not the genuine one you have the upper hand in the whole scenario.

Thanks

 

Try to confess his some points and make solution that actually what happen to you and your project, let him tell to wait for sometime to get reputation in search engines. I'm sure your client will value you and will pay you for your work. Don't spread bad things that will kill your skills and you will become unprofessional.

 

The thing is, you actually want to filter your clients out and interview them before you do the work. I rather do SEO for a professional business than an individual who doesn't know what he or she wants.

Some clients can be a pain in the butt so do your interviews first.