SEO :: The Game and the Claims!

A couple of days ago, I had a meeting with a client located in my city, an advertising firm, that recently re-designed it's website with many frontend and backend changes and was looking in for opportunities to setup it's presence in the Online market!
Since, I have earlier worked on SEO for some local biggies, they somehow got my name and I was called in for a short meeting-cum-interview!
I wasn't introduced to this project while it was still being planned, its been 2 months since the new website came up, when I was called in.
Being the advertising oriented people that they are, they had their website full of highprofile flash, irritating splash page with images that were super high in terms of size!
Now as most of the companies believe, SEO should be done once the website is done, as in this case. But I strongly belive and also that if SEOs are introduced while the site is still under construction things get better!
Now, in the 3 hours of meeting and about 7 cups of coffee that we had, I spoke to them atleast 20 times that we need to work on text and that directory submissions/article submissions and backlinks alone cannot do them any good! Onsite optimisation is required and any normal SEO would require that space wherein he can exercise his onsite SEO skills!
Now being in the SEO industry for about 20 months, and having met a little over a 100 clients and done projects for about 80 of them. I sure can say that many website owners with websites which are either new or have been re-designed by designers who isn't aware of SEO, get all that red and fiery, when you tell them, that their design which they though was perfect is nothing but a bland page that unfortunately has incorporated many such elements that prove as a hindrance in the way of Search Engine Spiders, and that the site may require a major overhaul in order for it to be able to rank well with Search Engines!
So here with this client, I ask him to give me sometime for keyword research, I come back to my place, do a bit of research work, keyword popularity research! Check out his competitor's website, see what they are using and what they are losing! and finally decide on 3 keywords that I find will be the best for them, I give them to him and ask him , what he thinks!
He reverts back immediately with the keyword "Indian Advertising Agency",
and says he wants to rank top on Yahoo/MSN and Google for this keyword and that too within 2 months! I explained to him thats it's practically impossible to get to this rank with such competition, since SEs generally require quality content and that your content must be really good in the field!
Whereas in this case, there was practically none.
From this looks though, he appeared to be understanding what I was saying, since I feel I explain really good. But still I asked him to keep me updated about what's happening!
Now in the times, when you are just about to convince the clients what's happening with his site, and what should be done, there jumps in those idiots who can do nothing but make claims!
Today in the morning,I receive an email from him and he feels quite cheered,
He proudly states that finally he has managed to find an SEO who is able to cater to all his needs and fits well in his pocket and that he "assured top rankings in 2 months"
He quotes the other person's email ...

Check out the claims and their spellings show how professional they are isn't it ?? :evil:
Abhishek

 

No one has a say on this. ..

 

As they say, failure is best lesson.. So this client will be getting a lesson in 2 months. If they learn from it or not, that's another matter.

 

I sure will wait and watch if the client (who incidentally is also a very known person to me) revives from his slumber and comes to me.But I'd have made it worth his while, had I got this project!
Not that I'd die, if I don't get this project, but that I really wanted to do this!
A person whom I consider my staunch competitor (in a perfectly healthy sense) is handling the SEO for my client's business rival, and this was more like a challenge to me!
The agency my client runs is quite a known one here, and seeing them getting drowned in search engines will be quite funny, and when his competitors get all the high rankings and then this fellow decides to come to me, making all the work more harder for me, I am gonna give this fellow a nice long invoice That will pay for my Vacations! which am planning pretty soon!
Btw, did u look at the idiot's demands, they demand Non Chargebackable Egold! and ask the client to pay upfront! Lmfaao
Abhishek

 

People believe what they want to believe, so let it go.

Some people do not see the worth of quality work.

 

Looks like this client hasn't ever been ripped off online, oh well, few months and he'll regret it.
If I were you, i'd try finding any forum thread online that has a person complaining about getting ripped off, or point him to a online article somewhere that gives realistic optimization goals.

 

Funny how superficial people tend to be in their knowledge, willing to beleive the claim that agrees with what they had already decided they wanted in the first place rather than the truth of the matter

 

If a client wil not agree with me then I walk. I am the one they are paying, IF they knew better then why contact me in the first place. The moment clients start to get on the 'YOU are wrong, I am right' I know Better than you' line, I ask them the simple question. 'Mister client, please don't take this the wrong way, but there really is no easy way to ask it, IF you are certain you know all this about SEO, then WHY have you contacted me?'

They will have contacted you because they have read their arse off and got nowhere by listening to the wrong people. If they will not agree with how you do things, then they are not the clients for you. I will NOT compromise, it is either all or nothing, as at the end of the day, if you compromise and it goes wrong, they will NEVER admit that THEY were wrong. Nor should they have to, because YOU should dig your heels in if it is the best interests of the client.

 

Old Welsh Uncle Thanks for the reply ... but this client appeared to be too hasty!
Considering the fact that this client moved on to some other option who claimed to be getting him quick results!
These are my general rules, I tend to take SEO my own way, and so far none of my clients have been dissatisifed. I don't agree on compromising!
This fellow will regret it .. as it's clear that without proper onsite optimisation and with relative links no SEO work is complete!
Let's wait n watch! Will keep you guys updated
Abhishek

 

Totally agree with you, there is a saying in the UK, it runs 'marry in haste, repent at your leisure'. This basically means, if you rush into making a bad choice, you will have plenty of time afterwards for regret

 

You can lead a horse to water but you can never make it drink! Enough said!

 

VERY TRUE...

 

Yup I agree with you guys, but don't ya think these blabbers and Article submitters (not all of em) are just eating away proper SEO businesses and ruining potential clients ?
Was just thinking this the other day ... but i guess as TWW stated ..."You can lead a horse to water but you can never make it drink! Enough said!"
And as my Old welsh uncles said ... "f you rush into making a bad choice, you will have plenty of time afterwards for regret"
teehhee ... am waiting for the final countdown ...
Abhishek

 

Abhishek - don't you think links from aricle directories are good ?
BTW in a psot you wrote you are 16! is it ?

 

Yes dude, Article Directories do prove good, depends on the article and the SEO talent employed while writing it But spamming "only" to link directories, won't do you any good!
Yes am 16 ...
Abhishek

 

SEO is ALL about balance if your aim is to build a long term business. If your aim is to work your nuts off for the rest of your life making short term money, then spam away. Articles are good for what they do, they can drive good traffic to your site, and can get you healthy backlinks. I have only written a handfull of articles (well many of my forum posts are articles really LOL) But the articles I have distributed have been syndicated well, and have been picked up by some decent websites.

You have to find the right balance with SEO, then again it depends on how you term SEO! To me the job of an SEO is to make the site as good as it can be. Plain and simple. Best converting, best working, best ranking for a host of phrases. NOT just 'getting #1 for xxx xxx'

 

Awesomely put, thats what SEO means exactly....
Proper syndication is necessary and it all really depends on the article, on how useful it is to the community!
I have seen useful articles over the internet and I have seen article that work out as if ...
"One there was a <keyword>, and then was another <keyword>, both of them met each other at <keyword>, married at <keyword>, slept at <keyword> and gave birth to a baby boy at <keyword>, they named the baby boy <keyword>, he grew up to meet another <keyword> and the <keyword> tail continues ..."
Have been reading articles by people like you, Jim westergren, Aaron Pratt and much respect to you guys am already a fan ...
So hence ...it's true how your article is and how it serves the community ...
Abhishek

 

Forget that, the same shit happend with me. I attended an interview at a leading software company. The guy who interviewed me told me to make changes only to the META tags. What about content and on-page stuff, I asked. He said I needn't do anything to them. I insisted, he persisted. He then went on to give a broader picture of META tags.

While he was doing this I thought to myself: "There is an old English saying: Never teach your father how to f**k!!"

I told him I'll follow-up but gave him the slip deftly. It was then I realized that these middle management MBAs are no-brainers.

Regards,
Dilip

 

This wasn't basically an interview ...I was called in to see how much I knew about the topic and if I could handle their project and as usual I went loaded with my laptop and all, i explained to them everything! They did get it all, but eventually decided to settle on to a lower standard
Abhishek

 

Well, they can't do it in just 2 months, as the website wasn't really indexed by google because they used flash, google HARDLY gives the top ranking for a website that were not even indexed because some people could copy like "paypal" and have it on the 1st position.