Search engine optimisation (SEO) – managing our reputation
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is an industry that unfortunately receives bad press as there are plenty of companies and individuals that not only provide poor results but also cross into unethical SEO practices that do not adhere to white hat processes and accepted search engine guidelines.
Add to this the growing importance of high search engine rankings and the need for excellent online visibility and the number of companies and individuals claiming to be SEO experts is growing quickly. Many further damage the reputation of SEO by making outlandish guarantees and promises.
Here at The WebMarketing Group we only carry out white hat SEO and never make any guarantees that we cannot substantiate nor that we are happy to share some of the burden with the client.
Our client testimonials speak for themselves but our guiding principle is to make clients happy. May sound sycophantic but happy clients make for a happy company and achievable, measurable and sustainable results. On a less sycophantic note, we do no take on projects unless they present a win-win situation all round.
SEO to make clients happy
Illustrated below is a diagram to illustrate how we assess, undertake, implement and continually evaluate our SEO projects.
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Managing Expectations – critical to SEO
At the start of any potential SEO project the most important success factor is to ensure that expectations are managed on both sides – not only our clients but also internally.
The springboard starts with ensuring that there are clear channels of communications at all levels. Starting with our sales team we ensure that they are fully up to speed with all SEO developments and that, while they do not have any operational roles, they fully understand SEO and what is and is not achievable. This is a common stumbling block in other companies – sales teams are too remote from the process – and can make the outlandish claims and promises which they cannot substantiate.
We have a very strong sales qualification process that ensures that any SEO campaign is achievable and excellent internal communications that allows our sales team to quickly check viability of projects with our SEO operational team. While we want to take on as many projects as possible we won’t harm our reputation by taking on anything that is unachievable nor sustainable. Add to this our excellent sales/operational staff ratio and we are never stretched too far in a period when we are
experiencing great results and expansion. Critical to our expansion is ensuring we maintain a high level of operational staff.
Once we have ensured that any SEO project is achievable we progress to signing contracts with our clients. Our contracts have very clear Terms & Conditions that work to support and manage expectations and protect both parties through a mutual commitment to make SEO succeed.
Within that commitment is a clear definition of expectations and achievable SEO goals. We then progress to the execution of SEO projects that again clearly delineates who is going to be responsible for which processes. This again is a critical SEO success factor as a failure by the client to execute his or her commitment to the process can slow or stop the process. Marking out how, when and what is to be carried out by The WebMarketing Group is key.
Measuring SEO results and success
Critical to SEO is having tangible and empirical start data to be able to measure progress. Here at The WebMarketing Group we live and breathe statistics and at the start of the implementation stage we ensure that we have plenty of detailed information to use as success metrics. We look at, among other data, traffic volumes, rankings, the number of links and your online visibility as whole.
Clients may also suggest other success metrics to measure and can on occasion get too focused on metrics that show “vanity” visibility such as PageRank. PageRank is a good metric but by itself is not totally indicative of your online success. We combine all of our success metrics into our reporting to show how we have provided an excellent SEO ROI by looking at how we have improved your online success metrics as a whole to improve conversions and potential sales.
Exceeding SEO expectations and going that bit further
At the implementation and ongoing stage we ensure that communication is constant with excellent reports that track progress against the key success metrics. This ensures that all expectations are being met and we work hard to exceed expectations. As a company The WebMarketing Group does not just do the minimum, again it may sound too good to be true but our analysts thrive on their own success and want to do their best and a common theme that comes from our clients is that we work over and above expectations to achieve project goals.
SEO successfully completed – end of the process?
The SEO campaign has reached its natural end and at this stage many SEO companies leave the client to continue on their own.
Here at The WebMarketing Group we don’t think that exclusively meeting or surpassing the success metrics equates the end of the project. We strongly believe that the cycle should continue. Online marketing succeeds where the SEO company continually thinks outside the project goals and parameters and at looks at how to make online marketing succeed even further.
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