Meeting With Clients As A Freelance Seo Consultant - What To Ask And Why

Get to the Essential Questions

Get to the Essential Questions

So what are the essential questions that are absolutely vital during the first meeting? I've found the following questions to be the most important to ask, as in, they will provide you with an immediate insight to your clients thinking and expectations. Be mindful that the answers your client provides during your initial meeting can all be taken down and implemented within your seo proposal. This all helps guide your process from here on.

These questions are as follows :

Could you describe your business in a few sentences?

This will give you an immediate understanding of exactly what the person and or business is all about. In SEO especially, this is very important. Why? Because its essential that you fully understand the business marketplace, and everything associated with it. Having a thorough understanding of the business will assist with keyword research, competition analysis and other vital aspects of the SEO campaign.

What are your primary objectives?

Whilst this is quite a broad question it should uncover the client's motivation for getting in touch with someone like you. Let them answer it openly and freely, and see what response they give. Whilst most may respond with "to get better rankings in Google" its likely that its more about increasing revenue.

This is where you can shift the mindset from simple rankings to financial gain, and establishing a long term customer base through potential list building. Either way, let the client tell you what they want and accommodate that need as necessary.

Do you have an allocated budget? If so, what is it?

Don't be surprised if this question goes unanswered. Some people have no idea of what to budget for search engine optimisation or what it might cost. Or maybe they're just reluctant to discuss financials at this point. Whatever the reason, it's time for you to take the initiative and provide a basic overview of your fees, so that its completely transparent.

Your range may turn out to be too high for the prospect, and that's okay. Your job is to find those who have the desire to work with you - and the ability to pay what you charge. More importantly it provides you with a baseline.

Have you at any stage implemented any SEO strategies?

This is just a quick question that I like to ask, so that I know ahead of time whether or not Im cleaning up someone elses mess. Obviously, for whatever reason, the strategies implemented havent worked, otherwise I wouldn't be having this meeting with the client.

Of course, upon site evaluation Ill know for sure, and this in turn will help provide a more accurate quote. Having to undo someone elses mistakes is going to take much, much longer than starting with a clean slate.

Do you have an idea of what words or phrases people would use to find your site? Which of these words or phrases is most important? Second? Third?

This is one of those questions that gets the search engine obsessives going. They're the people who come up with an impossibly long list of search terms that they expect top rankings on. Encourage them to come up with a reasonable list - say, ten to twenty terms at first. Once you're in the position of performing research on those keywords, then guide the client as necessary.

Do you have a timeframe in mind?

You may be dealing with a client that expects his or her website to be ranked first page for a highly competitive keyword by next Tuesday. Then again, you might not. This question, if handled carefully, can provide you with an opportunity to get an idea of the clients expectations, including timeframes.

Never tell your clients how long it will take, because lets face it, even you wont know. There are no guarantees in SEO when it comes to site rankings or completion times. With so many external factors potentially influencing your campaigns, the reality is that trying to provide any type of completion time to a client is pointless.

The whole point however in asking the client this question is to determine as to whether or not their expectations are realistic. In summary, it might be best to predefine your monthly contracts within your seo proposal template document ahead of even speaking to prospects. This way, you can dictate the turnaround times, and remain in control.

Do you have an idea of who your main competitors are?

In general, I've found this to be one of the easiest questions for prospects to answer. And don't be surprised if they offer more than just a few, plus a detailed explanation of each one. This can be quite useful when it comes to keyword research later on, as its likely that their competitors will be optimized for keywords of interest.

Where is the website content coming from? Who's responsible for updating it? Do you have a web designer? Who, and how many people have access to the website?

Web server access during the lifecycle of a campaign can be a sensitive subject. Its extremely important that only a select few, or only you or your team of SEO consultants have access during the project. Make best efforts to prevent multiple users having access to the server, as it will prevent the likelihood of mistakes and confusion.

As for content, this can be one of those things that can really slow a project to a screaming hault. If you can eliminate this altogether by making content publishing the responsibility of the client, then do so. It will help finish the project faster. However, ensure that the content published is high quality, and in alignment with the SEO strategy.

If in doubt, outsource this to a skilled writer. Content is very much an important part of the overall SEO strategy. As for web design, this is NOT the responsibility of an SEO consultant. These two roles are different and therefore should be kept separate. Avoid getting involved in programming or designing, its not what you have been hired for. The client should have an allocated on hand designer.

by: John Roberts

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