As the owner of an SEO firm, Eckweb Designs, Inc. I am well aware of the importance of SEO responsibilities, by my firm and from my clients.
I just finished the monthly SEO reports (I know, I'm a day late) for Eckweb. I reviewed 71 websites and the results always impress me. I'm not saying these reports are all showing increased rankings and traffic or increased conversions. What I'm impressed by is the correlation between the amount of work a client will do with us (their SEO firm) and the results they get back.
The clients who follow our recommendations reap the benefits with increased traffic, increased conversions and increased sales. The clients who simply ignore our recommendations and just keep their websites standing still only get to see declining traffic, declining sales and declining conversions. That is, until they call us to complain that we're not doing our job!
Each month, we provide our clients with...
a) 3 new keyword phrases they can market,
b) an affordable (only $35.00) way for them to add a page to their website,
c) tips and recommendations on what they need to do to improve traffic,
d) a comparison to an online competitor - in detail.
But, although we provide all this information (and more) a small percentage of our clients take our recommendations. But, it's that small percentage that ends up seeing traffic double or triple and conversions increase anywhere from 2-8 percent. It's very frustrating, knowing the potential that these other websites have but is being wasted.
How many SEO firms out there are stuck in this position? How many SEO clients out there are frustrated because they don't understand what's happening? I think the problem may be simply not knowing each other's responsibilities. The truth is, all Eckweb clients sign off on a list of personal seo responsibilities in their contract. But the reality is that it's up to us at Eckweb to reinforce those responsibilities and remind the clients that they must play a part in their SEO campaigns.
So, what are some of these SEO responsibilities?
The SEO Firm's Responsibilities:
1) To keep the client advised of any changes that may be beneficial to improving the rankings of the website. Changes such as additional website pages, altered content, submitting to For Pay search engines/directories, etc.
2) To monitor the activity on the website and make the necessary changes (or recommend the changes) for the purpose of improving traffic, sales and/or conversions.
3) To keep abreast of the latest changes in search engines and the Internet marketing industry.
4) To continously develop new strategies to bring in more traffic, increase sales and improve website conversions.
5) To monitor online competition and provide the client with competition information, allowing the client to make educated decisions about the course of the marketing campaign.
6) To understand the needs and goals of the client and their website.
The SEO Clients' Responsibilities:
1) To refrain from making changes to their website. Often these changes alter the optimization work and result in poor performing website pages.
2) Limiting phone calls to SEO firms, instead communicating via email. This allows the SEO firm to document questions and answers and monitor the amount of work performed on websites.
3) Continuously provide additional content to the SEO firm. Content based on the recommended keyword phrases from the SEO firm. OR - to pay an SEO copywriter or the SEO firm to write the new content.
4) To hire the SEO firm to perform the necessary Internet marketing activities that the client cannot do. Activities such as social media marketing, content writing, article submissions and link exchanges.
5) To understand that the SEO / Internet Marketing campaign process can take anywhere from 3-8 months before results even begin to take effect.
Of course, you may have some additional ones to add, based on your experiences. Whether you're an SEO firm or an SEO client, the process of SEO takes 2 to Tango. So, know your SEO Responsibilities and believe me, both will reap the rewards!