Turning down SEO clients
I just explained to a Swedish client why I turned him down.
He is willing to pay 7K USD to me for the SEO job to his site.
I looked at the site for 5 minutes, read the KW he wants to target and explained to him why I choose not to take this job.
His site: English car rental affiliate site. Template looking, text in images and no content. The only sub page is an “about us” page. Site made a few weeks ago.
The KW he wants to target: car rental.
Let me once again quote Rand:
Why Should a Search Engine Rank Your Site Above All the Others in its Field?
If you cannot answer this question clearly and precisely, the task of ranking higher will be exponentially more difficult. Search engines attempt to rank the very best sites with the most relevant content first in their results, and until your site’s content is the best in its field, you will always struggle against the engines rather than bringing them to your doorstep.
I explained to him that I don’t take any jobs in which I am not certain that the client will be satisified with the results that I can create.
I wrote some very nice tips to him for free, such as limit your site to a narrow field in this niche (certain cities??) and create a good resource on it and target those KWs.
He is very welcome to come back once he has that achieved and I will help him with the SEO aspect.
BTW, this is the second time a turn down a car rental affiliate site …
Jim Westergren is a company owner from Sweden who lives together with his wife and son. Some of his interests are SEO, web development, writing and
You should write a book on the subject. I mean, many would buy it and it seems like you have more work coming in than you can handle — so what is there to lose? Unless you think you’d lose in the long run by doing so.
Lars,
I have been going over that many times in my mind. In English there is seobook.com but in Swedish there are more needed. I might write a book on it, but that will be for the future.
A Right Move and highly respected in a unique situation.
Yep, a swedish niched Book Savvy will be highly appreciated from you.
I agree in turning that one down.
I was doing work for SEO before until I just started to focus on my sites instead of other peoples and I have encountered that situation a few times where I would turn down the site because it would be a waste of their money and my time.
Some sites/niches you shouldnt even try unless you have a huge budget. Car rentals is one of them.
Thanks Kai, will think about the book! But not the next months, that’s for sure.
Aaron,
Yep. In this case what was needed was to start the site from scratch and I am now willing to do that …
Now I am going to read on your blog
Indeed, often most of your SEO time is spent getting the basics right. Forget about keyword research, you have to start with getting some text, any text back onto the page.
well, i read a fair amount of output on web administration. Your advice is about right. Was your aim to demonstrate that you have admin knowledge, which is so often repeated. Or just simply, that he needs a writer, if he (the site owner) isn’t one?
Really great Mr.Jim, You are 100% sure in the business, so you are in success, loosing $7k is not simple for a SEO, but you did a great job.
its surprised to hear this news anyway.
thanks
venkat