Sometimes people are so close to "trees", or "concepts", or "beliefs", that they "CAN'T SEE THE FOREST THROUGH THE TREES" (click on photo for a larger view). While this can happen in any industry or endeavor, it has happened to me with my use of "ITALIC TYPE" in this blog. Some helpful people in the SEM community, recently, "constructively criticized" my use of it, along with my overuse of "colors" in my blog type. So, I tend to agree now that it has been brought to my attention, and increased my awareness of the "forest". I only hope that some members of the SEM community realize the possibility that for certain aspects of their business, as "insiders", they may be so close to the "trees" that it is hard to see the "forest". The same could be said for SEO buyers with their "accustomed" view of what marketing they think works best in their industry. I'd get too much "off topic" if I went into more detail on this now. Future posts of mine will explain.
I've been waiting (to no avail) for some specific input from confidential SEO Consultant sources on the details of their (or other SEO's) version of SEO "Pay For Performance" to do this next post in my "one suggestion" to help the Search Marketing Industry grow (HEALTHILY = improve Industry Reputation) series. As I've said before, it appears to me (I may be wrong) that most of the people doing it now don't want many other SEO's knowing too many of the "details" of how it is done from a competitive perspective. I can't blame them, as most of the ones I've read have gone on record saying that they make more money in the long run, and have less turnover of clients with it.
However, the "Devil is in the Details", so I'm hoping to eventually come up with my own workable "Pay For Some Kind of Performance" ("Pay For Actions") concept that is "fair & balanced" to both SEO buyer and seller, especially if I get "constructive suggestions" to improve my initial concept from SEO sellers and buyers. This next benefit to the SEO seller and buyer should make good, common, business sense.
Because "the starting point should be determining what the estimated hourly or package pricing would be, normally, for say a one year contract that includes estimated "maintenance" costs", this allows for the SEO seller to be somewhat assured that he can at least make the same amount of compensation as he would have with his regular pricing. This is true, if he does an "average" job of producing "key performance indicator actions" through ongoing optimization efforts during that first year's contract.
The different financial metric values that would be assigned to each type of action are based on the potential quality (and value to the client) of each individual "action". All projected actions based on their current conversion rate and quantity, as benchmark levels, would be broken down, assigned a dollar value, and then added up to equal what the SEO seller would have earned overall with his regular pricing during that initial first year contract. I've previously said before to "Do a projected "estimated total" of all upfront "partial cost" payments (I'll explain in my next post), along with realistic estimates for actions and their monetary values to help insure the "performance outcome" of overall SEO compensation goals and client "KPI" goals." Most of the specific "actions" are enumerated in the first portion of "Part IX" of this series.
In trying to cover the first year's regular SEO's pricing by breaking it down into "incremental action dollar values", it is a good way to see if the client's portion of his overall marketing budget for SEO is within range of that particular SEO's regular pricing for that first year's contract. IF IT ISN'T, THEN BOTH SHOULD AGREE ON THE SEO's REGULAR PRICING THROUGH AN INCREASED SEO CLIENT BUDGET, OR "PART COMPANY" AGREEABLY & MOVE ON! It is not a good idea for the SEO buyer to look for discounts, since the SEO seller who eventually gets the contract will be taking more upfront risks than he normally does. To have additional financial pressures on the SEO seller would, in most cases, be counterproductive, in my opinion. There are many good SEO's with different strengths and weaknesses, as there will be an increasing number of decent clients as time goes by, and finding that "right match" is worth the effort for both parties.
More details in my next post.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.org.
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