Great "distractions" like the ones in this photo (12/26/05 near La Jolla, Ca. - click to enlarge photo) can be entertaining. Others follow this quote by Bruce Sterling: "One of the points about distractions is that everything that they do is destabilizing." So, let me get "re-stabilized" now, even if it's temporary.
I ended Part XVII of this series with "..finding that "right match" is worth the effort." For SEO "Pay For Some Kind of Performance", it is especially true to have the "right" seller for the "right" buyer, and vice versa!
It is so important, that the SEO buyer might consider paying an agreed upon amount for a detailed, formal, written proposal that provides a lot of general information about the SEO's plan, which, in turn, says something about the consultant and his firm. Yet, the SEO consultant does not want to give away the exact specifics of his techniques and processes, so don't ask for too many details except in the link building part of the Request For Proposal. Even there, don't ask for names of their sources, just how they will get inbound links. Also, don't demand the names of their clients, except with client permission. Don't expect to get an exact match to your web site situation as each is unique. Don't ask for specific results of other clients. Do ask if they have ever been compensated based on "conversion actions", but not offline sales. Do ask to speak to as many clients and former clients (permission given 1st) as possible. SEO buyers should also be aware of "Proposal Kit" software (for under $200) that some SEO firms use to produce many "boiler plate" proposals.
Proposal costs, if any, should be based on the number of hours it takes to produce a custom one, and how much custom research goes into it. If the SEO firm doesn't want (or "like") to do one for any reason, they may be a good firm and too busy, or feel they divulge too much proprietary info. Then, it would probably be better to "move on" to another SEO anyway. There has to be a certain amount of TRUST and COOPERATION on both sides of the buying equation for a true partnership to work. SEO buyer's, on the other hand, should not expect to get the amount and kind of information that would enable them to start their own "in-house" search marketing division. Remember, the goal here is an ethical, long term "win-win" result based on Performance-Based reward compensation.
Referrals from SEO's can be good or not, but the best referrals come from objective clients and former clients that don't have a vested interest in giving a biased positive review. Your job as an SEO buyer (OR SELLER) is to look for the perceived "negatives" (if any, and how serious), as the "positives" are easy to come by.
I have also come up with some links to information that I like in regards to the selection process from both the buyer and seller perspectives. The first is "How to Hire an SEO" in which the author says: "Can they handle competitive keywords? They should be honest about this. If your top keyword is very competitive, they may refuse the job altogether or suggest you target alternative terms. If they don’t suggest this or even address the issue of keyword competitiveness, run the other way." The author also talks about what needs to be included in an SEO contract. I like her comment: "I am acting as an independent consultant for a client who is in the process of selecting an SEO) and I’m amazed at what’s not included." She goes on to explain how vague the term "link building" can be. This other author and article gives even more detail.
In "Knowing Your SEO Contract Inside Out" the author says: "The first thing a contract should include are all services to be performed. They should be presented in great detail, in plain language so that you can understand exactly what the SEO campaign consists of." While "Paid Inclusion" is listed as something that can be included, I am personally against it, because I believe it possible that "..it causes searches to return results based more on the economic standing of the interests of a web site, and less on the relevancy of that site to end-users." If it were to be done with Yahoo, say, then it should be paid for separately by the SEO buyer, in my opinion.
That same author talks about "Performance-based Pricing" and says: "If the SEO company accepts such pricing structure then you should still expect to pay for consulting hours, meetings etc." I disagree, only in as much as it relates to MY "one suggestion" for "SEO - Pay For Some Kind of Performance". The reason is: MY suggestion is to pay the chosen SEO firm a percentage ( I suggest about 30%) of the total amount in their one year contract proposal (paid in equal monthly installments) over the first six months. These are the "partial cost" (of the regular first year's pricing) payments that I said I would explain the meaning of in my last post.
This stable amount is paid to the SEO firm even if an increase in leads-actions has not taken place yet. Those payments will probably be less resented by the client than "hourly charge billing with results attached" as noted by a SEO Consultant in this SEW Forum post on "What's The Best Way To Price SEO?". But, if increases over the monthly benchmarked levels are there (due to optimization efforts only), then additional monthly payments should be made based upon the exact dollar value amounts determined in the second six month's remuneration calculations. "Optimization efforts" can include Internet consulting on almost anything other than "offline efforts" (which can include Print, Radio, TV, and Outdoor Advertising). It definitely should include consulting advice on how to convert those actions to online & offline sales, although the SEO firm should not be responsible and accountable for offline sale conversion.
If the client does some kind of "offline marketing effort", it then makes it difficult to tell where the increase in leads-actions came from, unless, of course, he uses tracking technology like Ad-iD. Therefore, it would be good to either include the cost of extra, offline marketing efforts done by the SEO-SEM firm in the initial proposal-contract (and, therefore, let the SEO firm have the benefit of their offline advertising advice), or hold off on anything extra that would affect the previously benchmarked levels.
Most initial SEO work (not all) can be effectively implemented within 6 months (then "maintenance" takes over) as noted in this SEO firm's (Performance SEO) press release: "..On-Site optimization should not take more than six months to complete. "Unless we are dealing with a website redesign, rebuild or complex internal systems, we are usually able to complete the majority of the on-site work within 6 months. All the while, we are building up the content and Off-Site Link Popularity..." (Please note - I do not recommend any specific SEO firm only because I have not directly worked with them. Only clients and former clients should recommend SEO-SEM firms, in my opinion.)
After the first six months, the remaining "percentage dollar value" is to be broken down into a "Pay Per Action" (includes online sales) or "Pay Per Lead" remuneration to be paid out on a monthly basis. This means that the remaining (about) 70% of the total year's regular pricing amount is the starting point for figuring out the actual value of each "action". This is done by using the benchmarked amount of each specific kind of action, and then "reverse calculating" what each one is worth. More important "actions" should be given a greater monetary value, and seasonal fluctuations by month, if any, should be taken into account. Any additional leads-actions to each month's benchmarked total should be added in and multiplied by the monetary value of each kind of action, and then paid to the SEO firm in addition to the benchmarked dollar amounts for that month.
This method would insure that the SEO firm would be paid more than their normal one year total for their successful increase in actions all through the first year, if increases were there. If not, then they would be paid the same as in their regular pricing, even though the client will have spent a lot of his time, while wasting precious "competitive edge" time. If results are less, then the SEO firm probably deserves to be paid less (unless there are "extenuating, "client's fault", circumstances" like lack of client implementation cooperation in making SEO changes to the client's web site).
THE DANGER FOR THE CLIENT IS THAT THE SEO FIRM MAY BE TEMPTED TO USE AGGRESSIVE SEARCH ENGINE MANIPULATION (aka "BLACK OR DARK GREY HAT" SEO TECHNIQUES) TO GET FASTER INCREASES IN ALL "ACTIONS". This is where an SEO buyer's good knowledge of Google's (as well as other search engine's) "Webmaster Guidelines" and "SEO Info" comes in handy. Because, if your SEO firm gets too aggressive (only the search engines determine what "too aggressive" means), the client's web site could go into the "Google Sandbox" or even get "Google Banned". I'll repeat what I said about "client contract protection" for this in "Shoko's point #6" of my "Part XIII" later in this series.
However, if results are less within the first year (and the SEO firm previously agreed to all the details of the contract) due to major search engine algorithm changes, SEO firm talent turnover, recentness of the client's web site, increased client web site competition, or a lack of good alternatives for highly competitive keywords that can convert to "Traffic of Good Intent" (the search user considers buying what the client sells) actions, then these things are part of the shared risk of this more "true partnership" relationship, in my opinion. This more "true partnership" should ALSO give the SEO firm a realistic potential to earn more money than their regular one year contract amount in the first year in order to balance out the "risk vs. reward "win-win" scenario.
BUT, THE SECOND YEAR'S CONTRACT SHOULD BE CAREFULLY RE-EVALUATED BY EACH PARTY! A LOT SHOULD BE LEARNED IN THAT FIRST YEAR, AND ADJUSTMENTS MAY BE NEEDED IN MANY AREAS (ESPECIALLY "COMMUNICATION"). THEORETICALLY, ONLY "MAINTENANCE" MAY BE NEEDED IN THAT SECOND YEAR, BUT "COMPETITIVE FACTORS" MAY AFFECT THE INTENSITY OF THE ONGOING SEO EFFORT. THE GOAL OF BOTH PARTIES SHOULD BE TO CONTINUE THE LONG TERM, VALUE DRIVEN RELATIONSHIP, SINCE SO MUCH IS INVESTED IN THAT FIRST YEAR BY BOTH BUYER AND SELLER!
I CAN'T EMPHASIZE ENOUGH, THE NEED FOR EVALUATION FORMS THAT ARE FILLED OUT BY TOP MANAGEMENT OF BOTH BUYER & SELLER ON A QUARTERLY BASIS! THE "INTERACTIVE AGENCY PERFORMANCE EVALUATION" ON PAGE 23, AND THE "AGENCY FEEDBACK TO CLIENT" FORM ON PAGE 27 OF THE ICA's "Client/Agency Evaluation" CAN BE ADOPTED TO SEO AGENCY/CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS, in my opinion.
The SEO firm should be expected to "consult" and "meet" on the phone or by e-mail throughout the relationship in a more informal communicative way. The same goes for the SEO buyer! Of course, if there are major buyer side changes that happen after the contract is signed which require unexpected extra formal meetings and consulting hours from the SEO firm, then extra hourly fees should be charged.
To further protect the SEO firm, there should be an "early termination" clause that provides some kind of fair compensation if the client cancels the contract before the one year is up. The amount would depend upon what month it happens and the increased level of actions already achieved at the time of cancellation. If the SEO firm cancels early in that first year, then reasons should be given in writing, and maybe even a partial refund, if no increase (or a decrease) in leads-actions has happened. Sometimes people make mistakes about the "chemistry" of the personalities of their business relationship partners, but everything should be done to avoid that before entering into the one year contract.
As far as formal written reports are concerned, only ones relating to the ongoing web analytic tracking of "actions" should be done as part of the agreement, since that is what the compensation level is mostly based on. Any other kind of reporting of what the SEO firm is doing for the client or vice versa, can be done verbally on the phone or in "outline form" by e-mail. But, if an SEO buyer has a large company that requires frequent, formal, written "progress reports" on everything being done by the SEO firm, then extra charges are in order. Or, the key contact at the big firm should gather the information verbally and do the reports himself.
More to come.
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