The life of a digital marketer is a complicated one. On the one hand we love our jobs because it offers endless variety, many challenges, and the unbeatable sense of achievement when you take a valued client and their business to even greater heights. On the other, we frequently find ourselves tearing our hair out (I’m bald now by the way) because of nightmarish comments like these.
- “You’ve had two months and we’ve nothing to show for it; goodbye.”
This is something that a digital marketing expert never wants to hear from you – especially in SEO.
The fact is, search engine optimization can take anywhere between 3 and 12-months depending on the size of your website and how competitive your industry is. As such, if you ditch your SEO agency after only 2-months of working with successful campaigns, you may well be making a mistake!
Hold your chosen agency accountable by all means and make sure that you can see where your money is going, but also set realistic expectations and give them time to do their jobs.
- “We like what you’ve done but we’ve made some changes of our own”.
Oh my goodness! There are few things quite as frustrating in the world of digital marketing than a client who goes against your advice and takes matters into their own hands.
Unless you have a very good reason, we don’t recommend that you start undoing all of the work that you are paying your digital marketing agency for.
When they make changes to your website, title, headers, and copy, there’s usually a very specific reason for it.
By all means, share your views and let them know if you would like something to change, however, remember that you are paying the professionals for a very good reason: their expertise.
- “We’ve found someone who can do it for much cheaper.”
It’s always disappointing to lose a client when you know you can bring excellent value to their business. It’s also very frustrating seeing a perfectly decent person throw their money away on a cheap and inequitable “SEO expert”.
By all means, shop around and look for good value before you commit to any agency, but shopping on price alone is a big mistake.
Take Online Marketing Gurus as an example: they on-board new clients on their reputation and results. This is because they have 100s+ of 5+ reviews and 100s+ of real-life case studies from recognisable brands.
In other words, when looking for an agency, look for one that has a proven track record of success and pay them accordingly.
Otherwise, if you go for cheap SEO solely for the sake of saving money, you’ll invariably end up spending so much more in the long run!
- “Thank you, but we’re going to put our SEO on hold for now.”
This is another highly frustrating comment that no SEO expert likes to hear. Remember, SEO is not a ‘one-time thing’. It’s an ongoing process that requires constant work. Otherwise, if you put an end to it, your rankings will invariably drop and all that hard work and money invested will go to waste when your competitors overtake you.
Sure, if an SEO agency isn’t delivering the results you need, look elsewhere. But stopping entirely? Rarely a good idea.
- “SEO is a scam.”
This statement is arguably the most hurtful. There’s nothing worse as an SEO expert than being told that the very industry that you have dedicated your life to is nothing but a scam.
Yes, there are many, many would-be marketers out there who would love nothing more than to take your money and run. However, SEO is a proven digital marketing method that, when executed properly with best practices, can yield transformative results.
If you think SEO is a scam, you clearly haven’t worked with the right agency.
Again, if you shop on reputation and results, you’ll never have to worry about being ripped off and left in the lurch!
