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08

Jun

Go the extra mile or just shut my mouth and take the money?

Posted by stuart as , ,

I wrote the other day about a graphic designer I do some site development work for here in my home town.

Another job I do for this designer is a bit of copywriting and proofreading (I worked as a proofreader in the printing industry many moons ago - although you wouldn’t know it by reading this blog ;-))

The proofreading seems to be more like copywriting, the client writes what they want on their website, I re-write it so it flows a little better and makes sense, the client gives me some money, and everybody’s a winner.

My quandary is this: When I re-write this copy, I generally give no thought to SEO. I just make it sound nice, and that’s the end of it. I die a little inside each time I hand over the copy, knowing so much more could have been done with it in an SEO sense, but the client isn’t paying me to do keyword research or write SEO’d copy.
The situation is the same with the website development I do for this designer. I just create the site so it looks as nice as possible given the Photoshop template that the designer gives me. I don’t worry about styling H1, H2 tags etc, I don’t worry about having keyword rich title tags, or having catchy page descriptions. I just make the site how the client wants it, and hand it over. Once again, it pains me to work this way, but given the budget constraints, I have little choice.

The problem is, that if I offer these services to the client, I don’t want to give them unrealistic expectations. Yes I could offer to charge a little more to the clients who are happy to pay for some keyword research, some extra time writing the copy, and the extra time to create an SEO friendly website, but unless they’re prepared to pall for a full SEO campaign (link building, link baiting etc), this would simply raise their expectations with the real risk of seeing little in the way of results.

So what to do?

Do I offer these services to these low value clients? Or do I just keep collecting the money for doing the work that I do?

13 comments so far

Cosmetic Dental Work says June 9th, 2008 at 10:53 pm

I would offer a basic site, and an “seo ready” site. This way they maybe will not expect any rankings since there is no link building, etc. but they understand they are getting a little more effort for the extra money spent. Plus if it is not in their budget they will know why they did not get these extra details, it was an option.

Stephanie says June 16th, 2008 at 4:49 am

I always think it’s better to have an SEO ready site, that way you have options down the road.

Jonathan says June 17th, 2008 at 2:24 am

Tuff decision, I think it depends on the person.

Utah SEO says June 17th, 2008 at 2:53 am

Offer the service with the disclaimer that SEO copy is not equivalent to an SEO campaign. They choose to do it great you have more money, if not they were warned it wouldn’t rank them in it of itself. Win-win.

Nico says June 17th, 2008 at 8:05 pm

I think a SEO ready site is a good idea, very important.

Sport Psychology Degree says June 19th, 2008 at 11:11 am

SEO is BIG MONEY these days. There are plenty of SEO firms charging thousands of dollars for auditing existing websites, which basically involves looking at the source code for a site and running down a check list of SEO tips.

If you do SEO work for a client, charge them for it! If they aren’t interested in SEO, don’t let it bother you. Many businesses think old school (that’s their problem) and believe that people will visit their website after reading the URL off of their business card.

Monavie says June 21st, 2008 at 8:04 am

That is a hard decision. I guess it just depends how far you want to take it. Is it worth it for you to take the time to explain how it will help them? I think if you tell them how beneficial it can be and you keep it realistic (let them know it has to age, etc), you should go for it.

Bob Marley Quotes says June 22nd, 2008 at 3:14 am

Yes, i do think buying SEO ready website is good option. It will save your lot of time and efforts which you can use in other website marketing work. Am i right?

Modern Platform Beds says June 22nd, 2008 at 6:44 pm

I really feel that this added service would still, in the long run benefit the site more. Even though an immediate impact may not be seen, links will be acquired, more targeted long tail phrases will be produced and it keeps the site as relevant as possible.

Modern-ContemporaryFurniture.com has one of the smartest collections of modern platform beds available online!

James@TheDebtClinic says June 23rd, 2008 at 12:01 am

Wel… really do you think there is that much more work? carving in some nice keyword phrases and some hot topics to your writing in pretty easy, just let him know and charge sure you will get extra !

James

jack says June 25th, 2008 at 7:02 pm

I think a seo ready website is a good idea. I think the site will run more.

ilie2u says June 26th, 2008 at 3:22 am

give them an option, let them know the differwnace between seo and non seo jobs.
you will usally wind up getting more money because people will want to pay more for seo over non seo writting.

Tom says June 27th, 2008 at 12:43 am

It is wright not to give unrealistic expectations to the client.

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