An SEO Gets Shopped V 2.0

April 10, 2010

This post goes back in time to when we first began to domination all searches related to SEO and internet marketing in Tucson. We are were just beginning to emerge nationally as a force to reckoned with in the SEO industry in the US. I will interject some points as I go.

If you have been any business long enough a competitor will dial you up on the tele or, as the lazy ones do, they send a email to get the shopping going. They always start the conversation off by inquiring about the fees that you charge. This is especially true if your product or service pricing is not posted on your website which ours are not. One must be quick and clever to determine who is a real potential client and who is a competitor trying to acquire your pricing structure.

The shopper is rarely an established player in your industry, but they could be. This is where I love to being to direct the conversation to where I am the inquirer. The shopper usually doesn’t have a website yet or they are in the process of acquiring a business that has an existing website. Then there is the new kid on the block who starts of with “I have a client.” That may be true or they are breaking into the business and bidding on a job and that are looking for pricing guidance.

I don’t have a problem with this at all. I have done this hundreds of times over the decades myself so I am very familiar with the sport and I play it well!. When someone calls I’m a very good judge of who is real and who is not or at least I have convinced myself that’ this is so.

Another clear giveaway is if someone starts off by asking a whole bunch of questions without identifying themselves first, you can almost be certain that you are being shopped.

If they pause or stumble when you ask these questions you know you’re being shopped.

• What is the domain name?
• What is your business?
• What do you want your website visitor to do on your website?
• Who are you trying to market?

If the visitor hesitates on any of these questions you can be sure that your time is being wasted by a shopper. However, those who are skilled shoppers may be prepared for these questions. They are a little harder to catch. After all I role play the call many times before I shop a business. If you know how to ask the right questions it can be easy.

If someone seems more interested in pricing then anything else in the conversation I clearly explain that everything starts with a website review and that a paid service. I then I might ask them to email me from their website to get the ball rolling or something to that effect. If they are a serious inquiry they will email while you’re talking. If they make excuses, at this point, you know this is a waste of time and I quickly end the call. If they ask you why this is needed you can state its company policy to assure that this is a genuine sales call.

I mention this because I got shopped today by someone from the San Francisco Bay area code. We have just started targeting the area in advance of our new website launch. So I have been expecting these types of calls.

Sometimes the caller jumps right into the deep end of the pool from the get go. He asked if we did page titles, page descriptions, Meta tags, and ALT tags and what we charged. Well, nothing like cutting to the chase. What he didn’t realize is that real customers don’t talk like that. They just want to acquire search traffic and had read that SEO is the way to go. They don’t generally understand how we do what we do.

That’s was 2 years ago and things have changed dramatically since then. Callers  inquiring about our services are smarter and more aware about the process of SEO. When I began this business back in 2007 things were much different as far the the potential client knowledge of SEO. The response was mostly “I read something on a blog like you need SEO to rank well, but that’s all that I know.”

Yesterday, I was being shopped by an inexperienced shopper I thought I would have a little fun. It started with the basic questions I mentioned previously, and of course they didn’t have a website. They went on to explain that they wanted to market to the 48 states and that he was going to be selling computer parts.

Well, our website is very clear that we don’t provide service for highly competitive markets that are national. This is mainly due to cost to the custom and unrealistic expectations. I went on to explain that if his market was local we would gladly consider him as a client. I further explained that we only take on clients that when know going in can benefit greatly from our services. This guy wasn’t likely one of those.

Trying to take a website that sells computer parts nationally to the first page of Google is not a challenge that we will undertake then or now. While I noted that it can be accomplished given enough time and money but that it was not anything that we wanted to be involved with. Its just not our core market.

This person quickly became very defensive and started talking SEO slang and started to explain how it could be accomplished. I thought this guy is so clueless that he is being played and he doesn’t even know it. Then he started talking about Page Rank. I have never had a client or potential client that knows what Page Rank is. Now this person is talking straight-up SEO shop talk. To this day I have never had a real potential client who knew anything about Page Rank. This was so obvious that I could barely contain my laughter

Since I had flushed him out the conversation needed to end. I politely ended the conversation by informing him that we don’t work on these kinds of sites, I thanked him for his inquiry, and before he could say anything, I wished him a good day and hung up the call. I have become very skilled at ending a conversation quickly and abruptly when I have finally gotten bored.

The moral of the story is if you’re going to shop someone get the story straight first and don’t sound like you know so much that you really don’t need my help. If this caller knew about page titles, Meta tags, page descriptions, and ALT tags then why would they need me? Really, folks people who make legitimate inquires generally don’ understand SEO and will never use SEO jargon.

Update 2010:

With the economic slowdown like many I have had sometime on my hands. When I get shopped these days I am more likely to get up on a soapbox an give a long winded lesson on how we provide ethical services based only on the specific needs of each client. I go into great detail about our manual link building program Called Scratch My Back Marketing.

I also provide a detailed explanation about our website review. I go through just about every step in our processes. I provide them a map, a oral blueprint of how to provide services that assure that the clients needs are assured. If by change it turns out that it an actual potential client then they will certainly know that they are dealing with a professional.

For the shopper, I am an unashamed braggart. My attitude is, and I express to whomever I am speaking with. When I simply state “the difference between myself and most other SEO providers is that we simply this; I like to think that I work smarter and I put in more hours at this than they do.” If you are willing to do what it takes you will succeed. I also remind my inquirer of our monthly ranking report. I also never fail to mention that we have never failed to get a client onto the first page of the Google results (pause for effect) multiple keyword phrases.

While I provide a huge insight into how I practice SEO I never allow myself to be placed in a position to make a guess about how much a project will cost. There is good reason for this because I don’t know who there competition is and what they have done SEO wise. All of our processes are based on a competitive analysis. This requires a bit of research that can not be accomplished while on a phone call.

Real SEO professionals know that while packages sell well they are not designed to meet the clients specific needs. Beware of any SEO provider who offers packages. If they have not done a competitive analysis there is no way to be sure if any package will work. SEO packages are designed to sell, to make the seller money and to meet a certain price point expectation, if they actually work, consider yourself lucky!

Having said that, I must point out again that we have never failed to get a client onto the first page of Google for multiple keyword phrases. And this all started out with a competitive website review.

Update April 2010: I got shopped again by a persistent shopper from the Los Angles area recently. This person called late one afternoon when I was unavailable. He called back again late in the afternoon the following day. His method was not very creative. He suggested that he wanted to outsource business to me. The real story was we was trying to add SEO to his web design services and didn’t know how to bid the contract.

His project was for a lawyer referral service that wanted to target 25 LA area communities. He never realized that I was onto him from the beginning. I took a lot of time explaining how our business approach is different from other providers such as his company. I went to great lengths to details the difference between making a sale and meeting the clients needs. I groused about the poor businesses practices of my competition.

Finally, after 45 minutes I explained that my free time was ending and that he would have to go on the clock and incur consulting fees. We quipped that he was only trying to give me business. At that point I explained that I would never bid on a project like he was describing. This kind of project would require building links for 25 different cities to be accomplished correctly and the creation of specific pages to target those cities. I further explained that because of the cost involved he would likely never get the job as we would be bidding against companies that are offering packages to sell to a price point.

I have seen this over and over again on big projects. When you bid for what it actually will take to be successful you never get the contract. The company offering packages usually wins and this is why it occurs. The buyer likely does not understand the industry or the product that they are buying. It is very difficult to explain that your higher bid is based on research and need. These buyers are generally price shoppers and they don’t make good clients. Many SEO companies need work so they adjust their contract to meet the clients expectations.

If the project doesn’t work as planned they simply go back to the client and ask for more money. I have never done this and I don’t plan to start now. If I told a client a job will require 250 links to be successful and that didn’t work then I continue until we have meet our goal. That has only happened once.

The young man was astonished that I would not want to bid on such a project. The reality was he was bummed that after 45 minutes I didn’t not provide a price for the project. I then went onto explain that I get calls from people like him all the time promising to outsource work. Every time they are just looking for help on how to bid a project. I then explained that I went into the conversation hoping to educate him on how to be better at his job. I emphasized that the clients success was more important than making a buck.

I indicated that I do this a lot in the hope that I might shine a light on good business practices. In the process, maybe, I could make a difference in our industry that is full of bad behaviors like his lying to me. I string these people on and in the process I let them know that I have been successful because I do business differently than they do.

This may seem silly and it might be a waste of time but I consider it planting seed. I also love to talk about my business and do a little bragging in the process. I rather enjoy telling my competitors that I am better than they are at assisting my clients. I have a captive audience that has already concealed the true nature of heir call and really expect that I will provide a price for their project. Since I require an in depth website review before we can get to a price this never happens. They always prod me for an estimate, as do real customers, for an estimate which can not be provided without a detailed review.

Here’s some valuable resources:

Would you like to find 192 Do Follow Social Bookmarking sites with a Page Rank of 3 or Higher? Then go here.

Would you like 66 Do Follow Backlinks from high PR sites? Then go here.

Would you like to download the Scratch My Back Marketing anti spam plugin? Then go here.

Would you like to learn more about the Scratch My Back Marketing (not the plugin?) Then go here.

Too learn more about our services please check out these links:

Sierra Vista – Green Valley SEO – Internet Marketing Services Niche SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Holistic SEO Local SEO Services Phoenix Niche SEO – Internet Marketing Services

Geo-Targeted SEO Solutions Yuma – Flagstaff Arizona SEO -Internet Marketing Services

Affordable Quality  BackLinks Building Services Local Internet -  Website Marketing Services

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