– Access and Implementation
The following two questions must be asked in order to set up the workspace.
1-Have you worked with an SEO company before?
As a new SEO company for the client, one of the first questions to ask is if they have worked with an SEO company before. If the answer is yes, you can ask them what their experience was like.
Understanding their previous experiences and the reasons behind them will help guide you in your onboarding process and make your client feel at ease with making the right decision. If the client’s previous experience was negative, ask them what they didn’t like about the process. You can use this opportunity to explain how you operate your company differently and highlight your value proposition.
2-Who is your current or prospective target audience?
You must know who the target audience is, as it will help you determine which keywords to focus on. If you don’t know who your clients are marketing to, you are unlikely to be able to help them effectively. You can also use this information to find potential clients for the company and not just increase their traffic.
For example, if your client sells insurance online, you can use this information to find keywords related to “affordable insurance for 50+ y/o” for example. This will help you expand their clientele and bring in new clients looking for their core service or product, which will position you as an authority.
3- Are you currently performing any SEO in-house?
If your client is already doing some SEO on their own and never hired SEO services, you can use this as an opportunity to show them where they could be doing better.
Most likely, they are doing some basic on-page optimisation and link-building with no SEO strategy, keyword research or goal in mind, which could be why they are not getting the results they want. Their current efforts could also be hurting their website’s health and triggering a manual penalty by performing the wrong technical changes or black hat practices.
4- Have you set up a Google Analytics, Google Search Console account and Bing Webmaster tools? If so, can we get access to it?
– Expectations and questions to include
5- What do you hope to achieve with SEO short and long term?
6- Do you have an in-house developer or designer?
If your client has an in-house team, you can use this as an opportunity to understand what projects they are working on and what their involvement would be like in your SEO campaign.
7- What are the most important products or services you offer?
8- What are the struggles you’re currently facing in your Marketing efforts?
Understanding their struggles and pain points will allow you to organise yourself and prioritise what to focus on. Every client has a different view of what it is they need. You as a marketer must make good suggestions based on your experience but take their insights into consideration and try to find a middle ground.
-Competitive Edge and Expectations
9- What is your value proposition?
10-What is your SEO budget?
The budget and the goals must align to an extent. We all know that SEO sometimes works in mysterious ways but having an idea of their budget beforehand will help you set short and long-term realistic expectations.
Make it your priority to always be transparent as it will help you improve your retention rate.
Final Thoughts
