Selling SEO with no Benchmarks

[dvduval]

I was in Starbucks a little while ago, and I sat there and listened to someone go through their SE0 spiel. They were asking all the right questions:
Do you want to have more visibility?
Wouldn't it be more professional to rank for things your company is known for?

Then the customer started to ask about how long it would take, and what results would be expected, and the reply was something like this:

For starters, you will be branding your company on the web, and more people will recognize you. And your existing customers will more easily find what they are looking for. You'll start to see more and more of your pages coming up in the search results.

So no solid benchmarks, just general statements that will likely become true. What do you think of this type of pitch?

[incrediblehelp]

Well if the guy/girl is handling a sales call in Starbucks then I would not put to much stock in what they can do.

[ArthurKay]

I would have to agree with the concept of "branding" one's company via the internet. As for the generic statements... I suppose it's hard to promise anything with regards to SEO.

Branding and name-recognition are extremely important, whether on- or offline. Online PR campaigns can absolutely help build links into the website - which in turn effect search rankings.

Unfortunately, because SEO takes time and algorithms change (not to mention that clients don't always implement recommended changes), promising anything specific to a client could be a bad move. Same thing goes for Email Marketing - it's really about building reputation. Over time, as more and more people see a company as a legitimate source of information, rankings (and thus traffic) will improve.

Incrediblehelp has a great point though - who makes a sales pitch in Starbucks? At least take the person to lunch!

[Dubbya]

Originally Posted by ArthurKay

who makes a sales pitch in Starbucks?

People who don't likely have an office to work out of and who probably need free wireless internet access.

Walk away.... just walk away...

[SemAdvance]

Starbucks may have been the venue of the clients choice firstly, so people should stop the disparging comments.

I work from a home office... never left my house to make a sale... and have clients from 53 countries, So much for your stereotypes clouding your judgment.

SEO and benchmarks would depend on a lot of factors without knowing the category, site coding, linkage, server stats, static or dynamic, etc I think it would be hard to pin down a benchmark.

If it is an old established site, you can pick the keywords run a ranking report, seo analysis, current link numbers & page rank, Alexa rank, etc and use these as a benchmark.

In the business world it is said on average you need to make seven contacts with a potential client before you can make a sale.

Starbucks meeting would be one contact......

Don't judge books by their cover...

Peace!

[dvduval]

By the looks of the guys, I'm guessing they were were both "small business owners" but professional just the same. The reason I mentioned this was not necessarily the location (the reason I was there is I was waiting for my who was at the dentist). I was just curious what you can truly sell these days when it comes to organic search results.

[DrTandem1]

For the SEO portion of the spiel, I'd say that it has about as much truth as my special cold cure. Yep, take my special cold cure and within 7 to 10 days you'll be better!

[ArthurKay]

I didn't mean to offend anyone with my comment about Starbucks. I know many people who work from home and I don't see anything wrong with it (I do freelance work from home). I understand one can make a sales pitch anywhere... that being said, I still think Starbucks would be a poor choice, even if the client suggested it.

As for the benchmarks... it's still hard to promise anything in SEO.

Originally Posted by DrTandem1

Yep, take my special cold cure and within 7 to 10 days you'll be better!

Do they sell that at Starbucks?

[LD]

I understand the question is in the content of what is conveyed at this meeting, but I have met with clients at their office, at my home office and in-between many times for coffee and the occasional bite to eat places - mostly at the client's suggestion. However, it's a pretty broad statement to say they probably don't know what they are doing when someone meets a client over coffee to sell their service?

[janeth]

I spend enough time on the phone that when I walk out of the office I don't want to talk to anyone, about anything, web related.

I'd think someone that was ready to start spending time getting traffic to my site, should already have enough traffic coming to their site, that they would not have to go to Starbucks to make a sale.

Just my two cents.