By the title of this article you may think, “shouldn’t this article be the other way around? Shouldn’t HSW talk about how they are the best SEO company?” Well, I think we’ve established that in other articles and results show for themselves. We have done eCommerce web design and SEO for a long time and we know what works and how to get there. But now we need you, the client, to make our lives (and results) a little better. It takes both parties to make a successful eCommerce SEO campaign. From trusting your SEO company in making updates to being honest about profit margins, we’ll cover what it takes for you to be an awesome client and get some awesome results at the same time.
Trust Us
First things first. You must trust the company you’re working with. Just think when you hire a plumber. You have a problem. There is water (and possibly other stuff) everywhere. You do not have the expertise to fix it and you also do not have the time to devote to getting it done correctly. You may be able to patch it, but in the marketing world no one is looking for a quick fix in patching SEO results that’ll sooner or later wind up on page 1,000. So as the plumber is working you trust him that’ll he’ll get the job done right and that’s what you hired him to do. Now this isn’t to say every plumber does a great job, but looking over his back, watching every move he makes and telling him what to tighten and what not to will not help the situation.
It’s the same with SEO. We have a ton of experience in ecommerce SEO and we have implemented strategies that have been successful before. We have no problem walking you through the process and helping you to understand every element, but to some degree you need to trust us in what we’re implementing.
Work With Us
I’ve said it a million times and if you’re already a client, you’ve probably heard it before. You know your business better than we do. Our goal is to always learn more about your products and the way you operate, but we will need your help from time to time. Working with us and answering questions is the #1 way that you can help your campaign to be successful. Content is a big one. We’ll often request content explaining the details of a product or possibly how a product is made. It’s great when you can provide us with an accurate explanation that we can then optimize.
Understand SEO is a Process
Now, we all know (at least I hope) that it takes time to rank in Google. No one launches a new website and ranks on the first page for a competitive keyword a week later. That’s just not the reality of the situation. If you need instant rankings, you’ll have to think about also launching a Pay-Per-Click Campaign (PPC). We always discuss realistic expectations with our clients and make sure that we both understand that rankings will not happen overnight. The goal is to always make improvements. It’s like compounding interest, but think of it as compounding traffic. A 5% traffic gain each month turns into a lot of traffic a year or 2 from now. Although we’re up front with these expectations, we’ve had clients (no joke) wonder why they are not finding their website on the first page of Google a week after their site has launched. Remember, many keywords have millions and millions of results and you need to be in the top 10. That’s in the top .000001% (or somewhere around there). It’s not a flick of a switch and that happens. A lot of effort, time and coffee go into getting there.
Your Website is New…
If you have a brand new website, please realize you need to build credibility before will rank your website. It’s not that it’s an impossible feat by any means, but again patience is a virtue. Many website that you’re trying to rank over have been around for 10+ years and Google will never rank a website that is a month old over a well developed and optimized website that has been around for 10 years. Trust us that even though it may seem nothing is happening right away, you will have your day of victory!
Google is Google
Remember, Google is Google and Google often does what it wants. Any SEO’s job is to try and figure out what Google is thinking and make updates based upon their observations. This is why reputable SEO companies do not give guarantees on results. No one knows exactly what Google is thinking and no one has the exact knowledge to say “you’ll be on page one for X keyword in 3 months”. That’s not possible. The goal is growth and, in the end, getting more traffic from the search engines than you could have paid for.