Educating Clients about SEO

As professionals in the field of digital and web marketing, we are familiar with the lingo that surrounds the world of search engine optimization and digital marketing processes. So it’s easy for us to get wrapped up in what we can do for our clients without actually explaining to them what it is we actually do.

Some would argue that, as long as the client sees results by way of positive metrics, the client doesn’t have to know what we’re doing. In fact, some talk like what we do is subject to scrutiny only by those who are a part of the old boys club that run the campaigns and digital marketing initiatives.

I believe that giving clients knowledge and empowering them to discover things on their own is a very positive thing. Giving clients the information and the knowledge to approach their projects as full partners is empowering. Teaching a customer something new is fabulous.

To the people in my business that approach it as if it were a secret language, I say shame on you. If you are so hard up for clients that you can’t explain what you’re doing in plain English, then you shouldn’t be in the business of helping people.

Mind you, that’s not to say that you have to be a teacher. I have worked with many people who have put their  “hands to God” and said take it away without so much as a boo or hiss about what it is I’m actually doing, besides getting results.

But educating your client can help you too. Too many times I’ve had chats with people who assumed that, because they were paying me, they would be on the top of the Google listings within days of starting their project. To that I say “Whoa Nelly!” and I explain that, although my efforts are absolutely essential to the life of the client’s website, I am not a magic maker.

So what Is the ideal space, the higher ground for SEO specialists to take? I say that our job is to relate, persevere and educate. Client’ s can snub their  noses at our efforts to let them in on the big SEO secret. Maybe, with our help they’ll realize there really isn’t one after all.