This document provides a 10-step strategy for SEO agencies and campaign management to avoid getting fired by clients. It outlines standardizing processes, executing monthly tasks and weekly check-ins, adding ongoing value through content creation and events, using automated tools, networking, and maintaining perspective. The final steps emphasize open communication, delivering results that impact clients' bottom lines, accountability, and charging rates that reflect the true value provided.

1. SEO Agency and Campaign Management
How Not to Get Fired…..
Presented by:
James Loomstein
Sr. Consultant
Crown Partners
@jloomstein

2. Wait, About Me….
• Integrated marketing professional with over 10 years of direct advertising agency experience
• Extensive expertise in core marketing – including:
– Local search marketing
– Pay Per Click (Google AdWords)
– Search Engine Optimization
– Insights and Web Analytics (Google Analytics)
– Marketing Strategy
– Brand Positioning
– Targeting/Segmentation
• Plus – I’m a dad, husband, and Dallas sports junkie
• I sit in your spot and use tools like these to build my agency
• And, If I wasn’t doing this - I’d love to be a PGA tour player, or storm chaser

3. So What’s the Fundamental Problem We All
Face?
• SMBs: Time, resources, knowledge
• Corporation: Too much budget, directionless, management
• Your client: Justifying value for your service
• Your company: Scalability, repeatability, duplicating yourself
The #1 problem all businesses face is obscurity --- If they don’t know
you…..They can’t buy from you.

4. Overview
• A little background
• A little GSD process
• Some tools, platforms, and services to care about
• 10 step “short and long term” strategy
• And five things you can do today to impact your clients
and show value starting today

5. WHAT’S IMPORTANT DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU SIT...
How searchable is your website?
• Crawlability
• URLs indexed (site:domain.com)
• NAP citations
• Site structure
• Content optimization
What is your link value?
• Domain-level
• Page-level
• Quality of referring domains
• Is this is the best place to spend my dollar
• Revenue / return
• Is my boss going to fire me...everyone has a BOSS
What is your link velocity?
• How quickly your message is spreading
• SERP Ranking
• Traffic from organic keywords
• Brand versus non-branded organic keyword traffic
How searchable/engaging is your website?
• Visitor loyalty
• Page views / visit
• Time on-site
• Bounce rate
• Comments and interactions
• Social amplification
What you care about (SEO standpoint):
What you client cares about: • Keyword research
• Competitive analysis
• Correcting site structure
• Optimizing on-page issues
• Checking site navigation
• Scanning for potential
issues/threats
• Monitoring SERP ranking
• Link building strategy

6. Step 0 – Standardize Your Process
• Identify your team
• Create boiler plates
– Contracts
– One-pages
– Bios
– Kick-off documents
– Job postings
– Client questionnaires
• Standardize tools
• Develop a playbook
• Build your outsourced
support team

7. Step 1 - Kickoff
• Client questionnaire
• Internal set-up (basecamp, harvest, highrise, quick books, evernote)
• Competitive audit (client / competitor /keywords)
• Email access you@clientdomain.com (great for link building)
• Reporting / analytics access
• Google alerts (brand, c-level, keywords, competitors)
• Find the quick win first (stop boiling the ocean)
If you don’t know where you’re going – any road will get you there.

8. Create a roadmap
….you have to show them where to go
How do you get your client from “A” to “B” - From “Share” to “Convert”, etc.

9. Internal set-up
• Create single source view of your clients, projects, tasks, and
team
• Leverage automation tools to reduce non-billable tasks
• For billing purposes I recommend Freshbooks, Zoho, Quickbooks

10. Client audit example
• Client Problem: Understand the digital landscape
• Tool set: Screaming Frog, SEOMOZ, Webpagetest.org, SpyFu, and
social sites
• Time: 1-2 hours
• Process: Competitors, keywords, tools

11. Client audit example: in-depth
Tweet me @jloomstein w/ #SFIMA for complete questionnaire…

12. Step 2 – Execute (GSD)
• Monthly tasks list
• Weekly check-in
• Scheduled reporting
• Identify opportunities
• A couple of ideas….

13. Step 3 – Keep adding value
• Invest in yourself and your client (on your dime)
– Editorial calendar / spec landing pages
– Press releases / blog mock-ups
– Client specific events (webinar, conference, newsletter)
– Industry trend updates (RSS/Google Alerts)
– Reporting engine (Raven, MySEOTool.com, etc.)
• Host events
– Brainstorming session
– Happy hour sponsorship / working lunches
• Find new types of content to create
• Remember that clients don’t know what they don’t know
• You’re a partner – not a monthly marketing expense

14. Step 4 – Standardized toolset
Business PPC SEO Competitive
Highrise Rapportive* Merge words Yellowpipe Muckrack
Basecamp Pipeline* WordWatch Seo-browser.com Followerwonk
Quickbooks Scribe Callrail SEOMOZ Builtwith.com
Evernote Buffer WordTracker Whitespark SEMrush
Harvest Twitterfeed Hitwise Hittail.com SearchMetrics
Boomerang* Fliptop SpyFu Crazyegg KeyCompete
Hootsuite Rapleap Google Trends MySeoTool.com AllTop
CrazyEgg Pocket Screaming Frog SocialMention
* Google Tools

15. Step 5 - Don’t leave money on the table
• Yes, we do that
• Outsource (know your margins)
• Automation tools
• Build your team
• The objective is scalability / repeatability

16. SEO
Keyword
Research
Code
Industry
Trends
Step 6 – Stay smart

17. Step 7 – Network yourself
• Create platform partnerships that you can leverage
• Let clients/partners generate leads for you
• Be seen and known in the market
• My personal goals
– 1-2 lunches/month
– 4-6 events/month
– 2-4 webinars/month
– 1 conference/quarter
– 15 minutes of industry trends/day
“Nobody ever got a client sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring.” - me

18. Step 8 – Keep perspective
• Know your margins
• Identify how much non-billable work goes into a billable hour
• 200K in sales = $100,000 in salary
• Standardize reporting template to streamline the process
• Identify the spots that you can add value immediately – get
the quick wins
• You’re not charging enough

19. Step 9 - My final thoughts…
• Stop chasing shinny objects
• Replicate, scale, iterate, repeat
• Its all sales
• Perfection is the enemy of good
• Invest in the tools that either save you time, make you
money, or make you look smarter

20. Step 10- Creating the perfect client/agency relationship
• Why client-agency relationships go bad…..
– Lack of communication
– Agency’s inadequate capabilities
– Clients unrealistic expectations
• What to think about before your next engagement:
– Charge for value not time
– Offer the right service (produce results that impact the bottom line)
– Be accountable for results
– Charge more (Profitable clients become loyal clients, not the other way around.)
>

21. Connect with Me…..
CrownPartners.com
jloomstein@crownpartners.com
Twitter.com/jloomstein
Linkedin.com/in/Jloomstein
James Loomstein, MBA
Sr. Consultant
Crown Partners