When I worked as a freelance SEO Consultant, I had the pleasure of interacting with a number of different types of clients, from corporations to single person operations, from multiple-location brick & mortar businesses to online-only companies. Big & small, I served a diverse crowd.
Through the last 18 months of launching a start-up firm, building a collection of skilled and dedicated team members and managing the much-greater overhead (admin and financial) that come with owning a company bigger than “just me”, I feel like Strider has struggled at times to find our identity. As many new businesses do, we worked with most clients who came our way, a little of this, a little of that, always expanding our services to accommodate new clients and partners. At the same time, the answers to the all-important questions “What do you do?” and “What makes you different?” have been growing more complex.
Cheap SEO can be like flying coach
A recent conversation with a friend helped me bring this into focus. My friend is a pilot for a small charter air service. They have a few planes that can carry 4-10 passengers, and mostly service executive clientele with last-minute needs who need to accomplish the goal of getting from point A to point B quickly and with a certain measure of style and quality of service. Flying with this service isn’t cheap, compared to the major airlines, but you get what you want when you want it, and when potentially millions of dollars in business depends on your actions the cost is well worth the benefit of a charter flight.
In our conversation, my friend was weighing the pros and cons of working for a charter firm vs. a major airline. With the airline you move more passengers, have a predictable work schedule and a fairly predictable salary and career path. You also have to worry about layoffs, are less likely to be rewarded for exceptional work, will invest 25 years or more in your career before reaching your maximum earning potential and get very little face time with your customers. A charter pilot deals with fewer passengers, so is able to form better relationships with the clients. The work schedule is unpredictable as you may be called to the airport at a moment’s notice. The earning potential doesn’t match an airline pilot’s, but you can climb to the top much faster in a smaller company. Customer service is noticed and rewarded and everyone in the company has to be focused on service for customer retention.
Clients need personal service and attention
It’s hard to miss the parallels between his industry and mine. There are generally two types of SEO agencies – those that provide a low-cost, scallable basic service, who have to appeal to the masses to keep the sales funnel filled; and those who service larger clients. Low cost providers typically have a higher turnover, while the others form lasting relationships with clients based on service and longterm successes.
At Strider, we have tried the “SEO for the masses” approach, and I’ve found it just doesn’t fit our style. It’s our nature to be engaged with our clients, speaking on the phone, emailing regularly, learning about how each business operates… and we just can’t do that for $99.95 / month (note: we have never actually billed that low, it’s just an example – we’re not likely to move into a business model at that price point). Inevitably, we wind up delving further into the client’s project than we have allocated time for, fixing “just one more thing.”
It’s becoming clear that our Strider personality is better suited to working with fewer clients, on a more indepth level. Over the summer our client relations have made a natural progression in this direction and the fit feels right. At the risk of sounding like Jerry Maguire, I want our identity to be “fewer clients, better service.”
Success comes from meeting the unique needs of each client
Strider was founded out of my love for indpendent businesses – those where an individual or family have created or are in the process of creating a success story, whatever their business model, market or size. Going forward, we will have a renewed focus on finding clients who are ready to act as partners in achieving their online marketing goals. This may mean that we only accept 2-3 new premier clients in this calendar year – and that’s ok! Our success as a company is based solely upon achieving successes for our clients – and in this, we have an excellent track record!
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