Anatomy Of A Hands-On Seo Audit Part 2
With SMX West this week, I was going to hold off on the 2nd part of my hands-on SEO Audit series. Then I remembered that heck Im not going to be there so I bet enough other people in our industry wont either that it will be a great way to give all the non-attendees a leg-up on the competition, as they all run around the conference hoping to grab actionable information. 
If you havent read part 1 in this series, I encourage you to go read that first since it sets the foundation for what follows here. Go ahead Ill wait.
Okay did you actually think I was going to wait for you to read that before I continued writing? I sure hope not. Because if you did, you seriously need to work on your gullibility. If youre too gullible, youre going to get toasted in this industry.
Also while youre at it, another other great resource I highly recommend when it comes time to writing up an SEO audit is Glen Gabes SEO Techinical Audits.
Dont Give Away The Farm
In this part of the series, Id like to focus more on some of the things that should and shouldnt go into an SEO audit. This seems to be one of the biggest areas of confusion for consultants just starting out. And as I mentioned in part 1:
a site Audit isnt supposed to be an advanced course in SEO. Its to point out problems and recommend methods of solution.
If a client is curious to know how I came to my recommendation, well discuss that during the phone or in-person review of the audit, but only in broad terms. Because I expect my clients to trust that I know what Im talking about, not teach them my business. Thats not why theyre hiring me.
Aaron Wall came out with an article today entitled How to Construct Great Proposals. In that, he offers his own take on why we shouldnt be giving away the farm. Yeah. Go read that. Ill just wait. Again. Because I care.
The fact is, I used to give away the farm. Were talking about detailing every single step of work providing spreadsheets with page names, suggested page Titles, Meta content, URL seeding, and even suggested copy.
And that was professional self-sabotage. Both because it took a lot longer to produce my audit/action plans, and because it set me up to have the client think they didnt need me for anything. Which is just crazy. Right?
Now, I couldnt do that on a large scale site, but then I used to only think I should work on small sites anyhow. Which in itself was self-sabotage.
Not because I think theres anything wrong with small business sites. Its just that it turns out that when I focus on big clients, its much more likely that theyll have the budget needed for truly comprehensive SEO. And in turn, that theyll be much more likely to appreciate the work and respect my knowledge.
Limit What You Give Away
As I began focusing on clients that had the mind-set that SEO is a front-line critical aspect of most any marketing effort, I began paring down the document, and only including EXAMPLES of my findings and subsequent recommendation.
Sure, theyre real-world examples taken right from that clients site. Which gives validation to what Im saying is both a current challenge AND an industry best practices resolution. And, too, even with only a few examples of each specific issue, I cover so many aspects of SEO that it really ends up being a soup-to-nuts comprehensive document in how thorough it is. And the overall depth of it far outweighs, in long-term value, what most of my competitors provide.
Dont Give Away What Youre Giving Away
Now if you remember, even in this type of scenario, I do NOT give away even this much information for free. I charge for my audits. By charging for audits, you immediately inform the prospective client that youre serious. A true professional. That if they want access to your knowledge, theyre going to need to prove THEYRE serious about this.
How much you charge is going to be up to you. It needs to be commensurate with your experience, as well as your own belief in what you do and why you do it. If you think you dont deserve to get $1,000 or $5,000 for a site audit, you wont ever get that. Or if you do, its going to turn out to be a night-mare of a client relationship. Because youll feel guilty. And think you have to give away the farm in some other way to compensate.
Example Data
Whether you choose to use spreadsheets, or PowerPoint presentations, or a high-gloss full color bound book isnt ever as important as the quality of the information you provide within the document. So be sure to focus more on the quality of the content. Just like youre doing for the actual SEO for your client sites. Right? Right!
Competitive Landscape
One of the most challenging aspects of getting new clients to understand how serious the work is to come, is to get them to wake up to the competitive landscape. All too often, they think hey if I just spend this money, POOF, Ill be on the first page of Google.
No, were not even going to get into the noise about how many companies out there use pure hype to make it sound so simple. Because if we do, this will become a rant. And then Ill have to move it to my own blog. Because THAT rant will get ugly. Fast.
Instead, Im going to just talk about the need that exists for sometimes jarring clients into reality.
This is why I like to use a Competitive Analysis chart.
In this one chart above, I really lay it out on the line. I make it crystal clear exactly where they stand when it comes to the competition. Sugar-coating not included.
Honestly Is Yada Yada Yada
Note in that chart my clients got the first row. So that sets the tone. From there, I dont sort this in some biased manner, or only show competitors that have 8,000 more pages or 5,000 more back-links. Because ultimately, I dont have to.
And later on in the notes section, I go on to mention that the statistics within the chart are only numeric values, not keyword ranking related. And thats really important.
By first showing your client that their site clearly needs work just when held up against the competitive landscape in terms of content depth, link depth, social networking depth. and THEN, afterward, throwing a competitive landscape Keyword Ranking chart, you are throwing the one-two knock-out punch.
Caveats Rule The Day
Throughout every SEO audit/action plan I create, I pepper the information with caveats warnings and disclaimers. Because its important to help clarify what youre presenting. If I didnt explain, for example, that the above chart is only a SAMPLING of competitor sites, or if I didnt also mention in my disclaimer that this charts understanding can ONLY come from matching it up against the competitive keyword ranking data, it would leave the client open to assume too much.
And thats dangerous.
By clarifying these realities, even if a client IGNORES them before hiring you, they exist as a point of reference to go back to if you ever need to do that. Youre protecting yourself, your business, and your reputation.
Generalize While Being Specific
Note in the chart above how I provide specific counts for pages indexed? I dont need, in this proposal, to get into the specifics of indexed in Googles Public Site: method as compared to Google Webmaster Tools. And for the social networking comparison, I give an N for not present, a Y to say yes, theyve got one but its not so great, G to represent that its pretty good, and VG to say its the hottest thing since sliced bread.
Yet I dont go into specifics to explain what my criteria are for each rating.
Its enough that I, myself, know what goes into that subjective rating system.
But of course, if I include a disclaimer about the fact that just because competitor X has a VG in Facebook, doesnt mean that Im recommending THIS client needs one, that sets the stage for later in the proposal where I specifically cover social networking. In its own section. At the end of the document. After all the ON-SITE stuff.
Every Site Is Unique So Every Audit Needs To Be Unique
Another reality is that I cant sit here and provide you with a comprehensive laundry list of every single thing you should be covering in your audit. Because every site is unique within every market. And every site owners got a pre-determined expectation as to what they are going to ask for. And youre going to need to ask a lot of questions up front to understand this. Then youll need to tailor each audit accordingly.
Maybe you dont go into any depth covering the social networking. Perhaps its because that specific client has an offering that has no business being promoted in social networking environments. Like former CIA spies who now operate a competitive intelligence business. (Yes, Ive got such clients, thank you very much). Or maybe you already know that the clients budget is already bursting at the seams. So you just briefly touch on social networking and say something like:
While we believe social networking will need to be one more part of your comprehensive marketing efforts, this document does not detail any recommendations in that regard due to previous discussion with you and is therefore not included in our action-plan for this phase.
By saying this phase, you set the stage for future work, should the opportunity present itself. And thats another important concept. Consideration may need to be given to the fact that even clients who truly appreciate your worth, and respect your recommendations, need to operate within budgetary financial constraints. And thats okay. Because you can take the multiple-phase approach. Which means youll have plenty of work for many years to come.
And thats always a good thing.
So there you have it an overview of what to include and what not to include in the typical audit. Of course, I didnt go into specifics as relates to keyword ranking or keyword evaluations. Yet by now you should have gotten the idea. Give just enough to show you know what youre talking about, specific to each client. And that in turn will open the door for you to propose more comprehensive work.
Source: www.searchenginejournal.com