Table of Contents
Intro
A successful business always keeps track of the amount of money that it’s spending. Business owners always have to figure out how to reduce their expenses because of how competitive markets become. If even a high-end firm doesn’t deliver on their promises, they may have to cut down on their expenses so that they remain competitive.
To increase rankings and traffic, many companies go ahead and outsource their SEO. This means that any agency in the SEO industry will have to ensure that they’re doing the most to keep their clients happy.
Keep in mind that every client will have their own way of communicating, their own ideas, their own requirements, and differing degrees of flexibility. Keep in mind that it’s often more difficult to find new clients than it is to stick with old ones. Proper feedback, output, and value will encourage a client to stand by you.
You may end up losing a client if their site has an immediate traffic drop or a lower SEO ranking. However, this article will go over how you can keep your SEO contracts going by extending them.
You’ll need to know how you can get to know your clients as well as their business needs so that you can prepare them for a longer contract. We’ll cover everything you need to know about conducting analyses and implementing strategies so that you can come up with the right steps.
Where to Start
It’s easy to get confused when you start off, so you won’t want to make plans with a shaky foundation supporting them. Start by determining what your client’s business needs by analyzing its needs in detail by looking at its current SEO rankings. Here are the three steps involved in starting up this kind of analysis.
Start Planning ASAP
If you want to turn a short contract into a long one, you’ll have to formulate a plan early on. Timing is far more crucial than you might think. You need to start planning your moves about three or four months in advance of when the current project will be completed.
Also, you’ll need to communicate effectively with the client so that you can analyze their needs. Talk to the right people to get the data that you’re looking for. For example, you’ll want to speak to the team in charge of business development so that you can see where a company is going in its future. This team will also be able to tell you more about the client’s day-to-day operations.
If you have a client that is currently satisfied, look for ways that you can double down on that satisfaction. On the other hand, clients that are currently dissatisfied will need to have their problems solved. You’ll also need to ensure that the delivery and sales teams are properly working together.
For example, your delivery team will have to figure out what’s going wrong with your client’s current campaigns. On the other hand, sales teams will have to build up on those issues so that you can pitch your services to future clients better. Getting this all worked out earlier will make contracts easier to extend.
Know Your Client’s Needs
You’ll have to keep in mind that clients have different methods of communicating. If you understand how they communicate, you’ll be able to build a relationship with the client. If you’ve worked with a client for an extended period of time, you’ll have already built up a relationship with them.
By having a relationship with the client, you’ll be able to learn more about what they need. Build a customer report so that you know what your client needs. For example, clients often ask for things like deliverables, traffic, keyword rankings, and content creation ideas.
Don’t even consider sending your client a Google Analytics report because that doesn’t speak to your talents. You need to come up with a report on your own to show your client that you’re qualified enough to come up with it in the first place.
Be sure that this report features everything the client needs to know, outlined in a numerical fashion. You need to be as honest as possible with your client. Don’t be afraid to point out what isn’t working with your client’s business because they’re paying you to point those things out.
Contrary to what you may think, this will ensure that your client trusts you more than the competition that’s too afraid to tell them what they need. Next up, we’ll cover what you need to know about using manual and AI analysis to find the necessary data.
Get the Right Data
To get the right info you need to start planning out SEO strategies, you’ll need to conduct both AI and manual analyses. Using AI will make it a lot easier for you to find out the numbers that you need to know to determine traffic. Your AI will cover things like ecommerce sales and your completed goals.
However, manual research is also required because it will cover things like the links you’ve gathered, the tasks you’ve completed, and the content you’ve created. You can use our Rank Tracker tool to determine what you need to know for this kind of research.
By combining both of these forms of research, you’ll be able to compile as accurate of a campaign report as possible. This will make it easier to come up with a pitch for your client.
You’ll need to make sure that your reports are as accurate as possible so that you can build up your rapport with a client. Remember that your clients may have enough expertise to know whether or not you’re doing a good job. Be sure to accomplish what you think you would want if you were in the client’s shoes.
However, you’ll also need to know how to break the news to your client that you want an extension, so that’s what we’ll cover in the next section.
How to Pitch a Contract Extension
You’ll need to schedule an appointment with your client so that you can tell them your future plans for their SEO campaigns. You’ll always want to make sure that you’re as clear as possible with your plans so that your client will trust you and want an extension.
The best thing you can do is explain how you’ve gotten the client to the current point in their campaign. For campaigns that are going well, show your client how you can keep the success coming for them. If things went wrong, tell your client how you failed them and how you can rectify the issues.
You need the client to understand that you are able to help them succeed and to do this, you’ll have to control where the conversation goes by bringing it in a direction where you want it to go.
Remember that you can’t just reiterate what you said when you first got the contract because this won’t sit well with the client, you’ll need to get creative with how you intend to solve the client’s issues. It’s crucial to be creative with your solutions.
If you see that your client is still interested in what you can do for them, you can then ask them if they’re ready for a quote. This will give you the best chances at success so that you can continue your existing business relationship with your client.
4 Methods You Can Use to Extend Your SEO Contract
These are four of the best methods that you can use to convince your client to extend an existing SEO contract.
Restart
The restart method is a great approach for clients that have pretty expansive budgets and are willing to approach things openly. You’ll want to approach clients who bankroll most of your projects using this method, especially if they’re a little lax when it comes to expenditures.
You should convince the client that their campaign needs to be reset because of the massive algorithm changes that occur so frequently in this field.
However, if your client has a relaxed budget, they’ll likely expect more noticeable results from you because of how much money they’re spending on the campaign. You need to promise monumental changes that you will follow through on with a client like this.
Do this by reconsidering the approach that the business is taking to SEO fully. If you’re confident that you can get results out of pulling a 180 when it comes to the business’s SEO strategy, then this is the technique for you.
Cool Down
If you have a different kind of client that’s a little more tight-fisted, we’d recommend taking this approach. You’ll need to analyze what’s going wrong with the company’s current campaign so that you can slightly adjust your original pitch with that in mind.
This often works with a campaign that has been going well, and you can convince your client that what you’ve been doing has helped them immensely so that you can get them to extend. Change a few things in the campaign so the client doesn’t feel like you’re selling them the same old story but keep the core pillars of your strategy intact.
These are the three steps involved in a cool down approach:
Keep Moving to New Topics
Don’t stick to the same topics you’ve been using to get results because they’ll quickly grow stale. This will make it easier to get your contract extended.
Link Generation
This step will involve you going over your agent’s competitors. Examine the competition’s backlinks, social media campaigns, and guest blogging to determine how the client can kickstart their lead generation.
Monthly Reports
You’ll now need to start putting together monthly reports so that your client knows that you’re doing your job properly. Make sure that these reports are short and sweet so that they’re easy enough for your client to follow, and they should also feature stats that are as accurate as possible.
Stack
This method works best for firms that work in business development, UI/UX, page optimization, Facebook ads, and more. This allows you to add value to the contract without adopting traditional SEO approaches.
This will allow your client to focus on other things aside from the SEO details like SERPs, keyword rankings, and traffic statistics. This lets you approach the client from a different direction so that they don't feel that you’re giving them the same services all over again.
For example, you can come up with Facebook ads, you can provide the client with videos, and you can even create infographics. All of this will improve the value of your pitch and give your client a reason to opt for your services over the competition.
This will also make the client consider whether their campaigns require additional support to prop them up. By second-guessing themselves, clients will think that they really do need your help.
All of this will come together to convince a client that you can positively impact their SEO. This will also allow you to get into a better position with the client in terms of negotiations if a plan has failed in the past.
Terminate
Believe it or not, there are times when you’d be better off terminating a contract entirely, especially if the client is unrealistic or difficult to work with. There are indeed times when finding a new client is easier than working with a current one. If you determine that this is the case, then it’s time to walk away from the negotiations.
If your client is unwilling to listen to your advice and is still blaming you for the problems that they’re experiencing, then they’re likely not a good fit for you. These clients waste your money, time, and effort, resulting in an unacceptable opportunity cost for your business.
Conclusion
We hope that this guide has helped you realize what you need to do to get your clients to renew your contracts.
Remember that clients retain your services for more than just the technical tasks that you can accomplish. They’re often also looking for someone to consult with so that they can develop a long-term strategy. This process is challenging, and it’s a lot harder to find new clients than it is to retain an existing client.
It’s always crucial to perform the right research and ensure that you have a plan for your client. Communication is key, so always be sure to maintain a back-and-forth channel between your workers and the client.
As long as you follow the steps that we’ve outlined, you should be able to extend the majority of your SEO contracts, regardless of how they’ve gone.
