how to break away from non disclosure clients

I am so freaking frustrated. the seo i currently have working on my gambling related site has just got another batch of clients into the top 10 for major keywords, yet he cant show any of his results. He can get almost any keyword into the top 10 but because of many factors( hes in india,scared to negotiate, works like heck, hasnt made his own website) he is keeps getting stuck with aggreeing not to share those results with anyone else.
My head is spinning from frustration to see someone get awesome results and not get rewarded as he should.
Can anyone give advice on what he can do to get out of this rut? I want to form a partnership with him, but i dont have much knowledge in seo and i dont have the connections, plus he can only show a few of his works.

P.S. plus he doesnt know what pricing structure he should give to clients

 

Most top seo's can't reveal their clients. On the other hand its easy to say you have top results when you can hide behind an NDA.

At the end of the day pricing seo is very hard. It depends how much money your client can make. If I spend 5 hours consulting and the client makes an extra $100,000 from it then my time will be worth far more than the standard rate.

As long as the client is happy with the final result then thats all that matters.

 

I don't think there's any way to "get out" of it, once he's in an agreement. It's a price you pay to work with the best clients. I have the same problem with some of the articles I write. I just finished a set for a great client that I'd love to add to my portfolio, but the confidentiality clause doesn't allow me to do that, because they don't want people knowing about the change to their business model involved. There are a ton of reasons companies require a NDA. You just have to to choose: the best clients, or less pay with more freedom.

Jenn

 

Why not get him to SEO your website for SEO search terms.
1. You can show any potential client as it's your site
2. You get more business!

 

JHmattern, the problem is they are underpaying him massively but hes overseas. I wanna form a partnership with him as i am in america but i barely know the basics of seo and wouldnt know where to look for clients and how to write up a contract or the legalities. Heck my first seo ripped me off for 5 grand and im still trying to collect on it. This guy is doing very good work for me and is currently working on a casino related site. Allready told him when it gets to the top , he better be ready to retire, but as of right now its hard to get the word out on him. I might be able to get permission to show off one of his works in a day or 2 but thats about it. I have always in life championed the hard working underdog. Hes polite, hard working and honest, i just wish i could help more

 

Matt this is what im doing right now)))))))), but in the mean time im trying to break him away from these types of clients.

 

Mat lets say ur client made a million bucks and u got paid a measly few hundred. Would that kind of make u pissed off? i know i would be going nuts.

 

It depends, we price our work depending on what our time is worth. As we're in London it's expensive, but then our clients tend to be multinationals that want someone based in the city that is prepared to come in for meetings and be available on the end of a phone to answer questions for them. The language is also a factor as obviously we more familiar with the English language and phrasing.

Our clients make very very good money from the optimisation that we carry out. We also get paid well for it so it's a good partnership, the trick is to price the work correctly initally and knowing how much of your time it'll take up. What the client actually earns from it isn't really our concern, as long as they're making a good profit on our work we're happy, as long as they get back 5 time or 50 times what they pay us, so are they.

 

Any decent SEO knows the likely return that a client can expect from his work and will charge accordingly. You can't charge thousands if a client will only make hundreds. You also can't charge $500 to a large multinational.

 

My seo finally got permission to show off one of his client projects fro a very competitive sector that he just got a top ten ranking for in google. Anyone interested in seo from his services just pm me and u will get a clear reference. I found it out first and told him and he wasnt even surprised because he had done this many many times. In fact i got more excited then he did. Also im trying to post a guaranteed inclusion directory service but the business section says i dont have sufficient privelidges to do so. Can someone help me out here

 

Mad4, how does a good seo get experience like u just described in pricing a clients project. My seo always undercuts on his prices

 

You can normally get a good idea of a potential clients budget by talking to them during the sales process. Just ask lots of questions, what are they currently doing to market their sites? What have they tried in the past? Size of the company etc etc.

 

Look at their traffic stats and their income. If its already pretty big then they are going to be happy to pay a lot to get it even bigger.

 

The thing is though, if he is able to make a really good living, it doesn't really matter that his prices are lower then the market. In fact that may help him to keep securing lucrative contracts.

Most SEO's set their rates based on time spent to make sure they always get what they are after. It also makes clients confortable to get a breakdown of "This is anticipated to require 50 hours of work so Im quoting x dollars"

Anyway, feel free to PM me this guys info if he does off site SEO only contracts (No consultation or on page stuff)

 

It also depends on the location. You will pay $50 per hour if your SEO is in the UK and about $5 per hour if he is in somewhere like India or Eastern Europe.

They may have the same skills and ability but the cost of living is much higher in the UK.

 

I contacted pingpongs friend but apparently a flood is affecting his ability to work. We were chatting along and apparently his downstairs started flooding. He said his whole downstairs was flooding but his office was upstairs so he would brb since he had to move up there.

Then he continues chatting like nothing happened then said brb again (Maybe the water was rising even more)

Haven't heard from him since so I hope he is OK

 

He will have to start charging more now to cover the repair costs.

 

Why do I have a mental image of the poor guy constructing a raft out of computer components and cables................

 

Lol, he just came back and is safe. I kept telling him I would talk to him later to let him take care of things but he insisted eveything was under control

Anyway, he is definately a nice chap. He seems to go all or nothing though as he quotes you as if he was an employee (He works on your SEO 6-7 hours a day every day and you pay him a monthly salary)

He certianly was extremely reasonable if you need a full time emplyee but I passed as I need someone for an hour a day to work on links and that didn't suit him

Thanks for the heads up pingpong

 

How did u find his monthly prices and thanks for the recommendation. He is in calcutta and they do get a bit of flooding there from time to time. This is why he works so hard and brings home the bacon for his family as his dad passed away when he was a kid. He has world class seo talent and will work tirelessly until he gets a top 10 ranking in google. Anyways i told him when the my casino site hits the top he will retire .
Again thanks man