How to Choose the Right Clients for Your SEO Agency & Avoid Toxic Ones

Many metaphors and comparisons have shaped the agency-client relationship, but the marriage analogy remains the most persistent. From the onboarding-honeymoon phase to the anniversary one, and all through the dreaded divorce, there is no step left unreferenced.

And as with any good marriage, being picky is crucial.

But how do you define what to be picky about?

Prequalifying leads might seem like a never-ending dating phase. There are so many things to take into account and no clear answer yet. Plus, you need to put a lot of time into it. And maybe that client will prove alright, eventually, so why not jump straight to the task at hand?

A straightforward solution is looking into your agency’s past at misaligned clients and remembering what they cost you – resources, hours, emotional energy, team motivation, or something else.

If you could avoid that situation happening again, your business would gain more than it would lose.

That’s why saying no is hard but necessary.

Once you start analyzing what went wrong with your past clients, you’ll be able to understand the components that make for a successful partnership.

There are many ways to qualify a lead, so you need to find the ones that are right for you.

Based on Budgets & Resources

One important question you need to ask yourself from the start is: “Is the budget right for us, or would they be more suited to a different agency?”

As Gareth Morgan, the founder of Liberty Marketing, puts it, there are minimum operating fees for every agency, and the client has to be at the point where the budget suits the need and can afford the level of growth that they are after.

“What are their resources?” is another critical follow-up question, says Morgan, as the client should be able to support their side of the partnership with various internal resources such as content writers, technical specialists to make website changes, provision of data, etc.

There are several routes you can explore to pinpoint those aspects of your potential client’s business:

• A prequalifying questionnaire as a reply to their inquiry, including questions regarding their team, desired time frame, and available budget.
• In-depth research of the client’s business and industry to assess their growth stage. Look at their financial status, ask your network to assess the client’s stakeholders if possible, determine what their customers say about them, use search data to evaluate their industry’s current growth potential, etc.
• An analysis of their social media presence and website can also uncover clues. However, it can be misleading so tread carefully there, because sometimes websites don’t paint an accurate picture of the business status, as Edward Coram James, CEO of Go Up says.