On a webmaster forum that I frequent, a service provider brought to the forum a question regarding his SEO services and his client’s unwillingness to pay after the services were completed. Apparently, the client believes that he paid for the process and the provider believes the payment was only for the results; in this case getting higher up in the search engine results. From this outsider’s view, it’s hard to tell if the process as defined was or was not completed; but there does seem to be no disagreement as to the results achieved – even if those results may not be long-lasting.
When hiring someone to do web work for you, you have to be vigilant that you receive what you actually paid for. Let me give you three examples of what I mean.
Sticking with SEO services…
Client A hires Shady SEO Services Inc. to bring more traffic to their site. Shady takes a shortcut and pays one of those bulk traffic companies for a slew of traffic that is neither targeted or likely to return to the client’s site. Did SEO Services Inc. fulfill their contract?
Another example – Content Writing
Client B hires We Write Good to write the homepage and About Us pages for Client B’s widget business. We Write Good delivers a homepage that is basically a short essay on widgets and an About Us page that is another very similar essay on widgets. Did We Write Good fulfill their contract?
Third example – webpage design
Client C hires We Design Good to design their website. We Design Good simply goes to a free template site and passes off the design as their own. Did We Design Good fulfill their contract?
In the simplest terms, all 3 clients did get what they requested. But, none of them got what they wanted – did they? Who’s at fault? Both the client and the providers are at fault here. The client failed to clearly state their requirements and the providers took advantage of that oversight.
When paying someone to do services for you, think about the results. Client A most likely doesn’t simply want more traffic to their site – they want targeted traffic who is looking for what they sell and will buy their product. Client B’s website won’t convince people to buy widgets from them if their main sales page – their homepage – only has a simple essay on widgets and doesn’t entice prospects to buy their widgets from them. And one would assume that Client C was hoping to get a custom and unique website not one using a free template that hundreds or thousands of other sites are also using.
OK, one more example. The Navy purchased several computers on a single contract. The specifications called for the motherboards to have a full-sized slot for network cards. The computers came in – they did have the slots, but they were unusable due to the computer’s fan extending over the end of the slot. It was ruled the computers matched the spec and we were stuck with them. The mistake? Not specifically stating that the slots had to be usable. This example, I’m sorry to say is real, I was there.
OK, a lot of words to say “When you hire someone to do services for you, be clear about what you want and what the results should be.” Do not assume that the provider has the same goals that you do.
I recently hired a writer for a project and I made the mistake of assuming that they understood what needed to be done. I wound up paying out a lot of money for something that wasnt what I wanted and so I had to look for another writer. I learned my lesson, however, in the future I will be absolutely specific and ask the writer to explain to me their understanding of the project
I hear this complaint quite frequently about writers. From what a number of my writing clients have told me, many of the other content writers do not know the difference between generic essay type content and informative sales copy type content.
I also suspect that I’ve lost more than a few bids to these folks as they can afford to charge less as it’s much easier to write a generic article about a product than it is to write an About Us page that explains why the client’s product is superior. I’ve had at least one client admit they came to me after getting essay content from someone else.
My best advice is to ask to talk to the writer on the phone prior to making any substantial financial commitment with them – some will charge for this initial conversation, but better to pay for an hour of their time then for content you can’t use.
Hi Michele!
I think it works both ways – a service provider could get taken advantage of by a customer.
But I see where you’re coming from though. I usually think misunderstanding comes from miscommunication and ready-made assumptions. I think the responsibility may lie with both parties to make sure they’re both on the same page. It unfortunately doesn’t happen in the real world more times than it should.
Unfortunate as it may seem, the good thing is lessons are learnt and it gives you a better and wiser nose for sniffing out and ironing out potential mishaps in the future.
take care and here’s to a great (and safe) 2008!
You are quite right that it works both ways. I suspect many service providers in their efforts to provide a quality service quite often leave themselves open to being taken advantage of. I know I’ve done it.
It’s so very hard when customer and client come together cold and try to decide if they can work together and trust each other. Decisions often have to be made based on emails or phone calls without the benefit of eye contact or the shaking of hands – Daddy always said to never trust a man who won’t give a firm handshake to a woman – more often than not, that advice has been spot on.
I tend to ask tons of questions and verify everything in writing. I would rather spend more time up front making sure the task list is correct then having to redo work or have an unhappy client. While that does have me ‘working’ on a project before I’m on the ‘clock’, it also helps to prevent misunderstandings later.
Perhaps it’s simply my background, but I tend to over-explain and pick all the nits to death; which in this business appears to be quite a good thing. 🙂
Thanks for the comments and best wishes for a happy and productive 2008.