We create architect style solutions for website applications and SEO.
Merriam-Webster defines consultancy as “an agency that provides consulting services,” and SEO consultancy is one of our core offerings at PalmettoSoft. Each potential client that contacts us
has an idea or existing business that is in a certain stage of growth. In the most infantile form, or what we call a “cloud concept,” the customer has a high level thought and requires SEO consultancy (or expertise) to help bring the “50,000 foot” concept down to a workable level. Hours of conversation are needed and research needs to be done. In addition, sometimes wireframes (not to scale blueprints) need to be created if there are technical considerations for an application like an E-Commerce website. As a a billable time model, our SEO consultancy is essentially selling time; whether it is consulting, programming, graphic design, SEO, etc… All aforementioned types of work can be required at various levels (per client) in order to successfully monetize a business online.
One of the greatest challenges for an SEO consultancy is determining ‘what is’ the cost of doing business and ‘what is not.’ In our earlier years, we expended large amounts of time giving away valuable knowledge/information in the effort of trying to land business. In this scenario, the SEO consultancy always loses because the client has no initial “skin in the game,” and the professional services are interpreted as cheap or commodity in nature since the client is not paying for them. In order to remedy this problem, our company offers the first two hours with the client for free. During that time, we should be able to write a proposal, or recommend a block of consulting hours for which we typically do tasks like: Analyzing an existing website’s backend programming (code) and administration area. Sometimes code clean up is required and in others the site needs to be completely rebuilt. Basically, we never know what we will be getting until we take a look at it. In an extreme example, several years ago a client wanted our SEO consultancy to take over the SEO and management and general maintenance of their website. Over a 3 period, they had a highly paid on staff developer to run their national, database driven site with multiple users and logins. What they did not know is their developer had been using Russian programmers to actually do all the work (at lower fees) and the entire backend of the website was encrypted with Cyrillic code that had to be fixed. That job required over 40 hours of intensive programming… The moral of this story is that we never really know what we are getting until we take time to look under the hood. And in some cases, “looking under the hood” can turn into a major programming job that needs to be paid for.
In another consulting scenario, the client simply needs smart people to talk to and guide them towards the best direction to monetize their business or idea. Depending on the complexity of the solution and other factors, this may take only a few hours—or 50 hours or more. Over the years, our SEO consultancy has worked with many different type clients and has “architected” solutions from one page in length to over 50 pages with associated user type flowcharts and wireframes.
When research and collaboration is done at the beginning of a project, the chances of success are exponentially increased. Our SEO consultancy has the know how and experience to help your company or organization realize its financial dreams. If you would like to know more about our company, please click here.
About the Author: Rhett DeMille, the owner of PalmettoSoft, is a leading search engine optimization consultant located in the Charlotte NC and Charleston SC areas.
