When I first started working with SEO for my friends and family the presenting of SEO plans was never a problem. I’d tell them what to do and they would do it. This all changed when I started getting some real clients and my freelance business started expanding and I was having weekly/monthly calls with clients.
I’m a computer guy, I always have been. This doesn’t mean that I am bad at speaking with people - it just means that I’d rather not have to. In the early days I tried as hard as possible to communicate with only e-mail as it gave me time to think about exactly what I wanted to say and more time to plan. This worked well enough, but my business hit a wall pretty quickly. I couldn’t land the large clients.
It was about this time when I realized something that changed my entire perspective.
NORMAL PEOPLE DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT SEO.
If they did, why would they even come ask for your help in the first place? Sure they might have heard about SEO, might even worked with some analytics programs… but when it comes right down to it you have to remember you are the expert. You just have to show them that you know your stuff. The best way I found to do that is with reports.
I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. There I was - two and a half years of SEO work under my belt - before it hit me. I didn’t have to be nervous about presenting a SEO plan to a large client to show value. All it took was a couple fancy reports, some keyword research, bringing up meta-tags… and it amazed (if not bewildered or scared them) into not only wanting me as a consultant but many of them wanted to hire me on full time with their companies.
Now, I’m not saying give them bad information. Quite the opposite. Put some serious time into these first and follow up reports, even if you don’t have time to make a full on battle-plan on the first call with them - don’t be worried. The key is to show them that you are in fact an expert. Answer their questions, show them the research that has been done. The simple stuff will be enough to wow your client and after this, in my experience anyway, they will generally give you more freedom with their sites to get to working on the real SEO.