SEO reporting has always been pictured as an activity that utilizes a lot of time, which could have been used on other important jobs otherwise. Moreover, even after the enormous amount of time put in, it isn’t guaranteed that the client will read the report! However, even though it may sound like a big amount of waste, it actually isn’t. If you look at SEO reporting as a client retention tool, you will see how it actually benefits you. No reporting means no communicated value, which in turn means no clients. Thus, reporting is actually a very inevitable tool to retain clients. But, how can you use SEO reporting as a client retention tool? You definitely need to do it in the right manner. So, here are some tips that will help you. Or, you may hire a professional digital marketing company in Bangalore to help.
Set specific goals
Make sure the goals you have are specific and mutually agreed upon well in advance. Discuss with the client what the goal is, which will help you decide as to whether the target has been achieved, missed, or exceeded.
Report on what the clients care about
If the reports have nothing to connect with the objectives of the client, it will be a big waste. Clients are always busy with a number of things going around in their heads. If they don’t fight something that catches their eye or that interests them, they will just throw away the report! So, you need to make your report count; and for this, you need to first and foremost understand the main business objective of the client. Then, you must create an SEO plan to help achieve that goal. After executing the plan, you must then report on the metrics that best measure the work done. In short, you must be able to choose and stick to appropriate KPIs that match the required business objectives and reporting strategy.
Avoid jargon
Everyone is professional in their own field. The client may be professional in his field, and you may be in yours. Accordingly, the language and terminology used in both the fields may be different. What may seem easy for you to understand, may be complicated for the client. Keep this in mind, and make sure you keep the language simple and easy to understand for the client. Any confusing metrics or words that are not as simple to understand must be avoided. Or, you may include a mini-glossary or analogies to explain your terminologies, if it is too necessary to be used. There could be times when you may be using jargon without even realizing it; but remember, this is a wrong practice! Make sure you use simple and clear language that is easy to understand by one and all.
Make it visually easy to understand
Apart from the language, you also need to consider all the visual aspects of your report. You may have included pie charts and graphs all along your report, which may be a great idea. But, is it actually understandable? Is it actually necessary? Whatever you put in must be easy to identify with, and must convey meaning. How you display your information is very crucial. Transform your data from metrics into a story that conveys meaning to the clients.
Connect SEO results to revenue
SEO can directly influence rankings, organic traffic, and organic conversions. It can be difficult to connect this SEO to revenue, especially where conversions happen offline. Thus, in order to tie organic traffic to revenue, you will want to set up goal conversions and add value to those conversions in your analytics. Nevertheless, also keep in mind that the clients may not know their average LCV and close rate; or maybe they don’t want to share the information with you. Thus, it is advisable to at least try connecting SEO to revenue. Even though conversions won’t be directly influenced, it is yet better than nothing.
