Social Media
A boosted post is effectively converting an organic post into an ad. You allocate an amount of spend to it, and Facebook will show it to people beyond your organic reach. When boosting a post, you can also opt to have it shown on Instagram as well.
For short-term results for a single post a boost works just fine. For a long-term campaign that requires more budget, but can target on a more granular level you will want to run ads.
If you aren't sure if your client should change from a boost to ads or vice versa, a strategist would be happy to talk to you about the best tactics.
When we boost posts we typically opt to have the post shown as an ad on Instagram as well. Facebook owns Instagram and gives us this option when boosting a post. We almost always choose to do so, since it will show the post to a wider audience.
No. Social media platforms that offer reviews of businesses do not allow the post to be taken down in order to maintain the integrity of the reviews (otherwise everyone would have a 5 star rating).
Reviews can be removed by the original poster, or, in some rare cases, we can appeal to have the review removed if it is malicious or hateful. (Someone posting a negative opinion of your client is not considered malicious or hateful).
Yes, we can hide public comments on posts. We typically do this proactively, but if you see a comment your client would like hidden please let us know.
We typically post based on the rule of thirds. 1/3 of our posts is about the business, 1/3 is about the industry, and 1/3 is about the community. We do this so that the information on the client's platform is well-rounded and provides a reason for people to keep coming back.
Some of the posts we put up may not be directly related to the business, and sometimes might not be related at all. The first priority of social media is to entertain and to engage. Remember, we are not using social media for lead generation, we are using it for passive branding. We want people to get to know the client beyond just the business, and begin to see them as a leader in the industry and the community.
PPC
Yes, we will always accommodate requests for change in spend. However, depending on when the request is made we may not be able to implement it until the following month.
For example, if the client wants to reduce their monthly spend from $1,000 to $500 and they request the change on the 30th, we will have already spent beyond the new limit of $500. Likewise, if they ask to increase to $1,000 from $500 we can spend as much as possible, but we may not be able to spend the entire amount before the end of the month.
You can request a change to current client services here.
An ad not showing up for an individual search is not an indication of a problem. Rarely does a client have the budget to show up for a keyword every time it is searched. There are many factors that can go into whether or not an ad is shown, including time of day, remaining budget, and whether you have previously visited the site.
If your client searches for themselves they should never click on their ad. By clicking on the ad they would be taking budget away from the campaign for an actual customer.
Probably nothing. There are a lot of factors that can cause a slight (or even dramatic) downward trend from one month to another. For instance, seasonality in a client's products/services almost always causes a drop when their products/services are out of season.
Dips in performance without seasonality are not usually a concern either. We will monitor trends month over month and if we see continued downward trends we will adjust the campaign based on the data we have.
Month to month fluctuations are not a major concern because we are looking for steady, long-term growth. For example, if our conversions were down 5% over last month, but up 20% over the same time last year, we are doing very well.
No. We will share top performing keywords, but we will never give out the entire list. We spent time researching these terms and if we hand over the entire list nothing is stopping the client from giving that to another vendor to run the campaign.
Certainly! We can provide a screenshot of the ads, or you can use the Google ad preview tool. If you use the preview tool, remember that the ads may not show up every time you search.
We will not provide a list of all ads running. this is our proprietary information and what we use to set our campaigns apart.
SEO
This is pretty normal with SEO. Once we start SEO services, we see a spike in rankings because we get an initial boost from the search engines recognizing the optimization efforts. After this initial boost, we see a decline to a more natural position followed by a slow and steady increase in rankings.
SEO results in the first few months can be volatile, but we are looking for a overall upward trend in rankings.
This can be a bit tricky since so much of SEO is "behind the scenes" and not obvious to the regular user.
If we have made structural changes to the site or written copy, these are easy things to point out as progress.
If we are doing a normal SEO campaign and don't have front end changes to show, we will have to rely on the data in the reporting. The reports typically come with a recap of the work done for the month. Over time, the upward movement of their keyword ranking will show the success of the campaign.
SEO is a long-term tactic and can take 6 - 12 months to show significant results. The client may need to be reminded of this if they get anxious.
Website Builds
Rome wasn't built in a day, and a website wasn't built in a weekend. Well it could be, but not with the quality and care we take when building ours.
The length of the build process will depend on the size and complexity of the site being built. At the outset of the project we will outline milestones and we will indicate how much time we need to complete each milestone. Outside factors may delay the start of work on the next milestone (for example, waiting on client approval).
If you are curious where we are in the build, you can check the project dashboard in monday.com.
Yes, however any change in the scope of the project may also change the pricing. You can submit a Current Client Services Request here. We will review the information and let you know if the change in scope changes the pricing and/or the timeline.
There may be some requests we cannot accommodate, but these would be bordering on ridiculous anyway, so the client shouldn't want them.
No. Website maintenance keeps the engine running. It includes things like updates to plugins/dashboard extensions, website backups, scanning for malware/viruses, fixing issues related to CMS/plugin updates, and fixing issues related to site security that arise while enrolled in a maintenance plan. Maintenance cannot be used to resolve any preexisting issues or for any updates that would be considered part of development.
Changes to the structure and content of the layout are part of development and are not included in maintenance (for example, changing images, updating copy, building new pages, etc.).
Absolutely! Depending on what your client has signed on for after the build and what changes they want, there may be a charge on an hourly basis.
We also offer a 1 hour WordPress training at the completion of each build. If your client hasn't had their training yet we can use this time to walk through how to make the changes they want.
If your client did not build their site with us we are still happy to help, but how the site is built and what platform it uses will dictate scope and cost.
You can request a change to their website here.
Miscellaneous
The information in the master citation sheet is incredibly valuable to us at the start of the campaign. It helps us verify information that is necessary for much of our services.
The accounts inventory sheet will provide us with the login information necessary to be able to execute our services.
We cannot fulfil services without this information.
Unfortunately, no. Login credentials should be recorded at the time an account is created and be kept where they are easily found. We can't help recover credentials from platforms we don't control.
If your client knows the login email or username, they should be able to submit a password reset request. If they don't know the username or password, they will struggle to gain access to the account.
In some cases (like with GoDaddy) there is a lengthy process they can go through to prove their identity and gain access to their account again. With other platforms they may not be so lucky.
Google My Business allows us to submit a claim for a listing so if they don't have access to that, we may be able to submit a request and claim it that way (maybe).
The one exception is if we built the client's website and they forgot their logins for WordPress, we can reset their password (assuming they have not already removed us as a user).
On many platforms full admin access is required for us to complete our services. Even when it is not required we still request it so that we can act as a backup for the client in case they need it. It is fairly common for a client to give us access to something and then misplace their own credentials. If we aren't a full admin, we can't help in that instance.
Reporting will be completed by the 12th of the month and is available through Google Drive. There may be some variations month to month due to holidays and the 12th falling on a weekend.
Reports will be for the previous month's data (e.g., the report you receive on October 12th will be for September's data).
For some services there may be no report or just a baseline report after the first month. There will be no report the month the client signs on (for example, if they begin services on July 1st, a report will not be available on July 12th).
You can submit a Current Client Services Request Ticket here.
