0:01

So look, nobody wants to waste time, right? And nobody wants to waste money. But somehow founders keep doing both with the co agencies. And this is not to be against the co agencies because a lot of them are really, really good. But I think there is an often found misalignment happening. And in this episode, I will try to explain why that keeps happening and show you how to fix it early before it costs you time and money. Let's break down this problem, right. I think that some of it is the agencies are big, even small agencies are big, if you know what I'm saying. It's easy to buy a good pitch and a successful agency would've perfected its pitch. They have lovely decks and they have good claims, and they have the timelines and they use the phrases like a CO takes time, which is correct. A CO does take time building topical authority and strategic roadmap and so on and so forth, and this is all very good, but also very vague. And I don't think a lot of founders know how to evaluate what's real and what's fluff. And I think it's very fair because SEO is not your business. It's the agency's business. You just want the effects. So it's really hard to tell if someone's doing deep effective SE. Oh, if they're just, you know, selling, giving you a process and you're just running through the process and nothing much changes, but the retainer's going right. And I think that the common signs that before you even hire are people immediately want to take you on. They don't want to look at your side, that they don't need to know anything. They just need to sign you on. And there's going to be this conversation about the tools and reports instead of, outcomes for your business goals. The here, I think is that base misalignment. The fact that somebody is good at the CEO doesn't mean that they're good at your business and for your business and what they are solving effectively. They're making their money. They're not really getting your results, and I don't mean it in a mean way. What I mean is bottom line, if I'm in a co agency, I'm making money and this is my primary goal. I'm not a charity. Right. So you get swallowed by that process, and the nature of the SEO is such that you might not notice it until several months in because you'll see no changes. Or even worse, you'll see some bad changes happening and. You'll be obviously outraged, but you'll hear the common SEO takes time again, which is correct. However, let's talk a little bit more about the facts because I don't like issues. I like solving them right. And I think that you like this one I like it. I think that, as a founder, as a business person, you are a leader and that's all you have to do. You just have to lead in that first conversation. You get that like the first free consultation where they try to sign you on. Don't just be there. Be active there. And that just means that, you know, I'm a bit of a control freak. I think that any business owner is any successful business owner is, I should say. So I think that you will know best what to say, but it's not for them. It's a sales meeting, right? They are trying to sell you something. But for you, you are interviewing them, you are giving them the job, right? So then don't just wait to be impressed by them, which is very tempting because again, they have the process, they have the cue cards. They are going to try to employ it. But let's test them. Let's be confrontational. I'm so sorry I don't, you know, I'm not confrontational by nature, but this is the time to actually test people, to be a little harsh maybe, and to really genuinely talk about your business because it is about your business. SEO does not fit all. It might not be a good fit for you to focus on SEO right now, and no agency will tell you that. So if an agency tries to lead with SEO, which is again what they do, you want to lead with your business and specifically drives the conversation, start with your goals. If they can't deliver you these things, can they explain why? Is it a specific explanation specific to your business? Do they ask you about your business model, your services, your margins? If they don't, then it's just a process for them, right? They're not going to adjust anything to you. So if you ask, and I'm pretty sure you'll, you are much sharper than I am, is what I'm saying. Which of my current pages would you prioritize for SEO and why? Or what kind of conversions would you optimize for? Conversions being what you want people to do when they're on your website, right? Or how would you measure success in the first 30 to 60 days? Or what would you fix on my current site and what wouldn't you fix? What do you not like about my site that you would leave alone? And you watch them answer, and you will know if they are giving you a clear contextual answers if they are listening to your questions. Or are they just reading from script are they just trained to answer in a certain way or are they showing you a genuine understanding of your audience in your funnel? Because effectively speaking, SEO should be making you money and should be saving you type. Some red flags when someone tells you it's too early to say, and we will audit it and we will let you know. Well, I mean, they should have some take on that. They should be able to tell you something specific. Oh, we focus on long-term authority building. Is, yes, you should focus on long-term authority building, but short-term clarity is also a thing and it should be applied. And if anyone at any point tells you that they have a province system and that system works for all businesses, I'm going to fight them, Morgan, you should, you should fight them as well, is what I'm saying. Right. So the green flags would be when people are listening to you and they ask you follow up questions to what you are saying. They don't just divert to their process and their method. And people have opinions because you're going to come in there and you are going to have opinions because it's your livelihood, it's your business that you are giving, you're giving a part of your business for somebody to manage, right? So it's crucial that they do it right. And if they don't ask you insightful questions about your business and about your audience, and about conversions, about your goals, and if they don't have opinions like, you know, I'd fix this first. Or I don't care about this thing.'cause this thing is superfluous. You know, everybody has the method. The method is not a problem. The problem is when their business does not align with your business. That's, I think, the bottom line for it is. And that first consultation bottom line, should just be a, like a job interview. They are going to work for you. And I'm really sorry. You're going to pay them huge money to tell you a real story with, to some minor detail change, right? I'm not betraying my clients like that, but one founder paid like 12,000 pounds. For an SEO retainer and the agency never attached the Google search console, which is the main hub Google has to do SEO. They didn't even verify the site at month four. So, I was angry. The founder was angry. Everyone was angry. The agency was not responsive, right? They mentioned something about, I think, if I remember correctly, we're working on building topical authority. There were no changes to the traffic. There was nothing technical done on the site. So what are you doing? And this was a big SEO agency. I'm not going to give you the name, but one of the biggest that operates in the uk. So I'm just saying, right. Everybody was very polite and people were very enthusiastic and passion because I had the, um, pleasure of being in a couple of meetings with them as well. At the end of it, everyone was nice and everyone was professional, and the lady who was taking care of us was really nice and professional too, but nothing got done and the lady was reporting to somebody else and everybody was reporting somewhere and nothing got done and obviously the agency kept the money and nothing happened, right? So, a pretty bad ending and one that I'm pretty passionate about. I would like you to avoid it. So to sum up, because I got really heated about this one, right? If they cannot answer your questions now. They will not give you answers later. So if that, in that first conversation, if they are not forthcoming with you, you will never get results. It's a pretty harsh take, but I think it's a correct one, and you don't want to wait until you've hired the wrong agency. You have to make them prove you right. In that first conversation because you don't want to spend on it. So I hope that helped. If, if it didn't, let me know. If it helped, please follow. It's a new podcast. I'm trying to get it off the ground. New fixes are every two weeks, and if you want to have a chat drop by should be aligned. Take care. Bye.