In all the clients I have worked with and signed on over the years, a scarily high percentage came from situations where they had been burned. They hadn’t just been burned by no-name people who call every listing in the phone book prospecting for their next sucker to sell to. They had been burned by some of the biggest brand name companies that provide other services to law firms and attorneys; firms that have a big presence at every bar conference you’ll ever attend.
Great SEO campaigns are a rare find. As we have mentioned, it isn’t for everyone, and there are lower cost alternatives. If you find yourself negotiating a final deal, here are a few pitfalls to watch out for when it comes to contract negotiation.
Clear Severability Terms
Everything that has a beginning has an end. I have a very high rate of long-term campaign retention, but sometimes businesses and law firms don’t want to continue with SEO campaigns. These are almost unilaterally the clients who did not heed the up-front caution about how soon they can expect results.
That said, you need to make absolutely certain that you understand the severability terms. The worst contract terms out there tend to be with those big brand name companies, and their contracts are in very small print. You’d think attorneys would be immune to traps in these contracts, but the technological lingo can be confusing at times, and they don’t necessarily know what else to expect.
If you’re contracted for a 12 or 24-mo deal, you should be allowed out for any reason. Expect a penalty of a few months or so, depending on how soon you cancelled, but this still gives you an out. If it’s a bad relationship, that’s far easier than being threatened into staying on board due to a massively unreasonable severability clause.
Clear Ownership and Intellectual Property Terms
The biggest single trap I have seen attorneys fall into is they sign contracts for websites and SEO, and they don’t actually own their website.
If you have a website currently provided by a trusted brand name, check your footer copyright statement. Does it say your firm’s name or the corporation’s name? If the latter, then you’re “leasing” their intellectual property from them.
This goes back to the severability section: if you realize that they haven’t touched your real SEO in years, but you’re regularly paying them simply to “lease” your website from them, you won’t just have cancellation terms apply. If you want your website, you’re going to have to buy it from them.
You can avoid this by being very clear that you have full rights and control of:
Your domain name - if you don’t have clear rights to your domain name, they can pull the “we own it, but we’ll sell it to you” move if you sever the contract. Make sure they can’t extort you over your domain name. It’s incredibly valuable, especially if it has been active for many years. Domain age is valuable, and you don’t want to lose an old domain name.
Hosting - If you can, have them set up a hosting account for you, where you are set up as the host and pay the annual hosting fees directly to the hosting provider. Most people charge a lot for the hosting, but it isn’t necessary. Bluehost is a great solution, and you can get a wide range of hosting levels through them. They provide excellent customer service, and your provider can get all the access they need to work on your site as a user. Otherwise, if they host your site, make sure that there are clear terms for transferring your site to a new hosting provider if the contract is terminated.
Google Analytics account - you should have access to this free analytics suite as the owner. They should be able to set it up for you, and they can have access to it under the site’s permissions settings. This way they can’t shut down years worth of your analytics data if permissions are set up appropriately.
Their Actual Long-Term Deliverables - you need to see whether or not they are committed to working long-term for your success. So many accounts are based on contracts where a salesman promised the moon, but the site stops being worked on after a few months. (I know this because the salesmen have told me all about it; the gall!) If the only thing you’re getting long-term is hosting, a monthly report and an occasional conference call with an account manager, you certainly shouldn’t be paying much. If it’s a high dollar account, “account managers” don’t really do anything but talk to you. You need to be talking directly to the people doing the SEO work, or your account manager should be that expert.
Be Comfortable With the Agreement
The biggest thing is being comfortable with the contract, as well as the company you are going to hire for your SEO campaign. The contracts shouldn’t seem high pressure or cause you much distress. If the cost is worrisome to you, don’t do it. If you miss payments, you’re going to get hit with penalties or breach of contract.
In the end, don’t invest in anything that isn’t going to be a success. You should feel great about the contract, the company you’re hiring and the future of growing your business.
Fleshing out the contract terms is the final step in that hopefully exciting process. A little due diligence will go a long way to your long-term success and peace of mind.
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