Where To Start With High Budget Client

[MondayBlues]

I hope some of you may be able to lend some advice here. We have secured a large client who has a considerable monthly SEO Budget.

The problem is this. They are in a competitive industry, the site is brand new, the brand name is pretty much unheard of but they have been backed by an angel investor and understand the importance of SEO.

Now the guys obviously want to see that there money is being spent wisely and they are getting ROI, even if not in immediate results certainly by effort we put into them.

Aside from having a small team initially going through there site to ensure that it is optimized to the best level it can be what would be your recommendations on getting this company off to the best start. Also they want to concentrate on natural search rather than PPC.

Without mentioning the name of the company they are a software developer for an innovative ticketing system.

Thanks in advance

Paul

[Cornel_Ilea]

Hi Paul,

Employ one or two senior people to build a small SEO team for you.

Cornel

[BenRWoodard]

Spend the time doing this --> http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-perform-the-worlds-greatest-seo-audit

Set up actionable methods and clear expectations on reporting not results.  I go over "expected" results but I never say we "will be at this level" or something.

If funding allows it, get a consultation from a well established company like SEERinteractive or Distilled in order to get started on the right track with such a competitive market.

Most importantly, set expectations and do work. Keep at it and you will see some awesome results.

[riplash]

Although you say the client is interested in organic search long term, something to consider if you have the budget is using PPC in the early stages of the campaign, for two reasons.

Firstly, the client can obviously use PPC advertising to bring traffic whilst they are waiting for the organic search traffic to grow, but secondly, can be using the PPC traffic data to help shape the SEO campaign.

After initial keyword research, the best way to discover the best converting keywords is to analyse the traffic received for each one. PPC will allow them to start making these judgements more quickly, which should reduce the SEO time (and money) spent on less effective phrases.

[MondayBlues]

Thanks for the advice Guys, all noted and I will put them into action.

Thanks