Rule 1: no SEO projections.

Rule 2: Paid and Organic teams must share data.

Rule 3: if a client isn’t serious about SEO, fire them immediately.


→ Why?


𝟭. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀 (𝗻𝗼 𝗽𝘂𝗻)!

I do not own a search engine, so why would I risk making inaccurate SEO projections? I guarantee the effort and strategic thinking to increase the probability of reaching good results. Never the results themselves.

Too many unknowns.

But is there a counterargument to my approach?

Yes clearly! And I could explain in the comments or a future post if many are interested.


𝟮. 𝗦𝗘𝗢 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲… 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺!

Simple rule: share as much data as possible internally. This isn’t a competition. Sharing is essential because each team will benefit tremendously in the short and long term.

You’ll better understand your audience.

You’ll fine-tune your organic and paid strategies.

The company’s revenue will increase. The salaries will increase. The brand’s reputation will improve.

Everyone will win at every level!


𝟯. 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻’𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹. 𝗕𝘂𝘁…

The clients who understand SEO the least are the most painful to deal with. This is true every time. You must learn to fire them quickly because SEO is more complex than ever.

But if you have to fire clients, you’ve already failed. You haven’t yet learned to pre-qualify leads. You don’t even know what a good client looks like.

Believe it or not, you must learn to say NO to lucrative deals. I do it all the time because I cannot hire people to replace me. Some brands want to work with me exclusively.

And when I sell my time, I cannot scale. The only option is to increase my prices because I only have 24 hours per day like everybody.

If I’m wrong about a prospect and it turns out they are NOT a serious client, EVEN if I fire them quickly, everyone loses! My fired client will be frustrated. I’ll have wasted my precious time and missed better opportunities.

The hidden rule behind rule 3?

✅ If you learn to qualify leads, you’ll never have to fire clients again!

Define what your ideal client looks like.

Still too hard? 😅

List what you do NOT want to see and refuse those prospects BEFORE they become clients.