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“You´ve gotta be
Cruel to be kind in the right measure,
Cruel to be kind it´s a very good sign,
Cruel to be kind means that I love you,
Baby, you´ve gotta be cruel to be kind.”… Nick Lowe

In the agency setting in which I used to work, I didn´t do a lot of the direct client communications for a couple reasons:

• I was perceived as not being particularly good at explaining SEO concepts to folks who had a difficult time conceptually grasping anything to do with search marketing.
• My direct manner of speaking wasn´t perceived to be compatible with maximizing the duration of client engagements.

When I think back upon my agency experience, clearly my bosses admired my technical ability while simultaneously being frustrated with my inability to communicate in agency-speak.

But, I wonder whether even if had I been able to master the art of agency relations, would the clients & our company revenues have been better off? Or, would the enterprise have been more of a success had I been able to communicate with the clients in my normal manner: Direct, honest and even a bit harsh to clearly put forth my thoughts.

In private conversations, when describing the SEO choices (or lack thereof) made on websites, I do tend to use the word “suck” a lot (with plenty of “WTF” and “ROFL” thrown in). While I would never use these words directly to a client / prospective client, I would have no problem imparting these feelings in a more appropriate manner.

If I were a client, I would rather be given the straight dope about my site because if somebody is telling me something I may not want to hear, they are more likely to be speaking to me with integrity.

Looking back at some of the client / potential client situations I faced, I wonder if things would have turned out differently had I been able to speak my mind…

The Situation : Client engaged our firm. Major textual optimization was needed on the home page. Most of my textual recommendations were rejected & I only was able to change two words on the home page.
The Results : I couldn´t convince the client to change their mind and SEO results weren´t what they could have been.
What I Wanted To Tell The Client : You expect top rankings but you won´t let me make changes to your home page? Not even Matt Cutts could make your SEO campaign successful.

The Situation : Niche informational site with over 100,000 backlinks & high Alexa rankings wanted to engage our services but couldn´t afford our fee (and desperately needed to earn money). A clear candidate for contextual (and other) advertising…however, I wasn´t allowed to present that as an option to them because a co-worker was afraid of how our agency would be “perceived” in recommending monetization through ads. Instead, I was asked about pushing their t-shirt sales for revenue.
The Results: We let the opportunity pass.
What I Wanted To Tell The Prospect: I absolutely would have presented various advertising alternatives (and probably would have done the work for a % of the earnings). If they resisted, I would have compared their situation to starving to death while sitting at an “All You Can Eat Buffet”.

The Situation: Industry Leader in a niche vertical approaches us about SEO & PPC. They are spending high 5-figures each month in PPC, sending all paid traffic to a poorly designed ad-laden home page where any possible conversion was several clicks away (and required use of a GPS). Also, they had web analytics that did not distinguish between paid & natural search and didn´t track click paths.
The Results: I had plenty to say about this site but couldn´t say any of it. We failed to get the engagement.
What I Wanted To Tell The Prospect: You´re wasting more money in a month with paid search than most families earn in a year. Plus, a lot of your customers who could buy from you are giving up before they can purchase.

Now, when I talk about SEO and offer opinions & advice in my articles, blog posts, twitters, or live at SEM Hot Seat events, I give my opinions without any form of self-censorship and I´ve found that people have responded very positively to me in each medium. I wonder whether my agency experience would have been more profitable for all involved had I been allowed to follow my natural instincts instead of sublimating myself to a perceived agency norm.

If I ever do any solo branding, it will be as the “Tough Love SEO”.