.png)
From Reads to Leads is a newsletter for writers who want more. It's about marketing. Strategy. Positioning. Operations. Results. And yes, it talks about writing too. But through a marketing lens. If this was sent to you, subscribe here so you don't miss the next email.
In today's newsletter:
"We aren't planning to do any SEO work this time. If I need someone who just uses tools to find keywords, I can do that myself."
That's what my client's CEO told me a week ago.
Yesterday, their organic traffic dropped 50%.
I brought in two SEO experts to prevent that problem. And they did a good job. They predicted exactly what would happen. But the CEO ignored them.
Now he's watching his traffic crash rather than work with another SEO specialist.
Here's how we got to this point.
Two months ago, this B2B SaaS company used AI to generate more than 100,000 pages related to their core product.
The good news? They started ranking.
The bad news? They started ranking for keywords completely unrelated to their product and target audience. Plus, I suspect they also have a content duplication problem (but since I'm not an SEO expert, I can't argue I know for sure).
As soon as I heard about that "growth hack,” I liked it. Until I found out there were actual 100K freaking pages. On a website with like 50 core pages max, including the blog.
I brought in two SEO experts to assess the situation. Both warned the same thing: "This will backfire."
But my client ignored them.
Then came the traffic drop. Exactly as predicted.
When I first joined that project, the team was excited about SEO and content marketing. They believed in it. They were ready to invest in it.
But the first SEO expert I recommended destroyed their trust in three moves:
"I can do SEO, but I don't speak English," he said right away. My client has Ukrainian roots and even though he understands some Ukrainian, he struggles to speak it.
But since they did have people on their team from Ukraine, everyone agreed that could be fine. The SEO expert works on the US markets and seems to be doing fine with other clients.
But here's the thing: if you come to the call and can't build an understanding with the person who pays the bills, you undermine their confidence, even if they say they're totally fine with you not speaking English.
How can you trust someone's strategy when you can't even understand their explanations?
The guy showed up on every call, answered questions when somebody asked, and showed a report once in a while. He didn't bother to explain his strategy, recommend what to do next, or highlight possible improvements. Maybe he thought somebody else should do it. Like me, for example. After all, I pulled him into this project.
I don't know if he actually thought that, or it's just my thing, feeling responsible for people you recommend like my reputation depends on it.
I think the guy was just naive, not thinking he should do more. At least drop some "success" updates to the chat letting everyone know we started indexing, or ranking, or something like that.
The consequence? The CEO had no idea what he was paying for. Were those numbers good or bad? What should happen next? The SEO expert became a black box that consumed budget. Because when you don't understand the value, you start questioning if there is any.
He charged a fixed monthly fee but worked part-time. And it was clear, he didn't have the same scope of work every month. When asked for time breakdowns, he said: "I do strategic SEO. I don't report hours."
In other words, he wanted to be paid for results, not hours. Which is fine, I guess. When you have earned your client's trust. But not when people don't understand what you actually do every month.
It looked like he was hiding something.
The CEO started wondering: "If this guy only works 10 hours but charges $3,000 (I don't know the exact numbers, this is an approximation), what exactly am I paying for?" Without transparency, even legitimate pricing feels like a scam.
Now this CEO would rather risk his entire organic strategy than work with another SEO expert.
Yes, the SEO experts both predicted the traffic drop. But your expertise is nothing if the trust is broken.
If you're selling expertise, whether it's SEO, content strategy, copywriting, or anything else, here's what I learned from watching this relationship ruin:
If your client speaks English, speak English. Don't make them translate their way to understanding your value.
Show you understand their problem. Explain your approach. Demonstrate your success cases. Prove you're worth their time and money before asking for either.
Don't bill like you're entitled to their money. Bill like you need to earn it every month.
"Strategic work" isn't some mysterious thing only the enlightened are entitled to doing. Break down what you're doing and why. And how much time it takes. Your expertise becomes more valuable when clients understand it, not less.
If you're charging $5,000/month but working 10 hours, explain why those 10 hours are worth $5,000. If you can't do that, adjust your pricing.
Trust is hard to build and easy to destroy. Once it's gone, even being right isn't enough to get it back.
About trust. This month, Zmist & Copy got a third project from the same client. Makes me think we're doing something right.
Kateryna
P.S. If we aren't connected already, follow me on LinkedIn and Instagram. If you like this newsletter, please refer your friends.
P.P.S. Need help making your clients (or employer) successful? Zmistify your content with Zmist & Copy
Struggling to make critical decisions in content marketing? In this blog post, I'll show you how to use an opportunity solution tree to map out your goals and plan the best ways to reach them. As an example, we'll use OST to define the course of action for growing site returning traffic – one of the most overlooked targets in content marketing.
Subscribe to From Reads to Leads for real-life stories, marketing wisdom, and career advice delivered to your inbox every Friday.
