What to Include in Proposals / Statement of Work?

[Digitaldar]

I am sure many can relate
I am fortunate to have lots of business coming in, but am finding that I am putting in too many hours for clients - the scope is creeping.

But if SEO is seen as making you more visible in Google, then that could include your FB page, your Twitter account, ads in Google Maps - where does it end?

I refer to myself as a Digital Strategist rather than an SEO these days but somehow I have ended up on weekly calls with some clients and being a webmaster to other clients in addition to doing AdWords, social, SEO and more LOL

Gotta reign it in!

I need boundaries on my SOW... what we will and won't do? Or hours per week including phone calls, etc.?

Suggestions?

 

[Eric Rohrback]

I'm not 100% sure what you're asking. Are you asking what should you include in the contract with clients so that you set the boundaries more effectively? If you're getting calls every day from the same clients about trivial things, why not set up a project management system that everyone can use and create a support ticket system? Only get on the phone during monthly reviews or extreme emergencies.

Set the boundaries for calls vs tickets and explain the difference. If a random call comes in, answer it a different way. So instead of "hi {client name}, how are you?" You start to answer, "Hi {client name}, what's the emergency?" (or something similar) to stress a level of urgency with a phone call like that.

 

[Blake Denman]

We attach our SoW to every agreement. Our agreement also has an exclusion list of what we are NOT providing.

If a client signs up for local SEO with us and then wants us to work on AdWords, then we'll amend the agreement and include new pricing and a new SoW.

 

[Sherry Bonelli]

A few years ago SEO was considered a separate discipline from Social Media, Content Marketing, Video Marketing, etc. The lines have blurred since almost ALL facets of digital marketing involve optimizing for search engines (after all, why create a video on YouTube if it no one finds it!)

From my experience proposals are a time-consuming process because you have to get the whole team involved -- if you're a lone entrepreneur, then it all falls on you.

I would recommend a line-by-line listing of everything you're going to do for them (almost like a checklist) so that YOU can use it as part of your to-do list and the client knows what to expect.

Hope that helps.

Sherry