How to create an SEO-promotion brief

At the start of SEO promotion, the client and the performer must be on the same wavelength. They need to accurately understand each other, the goals and objectives of the promotion. For this, quality SEO brief is indispensable.

What is a brief

A brief is a text document in which the client fully registers his vision of the project and its basic parameters. In fact, it is a tool that allows the SEO specialist and the customer to find a common language.

With a well-formed brief, the speed and quality of advancement grow exponentially. It creates an understanding of what exactly the client needs and helps develop a clear plan of action.

At the beginning of the dialogue, constantly ask the client why he needs promotion, what he wants to achieve, etc. An explanation of motivation will show you how much the customer is interested in working, whether he will change his mind halfway, whether he will help you or, on the contrary, slow down the process.

It's possible that the customer doesn't need to promote his own website, and he is going to start only because the daughter of the third grandmother's niece said: "SEO is cool, now everyone does it." In such situations, it is better to abandon the project immediately, because at any moment it can "stall". If you are really interested in what you are doing, you will definitely not like working "at the table".

To understand the client, you need to make a brief on the website promotion. This is a large and detailed document in which he prescribes what can and cannot be done on the site, how he sees the project. A good brief also explains in detail the motivation of the customer.

What are the briefs

In electronic or paper form. You create a large detailed questionnaire in which you specify everything that interests you according to the project. Start with questions about the age of the site, the date of its registration and finish with questions about everything that you consider useful.

To create a survey, Google Forms, Spreadsheets, Docs, or any other service, in which you can prescribe all the questions in advance, are perfect.

In an interview format. You conduct an interview, ask questions from your brief and form a document on the basis of the acquired information.

If you have the opportunity to personally communicate with the client and ask questions, then do it. Many people find it difficult to express in writing their thoughts and desires, but in a personal conversation, they are liberated. Set up a meeting with the customer, and if you can't meet, establish communication via Skype, Hangouts or another similar resource.

Important point: during the interview, write down all the answers of the client. After the end of the dialogue and proofreading, send a summary of the brief for approval. So you will avoid misunderstandings and other controversial issues.

How to create an SEO brief

Think about all the questions. Write down the typical and atypical problems that arise in your practice. Minimize simple questions that can be answered with a monosyllabic answer: "Yes" or "No". Just give the client the opportunity to write detailed answers.

Not all of your clients are well-versed in SEO-optimization and especially in professional slang. Simplify and explain complex issues and terms. Make the brief more detailed, but easy to understand.

Ask the customer what goal he wants to achieve, how in his vision the ideal result looks like, what positions in search results he claims, what conversion does he expect. It is quite normal if the client refers to one of the competitors as an example. The main goal of these questions is to set guidelines for advancement.

Agree on the processing time of the brief.

What you need to know in the SEO-brief

All information about the site and its age.
What kind of SEO promotion does the client want to get?
In which regions the client wants to promote?
What information can and cannot be used?
Customer budget.
What is he willing to do to get the result?
Is the customer ready to completely change his site?
Does he have a connection with a programmer who is able to quickly make changes to the site code? Ideally, this should be the site developer.
What are the competitive advantages of the client company?
What product or service needs to be promoted?
How it differs from competitors?
Which of the goods or services is most in demand among buyers?
How promoted personal brand is?
How does the customer see the perfect result of the work?
Contact details.

This is not an exhaustive checklist. Add other questions that interest you based on your practice. Change and edit the brief for different categories of customers, personalize it.

Leave a few fields for comments and notes: a lot of questions often arise after filling out the brief. After processing the received information, contact the client and once again coordinate all the nuances.

Conclusion

The ability to create a brief is necessary for all professionals who want to work productively and benefit their clients.

The brief is a great way to move to the essence of the task, bypassing excess body movements and "crutches" in communication. You will be able to understand whether it is worth taking the project or it is uninteresting and hopeless.

Make a brief yourself, personalize it for each client or make templates for different niches. If you find it difficult to navigate the new subject, download an example of the competitor brief and make it unique.

Write in the comments the most interesting questions from your briefs! Tell us what was unusual in your practice. :)

This article is a part of Serpstat's Checklist tool

Checklist is a ready-to-do list that helps to keep reporting of the work progress on a specific project. The tool contains templates with an extensive list of project development parameters where you can also add your own items and plans.

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