11 replies to this topic

[Sambo]

Do you include a link to your SEO firm site on client sites? For instance, I'm doing a project that involves a major redesign and I'm thinking about including a link to my business's site in the footer.

Just curious... I think I remember someone on this forum calling that "crass" but I can't remember who.

And if you do in fact do this, does it help for your site's SEO? Or is Google smart enough to know that your name is tied to your client's Analytics account and you are thus "in cahoots"? Or am I just thinking too much about this?

[Randy]

First things first...

If this link wasn't in your original contract with the client you can't put a link in the footer. Plain old Business Ethics teaches this is something that has to be negotiated.

[1dmf]

Yup, if I found someone designing me a webpage, which I'm paying for put 'their own content' on my site , I'd go balistic!

And I wouldn't employ any web designer who expected me to have 'designed by and a link' , on MY site.

This is why I would never use free hosting for anything, as the only reason it's free is so they can put adverts and links on your website.

[donp]

Putting my site links in a footer or contact page has never been a problem for me with my clients, I try to always ask and never as yet had any flack about it.

I'm thinking that a potential client that objects to this or throws a fit about it might well be a problem client, and if I have any indication that a client is going to give me grief - I don't want that client. I'm passionate about getting results for my clients and meeting or exceeding goals - if something like this becomes a problem, you can bet there's more bad news under the rock someplace.

I do not do competing sites in competing markets, so my link should never be considered as a detriment to the client's interests, and that's the only reason a client would object that makes any sense to me.

[1dmf]

I'm confused donp , why you think it's ok to put a link on clients site just because you SEO'd it or designed it?

You're being paid for your work aren't you and any SEO that thinks different is obviously a problem SEO so avoid them!

[Jill]

It's fairly standard practice for designers to have a link in the footer of the sites they design.

If you're just doing SEO, however, that's a different story.

[1dmf]

I think this could be a UK -> USA thing you know.

I remember driving around Florida a few years back , The Turnpike, Gata Alley, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, etc... etc..

On all the freeways was massive billboards every few miles, massive they were advertising anything and everything.

There is NO WAY in the UK you could do that, the average Brit would go mental to have such an obscene thing on our motorways being a total blot on the landscape.

The same as if an electrician, plumber, builder, painter or any other tradesman did some work on my house and thought they had the right to stick a billboard in my front garden advertising their company, they would find nothing but a little pile of ashes in the morning!

Put it on their vehicle, fine! their scaffolding, fine, but put it on my property and you're looking for trouble.

Even when we sell our homes, Brits are very reluctant to have a 'for sale' sign on their front porch and definatley , unless part of a contract with the estate agent won't let a 'sold' sign be put up!

You just don't do that sort of thing, not over here anyway!

[Randy]

I don't have a strong feeling about it one way or another. As long as it was a part of the original contract and was understood from the beginning.

Personally, I was never a fan of the footer link on every page thing, even back in my old design days. The (very) few times I placed a link on a clients site it wasn't a footer link. In those rare cases I'd create a special About The Designer page, which would then be linked off of a Links, Resources or even FAQ page. And I'd typically exclude this special page from the spiders, since it was there for advertising purposes for real people, not for the search engine spiders.

Coming at it from another side of the fence now I'd probably insist upon a discount in whatever price they quoted me if I were to hire someone to design a site for me and they wanted a place a link back to their site. It is helpful advertising for their services after all, so why should it be free? Even then, I'd never allow a footer link that shows upon every single page.

[donp]

It's fairly common here in the US for tradesmen to put job signs on the properties they are working on, i.e, a company putting in a new cement driveway may want to post a small job sign for a few days. Likewise, a electrician may leave a sticker on the inside of the fusebox, a plumber may affix a business card tag to a plumbing pipe or the new hot water heater. Try buying a car new or used without a dealer sticker on the rear-end.

Now I remember while I liked touring the UK so much, not many of those damn billboards. I did have an absolute cow tho when I saw a sign that the "cat's eyes were removed" on the way into a village in the Cotswolds - thought this was one hell of a tough town! Now I know cats eyes are those reflectors on the middle of the roadway...but it sure was interesting there for awhile trying to figure what that was all about.

I have yet to have any issue of putting my name on sites I create or seo - I'm not a big company, nor do I do many huge accounts - I get cold sweats if I have to wear a sports jacket. I talk to my customers constantly on the phone and make 2-3 calls per year in person as they are scattered to hell and gone - but I have close relationships with all of them and neither of us think twice about my putting a link on.

[1dmf]

In those rare cases I'd create a special About The Designer page

spot on Randy, especially if you have agreed you could do this page and you do this page free of charge for them!

Try buying a car new or used without a dealer sticker on the rear-end.

not on my cars they don't , either I ask them to remove it or it's the first thing I remove!

When we bought a new car from JamJar the frist thing i did was remove the sticky from the back window!

I've even replaced a numberplate because of a dealers advert on it!

I dunno maybe it's just me

[tcolling]

As a business owner I can think of at least one reason to object to having the SEO consultant's "credit line" on my website: if the results are any good, I don't want my competitors finding out about it. That's not personal, it's just business. If one of my competitors called me and asked me who did our work, I MIGHT tell them who it was IF I was satisfied with the work and IF it was a competitor with whom we cooperate in some professional matters.

just my opinion. yours may be different.

- Tim

[Sambo]

Thanks guys, everybody seems to have an interesting perspective on this. Since I'm fairly small time, I'm doing significant design work (bundled into my SEO services) so I think I'll include the link - with the clients permission of course.

I can understand the reluctance to do this, but I get the impression that it just depends on the situation. As a new SEO, this may be a relatively important form of advertising and I imagine that the need for including such links will decline as I build the business. Thanks for all the input. It was very helpful.