photo credit: kyz

This just happened to me last week and it prompted me to blog about it. So there I was, happily talking to a prospect about writing a series of articles for him. He provided me with plenty of resources and guidelines that would help.

Then he sent over the list of article titles he wanted me to use. A note was attached: “Please don’t change these titles, they’ve been specifically chosen to maximize keyword usage for higher search engine rankings.

The problem was, they were awful. I don’t want to give away the actual titles or subject-matter, but if the articles were hypothetically about toothpaste, then the titles would read like these gems: “Toothpaste Information: Everything toothpaste-related that you’ve ever wanted to know about toothpaste” or “Toothpaste or toothpaste-related data for toothpaste aficionados who love toothpaste”.

Uhhh, you have got to be kidding me. And this isn’t the first time I’ve seen this happen. I see similar things happen with web content, chapters of ebooks that the customer wants you to incorporate into an ebook, and so much more. Every two or three months something comes across my desk that looks as bad. (Okay, maybe not AS bad as the article titles above… but pretty bad).

Now, some freelancers would take these ridiculous titles and will just write the articles. If you want to do that, go ahead. But I think it’s a bad idea. The reason I think it’s a bad idea is because if the customer publishes the articles and then receives bad feedback about them, guess which freelancer they WON’T hire again in the future! It might seem like good customer service to just do what they ask, but in the long run it’s not.

I believe that customers hire freelancers for their skill (be it writing, as in this example, or graphic design or whatever), but they’re also hired for their expertise. In other words, if you’re a graphic designer and the client gives you an ugly logo to incorporate into letter head and business cards, you have a professional obligation to tell the customer that it sucks.

So, how do you do that without insulting your customer? I have a few tricks up my sleeve that I’d recommend, and these might be more or less useful depending on the situation. I have used all four of these methods successfully:

1.    Review the client’s input and provide a “good points/bad points” review and let the customer draw the conclusion. For example, you might say: “I really A, B, and C but I’m not sure that X, Y, and Z really work.” Hopefully, by providing a balanced look – and by appearing unbiased – you can sway your customer.

2.    Offer to make some changes at no cost. Be vague (but positive) about needing to make some changes. For example, in the logo situation from above, I might say something like: “Because we’re trying to mesh an older design with a newer design, we’re getting a jarring incongruence that will work against what you want to accomplish. I need to make some minor modifications to your old logo, and it won’t cost you anything extra, and I think you’ll see that it will work a lot better.

3.    Refuse to do the work. Yes, this is harsh and you really need to have the guts to do it. But remember: your own personal reputation is on the line and although the customer may think their request is achievable, you know it won’t turn out very good. Tell them that you’re sorry that you can’t do the work.

4.    This is my favorite, and the most effective. Offer your “professional opinion”. Make sure you back it up with research or specific anecdotal experience or specific solutions. This is what I did with the articles mentioned earlier. I said, “I appreciate what you’re trying to achieve with these articles. However, in my professional opinion, I’m concerned that your audience won’t read the articles. I think we can achieve the same key word strategies but create more compelling titles. Let me run a few past you.”