Do you keep your portfolio secret?

[S-Marketing]

Not strictly and SEO question but i decided to post here as i think SEO's may have the same problem.

Im concentrating more and more on marketing consultancy work and will soon be publishing some papers and releasing some academic research and theories of my own which are also going to be part of a book i am writing. Because of this i think its time to sort out my online presence, including a decent website showcasing some of my work.

My problem is this. I want to have a portfolio section on the site, but at the same time cant risk disclosing who my clients are. My work is reasonably well known in certain industries, and openly disclosing who i have worked for would ( or could) lead to others looking closely at the businesses involved to find out how i have given them an advantage over the competition.

I would imagine this is a similar problem in the world of SEO, so thought i would ask how you work round it?

Any ideas would be very useful.

 

[eventdomain]

Why would you want to hide your client base? I use mine as a major selling point and it works.

You will need to show your work anyway, and that involves serving clients, this is your proof of what you can do.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

I would imagine this is a similar problem in the world of SEO, so thought i would ask how you work round it?

Any ideas would be very useful.

We don't disclose our clients, full stop.

Some choices:
1. Don't have a portfolio - If you are using your website as a marketing vehicle, this might disadvantage you...
2. Have an anonymous portfolio - Describe the companies, without actually disclosing them. Likely damage credibility.
3. Ask permission from previous clients. Display just those that don't mind.

 

[Suzuki]

Give some potential clients a discount to let you work on their site and use it as an example later on. There is a risk to them but thats the gamble on their end....

Or build a few sites of your own in competitive niches and use them as examples of what you can do.

 

[fisicx]

When I moved from website design to consultancy I dropped my portfolio. It actually improved things as I now get a more targeted client. Keep your client list secret.

Another thought: it the client changes the site so it looks a right dogs dinner, do you still want your name associated with it?

 

[Chunkford]

Because of this i think its time to sort out my online presence

If it's a personal/freelance presence add a passworded portfolio with a landing page asking them to contact you if they would like to see it. At least that way you could gain a warm lead or two
If it's a business/company presence then expectations would be to see a few examples, not all, just a few selective ones

 

[ethical PR]

Hi

I have commissioned quite a lot of work from marketing agencies, market research agencies, designers, photographers, ad agencies, web development agencies, event producers etc.

If I don't know an agency/freelance and their work and I am in the market to find a supplier, I would always want to look at their online portfolio to see what sort of clients they work with and their approach, before deciding on whether I might want to find out more about them.

If they didn't have an online portfolio, I would be very unlikely to want to investigate further. I wouldn't want to have to email the agency to gain access to a password protected portfolio.

Helen

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

I don't showcase public examples of my work for a few reasons:

1). The copy is for my clients and my clients alone. A copywriter acts in a ghost role. For example, ghost writers of autobiography books wouldn't post snippets from the books on their websites.

2). Duplicating their website copy on my site could cause SEO problems for my clients.

3). My own website copy serves as a prime example of my writing style and quality.

4). I have testimonials from clients which aid potential clients in their decision.

5). Clients aren't just paying for the words, they're paying for the unique ideas behind the words, so it isn't always fair to share these ideas with visitors looking for sales copy when it's the clients who have paid for them.

6). I can provide private samples from clients who have gave me permission to do so. This means that if the providing of samples is a deal-breaker, I can still fulfil that requirement when tendering for a project.

 

[webgeek]

Use a handful of clients who you have a particularly strong relationship with and use them as flagships.

Competing SEO teams look at who is above them and what they are doing, regardless of whether you list them on your website or not. Simply ranking top of the SERPs is a guarantee that their site is undergoing scrutiny from many directions, including backlink profiles, social, content on site, on page optimization, etc, etc.

 

[WebMeUp]

Great question and discussion really - lots of fascinating insights.

So far I've seen nothing wrong in listing sites of your SEO clients, at least this point:

openly disclosing who i have worked for would ( or could) lead to others looking closely at the businesses involved to find out how i have given them an advantage over the competition.

seemed not a reasonable concern to me, and here's why. If those doing SEO for your competitors are seasoned experts, they can figure out what you're doing without spoon-feeding on your part and apply the same tactics in attempt to surpass you.

If they can't perform a decent competition analysis of your activities, then there's barely any risk they'll manage to follow your strategy to outrank you.

Still, I really liked Scott-CopyandDesign's comparison of SEO and ghostwriting:

ghost writers of autobiography books wouldn't post snippets from the books on their websites.

The question is whether SEO consulting should be that secret?

Since you want to create your site to market your SEO services and your book publicly, you'll need to provide some examples. Find a happy medium between revealing all your clients' details and not saying a word at all.

First, make sure your clients are not against being mentioned. Showcase those who are not against in a white paper you'll send to your prospects upon request rather than making it available to everyone on your site.

 

[S-Marketing]

Thanks guys (and girls) there are some interesting replies.

So in conclusion, i should have a hidden portfolio, whilst at the same time having an open portfolio, whilst also having no portfolio at all.

I think I am pretty much back where I started.

As I said in the Op, I am not an SEO, but thought you guys would probably have similar issues.

The problem I have is that unlike SEO, no-one could tell for sure if a particular business plan was down to me, so disclosing clients would be a lot more 'telling'.

The other problem is that I often make fundamental changes to the way clients operate their business. It is important that many of these changes stay 'below the radar' so as not to be picked up by competitors.

Bit of a tough one really. Up until now I have relied on my marketing genius to find enough clients without the need for a website or any advertising.

I think once I raise my head above the parapet I am going to need to be very careful to find a balance between transparency and secrecy.

 

[I, Brian]

You really don't need to provide a portfolio.

You have to remember that Google is a billion-dollar multi-national whose shareholders believe that the company can actively prevent any undue influence away from Google's own objectivity.

Therefore when anyone - individual or company - starts flashing it about that they are successfully manipulating Google for specific named clients, eventually you will come above Google's radar and you should expect them to take action.

I have seen a number of SEO companies destroyed, and their clients with them, precisely because they spent too much time waving their own flags about how they were beating Google - which serves as nothing more than a red rag to Google.

It may be worth noting that Aaron Wall at SEObook.com has written very authoritatively on matters relating to ranking, not least his original SEO Book PDF. However, at no point did he ever use examples of client rankings in his works.

 

[Suzuki]

It may be worth noting that Aaron Wall at SEObook.com has written very authoritatively on matters relating to ranking, not least his original SEO Book PDF. However, at no point did he ever use examples of client rankings in his works.

Aaron Wall doesn't need a portfolio as he has his massively popular blog, all the free tools he's publicly released, his original seo book pdf, his forum, etc etc. If you go with him you know you're getting someone who knows what they're doing.

All of the 'me too' seo companies that nobody has ever heard of don't have that luxury... they have no choice but to disclose things they've worked on (either publicly or in private) if they want to get any jobs.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

Aaron Wall doesn't need a portfolio as he has his massively popular blog, all the free tools he's publicly released, his original seo book pdf, his forum, etc etc. If you go with him you know you're getting someone who knows what they're doing.

All of the 'me too' seo companies that nobody has ever heard of don't have that luxury... they have no choice but to disclose things they've worked on (either publicly or in private) if they want to get any jobs.

Not so. You can be a big fish in a little pond. I don't disclose clients, I'm not well known, but I have more business than I need or want...

If client requires proof or SEO is insecure, then it shouldn't be at all difficult for the SEO to create and rank his own sites - then no need to disclose clients.

 

[I, Brian]

Aaron Wall doesn't need a portfolio as he has his massively popular blog, all the free tools he's publicly released, his original seo book pdf, his forum, etc etc. If you go with him you know you're getting someone who knows what they're doing.

He wrote it when he was actively managing clients, though.

 

[ITsoldUK]

Thanks guys (and girls) there are some interesting replies.

So in conclusion, i should have a hidden portfolio, whilst at the same time having an open portfolio, whilst also having no portfolio at all.

I think I am pretty much back where I started.

As I said in the Op, I am not an SEO, but thought you guys would probably have similar issues.

The problem I have is that unlike SEO, no-one could tell for sure if a particular business plan was down to me, so disclosing clients would be a lot more 'telling'.

The other problem is that I often make fundamental changes to the way clients operate their business. It is important that many of these changes stay 'below the radar' so as not to be picked up by competitors.

Bit of a tough one really. Up until now I have relied on my marketing genius to find enough clients without the need for a website or any advertising.

I think once I raise my head above the parapet I am going to need to be very careful to find a balance between transparency and secrecy.

Late jumping in but here is my position...

for my marketing business, nope, no portfolio...and I never will.

for my site development, yup, but only my last 5

I find company transparency far more effective in BOTH cases (name, contacts, addys etc)

Never harmed me nor restricted contact.