Can I get out of an SEO Contract?

I signed a contract with an SEO company about two months ago. The contract was for 1 month of initial optimization plus 6 months of maintenance. Shortly after they did the initial work, I posted here becasue I was not so thrilled with the initial work they did and the lack of communication. I waited it out a bit because I know SEO takes time. However, the longer I wait, the more frustrated I am becoming with them. I told them about my conncerns, and was amde to feel betetr for a few days with lots of promises, but nothing has really changed. My concerns are really not with the rankings, as I know 2 months is not much time for them to improve. But here are some things that concern me:

Initial work was very minimal. A few tags changed. No content changed and I was not given suggestions to add content myself.

No keyword report was given. They just went with about 8 keywords that I gave them. When I pushed them for a keyword report, it was just those 8 words.

No ranking report or statistics were given before or after the work. When I pushed for a report, I recieved a VERY minimal one (3-4 keyword postions in the big 3)

They often take days to return messages.

No reports on what links they haev obtained. (I am just told they got some).

Monthly fees are supposed to include adding more keywords and links. No work has been done yet this month even though they charged me nearly 2 weeks ago.

The work they did do is questionable-like using almost the same tag for each page and using apostrophes for plurals on many pages (discount widget's). I asked them about this Monday-no response

Now, much of this is my fault for assuming most of these things are typical in a serch engine campaign. When I look back at the contract, they did not specify much at all.

Would I have a leg to stand on in asking to be released from the contract? Technically, they have not done anything to break the contract. They have me on an automated payment plan. It is very frustrating to see my money being taken and not much work, especailly since they cost twice as much as the company I originally wanted to go with (and should have gone with in hindsight). But now I am stuck with them for 5 more months it seems. They are constantly hiring, so I think they just don't have the time needed to keep up with their work.

Any suggestions?

I wondered when this would come but what could i say at the time?
Just gunna go and feed Wit and then i will look into it more.
(Wit, my cat not the prolific poster)

i'm sorry to hear about your experiences. if you don't mind me asking, how much did they charge for their 'services'?

depending on the contract i'm pretty sure you (or a lawyer) can find a way out. if you are not satisfied with the work being done on your site, then surely you can compile some evidence to use against them.

i don't know if you knew how many links you had starting the project, but you should do a link check now and keep a progress report of the link building progress. ( check your links in yahoo not google ) also, in 2 months time you should've at least seen SIGNIFICANT improvement on MSN and Y!

anyway, i'm not sure how the contract was written, but there is almost surely a way out.

i mean, if michael jackson can get out of child molestation charges, and OJ can get away with murder, then i don't see why you couldn't get out of a 6 month SEO contract.

(wait... are you located in the US?)

Hi Toddieg,

I didn't do a link count right when they started, but have done one recently as a benchmark.

At first, I did see improvement on yahoo/msn, but then they changed a tag on my homepage and those have dropped.

Invitations girl.
I am EarlGrey that tried to help you before.

I would try and get out of the contact if possible but if you remember you signed it before you know what you wanted.
It looks like you had a new site done that could reaaly do with a bit more seo doing on it. but i am sure it will be fine.

Yes, that is my old post. I have actually had the site re-designed since then by someone who I was lucky to find here. But he was careful to keep the SEO work in place as per my SEO company's instructions. So the design ahs changed since my origianl post, but not the seo work/content.

sorry to hear that... so if my calculations are correct you will be paying around $4500 for the services?

sounds pricey to me considering you already owned the site (or did they build it for you?) .. nonetheless you should point out the facts that you addressed in your original post. the fact that they are not very responsive, won't tell you how many links, won't provide you with an adequate ranking report etc. etc. tell them you intend on getting out of the contract, and see what their thoughts are. if they don't let you out, have a lawyer write them a letter .... that's what i would do.

sometimes life lessons are learned the hard way. personally i think you could've done 10 times better on your own, simply by reading these forums a few times a week.

It would have been better just to do a rewrite in the htacess or tweak the site but it will be fine.

You signed a contract so you have to stick to your end of the bargain.

BTW, did you ever install a CMS?

Check your pm`s invitations girl.

ouch.. that sucks then.
i hope that PM mick is talking about is a .htaccess tutorial for ya. that's what i would've done before renaming all the files to .php

Talk to them to get out of the contract. If they won't let you go, then go through the contract with a lawyer though it may cost you 100 bucks.

i agree.

No it wasnt it was just a `dont be upset at people criticising your site becuse they are trying to help`

It will be ok i am sure becuse its someone who knows what they are doing has done this site design.

I come out of the commercial real estate business. Very tough contracts (leases) that are typically about 40 pages long full of legalese. These are brutal to get out of.

Regardless, there is a way (even without attorneys). Make the other party miserable. Complain, complain, complain. Threaten to reveal who they are, to publicise it...to expose them for all of their inadequacies. Threaten to embarrass them and take up all their time.

If they are hiring all sorts of people your contract is small potatoes to them. Suck up their time and energy.

This definately works. It usually takes some time. Put a month into it and they may be willing to break the contract. If they are willing to break the contract...make sure they leave your site intact. Change all access to the site so they can't reaccess it...and get someone else to help you. Make them happy you are out of their hair.

I think a big time american professional athlete is doing this right now. He signed a big huge contract a year ago...and he wants more. He has a wiley SOB agent. The athlete sounds like the worst jerk out there.

I'd bet its a strategy to get him out of there so he can renegotiate for a much bigger contract. Since he only signed it a year ago...he doesn't have a legal leg to stand on. I think he and the agent are using the outrageious pain in the *ss strategy to renegotiate.

It often works

Dave