The Friday 5 O’Clock SEO Request

Shh… It’s 4:59 pm. Friday. The sushi lunch buffet has faded.  The weather looks promising for the weekend, a slight breeze judging by the swaying trees and fluttering of leaves outside. The person patiently waiting at home seems farther away than the very last row in your spread sheet. I can feel something about to happen.

The exits have been effectively sealed by the paid search team. Attempt to leave on time and they look up from their computer monitors.

“Ah, leaving early? Must be nice to be caught up,” inferring that SEO must be easy.

So, you remain at your desk and try to finish the day’s tasks as fast as you can. Today could be the day you leave the office on time. Then…

“I know you’re busy–”

You look up.

“But I need…”

Have a look at some examples of the 5 O’Clock SEO request taken from real life experiences

• Can you do a site analysis for ___ .com? Just run it through your template. It shouldn’t take long.
• Would you mind whipping up some quick keyword research on ___? I just need ___ words. It should be easy.
• I just need you to put together a quick rankings report showing how ___ stacks up against ___.
• Accounting received a check. What’s it for?
• Can you turn in the paperwork for that software? It’s late. I think you purchased it last Friday, late afternoon.
• How about giving me a lift to the Paid Search happy hour? Oh, you’re welcome to tag along, of course.
• Can you write up a quick link building proposal for ___?
• Did you enter your work hours on your time sheet?
• Do you know what’s wrong with this printer? You used it last, right?
• My cousin has a little Web site that he’s trying to get to rank for…
• I found some great domains that we need to register.

Who Issues Friday 5 O’Clock SEO Requests?

• Account Services – client deliverables
• Senior managment – most commonly, a request to buy a domain–usually fairly quick, even considering the paperwork, unless it’s a premium domain.
• Director of Sales – usually a new business proposal
• Interns - signing time sheets, questions
• Accounting – random paperwork

So you’re sitting there feeling safe last week at 4:59 and the president eases your office door open and looks in. You brace yourself during the silence. Here comes a classic 5 O’Clock SEO Request. Then he says:

“Going out for drinks with us?”

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“The Friday 5 O’Clock SEO Request” has 11 Comments

1. Web design Dubai Says:
   April 7th, 2010 at 1:33 pm

   It is really frustrating when you are so excited to go home then suddenly there’s someone to come to add more in your work. I hate that feeling.

2. Web design lead Says:
   May 28th, 2010 at 1:08 pm

   hahaha this is very true…

   cheers

3. SiteOne Says:
   June 2nd, 2010 at 3:53 am

   Cos I’m a jack of all trades (design, development and seo) I tend to get quite a range of 5pm requests. The one I hate the most is the 4.59 call from sales saying a customer can’t get the web site to work. Then your ask,
   ‘what error message did they get?’
   ‘Didn’t say.’
   ‘OK then, what page are they on?’
   ‘I didn’t ask’

   So then to be sure you have to put though a dummy transaction in both IE and FF as you will never get platform or browser info – ‘what’s a browser?’

   It’s now 5.30pm. Of course sales don’t care. Why would they? They’re working til 8pm anyway!!!

4. Hover Coupon Code Says:
   June 5th, 2010 at 7:02 pm

   That’s so true. Funny post.

5. Help Desk Says:
   June 15th, 2010 at 10:02 pm

   I know that feeling, it’s when you are anxious about the off for the weekend or even for the end of the day to get home then suddenly added tasks need to be finished. It gets you frustrated at times, sigh…

6. Daniel Says:
   June 22nd, 2010 at 8:10 am

   That feeling when you make a dash for the door with your fingers in your ears shouting theres know place like home!!!!!

7. ashok Says:
   July 15th, 2010 at 10:23 pm

   Those requests are insane – “quick keyword research?” Is there any such thing?

   The Oatmeal has a comic about the aggravation web designers go through that I think is apt.

8. Emory Rowland Says:
   July 15th, 2010 at 10:35 pm

   Exactly. Keyword research is the one thing you don’t want hurried. It pretty much defines your whole campaign and you don’t want to have to change keywords in mid-campaign because it destroys your benchmark.

9. Keith Hanks on LinkedIn Says:
   July 23rd, 2010 at 10:14 pm

   Hey, hey, hey… Wait a minute! I’m guilty of alot of this stuff. You’re making fun of… figuring I’d never… read this blog.

   Sadly this is so true, yet so funny.

10. Emory Rowland Says:
    July 24th, 2010 at 3:29 am

    All in fun, Keith. You know I love account services :)

11. Nett Solutions Says:
    August 19th, 2010 at 4:27 am

    It reminds me of someone I know. Yeah, funny but frustrating.

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