Having Trouble Finding an SEM Firm?

While those of us in the industry hear fairly often from business owners that are having a hard time finding a qualified SEM firm to work with, we also tend to hear some stories from each other about the SEM client that no one wants to work with. Benjamin Pfeiffer of Rank Smart Search Marketing has an excellent article on his site that talks about this phenomenon.

Pfeiffer bases his article on one of his own experiences dealing with a client that simply had no idea how to be a client. He talks about the firms that tend to bounce around from consultant to consultant either gleaning what free advice they can get or trying in vain to find someone that will tell them what they want to hear. Unfortunately, what these types of clients want to hear is rarely the truth, so they can end up on a long and unfruitful quest.

Of the many things that Pfeiffer feels place a client in the "bad client" category, one stands out to me in particular:

Unrealistic Expectations - this might mean a budget that's too low (or non-existent), unrealistic hopes for ranking, a firm refusal to make any changes to their site, and so on

Are you having trouble finding and sticking with an SEM firm? If so, it may be worth reading the article, just to check and make sure that it's the SEM firm and not you that is causing the trouble.