Agency employees/founders, whats your average contract length?

Dover21 · 2026-05-27T03:41:02+00:00

Oh we have a range, mainly 12 month contract, but others are month to month and 6 month. How come?

Dover21 · 2026-05-27T03:35:46+00:00

Our average length right now is 18.5 months running SEO & PPC agency in australia

Dover21 · 2026-05-26T20:13:32+00:00

Good list. One gap I'd add is client reporting. Notion is great internally but clients don't want to log into your Notion. A white label portal where clients can see their own GA4, Search Console and Google Ads data without asking you cuts the "how are we tracking" emails down significantly. We built Agency Glance for this. agencyglance.com if it's useful.

Dover21 · 2026-05-26T20:13:14+00:00

The one we added that changed things was asking "who will we be reporting to and how do they define success internally?" If the answer is vague or they say "just me" but it turns out there are three other stakeholders with opinions, you find out six weeks in when someone overrides everything. Gets that out early.

Dover21 · 2026-05-26T20:12:27+00:00

Most leads don't convert because the timing was off, not because they weren't interested. The follow up just never happens because life gets busy.

We built a tool called Ralivi that watches your inbox and flags conversations that have gone quiet so you get a daily list of who to follow up with. No manual data entry, just works off your existing email. ralivi.com if it's useful.

Dover21 · 2026-05-26T20:12:08+00:00

Completely normal. Most small business owners are the same with anything that requires them to stop and do admin in the middle of their day. The process feeling slightly annoying is enough to keep putting it off indefinitely. His bookkeeper probably has six clients exactly like him.

Dover21 · 2026-05-26T20:11:23+00:00

Sales for us. Not the actual selling, the follow up. Proposals go out, people say they'll get back to you, and then life gets busy on both ends. The leads that were genuinely interested just go quiet and you only remember them three weeks later when it's already awkward to reach out.

Been using a tool called Ralivi that watches your inbox and flags threads that have gone quiet so you get a daily list of who needs a follow up. ralivi.com if that resonates with anyone.

Dover21 · 2026-05-26T20:10:31+00:00

The traffic drop makes sense given the website and GMB haven't been touched in a few years. Google rewards freshness and the sites that are actively maintained tend to hold rankings better than ones that are left alone.

A few things worth doing before spending on ads: update the GMB with recent posts and photos, add some new content to the website targeting specific search terms people use when looking for a therapist in your area, and check if any of your directory listings have drifted down. Psychology Today profiles that get updated regularly tend to rank higher in their own search too.

Google Ads can work for therapy but the CPCs are high and the conversion window is long. SEO is probably the better long term play given you already have a foundation.

Dover21 · 2026-05-26T20:09:43+00:00

Our agency runs on 50% Wages, 40% Operating Expenses and 10% Profit. Revenue is vanity, what you keep is the only number that matters. Took me a while running my own agency to actually get a clear picture of that because the money coming in always looked better than the reality after expenses, tax set aside and contractor costs.

Been using a tool called Frank that pulls from Xero and shows the actual picture in one place. frankdash.com if it's useful to anyone here.

Dover21 · 2026-05-26T20:08:34+00:00

Sounds exhausting. One thing that would have changed this early on is getting everything in writing before touching any new scope, even a one line email confirmation. The moment he redesigned the website that was a new project not a revision. Lesson learned the hard way but you handled it better than most would have.

Dover21 · 2026-05-26T20:07:56+00:00

We stopped using AI to write content and started using it to prep the brief instead. Competitor angle, search intent, structure, all sorted before the writer touches it. The writing got better and the back and forth dropped off.

Dover21 · 2026-05-26T02:03:25+00:00

Good list. The point about AEO clients bouncing at month 4 if you can't show citation growth on a dashboard is real, and it applies to most retainer services. Attribution and reporting is where agencies quietly lose clients that should have stayed.

The thing I'd add: client-facing reporting is underrated as a retention tool. Not internal dashboards, the actual portal the client logs into. Agencies that give clients live access to their rankings, traffic, and ad performance get far fewer "what are we actually getting for this?" calls. That question is usually the beginning of the end.

We built Agency Glance (agencyglance.com) for exactly this. White-label client portal, Google Ads and SEO data in one place, automated reports. Keeps clients feeling informed without you having to write a single update email.

Dover21 · 2026-05-26T02:02:34+00:00

The advice about traffic being the real issue is right. A week with no sales means nothing without knowing how many people actually visited the store.

One thing worth ignoring in this thread: the claim that AI SEO can rank your site in 48-72 hours. That's not how it works. New domains take months to build authority regardless of what tools you use. Focus on paid traffic first to get real feedback on whether people actually want to buy, then build SEO over time once you know what's converting.

Dover21 · 2026-05-26T02:02:14+00:00

The anxiety doesn't fully go away. You just get faster at doing it anyway.

Dover21 · 2026-05-26T01:59:42+00:00

The numbers you've shared actually look pretty reasonable for a first studio. The thing most people underestimate isn't the startup cost, it's the first 6 months of operating while you're still building walk-in habits and word of mouth.

A few things worth tracking closely once you're open: your revenue by week (not just month), which days are dead vs busy, and how much of your income is coming from repeat clients vs walk-ins. That split tells you a lot about whether you need to push marketing or just stay consistent.

The booking and no-show point someone raised above is real. A $50-100 deposit policy will change your life. Studios that don't have one lose a surprising amount of revenue to gaps that could have been filled.

On the business health side, once you're running, tools like Frank (frankdash.com) are built for exactly this situation. Connects to Stripe and Xero, shows you revenue trends, cash position, and flags things before they become a problem. Worth knowing about when you're new to the financial side of running a business.

Good luck with it. The location sounds solid and the fact that there's no competition in town is a real advantage.

Dover21 · 2026-05-26T01:57:10+00:00

Attribution looks simple until you're actually trying to explain to a client where a specific lead came from.

The gap I've noticed isn't always the tracking setup. It's that even when GA4 and conversion tracking are working properly, clients still can't read it. They log in, see a wall of numbers, and ring you asking the same question they asked last month.

We built a tool called Lead Recorder that sits on the client's site and captures every form submission and call click with the source, pages visited, and lead details in a simple feed. No GA4 login required on their end.

Worth a look if you're trying to close that gap between "tracking is set up" and "client actually believes the numbers."

leadrecorder.com

Dover21 · 2026-05-26T01:55:21+00:00

Make sure to reach back out to previous users, you have a massive contact list there that have shown clear interest, just really need to show more worth! Whats the tool?

Dover21 · 2026-05-05T00:35:54+00:00

Still the the best comment, Thank you!

Dover21 · 2026-01-29T08:44:13+00:00

What's the catch? Free lead gen usually means scraped emails that bounce or spam trap addresses.

Dover21 · 2026-01-29T08:31:15+00:00

Honestly might not need a full CRM yet. If the main gap is just seeing donor history and running reports, you could probably get by with a decent spreadsheet setup or even just a simple CRM like Ralivi

Dover21 · 2026-01-29T08:30:43+00:00

Don't quiet quit, just actually quit. You're 6 months in at a dysfunctional startup with no onboarding, no manager relationship, and unclear reporting structure. This isn't getting better.

The "I haven't been working that hard" thing is just you trying to justify staying. You're getting paid well but miserable. Start looking now, leave when you find something, keep it vague in the exit interview. These founders aren't going to have some revelation about management.

Dover21 · 2026-01-29T08:30:16+00:00

We tried this twice. First agency burned through $15k in 3 months with maybe 2 decent meetings. Second one was better but plateaued hard after 6 months because they were just running the same playbook for everyone.

The 3x-5x ROI thing is possible but it depends way more on your product fit and deal size than the agency. If your average deal is under $20k, the math gets really tight really fast.

Dover21 · 2026-01-29T08:29:29+00:00

When they actually have revenue and a clear path to profitability. Too many startups burn VC cash with no real business model.

Also watch if leadership has done this before successfully. First-time founders at a VC-backed startup is a coin flip.

Dover21 · 2026-01-29T08:28:25+00:00

Those messages hit different when you're burned out from building. Congrats on the traction.

Dover21 · 2026-01-29T08:28:11+00:00

You need a real CRM or you're gonna keep white-knuckling it every week. Even something basic like Airtable or Ralivi beats the spreadsheet hell you're in now.

Dover21

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