An online friend, Nikki Pilkington, was complaining on her Twitter feed yesterday about web designers who act obstructively:

fed up with web designers sabotaging my SEO by refusing FTP access and to upload vital files and changes

I’ve come across this too, when I’ve attempted in my own modest way to help with onsite SEO efforts. Why do it? I understand the desire to retain clients but not at gunpoint. If you act like this you will ensure your client (and the SEO consultant they’ve engaged) tell everyone they meet not to use your services as you don’t care about their needs, only your revenue stream.

I tried once before to raise consciousness of this issue, but it wants saying again. Those of us who don’t treat our customers this way should shout it loud and often.

I’ve worked on a few large site migration jobs now, so I thought I’d share some of my experiences and what I’ve learned along the way.

I recently moved my hobby site Odd Books to Drupal, so that’s the one I’ll use as the prime example.
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