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I have always hated working with clients who have no clue about how things work. I finished building a website for a certain law firm and they won’t pay my last half until their website is indexed and appears on search results. Mind you I did not write the website’s content they hired an SEO specialist for that. PageSpeed insights scores are over 90, with SEO and performance with 100. I submitted their sitemap on search console 3 days ago but the website has not been crawled yet. Am I wrong to think that they should pay me already?
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Well… that should be in the contract you signed with them
What did the contract with them say?
You’re not wrong thinking they should pay you but you also don’t have a contract so you’re kinda fucked.
I don’t put sites live until final payment has been made and that is in my contract.
Take this as a learning experience and use a contract next time.
Never build a website without a written and agreed to contract/agreement.
**Never ever do anything for a lawyer without a signed contract.**
In saying all that – are you hosting the website? Ask them how the website is going to get crawled/indexed when its not live yet? Why isnt it live yet? Because it hasnt been paid for. Just put it in maintenance mode with a cute message saying “**Hey our new website will be ready in April 2024**”. Nothing malicious.
There’s some irony here about working for a law firm that didn’t require a contract.
If they refuse to pay – delete the site. Simple as that.
Really sorry this has happened to you. We’ve probably all been there one way or another. I’ve been there too since I rarely use signed agreements for work if it’s over $5000. (Emailed proposals and replies are also evidence, incidentally, so you’re not 100% without recourse.)
Amid all the other things one shouldn’t do with a lawyer (like have a signed contract) one probably also shouldn’t deface or delete a lawyer’s website once you’ve taken it live. Unfortunately.
Instead, since this at least sounds like a genuine misunderstanding, I’d explain that SEO is a marketing activity that a web development function. I’d also suggest they get confirmation from their SEO specialist. Even if it’s a totally squirrelly fly-by-night SEO contractor they’re still very likely to confirm your side of the story. (You could also contact the SEO specialist directly if you have their contact info.)
An analogy that might work for them: if you’re having a house built it doesn’t make sense to withhold payment from the architect until the general contractor has completed their work. Similarly it doesn’t make sense to withhold payment from the general contractor until the house is furnished and occupied.