If you are thinking of starting your own SEO business, whether this is building your company from scratch or just going freelance, you are at the right place. By taking this entrepreneurial step you can benefit form many things, such as, being your own boss, having control of everything and of course creating a cash flow, as selling SEO services can be very profitable.
The SEO domain has a huge competition but you can differentiate yourself and build your clientele consistently. Knowing that selling SEO services is harsh, we created this guide with a “beginner” mindset in order to help take the very first step.
In this blog post, we are gonna cover all the essentials, which involve but not limited to the preparation, pricing, pitching and of course the differentiation.
So let’s dive in together!
Why Sell SEO Services?
New companies are established daily that predominantly run their business and operations online. SEO has proven to be a valuable tool that instructs search engines about which websites and results deserve the attention and time of prospective buyers. In short, SEO services optimally send a brand message to search engines so that SERPs are leveraged to bring in traffic to the website. It proves that SEO services are one of the most vital services to be sold in the digital marketing domain.
Best Way to Sell SEO Services
To effectively sell SEO services, one must research the target audience, businesses, operations, and objectives. This research forms the foundation upon which a pitch can be built and presented.
Preparation:
1. Understanding Prospects
It is essential to consider prospects as more than just business transactions and revenue sources. When considering prospects to market SEO services, it becomes necessary to learn and gain a clear understanding of the business they undertake. You must look at the industry your prospects work in, their approach to attracting customers, the product or service they provide, etc. It is also crucial to learn as much as possible about the marketing strategies they have employed in the past, which gives a clear idea about whether the prospect is the right fit to market SEO services.
2. Requirements
Before pitching SEO services, you must work on meeting the following criteria:
- CRM
A CRM is a tool that enables one to keep track of every lead, ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks. Without a CRM, one is bound to be at the mercy of their limitations in ideas. CRMs offer the ability to give the most profitable relationships a vast scale of attention, commitment, and time.
- Website
Typically, the time available to make a pitch is limited. On a call or in a meeting, it’s nearly impossible and impractical to elaborate on your brand’s differantiators. It is easier and more practical to make your value proposition continuously available online so prospects can access it when required and better understand what they might get. A website also offers the opportunity to add other marketing gimmicks that aid a company’s growth.
- A Network
It helps to form a network of known associates or like-minded individuals that can form the foundation of a company. Acquaintances from previous business meetings and social gatherings are often the easiest to reach out to and convert when considering selling SEO services. We have to mention that LinkedIn is a great platform to build you brand, where you can share insights, tips, tricks and cases from current customers to attract new ones.
3. Which SEO services to offer?:
A multitude of SEO services can be provided to businesses. Here are a few benefits that are most popularly undertaken by most businesses:
- On-page SEO: On-page SEO services leverage and optimise existing content on web pages to maximise visibility on SERPs, which involves title tags, descriptions, content, images, and links.
- Technical SEO: Technical SEO focuses on optimising your business website’s technical aspect. Since it predominantly functions on your site, this SEO service can be categorised under On-page SEO.
- Off-page SEO: Off-page SEO involves maximising traffic-driving to your website by optimising content not on your business page or site, including backlinks, social media promotion, or guest posting on relevant sites.
4. Identification of target
Selling SEO services should be independent of making assumptions; otherwise, precious resources like time, energy, and money are wasted rather than generating more revenue. The ideal way would be to use a CRM to monitor and keep track of prospects and organise necessary information related to them. A CRM may also serve as a filter to collect and order your prospects, letting you know which ones need nurturing and which are prepared to work with you.
Desire-Building:
The process of Desire-Building is essentially letting prospects know what they stand to gain from signing with an SEO service provider involving a brief explanation of their shortcomings that stem from a lack of SEO activities and potential gains and improvements, which can be accomplished by following the below steps:
- Website Audit: When trying to sign prospects by pitching SEO services, it helps to begin by sending them an audit of their website. The audit must contain details about what improvements the website needs, what their rivals are doing, and what their next course of action should be. The SEO audit must be easy to comprehend. Sending prospective clients a website audit helps establish authority and credibility while simultaneously showcasing resources and technology possessed by the SEO agency that might interest the prospects.
- Proposal: An impressive and exciting proposal is required to win over prospective clients. An SEO proposal must outline the SEO strategy, recommended solutions, dates, deliverables, and other required details depending on prospects and their businesses. The proposal is bound to work better if it is custom-tailored to a prospect’s needs. Offering solutions to problems a prospect faces is a promising way to establish authority. The proposal must include a clear picture of what SEO services are and how those services can add value to the prospect’s business. It helps to have a template proposal that can be customised, helping save time and effort.
- Content Services: Every digital marketing aspect depends on value-adding and quality content. Therefore, SEO-based content is an exceptional service that businesses readily undertake. In all factions of a successful business website, you can find understandable, informative, and top-quality content. When a prospective buyer is presented with engaging content, it often converts the prospect into buying customers. Since most businesses do not have the resources to hire an in-house content specialist, digital marketing outsourcing is the usual alternative. ContentGo has a team of skilled and experienced writers that are well-versed in multiple languages and proficient at creating content that maximises conversion rates.
Also, you can have more detailed information on how to outsource content writing and what is white label content marketing that can take your efficiency to the next level.
Pricing:
When necessary information has been collected, it can be used to plan and develop service pricing. Ideally, pricing should be competitive while compensating fairly and maximising profit.
Pricing can usually be of the following types:
- Project-based pricing is an agreement between the SEO service provider and the client wherein a standard set rate or price must be paid for a set of services.
Project-based pricing usually works in the following order:
- A prospective client reaches out or is reached out to.
- The client’s site is audited, potential areas of concern and improvement are identified, and possible solutions are ideated.
- Pricing is determined based on the timelines, types of services to be undertaken, the estimated time required, the number of staff needed, etc.
- The final proposal is presented to the client, and the work is negotiated.
- Once all involved parties are satisfied, the work can begin.
2. Package-based: Package-based pricing essentially involves a client paying a standard and predetermined rate or price for an agreed-upon set of services. The service packages may include optimising and maintaining a particular number of pages, creating a set number of new assets monthly, etc.
3. Value-based: Value-based pricing is usually based on a clear-defined return on investment, such as KPI, that can be counted and monitored. An example of such a KPI would be the number of conversions or fresh leads generated by the efforts of the SEO services. In this model, it becomes necessary to specify what KPI will be focused on.
It should be noted that an SEO service provider can be open to more than one form or model of pricing. A mix of different models can be adapted depending on the interest and mutual agreement of the parties involved.
Closing the Sale:
The most challenging and crucial stage in the process is the sale closing and negotiation. You must ensure that the sales team asks for the prospect’s business in the appropriate ways and channels before drafting the final SEO contract to seal the deal. A sales meeting can be held over the phone, via video conferencing, or in a meeting room. With the proper preparation and knowledge, a sales meeting can be seamless and work efficiently. Once the sign-off is finalised, the work can begin.
ContentGo Is The Solution!
Whether you’re looking to learn about the diverse trends, tools, and techniques of digital marketing or employ services and technologies to expand and scale your business, ContenGO is here to help. We are a team that believes strongly in the power of words and the art of writing. We boast efficient professionals with multiple tools and strategies and are adept at diverse languages. Our team of experts guarantees solutions to your marketing needs. ContentGo offers many services, including efficient blog content, category descriptions, meta descriptions, product descriptions, translation services, SEO-based content creation, optimisation, etc. If you want to take your business to the next level through the power of content marketing and written communication, ContentGo is the way to go!
Connect with ContentGo today!
