How To Start Selling SEO Services

Thinking astir starting your ain SEO business? Whether you’re launching your ain institution oregon simply going freelance, by embracing your entrepreneurial spirit, you could: 

• Be your ain boss
• Choose your ain clients
• Do your champion enactment connected your ain terms

Best of all, you’ll remainder assured that your hard enactment helps different businesses thrive successful an ever-changing integer landscape.

Below, we’ll instrumentality you done the process of mounting up your SEO concern measurement by step. 

Step 1: Decide Which SEO Services to Offer

The tract of SEO is ever increasing and changing. As a result, determination are galore ways an SEO bureau could service a client. While they often overlap, the SEO services you mightiness connection typically autumn into 5 basal categories.

Before you determination forward, see what types of SEO skills and acquisition you person connected your team. 

Then, utilizing that knowledge, determine precisely which SEO services you privation to supply your clients. Depending connected your team’s skills and interests, you mightiness connection each of these SEO services oregon specialize successful 1 oregon two, expanding your offerings aboriginal arsenic your concern grows.

Not definite which areas you should absorption on? We’ll spell done each of them below. If you already person this answer, you tin skip to the adjacent step.

On-Page SEO

On-page SEO focuses connected optimizing the contented presently connected your website. The extremity is to guarantee that hunt engines similar Google tin entree and recognize your tract contented and tin present it to users successful the astir applicable hunt queries.

Because this is specified a wide category, it’s precise apt that immoderate of your services volition autumn nether the on-page SEO umbrella.

To connection on-page SEO, your squad volition request a wide array of skills and knowledge, including: 

• Familiarity with Google’s existent algorithms and ranking factors
• Analytical skills to execute an effectual website audit
• Fluency with SEO tools similar Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and (of course!) Semrush
• Technical skills to update and negociate a website (like HTML, CSS, and different communal languages)
• Content skills to edit and optimize pages effectively

For much details, cheque retired our in-depth usher to on-page SEO.

Off-Page SEO

Off-page SEO refers to each of the SEO tactics you tin usage that bash not impact updating your ain website. 

For example, person you ever reached retired to petition a backlink, created impermanent contented connected different site, oregon utilized societal media to beforehand your brand?

All of this could beryllium considered off-page SEO.

Sound similar you? Learn much astir off-page SEO in our broad guide. 

Technical SEO

Technical SEO focuses connected optimizing the method aspects of a website truthful that it is easy crawled by hunt engines and functions good for users. 

Because method SEO is accomplished connected your ain site, it tin besides beryllium considered a subset of on-page SEO. 

If you privation to connection method SEO services to your clients, you (or idiosyncratic connected your team) should beryllium assured in: 

• Programming and improvement skills (such arsenic HTML, CSS, JavaScript, oregon Python)
• Data management
• Problem solving 
• Crawling and indexing
• Tools similar Google Search Console
• Enhancing idiosyncratic experience 

You tin larn much astir technical SEO connected our blog. 

Local SEO

Local SEO brings unneurotic on-page, off-page, and method SEO to assistance businesses win successful their section community. 

In different words, it focuses chiefly connected location-specific queries (generally targeting an assemblage physically adjacent to the concern successful question) and makes it arsenic casual arsenic imaginable for imaginable customers to scope out. 

Successful section SEO helps a concern look successful section searches (e.g., “near me” oregon “in [city name]” queries), Google Maps results, oregon successful the Local Pack. 

Depending connected your approach, you whitethorn besides make contented for section audiences, make a societal media strategy, and more. 

If you’re caller to section SEO, you tin larn much astir it on our blog. 

Content Services

Content touches astir each country of SEO. Whether it’s landing pages, your ain blog, outer impermanent content, oregon adjacent societal media, each of that contented archetypal needs to beryllium created by a skilled writer, designer, oregon videographer. 

Not each businesses person the capableness to make their ain contented in-house. If you program for your concern to make contented for clients, you’ll request a squad skilled with contented strategy, writing, editing, and optimization. If you program to connection representation oregon video content, you’ll besides request squad members skilled successful those areas. 

Step 2: Differentiate Yourself from the Competition

Now that you cognize which SEO services you’re focused on, pinpoint how, exactly, your concern tin differentiate itself from the competition. 

First, place different SEO consultants oregon agencies serving your assemblage oregon niche. Make enactment of: 

• What services they provide
• What communities oregon industries they serve
• Their terms points
• Unique services oregon benefits
• Challenges they face

Use this to reevaluate your ain business. 

What tin you bash to acceptable yourself isolated from the pack? Read much astir how to bash a rival analysis connected our blog. 

Deliver Faster SEO Results with PageImprove

One communal situation faced by SEO agencies is getting their changes implemented. Often, teams person to hold weeks oregon adjacent months for improvement teams to get to their updates. As a result, it mightiness beryllium a agelong clip earlier clients commencement seeing results.

This tin hap for a fewer reasons, including:

• Inflexible oregon hard-coded websites that are hard to update quickly
• A tiny improvement squad with a agelong hold time
• Lack of entree to a lawsuit site’s backend oregon CMS

You tin acceptable yourself isolated from your competitors by making your changes much rapidly and delivering results faster. 

One mode to bash this is with a instrumentality similar PageImprove, which enables you to marque real-time, indexable changes to a webpage without ever touching the backend.

Plus, due to the fact that the changes person already been implemented, developers tin marque them imperishable by updating the backend whenever it’s astir convenient for them. They’re disposable and tin beryllium crawled the infinitesimal you people the alteration with PageImprove.

Step 3: Price Your SEO Services

Next, fig retired however you’re going to terms your SEO services.

Once you stitchery this data, usage it to pass your pricing strategy. Ideally, your pricing should stay competitory portion besides enabling you to compensate your endowment reasonably and inactive crook a profit.

Project-based pricing means that your lawsuit agrees to wage a acceptable terms for an full project, arsenic spelled retired successful a declaration oregon connection of work. 

Here’s however it usually works: 

1. Your imaginable lawsuit sends retired an RFP oregon reaches retired to you directly
2. You audit the client’s tract to place problems and your projected solutions
3. You find pricing based connected the timeline, approximate hours required, fig of unit needed, types of services, overhead costs, and different important details
4. You contiguous your connection to the lawsuit (ideally during a meeting), reply questions, and negociate a connection of work
5. Once each parties are satisfied, you tin formalize a declaration and get started

Package-based pricing means that clients wage a modular complaint for a modular acceptable of services. This mightiness see optimizing and maintaining a definite fig of pages, creating a acceptable fig of caller assets each month, etc. These are typically not negotiated.

Hourly pricing means that you complaint per hr for the duration of a project. This pricing exemplary is utilized by freelancers and agencies alike. 

To usage hourly pricing effectively, you should person a bully knowing of however agelong antithetic types of projects mostly instrumentality to implicit truthful you tin supply an estimation up front.

Value-based pricing is typically based astir a defined instrumentality connected investment—e.g., a KPI that tin beryllium tracked and counted. For example, this could beryllium the fig of conversions oregon caller leads generated by your work. 

For this benignant of pricing, it’s important to intelligibly specify precisely what KPIs you’re focusing connected and however you’ll measurement and property them.

Remember, you’re not constricted to lone 1 pricing model. Instead, you tin premix and lucifer to service the needs of antithetic types of clients. For example, you could advertise SEO packages connected your website portion besides negotiating project-based enactment with clients who request thing much personalized. 

Step 4: Figure Out the Logistics

By now, you’ve identified and priced your SEO services and pinpointed what makes your services unsocial compared to the competition. 

Before you determination forward, instrumentality a infinitesimal to review. 

SEO experts aren’t the lone assistance you mightiness need. For example, what astir accounting, HR, IT, sales, and marketing? For that matter, who is going to enactment connected your ain site? Figure each this retired aboriginal to debar unnecessary roadblocks down the road.

Next, marque definite your squad is equipped with the exertion they need. (We mightiness beryllium a small biased, but we deliberation a Semrush subscription would beryllium highly helpful!)

Spend immoderate other clip making definite your squad has everything they request to bash their champion work. That way, they tin walk much clip focusing connected what matters: exceeding your clients’ expectations. We urge a streamlined selling level similar Semrush implicit with a CRM to support lawsuit details organized, collaborative to-do lists, reporting, optimization ideas, auditing tools, and selling checklists to support everyone arsenic productive arsenic imaginable without juggling a myriad of tabs oregon logins.

Step 5: Proof of Concept: Build & Optimize Your Site

How tin you merchantability your SEO expertise if you don’t person an informative, afloat optimized website representing your business? 

Answer: you astir apt can’t.

Your website is much than conscionable a integer storefront. It’s besides a constituent of interaction for prospective clients, a archetypal impression, and a impervious of concept, showing those clients that you cognize what you’re talking about. 

If you haven’t built your website yet, it’s clip to start. But astir likely, you person built it—and present is the clip to reappraisal it. 

Apply each of your on-page, off-page, technical, and contented expertise to your ain site, expanding its visibility connected each your astir important keywords. 

This volition not lone show to clients that you’re susceptible of helping them ascent the ranks but besides assistance caller audiences find you much quickly.

Pro Tip: Use PageImprove connected your website to trial retired caller SEO strategies and to marque impermanent changes (like a limited-time offer) without modifying the backend.

Step 6: Attract New SEO Clients

By now, you’ve got: 

• A database of SEO services you’re prepared to offer
• Differentiating factors to assistance you radiance brighter than the competition
• A pricing strategy successful place
• A susceptible squad acceptable to deliver
• An awesome caller website

All you request present is your archetypal client!

When it comes to attracting caller SEO clients, it’s champion not to enactment your eggs each successful 1 basket. Instead, usage a divers array of strategies to make leads. 

Here are a fewer suggestions.

First, become a Semrush Agency Partner. The Agency Partners Platform tin enactment you successful interaction with Semrush’s ample and divers selling community, helping you to find apical prime leads looking for precisely the benignant of enactment you do. 

Second, spell wherever your aboriginal clients are. For example, bash you service B2B clients that walk a ton of clip connected LinkedIn? In that case, marque definite you’ve got a rock-solid societal media strategy that emphasizes LinkedIn.

If you’re not definite wherever your people assemblage spends their time, Semrush tin assistance you find out. If you’re a .Trends user, participate 1 of your intimately aligned competitors into the Market Research tool. Then navigate to the Demographics report.

Here, you’ll find your people audience’s property and sex breakdown, preferred societal media platforms, and areas of interest.

Then navigate to the Traffic Analytics tool. Here, the Audience Insights study tells you the domains astir fashionable with that aforesaid audience. 

Use this accusation to usher your content, advertising, and societal media strategies and make applicable leads much effectively.

Finally, don’t hide nonstop outreach.

To illustrate, let’s accidental you cognize a concern whose tract could usage improvement. You’ve already got a fewer ideas percolating connected however to bash it. Luckily, you cognize they’re ace progressive connected LinkedIn. 

So you nonstop them a nonstop message, connection a escaped SEO audit, and present it implicit with a fewer recommendations connected however to execute better. Before they ever convert, you’re already showing however invaluable your enactment could be.

Of course, this is conscionable the extremity of the iceberg. You tin find adjacent much ideas implicit connected our blog: How To Get New SEO Clients.

Ultimately, your strategy for attracting clients is going to beryllium unsocial to you, the services you offer, and the types of clients you privation to enactment with. Whatever your approach, support your clients’ needs astatine the beforehand of your mind, and leverage your creativity and integer selling expertise to drawback their attention. 

Bonus extremity for Selling SEO Services: Implement SEO Optimizations Right Away

When it comes down to it, each SEO lawsuit wants the aforesaid thing: amended integrated hunt performance, with instant results. 

As an experienced SEO, you astir apt cognize that astir thing is instant. But with PageImprove, you tin get beauteous close. 

After all, with PageImprove there’s nary much waiting astir for improvement teams to marque your suggested updates, lone to person to revisit them due to the fact that truthful overmuch clip has passed. Instead, you tin marque your changes close distant truthful Google tin scale those pages and nonstop you consecutive to the apical of the SERPs.

Try PageImprove for yourself today. We privation you each the champion successful starting your caller agency.