SEO is never outdated. Companies still pay thousands of dollars for their sites or content to be optimized for Google search engines. This guide will give you the most important information on how to start your SEO business in just 6 simple steps.
A brief definition of SEO
An SEO company aids other companies in improving their Google rankings and organic traffic. Because SEO can provide more qualified leads, sales, and consumers without costing money for advertising, businesses are eager to invest in it.
Furthermore, SEO is the process of improving the visibility of a website on search engine results pages. It is a set of techniques designed to increase traffic from search engines to a website.
SEO is a crucial aspect for any business that wants to grow and succeed online. If you don’t have SEO, it’s like you’re not even trying. Let’s see how you can start an SEO business in these easy 6 steps.
First, pick a niche
You might be talented at different things, but it is always better to specialize in a certain niche. It gives you more credibility. People who offer a little bit of everything are often not experts in any of those things. We use the expression “to niche down”, which means narrowing the choice and eventually picking a niche. How can you do this?
First, you have to see which niches have a high customer value. You might think that many customers mean a lot of potentials, but not necessarily. You can benefit more from one very successful client than many with poor customer value. If you speak English and know the law, you can write for legal agencies and lawyers.
Furthermore, choose a location. The competition is always huge in very big cities. See if you can find a place with fewer competitors, but still worth working there. For example, you can pick Wollongong instead of Sydney because they are close enough.
The last option to narrow your niche choice is to split your SEO services into smaller services (backlinking, content writing, keyword research, etc). Take a look at an example of an SEO agency from Sydney to see how it can be done.
Obtain results for your SEO
You might think now: “How can I have results if I haven’t started yet? Well, it’s like a job interview where you graduated 2 days ago and it’s expected that you had a 5-year experience. It’s a bit absurd but in SEO it makes sense. A client will need to have proof that you know what you are doing, and that requires a decent portfolio.
This leads us to the following solutions:
l Work for free a couple of times to build your portfolio
l Choose a small number of keywords with low competition (for fast results)
l Ask for referrals for your SEO business (a satisfied client shouldn’t refuse this)
l Another option is to create your own website and make sure it ranks high after a while.
The first option can bring you some fast results and the last one is slower, but it can be beneficial in the long run, especially if you decide to do some affiliate marketing as well.
Do the push marketing
Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
It means you are searching for new clients. The companies who have top 5 scores on the Google search engine probably already have a team of SEO experts working for them. This is why you should look for some lower-ranked companies and see what could be done to improve their rankings. Don’t be too pushy, you should be informative and assertive, but try not to criticize because some of them might take a defensive attitude. This strategy can work for building a portfolio as well.
Another strategy is to use freelance platforms like Upwork and similar, although they have a commission and a very large competition. While some freelancers swear by it, some don’t like it and prefer other ways of finding clients which will be discussed in the following paragraphs.
You can do cold calling/emailing (outbound marketing), but this requires a lot of patience and consistency. People don’t always pay a lot of attention to their emails. You can send thousands of mail, get a response from a hundred of them, and then have maybe a dozen of converted clients. However, each SEO client will pay a significant amount of money, so you win after all.
Do the inbound marketing
For those who are not so bold, but rather introverted, this comes up as a solution instead of cold calling/emailing. A marketing tactic known as inbound marketing tries to attract clients with relevant and helpful content. Instead of reaching out to them yourself, you create highly relevant content for your target audience, allowing them to reach out to you.
For this to be done successfully, you have to target your audience very well. Get to know their needs and interests, and also investigate the frequently asked questions about the content you’re offering to them. If you can answer something better than your competition has done, you have a huge advantage in that niche.
Furthermore, make sure you engage with your audience by letting them identify with you. You can write an engaging “about us” section and explain what made you start your SEO business. Those of them who convert can become your ambassadors in the future.
Think of the price for your services
You’re not supposed to work for free, so make sure you think well of the price for your future services. Here’s the SEO cost calculator for Australia to see the normal tariff for SEO services. Most SEO companies either charge a monthly retainer or a predetermined amount per job when it comes to pricing their services. Additionally, a small subset of SEO companies bills according to results.
A monthly retainer gives you recurring income, so you’ll need to spend less time and effort pursuing new clients and closing new business.
A fixed fee is simpler to close, but the negative is that they offer less consistency and your revenue may change from month to month.
The performance-based fee is generally not recommended since it’s very difficult to guarantee results, especially fast (and you need your paycheck fast).
Engage and keep your clients
Request consumer opinions. This is very important because you want to know if there is something to be changed or improved. How have they found working with you so far? Make sure you act on any constructive comments they may offer you and enhance your procedures.
Even better, if you keep track of results obtained thanks to your SEO, make sure your clients know about it.
There you have all the necessary steps to start your SEO business successfully. Invest your time in creating a great portfolio, choose an inbound or an outbound marketing strategy, or combine them and set your tariff. The effort will certainly pay off once you start earning money and getting clients.
