Pearl Lemon - SEO Agency London

How To Sell SEO

How To Sell SEO: Tips & Strategies To Close More Sales

Ecommerce SEO

If you want to expand your agency (or freelance portfolio), you must learn to sell SEO. If you can’t obtain clients in the first place, it doesn’t matter how brilliant you are at keyword research, ranking sites, and getting backlinks.

SEO is also not the easiest product to market. There are numerous misconceptions about how SEO works, the outcomes it should produce, and how much it should cost. 

This blog by Pearl Lemon will teach you practical tactics and tips for clarifying your services, writing stronger proposals, and closing more agreements!

Preparing To Sell SEO

Before selling SEO, let’s ensure the groundwork is in place. What you’re selling, who you’re selling it to, and whether or not you can deliver.

Decide On Your Scope Of Services

The initial step is to decide what services you will provide. SEO can be divided into numerous service offerings, some of which are more specialist than others. The following are the most frequent SEO services to sell:

  • Fully managed SEO
  • Link building

There are various separate aspects inside them, all of which may be sold as a solo service if desired. Some include:

  • Technical website audits & fixes
  • Keyword research & content briefing
  • Writing optimised content
  • On-page optimisations

The service you provide will be heavily influenced by your experience, resources, and the type of client you engage with. Using link building as an example, this service is typically purchased by businesses with an in-house SEO manager to handle the rest. A tiny local business, on the other hand, is more likely to require a full service due to a lack of current resources in-house.

Next, consider whether you will provide material for your clients. A large component of providing an SEO service, aside from link building and technical SEO, is researching and planning which content to generate. Identifying keywords, determining search intent, and writing a brief for an article or landing page that will rank for that keyword are all steps in the process.

Who Will You Sell To?

It’s time to figure out who you’re selling to after determining what you’re selling. It is completely acceptable to work across multiple industries and business types. That being said, there may be a specific type of client who is a “best fit” for you. 

Again, where you focus your efforts will be mainly determined by your (and your team’s) talents and expertise. Here are some criteria for narrowing your search. You could concentrate on the following:

  • E-commerce, local services, or SaaS
  • B2B or B2C businesses
  • Specific industries, e.g. finance, travel, or gaming

Preparing Your Team & Tools

For a developing agency or consultancy, balancing resourcing and sales demand is an ongoing challenge. It is easy to overburden yourself or your team by taking on projects for which you are not prepared.

Getting the appropriate people in place is difficult, but technological tools may help with a lot of the heavy lifting as well. The specific SEO tech stack you use will vary depending on your services, but here are some popular ones to consider. 

Beginning with a multi-featured tool, such as Nightwatch, will cover much ground. Nightwatch can assist you with the following:

  • Track rankings accurately (even on a local level)
  • Conduct backlink analysis
  • Conduct a technical site audit
  • Generate reports for clients

How To Sell SEO: 6 Tips & Strategies To Close More Deals

The particulars of selling SEO will vary based on who you’re selling to and what you’re selling. Some fundamentals are always applicable.

Check If Your Prospect Is A Good Fit

When you start trying to clinch a transaction with a prospect, it’s critical first to determine if it’s a suitable fit.

It will waste everyone’s time if the client isn’t a good fit for you and your service. They won’t obtain the required results and will leave shortly, so you’ll have to start over in search of a new client. Not to mention that the experience may harm your reputation as a service provider.

Ask The Right Questions

Similarly, there are several questions you can ask your client before a sales talk or proposal. Their responses will provide all the information you need to develop a great proposal and confirm that you can assist them.

Pick Your KPIs, And Focus On Revenue

We regularly talk about rankings, backlinks, clicks, impressions, and conversions as SEO specialists.

As previously stated, you should collaborate with your prospective client to determine which SEO KPIs are most significant.

Your client is solely concerned with revenue. When you talk to a business owner or a marketing director, all they care about is whether or not they’ll make more money than they pay you. 

Everything you do or say always has revenue and ROI in mind.

Find Some Quick Wins

Although your client should recognise that their SEO investment is long-term, they will want to see results as quickly as feasible. To boost your chances of closing the deal, present some suggestions for how you may make an effect within the first three months.

Write Case Studies

Put yourself in the shoes of your potential client if you were the one paying money and employing a service provider. What could reassure you of their competence to do the task? Their previous work.

The sectors and clientele they’ve worked with, the results they’ve achieved, and what other customers are saying about their experience. Case studies are a great approach to demonstrate that you can do the task you say you will do. 

Write An SEO Service Proposal

When it comes time to write your service proposal, all of the previous tips come together. Composing an SEO proposal might easily be a complete article in and of itself, but here’s a quick rundown of what to include and some pointers.

our seo process

Conclusion

Selling SEO isn’t rocket science, but it can be difficult if you’ve never done it before. The first step is to know exactly what you’re selling and who your best-fit consumer is. Following that, taking the time to determine whether your prospect is a good fit will save you a lot of possible stress later on.

If your prospect feels you can make them a profit and they have the financial means to invest, they will purchase your service. It is up to you to conduct the research, identify the opportunities, and understandably present them.

That’s it for now, but if you have concerns? Let us know!

FAQ

Is SEO a good skill?

It is highly lucrative when you can develop a proven process for acquiring new clients. And the final way to expand your income in the SEO industry is to build websites you own. You can then use your SEO skills to increase organic traffic.

Can I learn how to sell SEO on my own?

It is a fact of learning that all education is self-education. Although others can facilitate learning, nobody can teach you anything–they can only inspire you to teach yourself. That means if you want to learn search engine optimisation (SEO), you’ll have to take matters into your own hands.

What should I learn first in SEO?

Keyword research should be the very first step on your SEO journey. It is especially important in two common scenarios: Getting to know your niche. When starting a new website, keyword research can provide a great overview of what sub-topics interest people in your niche or industry.