A Quick Guide on How to Start an SEO Consulting Firm
Most businesses now recognize the fact that you can’t survive without an online presence. Yet, just shy of half of all small businesses lack even a basic website.
The factors driving that number range from cost and lack of tech skills to scary phrases like search engine optimization. If you possess serious SEO skills, though, you can help these businesses by launching an SEO consulting firm.
Not sure how to go about it? Keep reading and this seo coach will give you a quick guide on launching your new firm.
Get Your Website Up and Ranking
The proof is in the pudding or, in your case, the ranking of your website. You can’t expect that anyone will pay you for SEO services if you lack a website that ranks well for at least one keyword.
That means you must get your own site up and work your skills to rank it on page 1 of Google. Focus on ranking for local keywords at first, since the competition proves a little less fierce with local keywords.
Get Your Pitch and Proposal Ready
The moment you decide what services and outcomes you’ll offer is not when someone contacts you. Decide in advance exactly what elements of SEO you’ll focus on, so you can build a pitch around them.
Don’t forget about refining your elevator pitch. You never know when you might run into a potential client who wants details about your services right now.
You should also get a baseline proposal worked out ahead of time. Working from a baseline proposal will save your SEO consulting firm a lot of time. You can modify the proposal for each client, rather than building one from scratch.
You can make life easier on yourself by using an SEO proposal template, such as the one found at https://seojet.net/blog/seo-proposal-template/.
Getting Clients
If you give some attention to the content side of SEO, you should already have at least some warm leads coming from your website. If not, up your content marketing game.
Deliver valuable blog posts more frequently and consider giving away resources, such as basic DIY guides or whitepapers. These resources can help establish the trust you need to secure new clients.
If you still don’t see much in the way of new clients, you can also adopt some paid advertising approaches.
Focus on Retention
Once you secure a few steady clients, focus a lot of effort on retaining those clients. It can cost you up to five times as much to secure a new client as it does to keep a current one.
Plus, keeping your current clients generally proves far more profitable than bringing a new client who may or may not stick with you.
Parting Thoughts on Starting an SEO Consulting Firm
You’ll work hard when you start an SEO consulting firm, but you can do it.
Start by establishing some proof by ranking your own site for a specific keyword. Use quality content and, if necessary, paid advertising to attract warm leads and new clients. Focus on keeping clients once you have them.
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