{"id":2214,"date":"2016-12-23T09:36:42","date_gmt":"2016-12-23T08:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metricspot.com\/blog\/?p=2214"},"modified":"2021-11-21T21:23:48","modified_gmt":"2021-11-21T20:23:48","slug":"how-to-sell-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metricspot.com\/blog\/how-to-sell-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"How to sell SEO services"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is very difficult to sell SEO to someone who has no idea about what it really is. Fortunately, nowadays most companies are aware that having online visibility is key to acquiring leads.
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\nDespite this, selling SEO services is one of the most difficult tasks<\/b> for professionals in our industry. It seems like a few agencies get all the customers<\/strong> and the rest of the professionals survive doing small-time jobs.<\/p>\n

Why does this happen? It\u2019s not that large agencies do better SEO than other professionals… the difference is that the first follow a sales process<\/strong> and the rest don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

The process of selling SEO services involves searching for prospects, contacting the right ones and persuading them to hire your services. And no matter how many SEO courses you take, if you’re not able to sell your services to anyone they won\u2019t do you any good<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Before you begin\u2026<\/h3>\n

There are 3 things you will need before you start contacting your prospects:<\/p>\n

\u2013 Business cards<\/b>. Hundreds of them. Take at least 10 of them every time you leave the house.<\/p>\n

\u2013 A mobile phone<\/b>. You’re going to have to talk to a lot of prospects and your customers have to be able to contact you.<\/p>\n

\u2013 A website<\/b>. The simpler the better. It should provide information about you, the services you offer and your contact information. No prices!<\/p>\n

PRO TIP<\/strong> -> Use our Widget to generate branded SEO reports<\/a> on your own website. Your potential customers will be able to download a free PDF report in exchange for their contact details. I use this Widget on my agency’s website and it’s awesome for acquiring leads. Not sure if it’s a good fit for your agency? Open a free account<\/a> and get in touch with us to activate your free 7 day trial:<\/p>\n

sign up free<\/a><\/div>\n

The first thing your prospects are going to do when you contact them is to search for you on the Internet. Therefore, it is VERY important that your website includes customer referrals<\/strong> as they helps to generate trust.<\/p>\n

Already have everything you need? Let’s continue…<\/p>\n

Search for potential customers<\/h3>\n

You will find new customers mainly in 3 ways:<\/p>\n

\u2013 Referrals from previous customers<\/strong>. Your best salesman is a satisfied customer. There are many ways to get referrals, but the easiest way is openly asking for them. After you\u2019ve finished a job for a customer, ask them to refer you to another company which might need your services.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Marketing campaigns<\/strong>. The way you reach out to your potential customers will depend on your location and your target industry. In some cases, a Google AdWords campaign will be your best option, although from my experience it\u2019s WAY too expensive. In other cases, you might want to go for content marketing. But maybe your best option is to market offline and place an ad on your local newspaper, which is what I did when I was living in Dominican Republic (we closed 3 new customers every week):<\/p>\n

\"Website<\/a>
\nPublishing this ad only cost us 6\u20ac per week!<\/i><\/p>\n

\u2013 Active search<\/strong>. You can\u2019t wait forever for customers to find you, you have to go out and get them. Door by door, if necessary.<\/p>\n

HOW TO SEARCH FOR QUALIFIED CUSTOMERS<\/b><\/p>\n

The following steps will get you get started:<\/p>\n

– Focus on a sector<\/strong>. Lawyers, physiotherapists, plumbers, dentists? Go for a professional group with solvency, with a lot of workload and little technical knowledge.
\n– Go local<\/strong>. Do a localized search on Google (\u00abLondon dentists\u00bb, \u00abarchitects in Miami\u00bb, \u00abSydney plumber\u00bb …) and look for those that appear on the second page or below.
\n– Go for the advertisers<\/strong>. They are already paying to appear on Google, so they understand the value of your work. Do the same search as above and look for those who are paying AdWords.<\/p>\n

HOW CAN YOU HELP YOUR CUSTOMERS?<\/b><\/p>\n

Before you contact a prospect you should find out a few things about their business:<\/p>\n

\u2013 What do they sell? Do they sell online?
\n\u2013 How much do they earn from each sale?
\n\u2013 How do they acquire their leads?
\n\u2013 Who are their main competitors?
\n\u2013 How optimized is their website? Have they done SEO before?
\n\u2013 Is their brand represented on Social Media?
\n\u2013 Are they creating quality content on their website? How frequently?<\/p>\n

First contact<\/h3>\n

Get ready to receive LOTS of negative responses<\/b>. We\u2019d love to know how to close sales like The Wolf of Wall Street<\/em> does:<\/p>\n