Every person starting their own\u00a0business faces plenty of challenges, and opening an SEO agency is no exception.\u00a0How you can get clients without having a portfolio yet? How do you\u00a0hire a perfect team?\u00a0What is the best way to organize and manage your agency workflow? How you should present the results to your customers?<\/p>\n
Recently we\u00a0organized an online meetup with three awesome experts that answered all of these questions and shared their own twists and turns in building their SEO agencies. You can watch the whole video below, and for this post I\u2019ve picked up some of the most interesting advice on organizing a SEO agency, getting your first clients and delivering awesome results.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n In his presentation, Frederic Chanut suggested 12 practical tips for those who are starting their own SEO agency:<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0Quit entrepreneur press.<\/strong>\u00a0If you spend all your time monitoring what media outlets like TechCrunch are doing, you\u2019ll completely lose focus of your own goals.<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0Accept the fact that, if you\u2019re running your own business, you\u2019re not your own boss.\u00a0<\/strong>In truth, you have a lot more bosses when you run your own company than you do when you work in a corporate structure: your customers, your suppliers, your bank, your teammates \u2013 they\u2019re all your bosses.<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0Focus on your core market.<\/strong>\u00a0If you pick the wrong niche, your product or service won\u2019t succeed.<\/p>\n 4.\u00a0Be transparent.<\/strong>\u00a0SEOs are the used car salesmen of the web \u2013 they have a bad reputation. And the only way to fight this is to be honest and transparent. You have to be clear with your clients about who you are, what your limitations are and what results they should expect.<\/p>\n 5.\u00a0Set up a method and an approach.\u00a0<\/strong>This will help you not only present your ideas to your clients, but also to present the work you\u2019ve done and your progress.<\/p>\n 6.\u00a0Build a minimum viable product.<\/strong>\u00a0You won\u2019t have a perfect product or solution from the get-go, but start by delivering your results gradually \u2013 even if that means a few things will not be as organized as you\u2019d like from the start.<\/p>\n 7.\u00a0Be agile and learn to adapt.<\/strong>\u00a0Adapt to any new algorithms that Google rolls out, to what clients are requesting, and to anything that\u2019s coming up.<\/p>\n 8.\u00a0Move on and do so quickly.<\/strong>\u00a0You can\u2019t do everything at the same time, so focus on a few aspects you\u2019re really good at. It\u2019s better to be an expert at one thing than to be mediocre at everything.<\/p>\n 9.\u00a0Build a profile and share your expertise.\u00a0<\/strong>Search for opportunities to teach your skills for free, such as joining meetups, publishing content on your blog, etc.<\/p>\n 10.\u00a0Try to get testimonials and case studies ASAP.<\/strong>\u00a0These are trust signals for your clients and they demonstrate who you are as a consultant.<\/p>\n 11.\u00a0Be more numbers-oriented than your clients.\u00a0<\/strong>Speak in terms of returns on investment, revenue and generated leads. People will take you more seriously if you report more than an average rank and visibility score. They want to know exactly how your work will impact their business. Will they make more money year after year or not?<\/p>\n 12.\u00a0Tools can\u2019t do everything.<\/strong>\u00a0Tools can only do 10 percent of the work; people have to do the other 90 percent. So take time to hire the right team members.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Evolve into a digital agency of the new breed<\/p>\n Your guide to transforming into a digital agency 2.0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Where are the best places to get your first customer?<\/p>\n Frederic:\u00a0100 percent \u2013 it\u2019s your network! Go to LinkedIn and make it clear what you\u2019re working on. First, you need to tell the world about yourself, and secondly, you need to contact people who have worked with you, who know you and who are more likely to trust you. And my network has been extremely helpful in finding first-hand clients. Go and have a coffee with the people you used to work with. Tell them what you\u2019re up to; ask them what they\u2019re doing and how they\u2019re working and something may come of it.<\/em><\/p>\n How do you show that you\u2019re different from other SEO providers?<\/p>\n Frederic:\u00a0This is probably one of the toughest questions, so I\u2019ll go back to my point on transparency. The reason why I suggested including a lot of testimonials and case studies on your site is because they are physical proof that you\u2019re relevant to your targeted market. You really want to show the relevance of your previous work or the solutions you provide.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n James Reynolds focused his presentation on the key challenges that one faces when selling SEO services: winning bigger clients, establishing authority and converting leads into customers. Let\u2019s take a closer look at how your agency can gain authority.<\/p>\n When you don’t have authority, sales are a challenge. When you do have authority, it works like a silent salesperson, making sales easier. According to Jim, typically their customers choose their company because they trust them more. According to Jim, customers choose his company because he\u2019s generated trust through brand authority.<\/p>\n Here is what James recommends for building brand authority:<\/p>\n 1)\u00a0Create content for other people\u2019s audiences \u2013 bigger and more influential websites than your own.<\/strong><\/p>\n Start by creating a list of publications or websites in your market and contacting their editors or managers. Tell them that you\u2019ll be happy to create content for them, and include a link to some credible source on your \u201cAbout\u201d page. If you come to them with genuine expertise that is relevant to their audience, they\u2019ll accept your content.<\/p>\n Jim especially recommends two websites:<\/p>\n 2) Speak at events.<\/strong><\/p>\n Public speaking not only instantly increases your authority, it also helps you get bigger and better clients. Here\u2019s how you can get speaking invitations: go to Google, find events in your area, find their organizers and send them your bio.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n 3)Interview industry experts.<\/strong><\/p>\n James\u00a0says that interviewing people like Rand Fishkin or Perry Marshall for his podcast has helped him gain clients, as these names are well-known in the marketing world. Networking with influencers definitely helps you win better clients.<\/p>\n 4)Get yourself interviewed.<\/strong><\/p>\n You can find interview opportunities through simple outreach. Jim\u2019s advice: \u201cYour outreach doesn\u2019t need to be complex. You could just say, \u2018I found your excellent interview series and wanted to let you know that I enjoyed it! I\u2019ve got a few weeks to spare right now, and I\u2019d love to contribute some content, if you think I\u2019d be a good fit.\u2019 You should probably also link to your \u2018About\u2019 page to show that you’re credible.\u201d<\/p>\n What should do before a meeting or pitching a proposal?<\/p>\n James:\u00a0The most important thing is to understand their site\u2019s current situation,as well as the goals of the business and how to bridge the gap between those two scenarios. You\u2019ll want to do some basic auditing and analysis to understand their site\u2019s domain authority, how likely it is to rank, and what technical components of the site need to be fixed in order to deliver results. If you can explain what needs to be done and then offer up the perfect solution, you\u2019re giving the customer exactly what they want.<\/em><\/p>\n How can you effectively demonstrate a clear value to clients who may be exploring SEO for the first time?<\/p>\n James:\u00a0Once you\u2019ve delivered results for other clients, you can align your new customers\u2019 expectations with the results that others have achieved. That might be necessary when you first get started and say to your client, \u201cWell other companies similar to you have done SEO in the past, and have gotten this sort of results. Hopefully we can get similar results for you.\u201d So it is useful to have good testimonials and good case studies to demonstrate the value of your services. And then just pick the right clients \u2013 the ones that are questioning the value of SEO are, potentially, not a great fit for you.<\/em><\/p>\n If I do not have any clients or a portfolio yet, do you recommend doing free work to build up my portfolio and case studies?<\/p>\n James:\u00a0Better than free would be to barter. I know lots of people who have experienced success with that. For example, they\u2019ve gone to a motorbike rental company and asked for a motorbike to rent and offered to do SEO for them in exchange.<\/em><\/p>\nQ&A session<\/h2>\n
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Q&A session<\/h2>\n