Anyone Else Have SEO Clients?

[squelsh]

that software looks quite good. I tried out web position and liked it but am looking for a cracked version of the professional edition of webposition 4 www.[B]webposition[/B].com/

If anyone has it please let me know.

 

[bluet]

Maybe this tips will help:

1.Provide the complete analysis
When your client need a keyword or seo analysis, research their url. The alexa rank, the PR, and how many times the keywords appear in the main page and sub-page

2.Ask for their target
Usually they would say " top ten rank in google" or "get me a great PR". Compare the keyword analysis with their competitor, how many backlinks that your clients would need?

3.Details..details...
Give a good suggestion for the onpage and offpage SEO. Lets say change the title and description. Some sites dont have the main keyword in their title, that's too bad..

4.Build backlinks
Build a lot of backlinks and watch how the rank move. When you have a good result dont forget to add the site to your portfolio. New clients will need a good portfolio

 

[stevesdata]

Personally, Im trying to stay away from PPC for clients for the next 6 months until all the SEO stuff is sorted.

I do like the advice about educating clients - I am putting a lot of work into creating transparent overviews of the different services and why we do them. It's going to be a lot of work but it's going to be worth it.

This is exactly my approach.

But you need to read clients. Clients that are used to wanting very quick results may need PPC to bridge the gap between starting the campaign and getting results.

 

[stevesdata]

In regards to PPC consulting, depending on the industry it comes down allot to budget for clients. Obviously the goal is to get the most conversions for the lowest cost but that can be difficult if the client wants the budget to be 10.00 a day especially with Adwords. When you create your proposal you should cover off on:

1 Industry Overview ? this would be the vertical the client is in and how competitive it is.

2. Campaign Objective - why you are using paid search marketing, brand awareness and creating a constant exposure through keywords

3. Strategy ? what are you going to implement to create clicks and conversions

4. Keywords ? what are you targeting. Personally I use the free Google suggestion tool just so the client could go there as well and try it for themselves and see exactly what the report covers. I also use keywordspy for more competitive information, but that?s a paid tool

5. Adgroups - what is the breakdown of groups and why are you doing it that way

6. Creative - ad copy. What are the components to make it successful, how many ads will you be running per ad group and why

7. Landing Pages - will you be creating the specific pages yourself or will you be re structuring current pages. At this area you should inform the client about A/B testing on pages

8. Tracking ? implementation of tracking codes, why your using them and what information the client will be able to get from them

8 Deliverables ? basically what are you going to do to ensure the client has exposure, clicks, conversions and reporting

Above is just a quick summary, that should give you a start on creating an effective PPC proposal for a client. There?s a lot more you can put into it, especially focusing on what the competition is doing in terms of daily / monthly spending, positioning, keywords use etc?.

Never under estimate the budget costs or the client will not be prepared for any increased areas as soon as the vertical becomes more competitive. Basically don?t tell them they can get somewhere spending 10.00 a day when its obvious through research that 50.00 a day is needed. Reinforce with the client that PPC is not a ?set it and forget it? type of marketing, make them understand, that for PPC constant tweaks and monitoring is needed to provide a working path to get the best results possible

Thanks for this. I am hoping ideally to avoid PPC and get experience with all the other parts of SEO / SEM. This would ideally be introduced after everything else is covered.

Will only use for impatient clients. I am also hoping to ramp up my costs for PPC as an incentive to go for organic, then it will cover my time to learn more about PPC

 

[lowteg]

I own a SEO company, but I am currently running it on a part time basis) I also run my own networks of sites.

I have a few clients, Most of the time Its alot of ground work to get contracts started, you have to talk to some clients via, phone, have meetings with people, email then and even for the top clients I add to personal messenger to chat when ever.

But like the saying goes "SEO is like the used car sales man of the internet in terms of marketing"

its very true.

 

[barcodeunit]

some people make 10-20K a month from SEO clients. some make even a hell of a lot more.

 

[poodeedy]

Does anyone have a good presentation they use to "sell" these clients on Internet Marketing? I have one but I am revamping it and would appreciate any "dumbed down" or simple versions you have. I will reshare my final version as well

 

[badboymarketer]

If you want good advise for starting an offline internet marketing consulting business just look for David Preston and Maria Guidalis info products. They give great information. Also there are several good methods floating around these days.

 

[bhatsuccess]

I've been doing so for quite some time now. Your greatest assets will be how to communicate effectively and manage personalities. There's no point in putting forth the energy to retain a client only to lose them a month later. Also, if you don't know all the SEO Basics, Intermediates and Most of the Advanced Methods for your clients websites then I'm not sure how you're going to keep the client.

I guess it depends on exactly how you acquire the client, is it from a Freelance site or by word of mouth? This is will make a difference in how warm the client is to you and how patient they will wait for results.

If you can't show results in 30-45 days then you're going to have a hard time to get someone to pay you in excess of 1-2k monthly. Oh yes, that's another thing. I don't do the $300-$500 monthly thing with clients. The headache of dealing with most clients personalities is the price of admission alone. You've also got to factor in phone calls, emails, and paperwork...yes you've got to paid for that!

I should write a short Manifesto but I'm not...I hope this gives you the right perspective and puts you on the road to long-term success and not just short-term flash cash.

-bhatsuccess

 

[bhatsuccess]

I've been doing so for quite some time now. Your greatest assets will be how to communicate effectively and manage personalities. There's no point in putting forth the energy to retain a client only to lose them a month later. Also, if you don't know all the SEO Basics, Intermediates and Most of the Advanced Methods for your clients websites then I'm not sure how you're going to keep the client.

I guess it depends on exactly how you acquire the client, is it from a Freelance site or by word of mouth? This is will make a difference in how warm the client is to you and how patient they will wait for results.

If you can't show results in 30-45 days then you're going to have a hard time to get someone to pay you in excess of 1-2k monthly. Oh yes, that's another thing. I don't do the $300-$500 monthly thing with clients. The headache of dealing with most clients personalities is the price of admission alone. You've also got to factor in phone calls, emails, and paperwork...yes you've got to paid for that!

I should write a short Manifesto but I'm not...I hope this gives you the right perspective and puts you on the road to long-term success and not just short-term flash cash.

-bhatsuccess

 

[squelsh]

Yeah one thing I'm quickly learning is that if you're billing per hour you need to factor in other hours in which the client is going to take up your time doing other things like meetings, phone calls etc. Most of it is a waste of time - I would much rather have the affiliate side of things working but for the time being this is giving me some cash in which to fund other ventures.

 

[stressfree]

If you can't show results in 30-45 days then you're going to have a hard time to get someone to pay you in excess of 1-2k monthly.

So oyu only deal with bizz that are going to pay $1K+ per month? Is that what you are saying?

 

[digitalcrew]

I would recommend advancedwebranking dot com its not free but worth the investment...it will track organic as well as PPC ... Im sure there are free ones out there that plugin to Firefox or IE but that one by far is the best paid soultion.... and no aff link attached from me

That looks good, I am also looking into Raven tools and software from Rank Checker guys. I think reporting would take a lot of time.

 

[stevesdata]

I've been doing so for quite some time now. Your greatest assets will be how to communicate effectively and manage personalities. There's no point in putting forth the energy to retain a client only to lose them a month later. Also, if you don't know all the SEO Basics, Intermediates and Most of the Advanced Methods for your clients websites then I'm not sure how you're going to keep the client.

I guess it depends on exactly how you acquire the client, is it from a Freelance site or by word of mouth? This is will make a difference in how warm the client is to you and how patient they will wait for results.

If you can't show results in 30-45 days then you're going to have a hard time to get someone to pay you in excess of 1-2k monthly. Oh yes, that's another thing. I don't do the $300-$500 monthly thing with clients. The headache of dealing with most clients personalities is the price of admission alone. You've also got to factor in phone calls, emails, and paperwork...yes you've got to paid for that!

I should write a short Manifesto but I'm not...I hope this gives you the right perspective and puts you on the road to long-term success and not just short-term flash cash.

-bhatsuccess

I would be really interested in what you would class as intermediate / advanced SEO as I am relatively new to SEO in comparison to some of the experts here, but was under the impression for clients you would use white hat techniques that are generally fairly basic in comparison to much of the stuff I have read here.

For example keyword research, onsite optimisation, competitive research, general consulting regarding web strategies e.g. landing pages / planning / list building / generating sales inquiries / what they want to achieve with their site, relentless "ethical" link building and lots of detailed reporting is what I currently offer (as well as many bells and whistles that are of less value e.g. setting up analytics, spider emulations etc. etc.). Many of the techniques that are intermediate / advanced SEO methods are things I would probably not risk for a paying client as I would consider them not white hat enough and potentially too risky to charge ppl large amounts of money for...

Am I completely missing something? I consider SEO not to be a complex skill i.e. not rocket science but much more people skills and a broad range of specialist knowledge relating to search engine algorithms. Also having access to excellent resources such as this forum. I am personally attacking SEO as my strengths are extremely broad knowledge and working with ppl. I hope I have not got the wrong end of the stick

Would appreciate what ppls thoughts are on this...

 

[ricaum]

There's a increasing demand for SEO services on my country. I don't have an office, I work from home.

I'm also not experienced in adwords yet. I don't know how to measure the price for the client. I know a guy that charges 350 dollars just to add metatags to the client's site, lol.

If I were experienced I would make an course on how to set up your own SEO business. And give seminars.

 

[bhatsuccess]

I would be really interested in what you would class as intermediate / advanced SEO as I am relatively new to SEO in comparison to some of the experts here, but was under the impression for clients you would use white hat techniques that are generally fairly basic in comparison to much of the stuff I have read here.

For example keyword research, onsite optimisation, competitive research, general consulting regarding web strategies e.g. landing pages / planning / list building / generating sales inquiries / what they want to achieve with their site, relentless "ethical" link building and lots of detailed reporting is what I currently offer (as well as many bells and whistles that are of less value e.g. setting up analytics, spider emulations etc. etc.). Many of the techniques that are intermediate / advanced SEO methods are things I would probably not risk for a paying client as I would consider them not white hat enough and potentially too risky to charge ppl large amounts of money for...

Am I completely missing something? I consider SEO not to be a complex skill i.e. not rocket science but much more people skills and a broad range of specialist knowledge relating to search engine algorithms. Also having access to excellent resources such as this forum. I am personally attacking SEO as my strengths are extremely broad knowledge and working with ppl. I hope I have not got the wrong end of the stick

Would appreciate what ppls thoughts are on this...

Well, thats the whole point. When you charge $1000-$10,000 for marketing services, you are not offering a client "SEO". You are offering a client your experience and personal expertise. SEO is just the labor itself. If you are very well-versed in spotting marketing trends, giving guidance to the client and solving their marketing problems/challenges you can charge whatever you feel YOU are worth.

As a personal note I do absolutely 0% black hat with clients.

Personally, although you make good income this way..it ultimately leads to alot of time-intensive labor spent on managing personalities. I am more on the path of building my own network of the sites at the moment. I got tired of getting clients to the proverbial first page of Google and hearing how they made 20k in sales this week, but were only sending me a check for 2k at the end of the month....lol.

I do take referrals by word of mouth, because I am VERY good at what I do, but I do not openly solicit my services anymore.

I don't want to discourage anyone starting out so I simply recommend that for every client you take on, you invest the earnings in a personal website of your own. This will help you grow both professionally and personally.

 

[dexterfly]

I want to start working for small local businesses. What is the best approach I should have regarding it?

 

[bhatsuccess]

So oyu only deal with bizz that are going to pay $1K+ per month? Is that what you are saying?

Almost always/

I live in the most expensive place on earth as far as cost of living. I understand my time is limited, which makes it valuable. In fact, my time is so valuable that it is up for auction without the clients even knowing. They are competing to become clients of mine and I am not competing to become their consultant. This is the winning attitude that I've learned from some of the top experts out there.

 

[stevesdata]

Well, thats the whole point. When you charge $1000-$10,000 for marketing services, you are not offering a client "SEO". You are offering a client your experience and personal expertise. SEO is just the labor itself. If you are very well-versed in spotting marketing trends, giving guidance to the client and solving their marketing problems/challenges you can charge whatever you feel YOU are worth.

As a personal note I do absolutely 0% black hat with clients.

Personally, although you make good income this way..it ultimately leads to alot of time-intensive labor spent on managing personalities. I am more on the path of building my own network of the sites at the moment. I got tired of getting clients to the proverbial first page of Google and hearing how they made 20k in sales this week, but were only sending me a check for 2k at the end of the month....lol.

I do take referrals by word of mouth, because I am VERY good at what I do, but I do not openly solicit my services anymore.

I don't want to discourage anyone starting out so I simply recommend that for every client you take on, you invest the earnings in a personal website of your own. This will help you grow both professionally and personally.

Thanks for the advice. I wouldnt be confident enough to be doing what I am without the help of ppl here. If all goes to plan I hope to put back into this forum.

This has confirmed a lot of what I thought. I would still really appreciate some advice as I am currently working with my first few clients and my only big fear is getting them deindexed. I think it wouldnt be natural not to keep this as a concern when working in SEO. I want to keep very white hat when I charge other ppl.

The advice I would like is what areas you would consider as advanced / intermediate. As I get paranoid as although my knowledge is highly advanced compared to 99% of people I have spoken too offline I am on a constant quest to make sure my knowledge is as solid as possible. Its in my nature to try and be the best at what I do.

My plans are to develop SEO relatively slowly and cover all the basic areas and get progressively more advanced. This will hopefully give me a chance of avoiding taking on work that is too complex and work towards the more advanced techniques once the fundamentals are there e.g. what is the point of heavily promoting a site if the onsite optimisation, sales copy, design, functionality is all wrong.

I hope by the time my clients need the more advanced skills my skills will have evolved anyway, I am pretty confident I have 3 - 6 month strategies that are good. If they arent the best I am priced much lower than many of my competitors anyway (for my first year trading)

:sombrero:

 

[poodeedy]

I offer all sorts of Internet marketing solutions direct to business, mostly in one particular niche but it has been expanding into all sorts of businesses. We offer:
-Websites (usually Wordpress which ties into the SEO side of things)
-Blogs and blog management (hired talent)
-SEO (again using the blogs mostly and their current site if needed)
-PPC campaigns (usually make 25-50% GROSS profit on these)
-ePress Release services for reputation management or just some quick keyword wins
-Craigslist Marketing Services- we post their service or products for sale on Craigs
-eMail Marketing
-Full Service Advertising (teamed up with a very good local ad agency and we white label it)
-Call Tracking and Analytic reporting services

There are obviously other components not really on the "list" such as link building, PPC reports, social bookmarkeing, etc but that is usually part of a package that they buy.

I'd like to see what other things are on the "sales sheets" of other people selling these services.