I don't offer free services... I do mention a dozen or so easy things they can do to improve their site which comes from 5-10 minutes of my time. It serves 2 purposes. It lets them know I wrote a personal email that is just for them and not a bulk spam letter and second it demonstrates the value my services can bring. If they like the advice I say my service brings many more opportunities to the table for the simple reason that I can spend more than 5 minutes on their site once I'm on retainer.
I manage expectations very specifically and tell them what deliverables I will hand off and how many hours it will take me and what day to expect delivery. Then I send a daily status update so they know where I am in the process. Never make a client hunt you down to get an update... kiss them goodbye if you do that.
My ideal engagement is about 10 hours. I usually produce 25-40 pages of dense SEO recommendations. I teach them how I do my analysis so they can verify my findings and repeat it on their own. Google changes enough that most clients come back every year. One of my reports will keep a business working and growing for 6 months to a year. After the engagement is over I continue to send any thoughts or ideas I have for the next several months. Sometimes my best ideas happen after the fact. I tell my clients upfront if that happens it is already covered with with the original quote... I'm not going to charge them because I didn't think of something within the engagement. That's my fault. I also check their rankings and send them congrats on growth milestones.
Trust, transparency, accountability, and managed expectations. But thats just my approach. I don't take a customer unless I'm certain I can help them. I don't want to waste their money or my time. I don't hesitate to let people know when their industry is outside my scope of experience.
I'm also different than the rest. I don't give references ever. That would only mean I'm talking about my clients' websites and I don't do that ever. I let the prospective clients know they would get the same protections.
