SEO Trial - Need Some Help

There is a company, having around 50 different niche websites. They are ready to sign a SEO contract with me but only if i can prove my work. They want a one month trial first.

Trail --> Good Job = Project = $$$$$$$$$$$

Just need some tips from you guys, to avoid this trial or help me perform well in this month.

Thank you BHW :grouphug:

First of all you have to protect yourself regarding this month of trial (may are using the trial only to get free job done). After you've succeed to do that, try and do some hard SEO work for them - to prove your capacity, make at least one niche to go on top and then wait for their reaction, do not ask them if they like it or not, just DO YOUR JOB.
But be aware, there are a lot of companies that are not recognizing that they were satisfy, they are just trying to find different reasons to not give you the job after the 1st month trial.
Good luck anyway

I don't think you should offer a trial. Just list a past portfolio of sites that you've gotten to rank. Never do your work for free

Yeah! this was the first thing came in my mind. But i have checked them personally. They're legit and within my reach, i mean they are not too far. I can grab their neck anytime.

Anyone else?

A free month trial is usually a scam

But in saying that if you think you have a chance to convert them and they are legit them it might be worth a second look.

If you go through their sites and find one that looks like it's really not optimised and should be easy to rank then select that one. Tell them you will work on one website for five keywords. You will not disclose your methods and any real seo takes 4-6 month to have effect so any movement in a month should be viewed as a success.

If they have a site that's ripe for a jump it should be a handy little job for you.

Make sure that you start by getting a contract that says if yo u improve their rankings, you get the monthly contract, not that the try for a month and then make a decision. The most dramatic ranking change will be in the first month of SEO if you know what you are doing, and right off the bat fix the on-page stuff so the pages are more focused.

Then go into their stats and pull every keyword that was used to find the site in the last 6 months. Delete the dupes, then put these into a rank tracker and start tracking. Get a week of stats in there before starting work to create a baseline. By now you should be tracking a couple of hundred keywords.

When your SEO starts, the site will see a massive movement across the board because these are all lonk tails from the main keywords, and advance in these main keywords even a little will pull the long tails up too.

This is sort of a parlor trick, but it does show a true surge in the keyword rankings almost with out fail. It's almost unfair to use this on a customer, but in your case I would do it.

f you have a guaranteed contract if you improve rankings (not customers), maybe the 30 days is OK, if not no.

A free month trial is probably a scam..you should need over months to improve rankings and To keep the impression of Human Behavior..

I usually offer interview to any potential clients and if they insists on any trial, I prefer to ask them to pay hourly for the work I will do for them.. including live chat hours where I suggest them and do their onpage optimization. somehow it reduce the chances of loosing time and ultimately filter the legit clients.

Thank you!
That makes sense, i will fix a meeting tomorrow and ask for a pre-project contract. If there is improvement, they have to give me the project. no excuses.

Techxan said:

Make sure that you start by getting a contract that says if yo u improve their rankings, you get the monthly contract, not that the try for a month and then make a decision. The most dramatic ranking change will be in the first month of SEO if you know what you are doing, and right off the bat fix the on-page stuff so the pages are more focused.

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Just remember that most contracts have an out clause (30 days is pretty normal). So they can get a free month, hire you for 1 month, and then they're out. Also, if they have legal resources are you going to take them to court if they break the contract. You are a SEO professional (I assume), so act like one. Does your doctor, accountant, lawyer, etc. give free trials? Some might do a free consult, but that is very different. I will usually do a free 30 minute consult to analyze the clients SEO and provide some generic advice (better on-site, more backlinks, etc.). If they want me to do the work, then pay me.

The problem with things like free trials for SEO (or any other Web related service), is that it makes the entire industry look like a bunch of amateurs.

I understand what you're saying, but they say it is a big project as i already mentioned it's going to be more than 10lacs (INR) per month. Which is also a big amount for me too. They say they can't take much risk of handing over this project to some who can't really help them.
You know when it comes to making promises everyone can do that. But not everyone can rank websites. So this is why they need a trial.

Lazlo1967 said:

Just remember that most contracts have an out clause (30 days is pretty normal). So they can get a free month, hire you for 1 month, and then they're out. Also, if they have legal resources are you going to take them to court if they break the contract. You are a SEO professional (I assume), so act like one. Does your doctor, accountant, lawyer, etc. give free trials? Some might do a free consult, but that is very different. I will usually do a free 30 minute consult to analyze the clients SEO and provide some generic advice (better on-site, more backlinks, etc.). If they want me to do the work, then pay me.

The problem with things like free trials for SEO (or any other Web related service), is that it makes the entire industry look like a bunch of amateurs.

Click to expand...