If you’re interested in starting an SEO business but don’t know where to start, this simple guide will show you how to do so in only 6 steps.
Step #1: Pick a niche
You may be talented for multiple different things and you may even be ambitious to try all of them out. However, when it comes to starting a business it is much more effective and beneficial to focus on one niche only. So, before you start working on your business plan, figure out what you want to do. What industry do you want to work in? What niche offers high customer value? Not every customer group brings the same amount of potential to the table. Think about how your location will affect the success of your business. All of this and more will help you narrow down your options. Lastly, you need to split your SEO services into smaller units in order to fully narrow down your niche options.
Step #2: Obtain results for SEO
You may think this is impossible since you’re only starting and you don’t have any results yet. Think of it as a job interview. Let’s say you graduated from college two days ago and you’re already expected to have five years of work experience. Though this logic may be absurd, it actually makes a lot of sense in SEO. Your clients will want to see some kind of proof that you know what you’re doing and that you’re good at your job. Here’s what you can do to obtain results:
- Work for free a few times and build your portfolio
- Go for a smaller number of keywords with less competition at first
- Ask for referrals for your SEO business
- Create your business website and ensure it reaches high rankings
Step #3: Try the inbound marketing
For those who may be more on the introvert side and would like to avoid emailing and cold calling, inbound marketing can be the perfect solution. This kind of marketing tactic works by attracting clients with the help of useful and relevant content. Instead of being the first one to reach out, you just have to create relevant content for your target audience and lead them to your business.
For this to work well you first need to know your target audience. Do your research and see what kind of content your target audience finds useful and therefore looks up online most often. Make sure you fully understand their needs and how you can offer solutions to their problems. You can engage with your target audience by creating content they will relate to and find useful. The people who find your content relevant and valuable will stick around.
Step #4: Start locally
Starting an SEO business is not an easy task. That’s why starting small and locally is the best way to start a business. You should focus first on your local area and do research on your target audience in the area where your business will be operating. It’s much easier to start this way because search engines will help you find your audience in your vicinity and get the word out. In this step, it’s crucial to use professional local SEO tools and strategies in order to help your SEO business reach a higher search ranking and bigger online traffic. Once you’ve managed to establish a name and reputation for your brand locally, you can start thinking about expanding your business globally as well.
Step #5: Optimize your website for mobile phones
Nowadays, people tend to turn to their phones more often than using their laptops and computers. Mobile phones are so easily accessible and it is overall quicker to just google something on your phone. So, making sure your visitors can easily access your website on all devices, including mobile phones, is very important. You need to make sure that the loading speed is doing all right, that people can easily navigate through your website and find what they’re looking for, and that the web design fits the smaller screens.
Step #6: Carefully craft the prices of your services
Coming up with prices for your products and/or services is not easy. You want to start with more affordable options, but you don’t want to underestimate your services and end up having no profit either. Doing research on your target audience is also important in this step. Try to find the middle ground. Find a price point that is in the range of affordable for your target audience but also brings you profit.
Conclusion
To sum up, starting a successful SEO business is a process that can roughly be segmented into 6 steps. You first need to choose your niche and obtain results. Then, your marketing efforts and SEO strategies come in to help you reach a certain level of visibility. Lastly, you need to make your website and prices accessible to all your customers, and that is how you start and SEO business.
