How to Start an SEO Consulting Business ?
Let’s get one thing clear first! There are many companies out there who would love to be on the first page of Google and Bing. They want so many prospects or customers coming to them that they wouldn’t know what to do with them.
Unfortunately, though, many of them are unable to achieve this superpower. That’s why companies hire SEO personnel from agencies or build their own in-house teams.
Now, if you are one of the many individuals influenced by success stories of Neil Patel, Gary Vaynerchuk, Larry Kim or Rand Fishkin then you’re in the right place. SEO has always been and will always be an integral part of modern businesses.
So, if you want to start an SEO consulting business then you need to follow the steps outlined here. You may be a veteran wizard or a novice enthusiast or somewhere in-between, regardless, this article aims to give you considerable knowledge on what you need to do. Let’s get started.
Step 1: Know the In & Outs of SEO
To be successful in this business, you need to have a really good knowledge of how things work. As mentioned earlier, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is like a superpower. Every SEO professional wants to achieve it. However, the ones who desire it need to be dedicated and put in real effort to gain that level of knowledge.
By the way, you cannot possess this knowledge overnight. So be patient.
On-page SEO
Optimizing the content of a webpage based on the primary keywords, for proper indexing in the search engine, is the first & basic step to any SEO process. You should be able to scan a website or a webpage and find out if it’s optimized correctly.
Content is still the king and it is something you would see on the front end of the website. However, you would also need to master the elements on the backend. While we are not going to cover each technical aspect in-depth, you will need to master the following:
Metadata: When you search for a query on search engines, they display results with headings or titles along with a small description of what information that page carries.
This is metadata and it is embedded information in a portion of the website such as the header code. It needs to be optimized in line with your content and keywords so a webpage has a better chance to rank top.
Image naming: Also known as Alt text, naming your images is important and it plays a major role in improving SERP ranking.
Page structure: Header tags such as H1 – H6 should be structured properly so that search engine crawlers can easily make sense of the page.
Internal linking: One of the best SEO practices is the internal linking of pages within a domain. For example, a blog article can have a link to a service page. Not only does this improve the ranking of the linked page but it will improve the overall domain authority.
URL structure: One of the common mistakes that businesses make is not optimizing their URLs. Every URL of a website should be optimized as it’s the first thing a crawler looks at.
Page security: SSL Encryption is absolutely necessary for search engines to consider your website as a trusted resource.
Speed & performance: Any website or webpage that takes more than 3 seconds to load will be penalized. So, optimizing a website to improve the load speed is necessary.
These are some of the technical aspects of on-page SEO you need to master if you have to start an SEO consulting business. It’s important to remember that every year, Google or Bing keep updating their search algorithms.
An SEO expert will always keep themselves updated on these changes and construct their strategy accordingly. Learning HTML and CSS elements thoroughly is quintessential for any SEO expert.
Off-page SEO
The first word that pops up in off-page SEO is backlinks. Also known as link building, this skill deals with networking with other webpage owners or bloggers.
Why would you need backlinks?
Well, according to search engines, a website or webpage directed through a link from an external website is considered a credible resource and thereby domain or page authority increases. This will obviously increase the SERP ranking of the webpage or the site.
One of the popular tools related to backlinks is called Backlinko. It’s been quite helpful.
The other prominent and popular way to engage in off-page SEO is through guest blogging. These are some ways to garner off-page optimization and it’s very important for improving the ranking of a page or site.
Analytics As an SEO consultant or agency, you would need to have perfect knowledge of analyzing a website as well as data analytics.
Tools: There are many tools that aid and assist with analysis. Google Analytics, Google Search Console, SEMRush, and MOZ are prominent tools used to perform keyword research, analyze traffic, search trends, click attribution, and much more.
SEO Audits: Many SEO agencies provide free SEO audits to their prospects. An SEO audit is an in-depth report of the website which provides sufficient information for better optimization.
Paid Ads
Over the last decade, ads have taken precedence in SEO as they promote awareness of the business much faster as well as facilitate faster sales.
Campaigns: Be it a PPC or PPM campaign, you need to have a strong knowledge of keywords and latest trends. You should also know how to build landing pages for each campaign, leading them to the products or services.
Search engines, be it google or Bing, give first preference to ads when it comes to promoting search results. As an SEO consultant or agency, you should provide paid ad services without fail as it improves customer acquisition for your clients.
Social Media Expertise
Over the last few years, social media has boomed in multiple facets. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, TikTok and many more popular websites & apps attract millions of users on a daily basis.
These days, the domain and page ranking is bound to increase if the social media promotion of a particular page increases. The more people engage, promote or forward a webpage, the more traffic it is bound to receive.
The more traffic it receives, the search engines reward them with better ranking. So as an SEO consultancy you should have social media expertise to leverage its power to improve your client’s SEO results.
Step 2: Learn to set up your business
Like any other business, you need to learn how to set up your business. This involves learning bookkeeping, finances, setting up an entity, writing a business plan, marketing plan, financial plan, differentiation, and capital requirements.
Without overwhelming you with information, let’s understand three basic aspects of setting up a business.
Business plan
You need to have a minimum of a 2-year plan. Based on your plan, you will need to decide on how much capital you need to invest and the manpower you need to recruit. But first, for a robust plan, you need to answer the following points.
Services you provide: You need to be crystal clear on the services you sell and provide. Will you be providing only SEO? Or will you be providing web design and content marketing as well? Will you be a full-service agency or choose a niche? You need to decide based on your current expertise and capabilities. The last thing you want is clients disappointed with your deliverables.
Choose a niche: Look, the reality is that you are not the only one trying to do this. There are many who are experts in SEO. So, how can survive the competition? Choose a niche. It could be an industry you want to work with or a service you want to provide. You can narrow down your niche to be very specific or remain broad. But the word on the street is to choose a perfect niche for your startup.
Pricing: You need to have a clear understanding of how much you would charge your clients. Will it be an hourly price or project-based price or a retainer model? When it comes to pricing, do not sell yourself for less than the market price. It will only affect your recognition. Price your services correctly and sell them accordingly.
Capital: Based on the above criteria, you can now figure out what is the amount you need to invest in your business.
Business Structure
If you are planning to start this agency or business as a one-man army then you might not need a lot of capital. However, if your mission and vision are bigger then you may want to consider a partnership.
Albeit, you know the need of the hour. Despite the need, you will need to register your business as a legal entity. It’s important and will add great value to your efforts even if you are a freelancer.
Sole Proprietorship or one-man company: This is an option that most newbie entrepreneurs opt for. The process is simple and straight forward. There’s no requirement for filing taxes as personal taxing will be considered as part of the company. However, this process can get complicated if any personal assets get associated with the business.
LLP or PVT Ltd registrations: For these registrations, you need to have at least 2 partners. While you will be liable to taxes, it’s best for the long term and it will be a separate entity from your personal assets. As there are two partners, there will be no risk of business not running in your absence.
Your Team: Be it a one-person company or a partnership, either way, you would need to have a team. It could be an in-house team or a team of freelancers to assist you in times of need. When your clients start approaching you, they may ask you for more than what you can offer. When you have a team, you can delegate some of the work to your extended team.
Brand Establishment
All your customers and prospects, including yourself, are busy with everyday jobs. Time is a constraint. So, your service branding should leave a strong impression within a few seconds on your site. Customers would either want to know more or opt-in for your service.
Branding & placement: How you place yourself in the market is essential for your business. Developing relevant content supporting your business objectives to editing it to deliver the message precisely is important. There are hundreds and thousands of SEO agencies and consultants, what makes you different? That message is very important. Your logo, caption, and web content should all talk about the same.
Website: Talking about web content, there is nothing more important than creating your own website. It’s the most basic necessity of any business. The face of your brand is your website. And it’s not tough to get one if you are running out of time. There are many AI website builders such as Wix, Builder.ai, and Elementor which complete the job in a day’s time.
Social Media Presence: Your social media presence is an extension of your brand. A solid social media campaign or activity would let your potential clients & prospects be aware of your existence. You can join groups that are relevant to your business and then promote your content there. Many companies have used their social media pages to garner a large number of clients. It’s essential for your business.
Step 3: Create a sales funnel
We’ve all read and know about the sales funnel. It starts with awareness, then engagement and then conversion. It’s also said that a buyer should hear about a product or service at least 7 times before they consider you. To create this funnel, you can follow the below:
Site optimization
As an SEO consulting business, the best thing you can do is to perfectly optimize your website. You can optimize it based on the area, industry or niche. That’s one the easiest ways to acquire clients. Organic SEO takes time but it’s always worth the wait.
Inbound marketing
Along with SEO, content marketing is the best way to attract customers to your service. Content is king! A well-aligned long term content strategy will help you reap precious results in 4-6 months time. To know more about the tricks and techniques of inbound marketing, you can check out Hubspot. They are the leaders in inbound marketing.
Sales team
An outbound sales team that reaches out to potential consumers based on your buyer persona is equally important as an inbound strategy. Sales and marketing support each other as they’re crucial for any new business.
Free Offerings
People like free stuff. It could be a small candy or a large corporate software, either way, it is very important to offer free stuff as people will remember us. The biggest example is Google. They provide so many free services that people barely think about their competitors. As an SEO consultancy, you can offer a free SEO audit or keyword research to attract potential customers. Whatever you choose to offer your visitor should add value to their business.
Step 4: Set clearly-defined processes
One of the reasons many startups fail is due to a lack of processes. They depend totally on the individuals and when they do not deliver, the business will go into loss. This should be a big no-no for your SEO business. Working in line with a robust action plan internally and with your clients is essential to achieve success.
Everyday operational plan
Create an efficient process and document it so your team can follow it on a daily basis. Concentrating on the below pointers will help.
SEO Process: You’ve to develop an SEO process based on your knowledge and expertise. Your team should follow it for any project. The process can give granular details or it can give an outline of the entire process. It can also define which team is assigned with a certain work along with its deadlines.
Project Management: SEO is a continuous process. It’s not a one-off project. You need to perform SEO audits almost every day to understand how a customer’s website is performing and the changes you need to make. To achieve this, you need to plan and fulfill your plan.
Will you be implementing agile methodologies or a different model? How do you plan your evaluation, research, and strategy? Answering these questions and creating a framework based on it will facilitate a smoother process.
When you have a scalable and consistent process, your fulfillment will become easier and you will find a long array of happy customers. You can use tools such as Trello to make it less cumbersome.
Documentation: You need to document everything you do. Not only as a proof of work but also to help in improving the process on a later date. It helps in an easier review process. From sales templates & marketing campaigns to process checklists & customer support guides, document every single process. Create manuals. It might be tedious but it’s worth the time.
Contracts & Payment methods: From day 1, have a process where you would send the client a contract that they can sign and send back. It’s a given that they will also send you a contract to sign & return. But you should have your own. Also, define your payment methods. It’s always recommended to take advance payments when you are starting out until the client becomes a repeat customer. Have one payment method and stick with it unless your client demands otherwise.
Reporting Results : Do not wait for your client to check on you for results. Send weekly or monthly reports about the results and the plan of action you implemented. Not only will it increase the trust of your client on your work but it will also help you scale faster.
Create a standardized template that is easy for your team to effortlessly update and send.
Extended Talent Pool
A frequent wrong move that many SEO consultancies make is not extending their talent beyond their in house team. It’s understood that internal teams can be better monitored but with increasing demand, you have to search beyond what you have. It’s highly recommended to have a team of freelancers to work with during high tides. This will make the process less stressful for everyone involved.
Step 5: Go-Getter Mindset
When it comes to the SEO consulting business, you need to understand that It’s not easy. There are so many changes happening on a daily basis that catching up with all of them will be a pain.
So, Trust the process. Implementing a well-defined process and sticking with it will ensure consistent linear growth. Once you have achieved a break-even point you can then concentrate on exponential growth.
Remember, you’re not doing this out of sheer luck or as an alternate for your day job. You’re doing it out of passion and a dream to make a difference in your life and that of others. If not, you should quit and go back to what you were doing.
Hustle, that’s the only word to describe the lifestyle in this business.
Conclusion
If SEO is what you love doing and you want to turn into a scalable business model then follow these steps and it will ensure consistent growth. By the way, we also consult and help kickstart many SEO companies. If you need our help, we’re here.
That’s it for now, let us know if you have any questions.
Author: SEO Services Consultants
