If your goal is to start an SEO business, you are in the right place. Here, we’ll talk about how to start an SEO business in 2023.
The first thing you should know is that having an SEO company can be a profitable business but only if you do everything right. There are many reasons why people start their SEO companies, but mostly it’s because running this sort of business is quite profitable.
The goal of every successful SEO agency is to quickly generate ROI through their SEO services but before you get there, you’ll have to consider many things and overcome many challenges. The first thing that you have to understand is that it takes time to start and run a successful SEO business.
So, let’s jump in and figure out what’s the best way to start a successful SEO agency in 2023.
1. Get the SEO business started
Just like when you’re starting any other business, the first thing you should do is choose a niche for your business. An SEO niche is a smaller part of a large market in which you want to become an expert. The more specific your niche is the easier it will be to focus on specific keywords and phrases.
When choosing your niche, you should follow some guidelines. First, you want to choose industries with high value such as health and well-being, legal services, or real estate. The companies in these industries are willing to pay more for SEO services.
The next thing you should concentrate on is location. Local SEO has become huge recently and knowing the location for your niche is a good starting point. The money is, of course, in large cities but then the problem with large cities is the dense competition. We recommend going to smaller towns around huge metropolises.
2. To hire or outosurce SEO work?
There are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to both hiring and outsourcing SEO work. Many new SEO businesses make the mistake of hiring a workforce the moment they get a bigger job. Doing this can cause you to lose huge amounts of money.
When it comes to outsourcing your work, it’s a viable option, but you don’t need to do it. As a new company, outsourcing may be a good way to build your portfolio but it may not turn out to be what you had in mind.
Ultimately, whether to build an in-house team or outsource an expert SEO agency is a matter of strategy. Both options have their pros and cons and it takes time to make the right decision. Try to avoid the many pitfalls that come with quick, cheap agency solutions by always choosing the right agency to outsource SEO.
3. Inbound marketing will help you get and retain clients
Once you start your SEO business, the best option is to concentrate on inbound marketing. Inbound marketing techniques will bring clients to you faster than you can imagine. Inbound marketing is a great marketing strategy that is supposed to drive leads to sales instead of outwardly advertising your products or services.
It’s not a secret that inbound marketing drives more leads and that it’s more effective. But, of course, for it to work, you’ll need to put effort into creating content. In case you’re interested in running an inbound marketing campaign that creates leads and drives sales, you should be aware of all the options you have. Some examples include search engine optimization, social media, case studies, testimonials, blogs, and weekly newsletters.
4. Don’t neglect your website
Don’t make the mistake of neglecting your website because it can cost you new clients. If you neglect your website, you will have low rankings and low rankings can lead to not being credible or noticeable enough to clients. Just as you use inbound marketing for to generate leads for your clients, you should do the same for your company through your website.
Clients like to go online and perform a search before hiring your services. If your website ranks low, how credible do you think you are to your clients? So, make sure you do for your business what you do for your clients – implement SEO strategies to make your company’s website get ranked.
5. Establish SEO pricing structure
Any clients you get will be interested in the price of your SEO services. To have an answer ready, you need to get familiar with the value of SEO services.
Many SEO companies use 3 pricing models for their services and they include hourly, fixed, or retainer models. The hourly pricing model can be applied for smaller SEO tasks like keyword research or website audit. For SEO consulting services, on-page optimization, and other similar tasks, SEO agencies usually use a fixed pricing structure.
The last pricing model is a retainer model and it is a model most established SEO agencies use for their clients. The principle of this model is such that the customer agrees to pay in advance during a set period for your SEO services.
As a new SEO business, we recommend you start with hourly and fixed pricing models and as you grow introduce the retainer model as well. Also, always make sure your services are priced fairly – and that they match what you can deliver.
6. Get SEO clients
After setting your pricing model, it’s time to get clients. Ideally, you’d want to get clients that understand the SEO concept. To clients who don’t understand SEO, explaining its benefits and the long-term process can be very difficult.
Since SEO services aren’t quick and easy, convincing clients to invest in SEO can be challenging. That’s precisely why your ideal client should be companies and businesses that have some basic SEO knowledge.
As you’re starting your business, you won’t have too many options when it comes to clients. For beginning SEO agencies, the best idea would be to target low-competition longtail keywords both for yourself and your clients. Using keywords of this sort and building websites and creating content can help you build your portfolio faster and get quick results for new clients.
If you’re doing local SEO, make sure you include the names of cities you’re targeting in your longtail keywords.
Bottom line
Starting an SEO business is not a walk in the park. It takes a lot to get to where you want to be and many SEO company owners give up halfway.
If you want to have a successful SEO agency, you’ll need to roll up your sleeves and put a lot of effort into it. But don’t let that discourage you. Having a successful SEO agency is possible!
