Before I got serious about getting into search engine optimization, I really had no idea of the earning potential behind it. Of course I had many clients requesting SEO once I had completed the development of their websites, however as I wanted to focus specifically on design and development, I tended to concentrate my efforts there. Afterall, web design was something that I enjoyed and was quite talented at. SEO really wasn’t my forte.
That was until I met with a good friend of mine at a marketing seminar in Sydney. After a brief discussion about business, I asked, “So Nick, what are you doing nowadays, are you still doing web design?” He replied with “I’m outsourcing most of my development now and focusing on building my SEO business. Im making some excellent money, and really loving it” This came as much of a surpise as Nick was a great developer, programmer and graphic designer.
As the conversation went on, Nick explained to me that he had just secured his 6th client at $2,200 per month and was now making almost $15,000 a month, with much of the work being outsourced to a team of virtual assistants. Needless to say I was quite impressed and certainly wanted to know more.
Nick explained to me that he was charging each client $2,200 per month, for a minimum of a 6 month contract to perform SEO. I was in disbelief and asked “Are you kidding? …$2,200 per client???” He replied “Yes, and guess what? My clients love me!”
Here's one of Nicks happy clients.
I was really amazed. Infact I was astonished. Even though my web design business was doing well, this type of earning potential was something I most definitely had to have a piece of. I then asked Nick, “So what exactly do your clients get for that?”
Nick replied “Most of my clients really know nothing about SEO and their websites arent performing. They’re losing business as a result of it, so they’re keen for help. I meet with them, consult with them, perform an initial website audit, show them how to make improvements, then, if they hire me, I work towards increasing their search placement positioning, and implementing my marketing strategies.”
I asked feeling slightly confused, “So do you actually do anything to their websites?”
Nick continued. “Yes, most often their sites are poorly designed and hold no real SEO attributes. I often replace their entire sites with SEO friendly content management systems, like Wordpress, perform onsite optimization and help them acquire leads through list building, capturing names and emails.”
I said to him “That sounds too easy!”
He said, “Yes of course, you already have the knowledge and skills, you should consider it within your own business.”
Two weeks later, I was offering SEO to my clients as an additional service to that of my web design business. Within my first month I secured 8 clients, each at $2,200 a month for a minimum 6 month contract. I did this by contacting each of my existing clients and asking them if they would be interested in my optimization services. Some scoffed at my pricing, whilst others embraced it. Infact, I landed quite a few clients that I simply Googled online and found their websites back on page 10. Most of these people were in desperate need of help and couldn’t wait to get started!
Clients will happily pay to ensure great search placement rankings.
I knew that the amount of work, knowledge and skill justified my asking price of $2,200 per month and Nick had confirmed it. I also knew that I wanted to attract the right types of clients – ones that appreciated my time, and were willing to pay. I wasn’t about to offer cheap services simply to land projects. Nicks pricing structure gave me a guideline to work with, and I was grateful because it saved me from working long hours for peanuts.
In hindsight, I guess I could’ve started offering SEO sooner, but as with everything, it takes time to acquire the skills, learn the business and implement the strategies. Friends can sometimes be a little secretive too!
Its now been almost 6 years of performing SEO for clients, and Im still loving the great income of which it provides! If you're unsure about getting started, then be sure to check out my SEO Business Startup Kit.
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