Pitching like a pro
Firstly it is essential to identify what your clients level of knowledge is on search marketing and optimisation. Running an online business, you will find that most clients are fully versed in, and understand the benefits of SEO, but there will be the odd one or two who do not know anything about this at all, so you must be prepared.
Pitching to clients in the know
For clients that understand SEO, this will be an easy sell, simply understanding what it is, and its benefits, are is usually more than enough for most companies to go ahead and drive their business forward. Most of the time they would not be bothered about the technical aspects, rather “does it work” and “can it work for my business” and most importantly “how much does it cost”.
For these types of clients always make it clear that you sell these services when undertaking any web developments, as the next call they make may be to another SEO company not realising that you sell these services along with your web development. Again, if they understand SEO and they have a website they will want to sign up. Take a look back over your existing clients and identify which clients could possibly take a search package from you.
Pitching to clients new to the scene
For clients that do not understand SEO, this will be a little more tricky; these clients will be under the assumption that all they need is a website and people will visit it. It will be down to you to convey the message that yes they may have a website, but it may be on page 300 of Google where nobody will ever find it. If their plan is to attract new custom from the Internet, they will need their webpage to be ranking relatively high in order to gain any worthy exposure. Of course, it is going to be a little bit harder persuading a client to hand over money on a monthly basis for a service they know nothing about. Luckily Google is our friend on this subject, ask them to do a search on Google for the benefits of SEO there will literally be hundreds of thousands of articles explaining why you need it and the benefits it brings. It may be beneficial to have a look yourself and point out a few decent ones.
Pitching to new businesses
You will usually find that these clients are a first time venturer onto the Internet and maybe setting up a business online for the very first time. It is advantageous to your pitch to offer a helping hand through this, and offering a friendly shoulder they can cry on when things do not work out the way they expected, will always go in your favor. The Internet is full of distrust and having a friendly ear of a web expert to turn to will see them placing that much need trust in you.
