You've decided to get involved with the many agencies that already offer search engine optimization services. Congratulations!
Well, the lingering question in your mind is: How to generate SEO leads? How do these other agencies survive and sometimes make millions of dollars with the same SEO services I provide?
In this article, I'll give you a sneak peek at all the SEO lead generation strategies available that will skyrocket your client numbers and answer your questions on how to generate quality SEO leads.
How to Generate SEO Leads - 10 Top Tips
Proven SEO lead generation strategies must be followed to get at least the absolute minimum number of leads to remain stable in the SEO business.
Without a proper lead generation strategy in place, it will be very difficult for you to achieve your business goals.
So if you're thinking -- does this all work? Don't worry; this isn't one of those prophetic articles you'll find online that never publishes a word.
We used these strategies internally to develop our first 1000 clients, many of whom are still our fans.
Are you ready to fish from the ocean of opportunity? Go in now.
1. Rank on Google's first page with your SEO services
We help websites rank higher in SERPs, and let's be honest, the first client of an SEO agency is the agency itself.
We've all come across agencies that promise to rank #1 on Google. But a quick organic research showed that the SEO campaign they offered was nowhere on the first page of Google.
Clients are very smart these days, and some are already burning through money at another SEO agency.
One of the bad things about these clients is that they are overly skeptical. They do all the research before focusing on the next institution.
Since they've been trained to use one tool or another, it's only a matter of time before they realize the agency is doing a poor job.
Let's say you're an SEO agency specializing in a specific city. In this case, you need to make sure that your website dominates the SERPs for the local keywords your company types in when searching for SEO services. A great way to do this is to enhance your GMB listing with an accurate description and name, address, and phone number (NAP) details.
By optimizing your business website for location-specific target keywords, you can significantly reduce competition. However, if you are focused on leading nationally or internationally, you need to use a different strategy.
Unlike local search term ranking for an SEO agency, global search term ranking requires you to use the same tactics you might implement for larger clients.
Also, since you are competing with the best SEO agencies in the business, results from such companies can take a while.
In this case, you need to identify the institutional USP that people care about. If you also offer services outside of the English-speaking world, make sure you implement multilingual SEO.
Also, check out what your top competitors are doing to rank higher in search results, and possibly use Brain Dean's famous Sky Skyscraper technique to slowly gain ground.
Another example is making sure you have a physical presence where you want to rank. After we started working outside of Illinois, we saw an exponential increase in traffic from the US.
We now rank 300% higher for our target keywords in the US than in India, which was not the case a few years ago.
So here's the thing, ranking higher in SERPs for service-based keywords or even blog keywords increases your chances of getting leads and conversations.
2. Offer Lead Generation a free SEO audit
Who doesn't care about SEO scores? Some of the best SEO agencies benefit from natural searches among website owners - how high is my SEO score.
By offering such website owners the free option to conduct an SEO audit, you can generate high-quality leads.
I say quality because these are people who definitely want to improve their search rankings and are probably looking for an agency to solve their SEO problems.
As an agency owner, you can offer an instant SEO audit or a custom SEO audit. The former is easy and just takes the time to purchase an API from popular tool providers like SEMRush, while the latter requires manual work but has a higher conversion rate.
Both are useful ways to do this. However, if you want an API, I recommend SEMRush, which provides a lead generation API that performs a website audit for your leads for free.
All you have to do is integrate the API into your website and every time a visitor performs a free audit, you will be notified with your website details and email address.
If you want more quality leads, you can get a 100% unique and customized free SEO audit. You may need a larger team to do this, but the quality of leads and the first impression you make will be second to none.
One practice we follow in this process is to reduce publicity calls or use them as information sharing meetings. This helped us build initial trust, and many of our strategy calls ended up with our leadership asking "Why don't you implement this stuff for me?"
Yes. THIS IS A SALE!
3. Lead Magnets AKA SEO Resources
Most website owners think that SEO is a piece of cake and that ranking higher is all about building a website that looks great.
The first few days after the website went live were in DIY mode. You want to learn SEO, then implement it yourself.
If SEO results were that easy to come by, we'd all be out of a job by now. But website owners are entitled to try, and they're looking for resources that can help them do just that.
As an SEO agency owner, provide these website owners with all the resources they need to try their hand at SEO. Pat yourself on the back if they are able to succeed with the resources you provide.
But most people who download assets aren't committed to implementing an SEO strategy because they have other operational issues to deal with. Only in rare cases do these sites hire in-house SEO.
We have a lead magnet here worth mentioning. We're offering a 5-in-1 Blogger Outreach Starter Pack for website owners to try their luck at backlink building.
In our 5-in-1 starter pack, we've included everything a website owner needs to start a link building campaign.
The kit includes:
- 20+ subject lines with high open rates
- Over 1000 genuine niche specific sites covered
- 20 outreach email templates
- Blog Promotion Guide
- Tips for finding email addresses to contact decision makers
After downloading this resource, the following usually happens.
They tried these strategies and it worked for them, but they came back to us to implement the strategy because it took time and effort. As such, we often don't need to teach them or explain to them the process we follow to build links, as we've successfully trained them through our 5-in-1 resources.
Converting SEO-educated clients will make the process easier, and they'll likely remain your monthly repeat customers for longer.
The second resource that most SEO agencies use as a magnet is case studies.
Most potential clients consider case studies to be more trustworthy than testimonials.
But there is a catch. Case studies are double-edged swords! They often need to be watched, and faking it is the worst idea.
Customers are now too smart to believe everything that is said. They can check the facts with SEO tools, and if they find conflicting data, they'll never contact you again.
So make sure the data in your case study is updated frequently, and if you see a drop in overall organic growth for a site mentioned in your case study, remove it as soon as possible.
Blog posts strategically written as part of a content marketing strategy can act as an attraction magnet. The best way to get the most out of your blog is to identify pressing issues your audience is facing and provide them with solutions through content creation.
It is at your discretion to place a CTA or contact form to collect details of readers who may need your help with SEO issues.
For example, most website owners complain about slow page loads. It requires the involvement of a highly qualified technical SEO team. We have a blog on how to increase the page speed of your website related to Core WebVitals. It also shows how some of our clients achieve perfect WebVitals scores.
We get a lot of requests for technical SEO fixes through this blog, and most of them quickly become our clients.
4. Enable Live Chat for SEO Lead Generation
Some website owners still think live chat is a thing of the past and annoying. Yes, that was a while ago, but there was a lot of water under the bridge after that.
AI-powered live chat makes initial conversions more vivid than the bot messages that came out in the early 2000s.
Given that potential leads for an SEO agency will land on a service or blog looking for solutions, chatbots can come in handy. This improves the user experience and keeps potential customers longer.
By enabling chatbots, you can give your audience confidence and guide them through the different stages of your digital marketing sales funnel.
It may seem strange, but some customers are still able to live chat even after logging into us for quick assistance.
Chatbots are great for gathering information from your visitors, converting them into leads and guiding them through the different stages of digital marketing. For SEO agencies, live chat offers relevant solutions that can help them make early decisions.
Let's say you're focused on getting more leads. In this case, a chatbot will be a key element that you must have on your SEO agency's website.
5. Referral Program for SEO Lead Generation
The internet is full of web design and related service providers. Think of them as ridges for reaching potential customers.
Contacting other agencies that offer related networking services is a successful lead generation practice that we participate in. We give them a 10% commission on every sale made through their referrals.
Think of this as some weird lead generation practice. We were in your league a few years ago, but when we realized our top competitors were using this tactic to acquire new clients, we decided to get out of our false belief. Honestly, it turned out fantastic.
Here's an example from one of the referral programs we ran recently.
Another advantage of this lead generation strategy is that you can work with any number of agencies and only pay referral commissions.
6. Generate leads through social media
When you start an SEO business, you may need to spend a few thousand dollars on an advertising campaign to get your first few new clients. However, there is another tactic you can use at the same time to get more leads — social media baiting campaigns.
Bait campaigns are designed to allow you to get leads from people who are looking for services similar to what you offer.
You might be wondering why you should choose social (especially Facebook) over Google. The answer is simple, the costs involved.
The cost of generating leads through Facebook is relatively low compared to a PPC campaign you run on Google Ads.
Another reason to choose Facebook is that decoy campaigns focus on larger audiences. They may or may not be interested in buying your services, but they're a little interested in doing DIY SEO experiments.
The best way to run a Facebook decoy campaign is to try and place an ad for an irresistible resource that you have. Before I continue, I want to be clear that not everyone who signs up through a decoy campaign will convert easily. You need to create a digital marketing sales funnel and set up a series of follow-up interactions before at least some of those leads convert.
Another tip when running a lure campaign on Facebook is to make sure to record the email address of the person who downloaded the asset. If you plan to use AdRoll for redirection, make sure to direct users to the login page on your website.
7. Generate leads with email marketing
Before I start, let me tell you this. Email marketing is more than just reaching out via email. Email marketing needs to stand out at a higher level as a lead generation tactic because it can bring in quality clients for your SEO agency.
I want to emphasize the word "quality" here because some clients have a hard time accepting the truth about SEO, and some clients understand how SEO works.
I'd much rather get only 2 good clients in the second category than 10 from the first group because they'll waste a lot of time. The end result of explaining to them all the SEO wisdom available can be total frustration.
Email marketing combined with other popular methods like SMS marketing can ultimately help you get more leads. But don't expect miracles to happen overnight. You may need to adjust your strategy, processes, and messaging several times before you get the best results.
For a successful email marketing campaign, it's critical to choose a CRM that seamlessly connects all email marketing data together so sales teams can act quickly.
Campaign messaging needs to be tailored to each stage of the digital marketing sales funnel where prospects interact with your SEO agency website.
Every time you send an email, you need to focus on getting the prospect one step further in your funnel. Although email marketing is time-consuming, having a predefined process can do wonders for your SEO agency.
Every time you send an email, you need to focus on getting the prospect one step further in your funnel. While email marketing is time-consuming, having a predefined process can do wonders for your SEO agency.
8. Lead Generation Podcast
Podcasts like Live Chat are making a real comeback in the industry. While podcasts had less traction in the early 2000s, with the plethora of smart devices, people are embracing podcasts more than ever.
Podcasts are one of the assets you can add to your SEO agency website as part of your resources, which has the potential to generate a lot of leads. However, very few agencies use podcasts as a lead generation medium.
If you're an institution looking to partner with a smaller or larger institution, podcasts can serve as a bridge to connect you. Unlike the emails you send and the responses you receive, podcasts truly humanize the conversation and pave the way for lasting partnerships with other SEO agencies.
Also, podcasts are purely a lead generation tool, so you want to make sure the podcast topic you choose and the subject matter experts you invite are relevant to the SEO campaign you're offering.
Strategically placing calls to action (CTAs) within your podcast can increase the number of leads you receive. Also, keep in mind that unlike blogs, podcasts don’t rank highly in SERP results for generic search terms (this trend may change in the coming years as podcasts become more popular). This requires the use of different distribution networks to disseminate the content.
The CTA you place on each podcast can be a magnet, directly related to the topic being discussed. This increases the chances of your visitor downloading your lead magnet.
9. Local lead generation
All of the above lead generation strategies can be implemented by a large, small or mid-sized business at any time.
Assuming you're a local SEO business owner specializing in websites and businesses in a specific area, such as the B. Maryland District, then implementing a local lead generation strategy should be your top priority.
Earlier we talked about the importance of local SEO agencies ranking higher in local search results - whether it's in the Google Map Pack or in the organic results for a search near me. This remains critical for local lead generation as well due to the quality and greater quantity of converting leads.
However, there are a few other things you need to be aware of in order to get the most out of your local leads.
Local Events: One of the most effective ways to attract local leads is to make sure your business appears at events that represent local businesses.
Get a kiosk or use a web session to represent your SEO company and let business owners know the importance of ranking their website. Try to convince them how you can help them with this problem.
Google My Business Ads: Running paid ads is always a good lead generation strategy. If you're a local SEO business owner, use the new Google My Business ad to appear at the top of your local Map Pack results. This increases the volume of phone inquiries and emails.
FM Radio: A local FM radio station or an online platform like Clarity.fm to interview other industry experts can give you a lot of leads.
10. Generate leads through customer service
You did everything right and followed the point-by-point approach I laid out here. However, if you miss out on this important strategy, you won't be able to scale your SEO business.
Following the strategies above, you could get hundreds of clients; but what if they find your service less than seamless and boring? The result could be a gradual loss of the customers you've accumulated. This is especially true if your focus is on adding more customers rather than trying to keep existing ones.
The success of any service business depends largely on how well it ensures its existing customers remain satisfied while adding new ones in the background.
Consider yourself in the food world. What happens if you just welcome new people while seated customers have to wait for their orders to be taken? They will all go very slowly and will likely never return. The same applies to the SEO industry.
Bad customers kill sales, happy customers give you lasting sales. We see happy clients recommending our services to their friends. This cycle repeats every time we show tangible SEO results.
On the other hand, when negative reviews are shared online, they inevitably test the skills of your reputation management department.
Some companies reject customers outright and respond to customer reviews by shifting responsibility. However, there are smart people who accept mistakes and offer solutions.
The latter thrive and learn from their mistakes. Meanwhile, the former will face more heat as other dissatisfied customers join the online conversation and do more damage.
Since online reviews make their own claims, it may deter potential clients from contacting an SEO agency that lacks online credibility.
Make sure your SEO agency has a dedicated account management team dedicated to keeping clients happy. You must take reasonable steps to make the process simple and seamless for customers.
They talk to clients frequently and make sure the results are as expected. This reduces time spent on rework and, more importantly, arguing with angry customers.
11. Wrap up
You've landed in an ocean of possibility, and there's an SEO agency sailing ahead of you. Accept that you are not alone in the game and employ the right lead generation strategies. You can turn and position yourself unchallenged by any competitor.
If anyone tells you that SEO is a saturated industry, they're only seeing the tip of the iceberg. As businesses thrive around the world and harness the power of the internet to increase, the need to rank higher in search results will never dry up.
In SEO, winners are not determined by longevity, but how quickly they use the various tactics listed above. Process and strategy are two basic SEO terms that mark your path to success.
A group of potential customers is waiting for your bait. Now it's up to you to choose the best strategy to attract them to your SEO business.
All the best, please leave a comment if you found this article useful.
12. Frequently Asked Questions
12.1. What are some effective strategies for generating leads for SEO services?
Some effective strategies for generating leads for SEO services include creating informative content, optimizing your website for search engines, using social media to reach potential clients, and offering free consultations.
12.2. How can networking help in generating leads for SEO services?
Networking can help generate leads for SEO services by allowing you to connect with other professionals in your industry, attend industry events, and build relationships with potential clients who may need your services.
12.3. What role does email marketing play in generating leads for SEO services?
Email marketing can be an effective way to generate leads for SEO services by reaching potential clients directly, offering them valuable information or insights, and encouraging them to schedule a consultation or learn more about your services.
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