🚦 Getting Started Selling Local SEO (part 3)

If you’ve been waiting for the next part in the Selling Local SEO series, then you’re in luck.

Today it’s part three. (You can find part 2 here)

We left off at getting everything all squared away so you can receive payments from clients.

Though I touched on it last time, I’ve had a request to go deeper in pricing your services. So, here we go…

But first, today’s sponsor is a guy I’ve known online for a while and he’s got a really cool product at a super low price. Check it out below if you’re interested in directories.

Market Rate vs Your Costs vs Your Income Needs

Pricing your local SEO services is a tricky one.

Price it too high, and you eliminate a lot of businesses.

Price it too low and you end up with the worst of the worst for clients.

Seriously, the people who want to pay the least are going to be the biggest pain in the ass. Works out like that every single time.

So, here’s what to think about -

Will you be doing all the work yourself, or will you be outsourcing? If outsourcing, then you need to get quotes for white label service and then add on however much you want for your profit.

And if you’re doing the work, then just figure out how long it will take you and what’s a good compensation rate for that.

Also think about your financial needs.

If you need money ASAP, then cheaper services are often easier to sell. If you’re not in immediate need, then you’ll do better profit-wise selling to 3 clients a month where your profit is $1500 each versus selling to 15 clients where your profit is only a few hundred dollars.

I’m big fan of determining how much you want to make a month and then working backwards from there.

Let’s say I want to clear $10,000 monthly - what could that look like?

That could be 10 clients where I profit $1,000 each.

Or it could be 20 clients where I profit $500 each.

Or 5 clients where I profit $2,000 each.

In some ways it’s easier to sell the lower priced services, but then you need to move a lot more than with a higher priced service.

Then there’s me - I have a mixture of both with Growth Cupid.

Anyways, this is where picking a good niche/industry helps.

I recently did local SEO for a client where one conversion is worth over $20,000.

My monthly retainer for that one? $6,000. My profit? Around $4,000.

Before disclosing your price to a potential client, make one of your questions for them - how much is a lead worth to you? (or, what’s the value of a customer for you? - just whatever makes sense for their industry/business).

I have two reasons for ALWAYS asking this when having an initial call with a client -

1. If I ever want to do rank & rent in this niche, what’s it worth?

2. Knowing that value lets me know how much I can charge and it still be worth it to them.

Plus, I end up with my own database of lead value by niche/industry. And no, I’m never sharing that here!

For Growth Cupid, my average retainer for local SEO services ranges between $1400 and $1700. I don’t do the same services for every client.

Instead, I see what they need. I ask them what they want. And then I put together a package.

Of course, if you want easy then have set packages at a set price.

And don’t be afraid to negotiate a bit with potential clients. If you give someone a quote and you get the sense that it’s not gonna work with their budget, then try to figure it out.

Maybe you can focus on only some of the services or something. But don’t discount things too much! You still gotta eat.

Stay tuned for part four….

Coming up…

More on what I’m working on and how it’s going.

Stay awesome,

Shawna

P.S. If you’re looking for high level discussions or tips on things like local SEO and Rank & Rent, I highly recommend Jacky Chou’s Advise community. I’ve been in it for several months and there’s tons of value in it, including a SOP for local SEO.

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