Last month I talked about 7 lessons I learned from running an SEO agency. One of the things I’ve learned over the years is that you can command clients to pay you 6 and even 7 figures a year if your agency has brand recognition.
Brand recognition also gets you more inbound inquires from companies who need SEO, which will help your revenue become more stable.
If you are ready to take your agency to the next level, here’s how you can build a big brand:
Start a blog
Not only can a blog help build your brand, it can also drive thousands of extra visitors to your website each month. Before you start a SEO blog, you need to know 1 important fact… it needs to be on the same domain as your agency website.
Early on I made the mistake of calling my SEO blog “Pronet Advertising”, when my SEO agency was in fact called “ACS”. The blog was hosted at pronetadvertising.com while the agency site was hosted at acsseo.com. Once the blog became popular people didn’t know whether we were called ACS or Pronet Advertising… even though on the blog it clearly stated that it was owned by ACS.
Once you have a blog up and running, there are a few things that you have to do if you want it to become popular. These days there are hundreds of SEO blogs and if you aren’t unique, there is no point in starting one.
- Write detailed blog posts – if you write how to type of posts you’ll typically gain more traction than if you just blog about SEO news.
- Use stats – blog posts that contain facts and percentages also tend to do better. If you look at the SEOmoz blog, you’ll notice that posts like this are popular because they contain stats.
- Dumb things down – SEO is a complicated topic, so if you can dumb down your blog posts you’re better off than if you only use technical jargon. At the end of the day the person who is most likely to hire and pay you won’t understand this jargon, if they did they’d just optimize their own site. By using images and even whiteboards, you’ll be able to dumb down your blog posts, yet still keep them somewhat technical.
If you blog on a weekly basis and push out good content every week, you’ll start to get more traffic and see an increase in brand recognition in the SEO space.
Become a guest author
Blogging on your own site isn’t enough. You need to start blogging on other blogs. By becoming a guest author on popular SEO and marketing blogs you’ll brand yourself as an SEO expert, which will also help your agency.
In addition to blogging on marketing blogs you also want to start blogging in places that your ideal customer may be looking. For example if your typical customer is a business owner, you could guest post on Entrepreneur.com. If they are an up and coming startup, TechCrunch would be great place for you to blog.
Every week you should be guest posting on at least 2 blogs. The first should be a marketing/SEO blog and the second should be a blog that your ideal customer is reading. To achieve this goal you should email at least 10 people every Sunday night that you are interested in guest posting for.
The reason you want to email 10 people is that most bloggers will say “no”. However, if you let them know the specific topic you want to blog on and you do the research to make sure these blogs accept guest posts, you should get at least 20% of them saying “yes”.
When you submit your guest post make sure you include an image of yourself as well as a bio that includes a link to your company. If you forget the bio you won’t be building up your agency’s brand.
Attend conferences
Conferences are a great place to brand your agency and pick up new customers. When I first started out I attended all of the major SEO conferences, and boy did I make a lot of money doing so. People got to know me, I met potential customers and I even gained more knowledge.
Over time SEO conferences became competitive, which caused my brand to be mixed in with hundreds of others SEOs. After a while I rarely was able to pick up new clients from them… even if I was speaking.
I started to look for new conferences to brand my agency. I quickly realized that industry specific conferences and regional based events aren’t crowded with a ton of SEOs. Which makes it easier to pick up new clients.
If you want pick up new clients start attending industry specific events that aren’t SEO related and also focus on attending regional based events.
If you want to start building your brand through conferences you have to attend dozens of them each year as some conferences will work out while others won’t. In most cases the events that cost a lot tend to provide a better ROI because if someone can afford to pay $3000 to attend a conference, they can probably afford to hire your firm.
Create white papers and beginner’s guides
Everyone these days is releasing free information because it really helps with branding. Just look at SEOmoz’s guide to SEO. It’s become the default guide if you want to learn about the subject.
It’s so popular that when people ask other SEOs about learning SEO, they just point them to SEOmoz’s guide.
By no means is this a short-term branding strategy, but if you can produce really good white papers and beginner’s guides you should start seeing them passed around. The trick is to just make them downloadable so that people can pass them around within their organization.
If you are going to create content, make sure you don’t just publish the same information that others have already released. For example it would be a waste of your time to reproduce the Beginner’s Guide to SEO.
Buy banner ads
Banner ads? They are a waste of money, right? Well if you buy them on other SEO sites they aren’t. When I ran my agency we would spend up to $15,000 a month buying banner ads on other SEO sites...these sites weren’t just news related like Sphinn.
We would actually buy ads on our competitors’ site. As weird as that may sound, other SEO bloggers, who are also service providers, sell ads. From the Wolf Howl blog to Search Engine Roundtable, you can buy ads on some of the most popular SEO sites on the web.
When I bought ads I found that most of them didn’t convert when I sent them to my homepage, but when I sent them to a landing page that gave away a free white paper, it was very effective. As your sales team can take those leads and close them.
Participate in the community
The cool part about the SEO industry is that SEOs have a tendency to work together. They play nice with each other and they are willing to share customers. For this reason it’s important to build up your brand amongst other SEOs.
Other than going to SEO networking events, you can do this through 2 simple ways:
- Comment on 5 different SEO blogs each day. Don’t leave generic comments; instead leave very detailed comments that are adding to the conversation.
- Join popular SEO forums like SEO Chat and respond to 5 different questions each day. Similar to leaving comments on blogs, make sure your responses on forums are detailed.
If you do these two things for a year, you’ll end up building a large Rolodex of SEOs.
Help people out for free
The most effective branding strategy I used with my firm was to help out popular bloggers for free with their SEO. In exchange for helping them, they would add an image link with my company logo that stated “SEO by ACS”. When you do this for 30 of the Technorati 100 blogs like I did, you’ll quickly build up your brand as these blogs get millions of visitors each month.
You don’t have to know these blogs to do their SEO, just shoot them an emailing offering free SEO services in exchange for an image link. Trust me, it works.
And think of it this way, if someone has that popular of a blog, the chances are they know at least 1 company who can afford to pay you at least $10,000 a month for your consulting services. If you help these bloggers increase their traffic you should be able to get a few introductions to companies that can pay you.
Help people out for free
Another effective tactic that I used to build up my agency’s brand was to just help out people for free. You’ll notice that over time a lot of people and companies who can’t afford your services will hit you up. Instead of turning them down, give them some free advice every once in a while. You’ll be shocked on what that will do for your brand.
My first million-dollar customer came from someone who had no money. I helped him out for free for 30 minutes at a conference and he continually told everyone at the event how I was a great SEO. Within hours I had businesses hitting me up and a few of them were interested in engaging with my firm for 1.2 million dollars a year. Out of those few that were interested 1 agreed.
So the next time someone emails you asking for free advice, don’t push them away. Offer some free help, as they’ll constantly tell other people good things about you and your agency.
Create case studies
If you are good at what you do, you should be able to create some awesome case studies. All you have to do is breakdown what you specifically did for that company, how long it took, and the exact results they saw.
When you breakdown the results be sure to include numbers such as traffic stats, revenue increases or anything else the client will let you include. And when wrapping up the case study, make sure you get a good testimonial or video interview from the client.
One agency that does this very well (they aren’t an SEO agency) is Conversion Rate Experts. I found out about them through their SEOmoz case study. The video Rand did with them broke down how they made SEOmoz over a million dollars, and convinced me to hire them.
Showcase these case studies all over your website as they will help get your agency out there in front of bigger companies. Without them it’s going to be tough to gain interest from Fortune 500 companies.
Conclusion
If you do everything I mentioned above, you’ll brand your agency as one of the best shops around. I know it’s a lot work, but in the end the revenue will make up for the hard work.
Give it a shot; try out just a few of the tactics above for the next 6 months and I guarantee that you’ll see results. You have to make sure you keep at it, as you can’t expect miracles in the first few months of doing this.
About the author: Neil Patel is the co-founder of KISSmetrics, an analytics provider that helps companies make better business decisions.
Work for free! This has always been the most effective way to brand myself. Provide free content (guest post), consult for free, be ready to spend time and effort and get no money for that!
Many people are not read to work for free, sadly. I see too many people who never guest blog just because they spend too much time on providing paid services instead (and have no time left).
This is a huge mistake. I had been working for free for a year before I started providing services and all my best contacts were built during that year (my best friends, people who still help me once I need help and blog about me regularly).
You don't really need huge money to start your SEO business. You only need to be ready to work!
Hi Ann, did you ever try volunteering for non-profit organizations?
Yes, once. I have only once been approached by a non-profit seeking help. Otherwise, there might be more :)
I am trying to help everyone I can
I totally agree with you Ms Ann. I made the same thing and i think until now i provide free consult etc. Im on SEO area about 7 years until now and im trying to help for free and to build up my SEO brand!!
Such a good point -- the working for free. I remember when I was consulting I would consciously explore new industries by finding a potential client and doing some work for free. I could gauge if this was an industry I wanted to do more work in and then you would have the good word of mouth working in your favor for doing some free hours of work. Excellent strategy for sure!
Exactly: working for free has also helped me learn *a lot* as well as test the niche. It's always a win!
That's right SEO agencies don't require any capital outlay. You just have to be willing to work hard. It's a shame that people don't like to do work for free.
Hi Neil,
I am totally agree with you specially WORK FOR FREE is what one can capitalize on without expecting anything. Also it may pay you back all your efforts as once a client start getting some revenue from your free consultation, she can pay you back all at once or in part. But one should never think of getting anything except the words of mouth advertisnment. Also adding Twitter and Facebook to the list is a Plus Plus for branding as all the major brands are there on these social media.
Regards
Sasha
Hi Neil,
as other already wrote, it is hard to disagree with you: all these tactics are logical if you want to pass from a substantially unknown SEO to someone people contact and pitch without asking. Some how it is something I am trying to do as well. But you forgot - or maybe took for given - a fundamental premise: a constant will. Because everything you suggest it is possible only if you decide to do so, and decide that whatsoever is happening you have to follow the "branding plan", while maintaining your daily job with your clients always at the top. And that is the hardest thing, especially when you are at the beginning or you are an solo-man.
And, talking about clients, I'd like to add a tip to yours: while working with a client, surprise her with a more than an excellent attention: if you show how much you care about her success (and are able to make her succeed), you will not only gain a long lasting client, but also a great brand ambassador.
Good point on the attention. Another thing you can do is go above and beyond and do a bit more work. For example you could provide a custom monthly newsletter... or make an additional phone call each month to show that you care about the client.
top point to add to the list, Gianluca.. .from an inhouse perspective I have to say that working with a supplier that commits and pursues success as the main goal in the relationship is algo condusive of me recommending that supplier to someone else and so help him/her raise their brand profile.Â
Neil - Â I thoroughly enjoyed this post, I guess it can all be summarised on ' give generously and you will be loved' Â : )
Love your point about helping people out for free. One way to do this is to use some developer muscle.
For example, ebusinessconsultant.co.uk used data from data.gov.uk to build a tool that shows roadwork in the UK. Great link bait, and great value.
Hi Neil, I think you are almost right. If you want to become successful you have to do all the things you described here and / or in your last blog post.
We read all the time "Start a blog", "Become a guest blogger", "Create something special" etc. Most of the people out there know that already - but in my opinion you have to have a lot of other qualities, too, to succeed: You have to have the ability and the character to guide people and a company or to write compelling blog posts. You have to have that personality and the aura that leaders have. And that's why so many people fail.
The other thing to note is that people see a lot of information all the time, but they forget to act on it. Sometimes it is the basic things that we tend to neglect.
I could not agree more. While many may be great at SEO they simply do not have the personality to let others know it. It is like going to the dance and standing in a dark corner by yourself. No one is going to ask you to dance...
Thats one of those things I say all the time, the girl you DON'T ask out is never going to sleep with you. Â If you don't ask, the answer is as good as No.
What algogmbh_petra said is totally true though and to pick on Neil a little bit, she's got you here. Â The things you're talking about are very basic and the reason that people come to you for advice is that you've made a success of yourself. Â The "secret" to your success is personality based, it's charisma, it's energy.
It's not a list of seven things you can do to succeed, it's something that you are.
I experience this myself, I don't like to think about my qualities, my personal talents and gifts, it's that whole desire to stay humble and modest etc etc. Â But that said, I can't ignore the fact that our success stems from my natural ability to make it rain. Â I sit in meetings confidently, I speak clearly and break SEO down as simply as I can for my audience and I don't ask for the sale, I let the client ask us.
I'm surrounded by dozens of people and many of them are starting businesses and it sucks but a good chunk of them are going to fail. Â They're not going to fail because they haven't blogged enough, as certainly there are plenty of crappy blogs out there and these folks could blog daily and that suddenly won't cause anyone to open their pocketbooks to them. Â They're going to fail because they don't have "it".
Whatever "it" is, right? Â But seriously, "it" is Rand Fishkin doing a live review of several websites after only having 4 hours to review them and as soon as he gets the list he runs out of the room with a childlike grin on his face while the room cracks up at his spectacle. Â "It" is Mike King walking in the room dressed as MC Hammer and actually rocking the room out to a hammer dance before teaching folks about involving REAL PEOPLE in their SEO efforts. Â "It" is being a Purple Cow, being different, being a spectacle, being worth talking about.
It's like we tell every one of our clients, "If you're worth talking about, you're worth linking to."
In Neil's defense - he's giving good advice - but she's right, this guide isn't something that just anybody can pick up and suddenly become the next Will Critchlow or Ian Lurie. Â It takes the right kind of personality, the right charisma, it takes "it" to truly succeed.
Hi Neil, great post and would say that I agree with every single point you mentioned. Like you've said, it's a lot of hard work and I think people also need to be aware that as with anything, results aren't instant. It's really hard to get this whole thing in motion, but great when the results finally start to come through!
I think the only other thing I'd mention is trying to develop relationships with local web developers and companies that are in contact with clients who need SEO, but can't provide the service themselves. Personally speaking, that alone has been a great source of refferals.
Loved reading this!
Great post - first time commenter, long time lurker. I can say that my company, Elite Strategies, does all of these items. Sometimes regularly, some not as often. (Number 4 I am doing right now lol)
Anyway @sushiking I think you kind fo answered your own question. Some clients are more private than others. We have several clients that are happily willing to take part in case studies, because they are so proud of their rankings, this is particularly true for smaller clients. We treat our clients with much sensativity so if they are not willing to do a case study we do not push hard, because retaining them as a client is much more important than getting a case study out of them.
Also I have found for whitepapers - it does not have to look like an algebra whitepaper. Start with something simple like on page seo for 2012 for instance and go from there.
As for media buying and conferneces - as a company that is lower on the revenue scale we are still able to do these things on a smaller scale. Not everyone can be seomoz or orange soda, etc. Start by building your brand locally and go from there. Start by building in one niche market.
Thank you SEO moz - your blogs truly help drive my business toward success!
Hi, Neal
I am like a newbie in this field but i never read blog very intentionally like this.
this post is really helpful for my types of people who just want proper guidence to start SEO Agency in future.
No problem Vipul. Best of luck with starting your agency.
Hi Neil, great post and would say that I agree with every single point you mentioned.You'll understand the problems their currently facing and their specific needs.
Some good points for starting a business, only one thing it takes a huge amount of time to get all this stuff happening, you need to invest countless time. One thing which I think is hard is speaking at confrences, most confrences have the same people speaking at them year after year. So it is hard to get a spot, becuase the people running them let all mates of the confrence owenr speak. The same content is usually used year after year, this case in a lot of Australian confrences in Search and Social. Only recently have they picked up the game a bit.
What tactics do you employ to convince customers to let you use them in detailed case studies? So many of mine default to "we dont want our competitors finding our what you have done for us". I do work in a very niche market, but any advice would help. Thanks!
I usually try to get companies to agree to them in their contracts or offer them a discount if they give us a case study (assuming they are hesitent).
Hey Neil, thanks for your second post regarding the SEO business... I understood everything but have a single doubt.. In your post..it is mentioned that for branding one of the essential thing to do is to attend the "industry specific conferences" .. so I am confused about it. Does that mean ..we have to attend the conferences in different niches ?e.g. Digital Marketing, PPC world, or the brand apecific like, SMX, Mozcon etc... (sorry for this silly question .) Please reply, Thanks
Great post with useful advises, i have nothing to add just because i have never used any of this advises and i will definetely adopt some of them to brand myself as seo expert.
I also want to mention that people could also use badges tactics instead of "banners" (if they don't have a lot to invest) because this might help in rankings (inbound links) for "popular industries searches" depending on your seo strategy.
One of my client revealed me that he hired me because i was the first on google serps on 3 differents searches he perfomed on google when searching for seo consultancy. So you should carry on your rankings because a lot of people outside there are continuing to hire experts through google or yahoo or bing!
Hi Neil, hi everybody,
nice post. What is missing to me in this thread is the factor of appearance. To be visible as a strong and trustworthy brand you need a professional look and feel. You should have a unique and catchy logo, a well-arranged website and a strict communication to the customer. When I visit a website the first impression determines if I am willing to conduct transactions with that company.
Good points. But what about a strong and strustworthy background in your playing field? I think that's also very important as Neil states in his conference example.
Awesome tactics to brand your SEO Agency. Well, I was thinking that you can also add something of Social Activity like Twitter, Facebook etc. which also brand your SEO Agency.
What I like most of your post is that you write those things which you came across in your life. Like your blog name & hosting. In your last post also you wrote something which usually happens in your life which gives you immense teaching on how to overcome that & prevent others in doing so.
I also learned from your writing that you don't keep secrets of showing your revenue earned, how much you spend etc. unlike others who sometimes keep it with their own.Â
Attending conference is something I'm about to begin.
Thanks for the great read!!!
Transperancy is huge. By using it you can build strong relationships with your readers. And if they trust you, they are more likely to hire you.
While I agree with most of this, I fundamentally disagree with dumbing down your content, unless you are only interested in attracting dumb clients. I'll admit that creating accessible content is valuable for attracting a large audience, but it makes your brand vulnerable to competitors who are ostensibly more sophisticated. Being able to show a client a public record of your innovation and academic contribution to the body of SEO knowledge is an impressive selling point. i prefer to start my conversations with "let me explain" than "what i said is not exactly true".
Your articles are some of my favorite on SEOmoz. Keep them comeing.Â
-Bryant
Hello Neil,
 Thanks for these wonderful tips. Image link in exchange of free SEO is really worthy for me becauase i came to know about it first time.
Hi Neil,
Great article. My only comment is how to find the time, sounds like you built your agency before the global rcession, unfortunately, we switched our focus / expertise from just providing ecommerce websites to website marketing, just before the recession kicked in. We had to make massive reductions in staff to survive, actually, three years on, we are doing rather well, however, everyone is client facing, we are all hands on delivering client projects, finding the time to write the blog, is tough.
That said, we are expecting to start recruiting again in 2012, we are back in growth mode and the blog is top of our priority list. Â One thing we do have is great client references, our joint success has allowed us to increase our rates every quarter this year, although we are not receiving contracts anywhere near the value you talk about, we live in hope.
We have a lot of catching up to do.Â
I have to agree with you. One of the best things I do to get customers and referrals is help people for free. Answering people's questions goes a long way to gaining you customers.
I believe what he is saying about dumbing down the content is that you need to make it understandable to the lay people you are dealing with. Often when I am talking toclients or potential clients I can see their eyes glazing over. I usually ask them a question at that point and I will go over whatever it is they don't understand. In blog post graphics help a lot as does encouraging people to aks questions in the comments.
Time, sheesh. Time is always a problem but you just got to build into it. It helps to if you can find writers or contributors that know their stuff and offer them the opportunity to expand their own reach.
Another great post, Neil! :)
I'm in the same situation as you described, with already estublished SEO local blog and started with agency site on different domain about 2 years later. Still thinking what to do. Will try with having agency logo and name on top of blog for start.Â
Btw, I see you still have that 2 different domains? And I don't see ACS clearly on pronetadvertising (except on cameron bio)?
I just started my own SEO brand last month so these are very valuable tips for me. I did start my own blog and I'm helping out people for free (and these are very satisfied :-)
I also started with a small book although it's difficult to finish it due to lack of time. Anyway, your article motivated me to continue. Thanks
Very Useful Post, and i agree with you, but how much time has a SEO to spend this way everyday? I mean reading blogs, comment interesting posts, reply to forum's questions, write his own blog, how many hours do you think is the right time to dedicate it?
Always add amazing value and worth of mouth will bring a lot of new clients.Â
Excellent article Neil. Now its time to add few more things to my To-Do list. Thanks!
gr8 article Neil. thanks
Hi Neil,
Great post and some great ideas there! I think the idea of offering something free is a great one.
It seems to be that people expect something FREE these days and it's a great way to show people that getting them good results is at the forefront of your company and not making money!
Thanks again!
Thanks a Lot Neil, It was a great post, very motivational for me and my career as SEO. I was aware of some of the methods but now I have new ones.
Thanks again.
 I am sure I won't be the first one to say this, but here is one of my blog comments for the day. however, all joking aside as a little SEO company in London the idea of putting free content together is a little bit daunting, but having thought about it you you can always put a personal spin on the subject.
I certainly think you can carry weight on your own specialism (whether that be subject matter or governed by geography). I am sure being a search engine optimisation Guru is going to be different in California than it is in Boston. there is definitely different areas where the population acts/searches differently.
 the same high-quality product certainly isn't searched for in the same way from one posh area in London to another.
 your last post spurred me to think completely differently about both longevity of contract and having a line in the sand that both myself and my customer can recognise a success.. (if you remember, I sent you a cheeky request on the subject)
 nice one Neil
[link removed]
Great practical advice, Thanks Neil!
Great tips!
Thanks Neil, great blog post as usual.
Do you have a case study from ACS that you could share for the rest of us?
When you ran an SEO firm what did you find was your best demographic, I've read in many posts that you've written to go "niche" as to not compete with everyone else.
Could you share a little insight on this and how that tied into your firms branding at the time.
Thanks Neil, I actually spoke with Neil on Skype when I first started my company and he gave much of the same advice (see he does add loads of value).
I think much of this comes down to not just blogging but where your blogs are seen, which is where the guest blog posts come in as they're likely to have much more trust depending on picking the right ones in the niche you're trying to tackle!
I picked a niche based on my background of working in affiliate marketing as thought if a client does affiliates they're likely to do search too! Although most popular niches have a SEO company they're working with people move on or agencies don't work out so plenty of opportunity in a huge market! We're still getting new enquiries from the less sexy niches that haven't ever done SEO in any capacity before.
Having great content is not down to how many average articles you churn out, but actually takes time to do properly which in business isn't always easy if you have client proposals, meetings etc to go to. If I did do it all over again I'd say partnering with a few others might of been a good idea due to time, although saying that you could end up not getting on with your partners which I've seen happen in a few startups :-)Â
I can tell you from speaking with two entrepreneurs that have built up and successfully sold their SEO/online marketing agencies in the UK, most of new business comes from the off line networking and although we all love an infogrpahic and an engaging blog post, which mozzers do a great job from my thoughts are this is a medium to longer term strategy. I'm definately guilty of not blogging enough, but ultimately I'm looking to attract clients not other SEO's like Neil said, I disagree that if your content isn't sophisticated enough people wont use you, its more to do with if its relevant to their niche which is where for new clients case studies are much more useful than white papers and blog posts.
Got loads to say on this, but sadly its bed time and i'm off to meet some clients who I can help with SEO!Â
Great post! I liked the idea of advertising on competing sites - you don't see that happen too often.
Hi, Neal
I am like a newbie in this field but i never read blog very intentionally like this.
this post is really helpful for my types of people who just want proper guidence to start SEO Agency in future.
I really eagar to folow your next post.
Again thanks Neil and also Everybody who did valuable comment on this blog.
Nice post - I've had some great successes from attending conferences.
A better title might have been How to Grow Brand Perception / Penetration. I'd be interested if you have you any thoughs on how a SEO should be positioned in terms of visuals, company name, web design, logo etc?
I suppose that a different blog altogether!
"Comment on 5 different SEO blogs each day"
This is great advice and something I recommend clients do in any industry. As I was reading this post I thought about how long it's been since I haven't done this.
It's really easy to get caught up and lose focus on such a simple task. Thanks for the reminder.
Hi Neil,
Great advice.
Do you have any strong feelings about the benefits, from a branding perspective, of incorporating video in your blog posts?
I think video is great. The reason being is that people perceive video to have more value than text based information. Plus it gives people an opportunity to get to know you on a personal level, which should help with your personal brand.
Great article, Neil. I always enjoy reading your posts!Â
I agree that conversion rate experts does a good job, and they're consistently delivering excellent content to my inbox :)Â
What additional advice would you give to freelance SEOs/SEMs as opposed to marketing an agency?
Great post!
Attending conferences shouldn't be overlooked. The key really is to find conferences or events where your potential customers congregate.
Even if you don't get any direct business leads at such events, the more you can learn about your target market, the easier it will be to sell your services to them. You'll understand the problems their currently facing and their specific needs.
If you talk their language better than the next guy then you've got a great advantage.
Neil, I have a question about Facebook! You haven't mention it here: so facebook is not a great platform to brand seo agency?
It is a great channel to brand you agency. I just think it is hard to a service company to leverage Facebook effectively if you aren't willing to spend a ton of money.
I also haven't messed around with Facebook as much as I should have, so there could be something I am missing with Facebook marketing.
Post your blog posts and news on Facebook automatically. You can also have your facebook auto post to twitter (if i remember correctly). Create great content and you should get some nice shares, this can easily expand your reach. We can all see the benefit aye? Branding def.Â
FTW! Didn’t find even a single point where in ca disagree. Neil, in my opinion Branding is time taking but if person have the sated goal and will to go for it then results can be phenomenal.
One thing that i really want to add here is Twitter; it can be a vital part of your branding strategy. Be active on twitter, participate in on-going conversations and help other people through twitter within 140c and this will not only help you building brand but slowly you will see list of fans (followers) that will help you building your brand but RTing your stuff. Â
Great Read!
Good point about Twitter. We have been using that as one of the main ways to brand my startup.
Buying banner ads on competitors sites. did this ever draw any negative reactions and did they ever try the tactic on your site?!
Some great information Neil and alot of tips that any SEO could use to increase their presence and authority in the industry, the whole agency team should be doing this, drawing on their specific knowledge
These are some great tips. I was having the same thoughts at others on here and that is whether or not you want to do the work. It takes time and commitment and many people will give up before they see success. Sounds like you have a great combination of PR tactics.
"At the end of the day the person who is most likely to hire and pay you won’t understand this jargon, if they did they’d just optimize their own site."
That's the philosophy I've taken with my blog. I'm writing for an audience that wants to learn more about SEO, but has no interest in becoming an "expert" or "advanced" any time soon.
I definately think it is useful to offer SEO tips for free to new businesses as it is still a grey area to many companies. Offering a blog is a great idea which is what we do and ensure that there is lots of useful tips and articles about different aspects of SEO and also what is going on in the industry. Potential clients visiting your site will see that you are openly sharing some best practices whilst ofcourse branding your company. I like the idea of white papers and beginners guides. Great post and some useful tips!
the way I rank my clients, I rather not go big and brand my SEO agency or Matt and his puppets will put me on the streets holding a "will do SEO for food" sign..lol jk
But I am actually starting a marketing and adveritsing agency with focus online and mobile I can use some of tips for that one so thanksÂ
You actually make a good point. Sometimes it is best to stay under the radar. But as long as you are using ethical tactics, you shouldn't have any issues.
Great post.
It is ironic how it's so difficult for SEO's to get business doing what we do best. :)
One thing I'd add is using LinkedIn.
While I think it's great to join discussions on SEOchat, LinkedIn is a stocked pond full of potential clients.
Get in there, add value, share your knowledge, give free hugs, etc. Â Then, Enjoy an insanely unmanagable inbox of leads in your inbox.
Aloha,
Kevin
We've been giving out Free Hugs for the past few years! It totally works =)
Nice article Neil!Â
Neil -Â
Good stuff here. I especially dig your "Help people out for free" points. If you're a friend and are willing to help people, you get much further in life and in business. You've seen it, Rand has seen it, I'm seeing it, Distilled has seen it.
I am also intrigued by your points about money. It's not something I often think about, but this post and your last one have made me think bigger about what a company could charge for their services. The wheels are spinning.
Thanks for this post.
Nive post, Neil!
As Gianluca says, it's difficult not to be agreed with you. Your coments are really helpful for people like me who are starting their career in this "crazy" world of SEO. These advices are like the New Bible for SEO Entrepreneurs. I hope to become a recognized SEO, but I'm sure that, at last, all I need is condensed in two words: HARD WORK.
Thanks for your post!
Great post! Very useful tactics for building a "brand", not per se SEO. Do you think this applies to all brands, and especially for B2B-companies?
Another good model to follow is SEOmoz! They have excellent branding (everything listed above, logo, mascot, software, reputation, even SERPs rankings). They also differentiate themselves from other software companies. That is a brand that is hard to copy.
It is a brand that is hard to copy. But instead of trying to copy it, if you can do 1/10 of what they did, you'll do very well. ;-)
There are some great tips here, I've tried the free SEO for a link before, and it does work! Not everytime of course but it definitely helps.
So, I'm pretty sure I need to buy you dinner, because everything you've posted lately has been right up my alley. Really though, great advice from a man with experience.
Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge with us!
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Thanks for the info!
Interesting read.