SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a term which is well taken by the online marketing fraternity but for others it’s a no man’s land. Even designers, developers and other employees in the companies are often unaware of this domain and undermine its importance which is a big mistake. This sometimes leads to conflicts between best seos and designers/developers. But right now we are not going to talk about it; rather, we will see how to sell your SEO services to the people who have never heard about it. I call them SEO challenged (no offenses!) people and it’s a challenge for every SEO services providing company to get business from them.
Often, companies commit a big mistake of misinforming their prospects about SEO and projecting it in a wrong manner thereby misleading them about the process and its benefits. This is actually a wrong approach. Companies do so in order to quickly get the projects as they don’t think about the long-term benefits and in the end they degrade their reputation along with the client getting skeptical about SEO.
Let’s see in detail how to sell SEO to the SEO challenged person:
1. Educate, educate and educate – It is never easy for any business to generate new business unless it has a long proven successful track record. The biggest problem is ignorance of the target prospects. They know what they want to do but when it comes to how to do, they need a bit of education especially when there are quacks all around. Start not by telling what SEO is but first educate your prospects about the benefits of SEO and how they can witness their business grow by reaching to the online population all over the globe thereby making their business truly global. But make sure that the prospect you are chasing has a website for his business. If not, then you will have to first convince him about having one.
2. Explain how search engines work – Before you start off with an explanation about SEO, first explain them about the working of search engines. But be very cautious when you do so. Remember not get too technical with them or else they will not understand even a single thing and you will end up losing their interest and ultimately losing a business. When you start the conversation, don’t even think of using the terms such as search engine algorithms, robots, crawlers, indexing or any other such term.
3. Explain SEO stuff – After you have explained in detail how search engines work, next step is to reveal search engine optimization (SEO), the process and what benefits it offers. Explain this step in association with the first step thereby ensuring that the prospect gets a decent understanding of related aspects. Make them understand SEO in the simplest possible manner and make sure that the listener is following you. Don’t include SEO jargons in your talk and if possible give them an explanation supported by online presentation.
4. Burst the SEO myths – This is the best you can do to win the confidence of your prospect. Dispel wrong notions about the SEO being marketed by fakes who project themselves as professionals. Most of them market their SEO services under the banner of “sure shot increased sales”. Make sure that your prospect is not under this wrong impression or else you too will end up with a degraded reputation. The important thing is not just the education but the right education mixed with the marketing message.
5. Building blocks of SEO: Keywords – SEO Professionals are well aware of the importance of keywords, so why not sensitize our prospects too. Explain them about the importance of keywords – how they are used to search for the websites by the users and how search engines rank the websites on the basis of their usage. Also, clarify the importance of keyword research process and how it forms the backbone of optimization process.
6. Reveal the differences between SEO and Traditional Marketing – When you are trying to sell your services expect some unexpected questions. The person may ask you, why should we avail your SEO services when we have other traditional forms of marketing? This question is quite logical and must be carefully answered in order to keep the conversation on track. Two most distinguishing characteristics of SEO that separates it from traditional marketing are the amount of investment and period of effectiveness. The investment cost incurred in traditional marketing is usually too high and it remains effective only as long as the marketing campaign runs. On the contrary, investment in SEO is comparatively low and the effects are almost everlasting.
7. Develop an SEO primer – Create an elementary resource either in the form of eBooks, brochures, presentations, videos or any other medium that can be used to educate your prospects and provide them with the basic understanding and concepts of SEO. Using graphical representation instead of long pieces of text is any time a better option. Make sure to include:
