What top SEOs do differently to land clients

In this module, we're going to be talking about what everyone wants, better clients. We all want to be getting better clients. But I have some statistics for you first. So, according to the World Bank, nearly 47% of workers worldwide are freelancers. Very important fact because with another statistic, we can reinforce this. According to Exploding Topics, they did a deep dive on those stats. Huh. And when it comes to our work life, most high-end consultants that are freelancers earn $100 an hour or more. And what separates them from the rest of the 47%. Well, they do tend to have a bit more experience. So on average it's 12 years of experience, 11 years freelancing. Come to your own conclusions when it comes to 12 and 11. 45 hours per week of pure work

and and and nine projects per year and 25 days of vacation per year. So where does that leave us? Does that sound good to you? If yes, you should listen. Does it sound like something that is a good baseline, but you would like to go further? You should also listen. And finding a niche doesn't necessarily mean what you think it does. So, for example, you could also take the time to figure out where your offer fits into the customer life cycle. If you work with a development center, for example, because quite a few SEO agencies also offer a development service tied to it, building websites, you could figure out, okay, where do I fit in to my client's life cycle? Where do I fit in? Do I fit in at the beginning when they want a new website? Do I fit in when they want to redesign it? Do I fit in where they want to migrate? This is also something that can help you figure out your niche. I built my business by learning how to say no. Why? Because if you

keep saying yes to everything, you may end up burned out or you may end up with a team that is burned out. And this is very complicated to overcome. So when you first get started, you say yes to almost every single contract. But somewhere along the way, something changes. Let me explain. Most agencies are always worried about overhead costs and most freelancers are often worried about financial stability. How do you overcome this? By getting better clients, which means learning to say no. You should know what you sell and what you don't. And the key to doing that is niching down. You need to find the right niche or niches for your agency. Most agencies are undefined when it comes to who they are willing to help. This means that if a client comes along and says,

"I want an e-commerce store," you will say yes. And then the next client comes and asks for a WordPress blog and you will say yes. And then a big news agency is asking you for another type of thing and you will say yes. The problem is that you need to learn to say no. Saying no allows you to carve out your own space and align better with the clients that you want. So, how do you do that? How do you niche down? How do you find the right niche? Let's take a few concrete examples to help you along. Number one, congratulations. You are an SEO agency. This is already a very niche part of marketing. But is it niche enough? No, we are all SEO agencies here. So, how do you go deeper? Well, you go, okay, I'm an e-commerce SEO agency. Once again, fantastic choice for you. But is it enough? No. There are so many e-commerce SEO agencies. You need to go one level deeper. So,

you could choose to be, for example, an agency that is specialized in Shopify. Why? Because Shopify is a distinct CMS that comes with it its own challenges, its own problems. You get to know everything you need to know about it and serve people the right way. Because I can guarantee you, no e-commerce brand owner wakes up one morning and goes, I need an SEO agency. Most of them go, I need SEO for my Shopify website. How do I get that done? And now you find yourself speaking to the right people. But that's not the only example that we have. So let's take technical SEO for example. Chris Green is a technical SEO. Olga from SEOs is a technical SEO. Jamie Indigo is a technical SEO. I am a technical SEO. So there's legions of us. This is already a niche. Technical SEO is a niche, but you need to go deeper. So let me introduce you to Aean Lukil. Aean is

the founder of Speedles and he is specialized in one area of technical SEO performance. If you are having problems with your core web vitals, he is the person that you will reach out to. Speedles has been serving clients and when I say clients, I mean people who do not know anything about SEO, but also other SEO agencies and figuring out, okay, what's going on with their performance? How can we get these metrics up? Another good niche example is Petra Kish Hagg. And Petra is specialized in technical SEO, but with a twist. If you need solid processes, if you need frameworks that work with engineers and developers to get you going when it comes to technical SEO, you reach out to them. They are famous for this. But what if what if you're not into e-commerce? What if you're not into technical SEO? What if you are a content agency? Still works. You need

to figure out your niche. And one good example is Asenos. Asenos is a relatively renowned French SEO company. Why? Because they specialize in something that is very hard to do for most of us, which is proper localization. If you need to start appearing in franophhone markets, if you need to gain market shares because you've been here a while and something's not quite right, this is the agency that will help you localize your content properly and speak to your clientele in a language they understand, not just Google Translate. I hope these examples can help you figure out how you too can niche down your offer. Here's a weird unusual tip for you that most people do not think about. You need to help your clients pay you. Let me explain. Depending on the type of industry or the type of client you are targeting, these clients will understand your value. They will want to work

with you. But the price may not be right. Does it mean that you should be cheaper? No. It means that you have to figure out how to help them pay you. Okay. But how? Well, different governments offer different types of subsidies or grants or loans for companies looking to expand, scale their efforts or go beyond what they're currently doing. And that includes marketing and specifically SEO. So, for example, on our company website in the French version, you will have a page that says how to get financing and we will list all the programs that our previous clients have used to be able to afford our services because that way you are overcoming a friction that most people are able to overcome when they're guided properly. So, that's another weird niche tip I hope that you can use. Once people figure out why they need you and they seek you out, the next friction point is money. It

usually is. So, how do you approach this question? My advice, you do not win on price. If price is your unique selling point or the reason why people will go with you for this specific contract or mandate, chances are it's a race to the bottom. There will always be someone that will be cheaper than you. This is not a solution for your agency. And how do you know if you are too cheap? If you know a fourth or a fifth of your potential leads accept your proposal, chances are you may need to raise your prices because this means that a these people do see your value. So congratulations. But B, you are maybe easily affordable, which means that there is not necessarily a true understanding

as to the amount of work that you do for them and the value that you bring them for that money. And this is a common problem when it comes to getting better clients. Very often when you talk to agency veterans, they will say that there is something very strange that happens. The more you raise your prices, the less complicated client relations are, the less emails you get asking you to do little things that are not included in the project. Don't use offering the lowest price as your competitive advantage. Here's why. As the value of your deliverables and your advice rises, as the quality rises, so does the price. That makes sense. For example, the longer you spend with a client, the more value you amass for that client. Of course, the price shouldn't go down either. So, keep this in mind. Competing on price is a race to the bottom that is not sustainable.

Most agencies that are successful and sustainable, they do not bet on price. They bet on quality. They bet on skill. and they bet on having a great communication with their clients. Once you figure out the added value that you bring, the question of the price will make sense. And remember, as quality rises, so does the price. This should help you feel confident raising your prices because I know it's hard to do. So, keep that in mind. You offer quality. You do not offer cheap. Most agencies will demonstrate why they are a great fit for the job. They are not going to be betting on price once again. So what happens if you get told that you are too expensive? This has happened to me. This has happened to others. Here's the trick. Maybe you are outrageously priced. Or maybe, just maybe, you will have some of these clients shopping around and coming back

to you. And the coming back part, it could happen after they have spoken to other competitors of yours. Or it could happen after they have done one project, the quality wasn't there, so they come back because they know that quality is really more important for them than price. Here's a recap just in case you don't feel like listening to the whole thing or or to get you started now that you are motivated. Number one, remember the key to solving most of your problems as an SEO agency is better clients. So, you need to figure out how to reach out to them. And that leads me to point number two. You need to figure out who you are serving to better align with your new found clients. So, that involves having one, two, or more niches. You need to specialize. You need to carve out a space

to get the clients you want instead of competing with everyone else out there. And last but not least, you do not compete on price. You compete by showing that you are the best fit for the job, for that brand. And do not hesitate to fix prices that reflect the value you bring clients. They may choose to seek another specialist, but very often they will come back to you if quality is what they value. I hope that this has been useful for you and I'll see you in the next module.