When we started our SEO agency, we made the most common mistake in the book — we offered custom services. Each project was a little different. As a result, our projects were difficult to price and impossible to scale.
In time, we learned, like other marketing services, SEO is best delivered following a consistent step-by-step process.
Further, we took note that these steps can be packaged in an insightful way that ultimately makes your product or service easy to sell. All while supporting the client’s needs, fostering substantial ranking results and building long-term working relationships on the front end. While on the backend, your agency can continue to standardize its SEO service offerings.
If you are new to offering SEO services, then this is a great place to start. In this post, we share with you, the framework Pathfinder SEO uses to package SEO services. Alternatively, if you already offer SEO services, you can compare this framework to how your existing services are structured in hopes of spotting any opportunities for improvement. Either way, you are in the right place.
Let’s dive in!
A Framework to Package SEO Services
A framework is an underlying system that supports or guides the formation of something. That something in this instance is your packaged SEO services. The framework to package SEO services should support continuous growth. And any future expansion of the services offered is done with the client in mind.
The most common models for delivering SEO services include:
- Hourly,
- One-Time,
- Recurring (Monthly)
Our approach blends one-time services with monthly services, and it includes the following three offerings:
Let's explore each in more detail.
SEO Assessment
This is the foundation of a client’s SEO strategy. When prospective clients reach out about SEO services, they have questions similar to these:
- How do I get more leads from my website?
- Why has my traffic declined after I launched my new website?
- Why is my competitor higher than me on Google when my website is so much better?
- I used to get a lot of traffic from Google. I don’t anymore. Why? What can I do to drive growth?
As digital agency owners, we aim to be helpful. As a result, it can be tempting to answer these questions. But don’t give away your expertise for free during a sales call. Instead, this is the perfect time in the conversation to pitch your onboarding service — an SEO Assessment.
An SEO Assessment is a high-level overview of a website’s performance in organic search. It establishes where a website currently ranks and creates a roadmap for growth.
This project serves as an accessible introduction to your SEO services, making it easier for a potential client to get started in the world of SEO. In other words, the SEO Assessment acts as an on-ramp into your other SEO services.
This is a great place to mention that the SEO Assessment is not the same as an SEO audit. Here’s a breakdown of the subtle differences.
- An SEO Assessment is at the 1,000-foot level. You’re not looking at a website under a microscope or from 30,000 feet. Instead, it looks at the most critical elements of a site and provides an overview of opportunities to help gain traction and SEO results.
- An SEO Assessment doesn't cost thousands of dollars. It's meant to bring new prospects into your sales cycle and help them get started.
- An SEO Assessment doesn't take forever. This project can be completed in a week or less.
Now that the SEO Assessment is complete, your client has a tangible SEO roadmap. Not only is the client empowered to take action, but they are also perfectly poised to take advantage of your next offering, the SEO Set-Up.
SEO Skills for Web Designers & Agencies
Master key SEO skills and grow your confidence building SEO-friendly websites. This course is designed to help you deliver more value and earn more revenue.
SEO Set-Up
The SEO Assessment is complete, and the action plan is good to go. The next step is the SEO Set-Up. This project is considered an accelerator as it moves a client through the initial time-consuming tasks required to get started.
An SEO Set-Up is a one-time project to build a website’s SEO foundation and expand upon the initial strategy created during the SEO Assessment. This project is completed in a relatively short time period of 1-2 months.
SEO Set-Up can be completed on a live website or in conjunction with the development of a new site. If you are completing an SEO Set-Up in conjunction with the development of a new site, then the SEO project moves in parallel with the new site design and development.
SEO Set-Up includes the following four phases:
- Onboarding: This phase includes getting to know the client and their business goals. Here, ensure you request access to all of the resources you need to be successful including access to the website, any existing Google Analytics accounts, and the Google Search Console.
- Research & Strategy: This phase expands on the research and strategy work completed in the SEO Assessment. We go in-depth with keyword research, competitive analysis, content strategy, and off-site SEO strategy. The latter being actions taken outside of your website that increase rankings, such as link building.
- Implementation: This phase includes tasks completed on a customer's website platform, such as updating page titles and meta descriptions, fixing broken links, improving the alternative text, building an XML sitemap, and more.
- Results & Transition to Monthly Services: We expect to see improvement in the search results within weeks of completing the implementation step. It's now time to review these results with your customer and transition their campaign into Monthly SEO.
At this point, you might be thinking ahead about how to deliver an SEO Set-Up. We have good news. The guided approach at Pathfinder includes an SEO Checklist which breaks the SEO Set-Up into a series of easy-to-follow steps. Each step contains video tutorials and more. This makes it easy for your agency to consistently deliver services, even if you are new to SEO.
After you complete an SEO Set-Up on a client’s website, your client is ready to transition to monthly SEO services.
Monthly SEO Services
If you design and build websites for your customers, then you’re already familiar with the need for ongoing maintenance to keep a site running smoothly. In other words, launching a new website isn't the end of the story, it’s just the beginning. Websites require regular support in order to stay up-to-date. This kind of support is best delivered via a monthly maintenance plan.
Search engines evolve, and so do your clients’ businesses. SEO, therefore, requires ongoing efforts in content marketing, technical SEO maintenance, and off-site SEO. For this reason, we recommend that clients engage in a monthly SEO services plan.
Effective monthly SEO services require three fundamental components:
- Communication: This is the most important piece of a successful SEO effort. To be successful in SEO today, collaboration and feedback are required. A monthly phone call is a great way to ensure you’re on the same page as your client(s).
- Reporting: Each month, it's essential to deliver a summary of results and observations. Typically, this takes the form of an emailed report combining your comments and observations with information from data tools like Google Analytics.
- Action Items: These are the exact steps taken each month to drive results. Each month’s progress will build on the previous months, and eventually, solidify your SEO position for the future. A key action item is collaboration in content marketing.
As we package SEO services for delivery on a monthly basis, consider offering three tiers of service, each individually priced:
- Good: This is for prospective clients who want a basic maintenance plan.
- Better: This is for prospective clients who want steady, consistent growth and should include content marketing services.
- Best: This is for prospective clients who want next year’s results today and certainly includes content marketing services.
There are many ways to differentiate your tiers of service based on client needs. Here are a few helpful suggestions on how to do so:
- The frequency of which calls and meetings happen will undoubtedly increase as project engagement increases.
- Your specific role in content production may range from delivering a plan to delivering and executing that plan.
- Your role in off-site SEO also may range from delivering a plan to delivering and executing that plan similar to the suggestion above.
Do you still need a little clarity? You can learn more about packaging monthly SEO services and what to include in your tiers of service. But let’s go over some of the FAQs together first.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's Next?
It's time to put pen to paper and start designing your own SEO packages. What names will you use for SEO Assessment, SEO Set-Up, and your monthly SEO plans? What services will be included in each?
Once you have clearly defined each project, you are ready to price your SEO services.
We’re Here to Help
We built Pathfinder SEO for agencies like yours who are looking to start and scale their SEO services offering. We’ll accelerate you through the process and help you avoid costly mistakes.
A subscription to the Pathfinder SEO includes access to all the resources you need to create your SEO services offering and effectively deliver the service. That includes templates, process documentation, and weekly Office Hours calls.
SEO Skills for Web Designers & Agencies
Master key SEO skills and grow your confidence building SEO-friendly websites. This course is designed to help you deliver more value and earn more revenue.
