How to Write a Successful SEO Proposal
Only an SEO proposal that is relevant, comprehensive, and impressive will have a higher chance of converting, getting your prospect’s approval, and landing a deal. And now if you are wondering how to create such a proposal , read on. I
In this article, I'll talk about how the winning proposal looks like and what it taps into the inside of humans that makes it so effective. I'll also include tips on how you should really close your SEO proposal.
So just sit back, pour yourself a coffee, and let’s start.
How to Write the Best SEO Proposal
When you know about your client's needs, you'll be able to build a proposal that is much more realistic and detailed. That's why before even you start creating a proposal, set up a meeting with your client on the phone or in person. Dig deep into their core, use the following questions to find out what they want so that you can give them what they need,
- What does the client's business do?
- Who are their decision-makers?
- Which industry do they belong to and who are their competitors?
- What's their ultimate goal to accomplish?
- What is a proposed timeline?
- What would be their available budget?
Project Benefits of SEO to Your Prospect
After gathering all the comprehensive details about your prospect, now it’s time to tell them why they should invest in SEO. You can do this by projecting some of the major benefits of SEO in your proposal. This will make your prospect believe that SEO to their business is not just a nice addition- but it’s a necessity.
Improved Traffic
Every marketer’s wish is to have more customers to their business. More traffic means more customers and organic search is most often the primary source of website traffic. That’s why to it's important to include statistics about the traffic that drives organic search, to prove the worth.
Greater Visibility
Strategically executed SEO campaigns can give a company several benefits. And if used effectively, it helps boost brand visibility. For example, content marketing. Stats says that 70% of visibility increases due to content marketing.
More Inbound Leads
Do you know 57% of the B2B marketers confirmed that SEO has a great impact on lead generation (Junto)? Tell them that they shouldn’t let go of this opportunity.
Cost-effective
It’s important to remind your prospect that SEO is one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies because it always targets the user who is actively looking for your products or services. Gather the data to prove that there are already thousands of people out there searching for their brand and your prospect just needs a right SEO agency like you to help those people find your client’s brand.
8 Sections You Must Include In An SEO Proposal
1. Proposal Cover Page
You only get one chance to make a first impression and the cover page of your proposal is your only chance. One should always include a cover page for the proposals that are five pages or longer.
2. Introductory pitch
The introduction in your proposal sets the tone for the rest. The best practice of writing an impressive pitch is using your prospective client's words to them. This means you simply describe the problem they are facing. This way they’ll be able to connect with you quickly.
3. Target keyword ranking
You could use any tool such as Google keyword planner to pull up a list of keywords that prospect is ranking for. And then present the report of a few keywords along with the search traffic they bring in, a list of the other websites ranking for the similar keywords, whether or not prospects should rank for those keywords.
4. Provide a backlink analysis
This is the best way to prove your worth and show them that you are capable of getting into detailed strategies where other agencies may not be able to or willing to do so.
5. Case Study
Here's your chance to make a genuine relationship. You can fill out this section with the expertise you have, the awards you won, the big list of your happy clients.
Do your best to make them feel secure if they decide to hire you.
6. Timeline
Break down all the key steps and the timeline for your client. Providing an accurate timeline with deliverables allows you to set the client's expectations early.
7. Cost and Budget
Now is the time to include the detailed breakdown of the SEO project expense and how this relates to the client's budget. Make it clear that what is included in the quoted price, what services are chargeable extras if requested.
8. Terms And Conditions
Always keep the contract and your terms and conditions part of your proposal and get them signed together to avoid future conflict.
8 Possible SEO Solutions
1. Full website audit
The very first thing you need to include in your SEO proposal is a full audit of your client's website. Through the website audit, show them what's working and where you can help them improve their performance. Support your claims and opinions with proof and stats provided by your audit.
2. Content quality review and content building exercise
This review is again divided into two parts:
On-site: A review of all the on-site content including blogs, product pages, infographics, landing pages.
Off-site: An analysis of how and where the content is used on other sites and how it is being linked back to the client's website.
3. Link Outreach
Explain how'll help your client generate external quality links to their website.
4. Accessibility
This will involve the audit of the accessibility to each page of your client's website. You could do this manually by reviewing,
- robots.txt
- robots meta tags
- XML sitemaps
- Redirects
5. Indexability
After accessibility, you can now tell them about the test you will run to check if those pages are presented in the search engine or not through the process of indexing.
6. On-page analysis
You can explain the items you'll look into for on-page analysis such as:
- Content
- Keyword cannibalisation
- Duplicate content
7. Off-page analysis
After all the technical and on-page analysis, you can describe off-page analysis. You can explain how off-page analysis will help you determine
- How popular your client's website is
- Whether people are linking to it
- How's the social buzz
8. Competitive analysis
You can describe the steps here that you will carry out to find the client's competition and their strategies.
How to Close your SEO Proposal
An SEO proposal without a close is definitely a missed opportunity. Closing a proposal means summing up all the main points, resolving challenges, and finishing with a flourish. Here are some tips for closing your SEO proposal perfectly,
- Address potential objections
- Summarize of key points
- Make the call-to-action clear and concise
- Make it easy for a recipient to communicate
Takeaway
Well, it’s all worth the time and effort it takes to master the art of writing a killer SEO proposal. There are 3 things you need to remember to land more clients with your SEO proposal,
- Address your client’s pain points.
- Communicate clearly about how you can help them.
- Build trust.
You can start crafting your winning proposal using any free SEO proposal template.
Good Luck!