Are you wondering how to get clients as a freelance SEO specialist? If so, you’ve come to the right place. It’s easy to see why more and more SEO professionals are turning to freelancing. You can work with clients all over the world, perform your job from anywhere you want and increase your salary. 

On the flip side, getting your freelance business off the ground can be tough. You’ll be competing with more experienced competitors with bigger portfolios. As a result, you’ll need to get creative. Try these 7 steps if you’re thinking of getting your clients as freelancers offering SEO services.

Tap Into Your Network

There’s a good chance that someone in your family or friendship group will either own a small business or know someone who does. Try reaching out to these people if you’re struggling to get clients as an SEO freelancer. 

These people are more likely to trust you if they already have a relationship with you or you’re referred to them by a mutual connection. This can give you a good opportunity to gain experience as a freelancer but without the stress of working with a complete stranger.

Charge A Lower Price For First Customers

If you are having trouble getting your first clients as a freelance SEO specialist, you may need to lower your price. There’s a good chance that businesses won’t be prepared to pay as much to work with someone who is just starting out.

A good option to counteract this is by running a limited time offer that pushes potential clients to take action. For instance, offering your services for half price for the first ten clients you work with doesn’t require as much trust and prompts them to act more urgently.

Use SEO Techniques

If you don’t know where to start with this one, you might not be ready to step into the world of SEO freelancing! As an SEO, you’ll be well aware of the benefits of ranking higher on search engine results pages (SERPs) and your knowledge can come in extremely handy when starting out as an SEO freelancer.

To land your first clients, targeting long-tail and less competitive keywords is advised as you’ll struggle to rank for more competitive search terms. For example, try to rank for ‘SEO consultant for small business’ when trying to get clients as an SEO freelancer.

You may also want to focus your SEO efforts locally. Not only is this less competitive, it also gives you the advantage of being able to meet face-to-face with your potential clients so you can build a relationship in person.

Build Case Studies

Case studies, referrals and reviews are like gold to freelancers, and they can drastically speed up the process when trying to get clients as a freelance SEO specialist. Referrals and positive reviews build trust with potential clients while case studies showcase your offering and past success.

The problem is that you can’t have case studies without previous clients, so if you’re trying to get your first client as an SEO freelancer, consider working for free in order to get those first few case studies up on the website.

Improve Your Website

If you’ve improved your rankings but aren’t seeing leads, you may need to revamp your website. It may be that potential clients are finding you but aren’t impressed by what they see on your site. 

It could be that you need to reposition your offering, lower the price or introduce a blog section that showcases your expertise. Other factors could be site speed and usability, an inefficient website may create trust issues that are preventing you from getting those first clients as an SEO freelancer. 

Grow Your Social Media

In recent years, social media algorithms have shifted towards serving up tailored content that works by using our past behaviour to predict the content you want to see. Previously, users would only see content from accounts they followed.

This shift massively helps anyone starting a new business. You no longer need to spend years growing your social following. Nowadays, it’s all about your content and if you’re able to create content that is unique, valuable and well-put-together, you’ll likely see engagement regardless of your follower count.

For business-related content, LinkedIn appears to be the place to be. You’ll find countless mentors and experts leveraging the platform as a tool to attract leads. Uploading free SEO tips to LinkedIn is a way to draw in people in need of your services before convincing them to pay for your full offering.

Reach Out To Agencies

Finally, a good way to have a constant flow of clients as a freelance SEO specialist is by reaching out to an SEO agency. Small agencies will often need to turn clients away due to limited resources. Offering your services to these agencies gives you a way to work with businesses and gives them an option to expand their team on a flexible basis. You’ll often find this approach leads to higher-paying clients too.

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