How To Go About Providing SEO To Local Businesses.

[phish3rz]

Hey,
This is my first warrior thread so go easy on me!
I am pretty confident within Niche Marketing and SEO and I've been asked by a local business man if I can generate more profit from his Bathroom Showcase Website. I can do this very well but im a little un-certain of how to actually explain things to him regarding for instance " How Can I Guarantee You Will Be Ranked Higher, And Gain More Profits".

Do i expect payment only when he's ranked higher?
Do i expect payment only when he's gained more profits?

Just hoping for you guys to help me out a bit,
I would love to hear your thoughts.

Many Thanks,

[Adaptive]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

There was a great discussion about this very topic just last week:
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-internet-marketing-discussion-forum/68731-i-made-easy-2-000-month-one-offline-source.html

I recommend you go through that thread and take notes about everything you could do, and another list of all the questions you have about how to do it. Then come back here with your lists!

Regards,
Allen

[jimbobo2779]

I would say set a certain amount per month with a bonus if you exceed the pre-defined rankings/extra sales he was requiring. Thats what Id do.

Jim

[Tyler Ellison]

I used a formula of taking 50% up front guaranteeing their satisfaction. If they aren't satisfied at the end of the specified time period, they have no obligation to pay the remaining 50%. Thank goodness that never actually happened!

[stsnelson]

The key for you will be:

1) The competition
2) The timeframe
3) The specifics (goals) outlined and agreed upon

With that said, I agree with the 50% upfront and the balance when you deliver. If you can run some quict tests to see how competitive the market is prior to inking the deal you will know how quickly you can get the balance.

[Charlie Parker]

I've been considering offering SEO to local businesses but am starting to think a better way to go would be to start a local portal website that I own myself. Then I can work on getting it a bunch of top rankings which I could then sell ad space on.

Its a more long term project but can potentially provide more long term income.

[JohnMcCabe]

I'd be very wary of linking payment to things you can't control.

What happens if you get that top ranking, and Google shuffles the deck?

Does that mean you should refund the client because they no longer have the ranking you promised? Or maybe they'll expect you to do the job again for free until you restore the previous position?

As for linking payment to realization of added profit...

A businessman was looking to hire a new accountant. He had three interviews lined up. Here's how the interviews went:

Interview 1 -

Owner: What's 2 and 2?
Accountant: 4
Owner: Thanks for coming, we'll let you know.

Interview 2 -

Owner: What's 2 and 2?
Accountant: 22
Owner: Thanks for coming, we'll let you know.

Interview 3 -

Owner: What's 2 and 2?
Accountant: What do you want it to be?
Owner: When can you start?

Without a certified audit, all the owner has to do to get your work for free is simply not show an additional profit. Or maybe less conspiracy-mode, maybe he just doesn't convert extra sales. Either way, if your payment is tied to additional profits, you could get hung out to dry.

So far, the best arrangement has been to half up front - non-refundable - and half on completion. If the client is truly unhappy, I offer to keep working or to end the arrangement and forfeit the other half of the payment.

The key to making that work is charging enough up front that you're happy even if you have to walk away...

[Art Turner]

I think you should charge a flat fee up front for the work you will do, optimization, backlinking, etc. No part of your fee should be contingent on results because there is too much not under your control.

[phish3rz]

Originally Posted by Adaptive

Hi and welcome to the forum.

There was a great discussion about this very topic just last week:
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-internet-marketing-discussion-forum/68731-i-made-easy-2-000-month-one-offline-source.html

I recommend you go through that thread and take notes about everything you could do, and another list of all the questions you have about how to do it. Then come back here with your lists!

Regards,
Allen

Hi, Many thanks guys for the advise I will let you know exactly how i went about with my client, maybe even write an EBook if it all works out? What do you reckon? The Link above isn't working, just wondering if you could send me the correct link.

Many thanks,
Ben

[Thom McCarroll]

If you rank them...will the customers come...?

Just because you get someone ranked does not
necessarily mean a huge flow of customers.

A customer oriented site with a great offer
to capture the name and email address now
that is where you can show results.

Get your money upfront and add on more
services just like detailed in any of
the Offline Gold plans.

Thom

[phish3rz]

Originally Posted by WestCoastSandMan

If you rank them...will the customers come...?

Just because you get someone ranked does not
necessarily mean a huge flow of customers.

A customer oriented site with a great offer
to capture the name and email address now
that is where you can show results.

Get your money upfront and add on more
services just like detailed in any of
the Offline Gold plans.

Thom

Yeah I totally agree with you, im thinking because his website is within the "Bathroom region" i can target keywords relating to products and products brands, so clearly if people are searching they may well want to buy. Also would you recommend using PPC Ads on google for related keywords to help drive more traffic on the more generic keywords?