Pro Bono SEO?

So many problems with this model, and so little time.... People don't value free. It's just our nature. Plus what happens when you rank them & they don't pay you? Are you going to sue them? Is it worth your time & effort to work for free, not get paid, and they pay to dish out more money to an attorney & court costs to TRY and get your money from them?

The need to see the VALUE in their services & there's many ways you can go about doing this. But the first thing is to try and cultivate a relationship with them. Once you gain their trust, then you gain their business.

I've has issues with not getting paid in the past.
Instead of working pro bono I'm going to work on getting my name out there.
Attending networking events and stuff.

Perhaps one or two for testimonials and referrals that they contact on your behalf.

Otherwise, it seems like a lot of your time and effort that could be wasted.
And, if they don't pay, they still have the benefit of your work.

Dan

Thanks guys!

If you're willing to do the work prior to getting paid a rental website or niche lead generation website model could be ideal for you

When I first started I did a series of short free presentations on how to do SEO for my local Chamber of Commerce. They promoted these presentations to their members and we always got a good turnout. Presentations were about 40 minutes followed by questions. My authority came from:

1. I was the speaker at a Chamber event
2. My ability to answer their questions honestly

Although I told them exactly how to improve their rankings, most realised they didn't have the time.

I made no sales pitch but was approached by several members at the end of each event.

After that word just got around among other chamber members.

Marketing cost, a few evenings out at Chamber meetings I probably would have attended for networking anyway! I didn't have to go around exchanging business cards and listening to other's sales pitch, I just left a pile of cards on the table after the presentations.

Oh! I also made sure I had a couple of sites on page 1 first.

John

I am going to be the contrarion in the room.

I applaud your creative thinking. I see no good reason why you shouldn't try this strategy. Here are some considerations, as I see them.

- Right now, you have more time than money
- You want to have more money, but don't seem to require it in the next 6 months to survive
- You have confidence in your ranking skills
- You believe, once people see what you can do, that the sales process will be much easier

So, if this strategy works, the upside is you could be making up to an extra $10k-$20k a month. Even if you get a single sale, you have added $1k/month in recurring revenue.

If this strategy fails, the downside is that you will be out some labor, and you will have learned some lessons about what doesn't work in business (which, by the way, are pretty much the most valuable business lessons you can learn)

Most likely, the end result will be somewhere on the lower end of the two extremes. So what? If you get any recurring business out of it, you did not fail.

As for the potential for nonpayers, I wouldn't even commit them to a contract. Just tell them that if they choose not to continue with you, you will redirect their traffic to a competitor. You can't waste your life trying to squeeze money out of people who don't want to pay you.

One parting piece of advice... if you are going to try this, and I hope you do, choose the recipients carefully. Businesses with a good reputation are more likely (but not guaranteed) to be more interested in preserving their good name.

Best of luck!

You're gonna rank 10-20 local businesses in the first 5 results for 5 keywords in 2 months with no money? OH MY!

You are a better SEO than me sir, and I thought I was the best!

LOL, I've read your blog. I like your style.
My plan with the 10-20 businesses is to only pick businesses to work with that are on the bottom of the first page-2nd page.