How to Get An SEO Job Part 2

---

We wrote a post a little while ago about how to get your first SEO job. It had a few techniques, but we thought it would be good to expand on the matter a bit to help any who are still struggling.

The hardest thing about breaking into the SEO consulting world is finding your first couple clients I think. Many people have a hard time roping their first clients in. There's many reasons for this, part of it may be that we come on too strong and creep the people out a little. IMers, we are used to marketing, we get our inbox bombarded daily with the latest and greatest gizmo, and we have to buy now and hurry, or a pack of squirrels will beat us to death with their nuts. ... strange picture... anyway... what we are missing is often the simple act of human interaction and friendship. The less like a salesman you appear and more like a friend, the more likely you will get your first clients.

Look local first. Not only is it easier to start out, but the personal face to face interaction puts many at ease. Think about the companies in your area, the smaller construction companies, the real estate developers, and others who are probably hurting in this economy. These people understand that you need to spend money to make money.

Use the search engines, or better yet, cruise around and take down businesses website addresses off their building or business cards or your local supermarket classifieds board. Odds are if you can find them at all in Google, they are less likely to need you. A huge number of company websites aren't even indexed yet. When you get home, do a bit of research.

It's pretty easy to identify a target: nice site (or not), no links to speak of, on page 10 of G for the obvious keyword they are looking for.

Email is a safe, non threatening way to approach first, you can be sneaky about it too. Later of course you'd want to talk in person or over the phone.

Say for a mold remediation company in Washington I'd do something like this:

Dear Sir or Madam (or name if there is one),

You have a very nice website, I can tell you have put a lot of work into the design. Your web designer is to be complimented! We recently had a big problem with mold in our house and had to have some contractors tear out a large part of our bathroom. They did a terrible job, I wish I'd seen your website earlier. It was on like page 10 of Google, so I missed it. How is business going for you? Hope you are fairing well in this economy.

Sincerely,
James Defranco

Plant the seeds of "Oh crap, I need to be better in Google if I'm going to get business, why the heck did I pay that guy $3000 for a site that nobody sees??" If they choose to respond, then I hit them with the what I do for work.

Hey Sam,

Glad to hear the work has been sufficient at least Hey you know, I might be able to help you guys with your rankings in Google if you want. I work as an internet marketer and it is my job to optimize web sites so they appear higher in search engines like Google and Yahoo and such.

As a suggestion, you might want to change the title of your web site from "Chuck and sons moldy old business" to "Mold Remediation in Washington" since that is what you want to rank for in Google. There's a ton of other things you could have your web designer do, it's pretty technical, but I'm sure it would help if more people could find you on the search engines. It's important to get as much exposure as possible in this market!

-James Defranco

Finally if they respond again positively you hit them with your pitch:

Oh, sorry to hear that your web designer isn't available anymore and is a worthless punk for how much he charged you... hey, if you'd like I can take a whack at it. I've done this plenty of times, and have lots of experience, I've been able to help a couple other companies like yours. ***(have an example of one of your own sites ready to prove it)

I think a three pronged attack would be best for you guys, optimize your website, get you more exposure from other parts of the internet, and maybe even launch a cheap advertising campaign on Google. Your website is already so good I know for a fact that I could get you to the front page, if not the #1 ranking for Mold Remediation in WA. Here's my phone number, give me a call! 555-555-5555

Your friend,
James Defranco

Leave it at that, don't even mention money, or how much you will charge. Just let them think about it. They'll email or call if they are interested and if you even stand a chance. But by doing it in three or more steps, you don't look like a starving or desperate in your face internet marketer looking to make a buck but you look more like a friendly neighbor who they can trust. That's what you want when you can't use your reputation to proceed you.

Remember, once you rope your first client, word of mouth generally spreads if you do an exceptional job. The opposite effect can also be true if you do a terrible job or rip them off. So be sure you don't disappoint them.