As more businesses move their businesses online, there is greater need for professionals who can help them optimize their digital platforms. One of the skills that are on high demand right now is SEO skills.

SEO stands for search engine optimization and a specialist in the area is skilled at getting web pages to rank high in the search engines for the targeted search term – where a search term refers to the words and phrases a web user types on Google or any other search engine when searching for something.

As an SEO specialist, you need to be skilled at assessing a client’s site and figuring out the actions you need to take to get them to rank high on Google.

SEO Skills

Without proven SEO skills, you won’t land high-paying clients. The only way you can prove to someone that you have skills as an SEO specialist is by having proof that you’ve gotten other sites to rank for competitive keywords.

After learning the SEO skills needed to work as an SEO specialist, you need to approach a few businesses or sites and offer to optimize their sites for free in exchange for testimonials.

If you do succeed at getting them results, you will have fans that can vouch for you when you start pitching clients. If you don’t get them results then you should continue sharpening your SEO skills until you are confident that you can get good results. There’s no need getting clients if you know full well you can’t help them.

Getting Clients

Once you are confident that your SEO skills can help businesses, it’s time to start pitching small businesses.

Getting clients isn’t hard if you go about it the right way. The first client will be hard, though. Once you have a good client base and build some momentum, you can maintain a decent stream of work without any problems.

Your first clients don’t have to come from the net. You can walk into local businesses and show them how you can help them improve their business. Your sales pitch should not have anything to do with ‘SEO’ per se. Instead, you should focus on showing the client how what you will do will help them make more sales or reach more people.

No business person cares about SEO. They care about making sales. Once you show them that your efforts will lead to more sales, they will be more than willing to give you their business.

You can also reach out to small businesses in other towns by emailing them and sending a proposal. Aim to get a phone or Skype interview. You can close a sale faster if you communicate on the phone. Email is a bit impersonal.

Getting a Retainer

The best paid SEO specialists work with clients for the long term. You should work out an arrangement with the small business so you can continuously work on their site for a small fee every month after the first job is complete.

The retainer can include maintenance work as well as continuous improvements to their site to ensure business growth.