how to make more money as an seo consultant or fre with timestamps YoutubeScribe.com

[0:00] As an SEO consultant or freelancer,
your income can be unpredictable.
[0:04] Now, one way to bring some stability and
increase your income is to get more customers.
[0:10] But that also comes with more work, more stress,
and taking on clients you probably don't want
[0:15] to work with.
[0:16] Now, the easiest and most stress-free way to make
more money as an SEO consultant or any consultant
[0:23] for that matter, is to charge more for your
services and sell more to your existing clients.
[0:29] So in this tutorial, I'm going to share six tips
to help you make more money as an SEO
[0:33] consultant or freelancer without
taking on more clients.
[0:37] Stay tuned.
[0:38] [music]
[0:43] Now, the way people usually price their
services is based on arbitrary theory.
[0:47] For example, they might think:
[0:48] "Hey, I want to make $100,000 this year, so if
I charge $100/hour then I only need to bill
[0:54] 1,000 hours in the year which is an average
of just over 19 hours per week."
[0:59] On the other hand, some people will take a
volume approach and try to undercut their
[1:03] competitor's prices by 10-40% hoping to be
a more attractive option.
[1:08] Neither of these models make sense because
pricing is based on your own goals and desires
[1:13] to make money.
[1:14] They need to be centered around your client's
needs and the value your services offer to them.
[1:19] So in its simplest form, the way you make
more money as a consultant without getting
[1:24] more clients is to a) sell more services
b) sell your services for a higher cost or
[1:30] c) sell someone else's services.
[1:33] And we'll be discussing all of these
things in greater detail.
[1:36] Now, it's important to note that if your skills
aren't up to scratch, then trying to become
[1:40] a high paid SEO consultant probably
isn't the best first move.
[1:45] Focus on honing your skills in a specific
area of SEO.
[1:48] And this will help you become a master of
your craft faster and it's also easier to build
[1:53] authority in a tight niche like link building
as opposed to SEO as a whole.
[1:58] Plus, you'll want to get tangible results
which you can use for detailed case studies.
[2:02] Now let's get to the tips and these are based
purely on my own experience as an SEO consultant,
[2:08] meaning there are other models you can
use to increase your income.
[2:11] Alright, the first tip is to charge full price
for your initial consultation.
[2:16] People often give a free hour of their
time to attract more consultations.
[2:20] And the underlying goal is to sell them on
the call and make more money as a result.
[2:25] Now, while you may convert some clients, you're
likely wasting your time with most prospects
[2:30] because what's likely happening in reality is that
you're cheapening the value of your services.
[2:35] Let me explain.
[2:37] Consultants are paid for their time and expertise
and if you give it a value of $0, then you have
[2:42] a lot to prove in that hour to show that you're
worth $100, $500, or even $1,000 per hour.
[2:49] By charging your regular rate that's justified by
your skills and results, you avoid tire kickers
[2:55] and attract people who a) want to work with
you and b) can actually afford your services.
[3:01] From my experience, these calls are usually
a lot more fruitful and lead to longer-term
[3:06] engagements, which is how you make more
money and bring consistency to your income.
[3:11] Now, one thing you can do to improve conversions
is to offer clients the option to use the initial
[3:17] consultation fee towards future services.
[3:20] And I see this happen a lot with lawyers.
[3:22] Yes, it technically makes the initial consultation
free, but that's only true if they agree to engage
[3:28] you for 30 to 100 times the initial fee.
[3:32] Alright, the next tip is to partner
with reputable agencies.
[3:36] First, let's talk about the difference between
a consultant and an agency.
[3:40] A consultant's job is to provide expert advice,
guidance, and strategy for a business.
[3:46] And while agencies can also provide this
kind of advice, their main selling point is
[3:51] in the actual implementation itself.
[3:54] Now, reputable agencies almost always provide some
kind of referral fee that ranges between 7-15%.
[4:01] And in my opinion, it's better to work with
an agency you respect, rather than the one
[4:05] that pays the highest fee.
[4:07] Reason being, agencies will often be tasked
to implement the strategy that you've created.
[4:12] So by being on the same page, you're
more likely to deliver better results.
[4:17] And the more you work together, the better
the synergy gets over time.
[4:21] Now, these kinds of partnerships aren't
always one way.
[4:24] Sometimes the agencies will send leads your
way or engage you for more bespoke cases.
[4:29] The next tip is to upsell.
[4:31] Upselling is a sales technique that's used to
get customers to spend more money on more
[4:36] ‘premium' services.
[4:37] Now, upselling isn't about "tricking"
clients into paying more.
[4:41] It's about communicating the level of your
services and the other offerings you provide.
[4:45] And the reason why it works so well is because
they're already sold on your services.
[4:51] So if there's an option for a higher level
of service, it's within budget, and it's going
[4:56] to add additional value, then why not?
[4:59] For example, in my previous life before Ahrefs,
I created SEO and other digital marketing
[5:04] strategies for some in-house teams.
[5:06] But the teams weren't always seasoned marketers.
[5:09] So a natural upsell was to create standard
operating procedures for their team.
[5:14] And an upsell on that was to offer live
team training sessions.
[5:18] These kinds of services for consultants are
quite lucrative considering something like
[5:22] SOPs can be repurposed quite a bit.
[5:25] Alright, tip #4 is for those that sell
on third party marketplaces.
[5:29] And this one is simple: put your list rate
15-30% higher than your actual rate.
[5:34] Now, while networks like Upwork are great
to find free leads, they can charge quite
[5:39] a hefty commission and buyers
often send lowball offers.
[5:43] A higher rate gives you a bit more padding.
[5:45] On top of that, if you're an established name
in your niche and you've published impressive
[5:49] case studies, people will often do their due
diligence and search for more information
[5:54] about you.
[5:55] This will naturally lead them to your website where
they'll see that your rate is much cheaper than on
[5:59] the third party marketplace where they
may choose to contact you instead.
[6:04] Now, it's important to note that I'm not encouraging
you to move clients off of freelance networks.
[6:09] It'll be against their terms of service, but
in my opinion, there's nothing wrong with
[6:13] people naturally finding you through your
website and contacting you there.
[6:17] Ok, next up is to outsource parts of your
process where you're not critically needed.
[6:22] This is probably one of the biggest mistakes
I made when I first started consulting.
[6:27] Because clients were hiring me for my expertise,
I felt that I had to do everything myself or I'd be
[6:33] cheating them.
[6:34] When in fact, I was doing them a disservice
by not hiring help to do some of the more
[6:39] monotonous work.
[6:41] For example, gathering competitor metrics from
a report like Ahrefs' Competing Domains can be
[6:46] done by anyone.
[6:47] Exporting backlink profiles and doing an initial
filter in Google Sheets can easily be systemized.
[6:54] Filling out some standard slides in your deck
where not much interpretation is needed can
[6:59] easily be outsourced.
[7:00] Now, while these aren't exactly time-consuming
tasks, they consume your mental capacity which
[7:06] can limit you from always putting your
best foot forward.
[7:09] And the additional time you free up can
be better used to take on more clients.
[7:13] Alright, the next tip is pretty critical when it comes
to pricing and that's to give total transparency.
[7:19] If I asked you, how much do your services cost?
[7:22] You'd probably know the answer right away.
[7:24] Now, if I asked you, "why do you charge so
much" or "why do you charge so little" then
[7:30] you might feel stumped.
[7:31] Reason being, a lot of consultants make up
arbitrary rates based on their competitors
[7:36] rates or personal goals.
[7:38] And this is where transparency with your
pricing can help both you and your leads.
[7:43] For example, let's say that you have a client
who wants a competitor analysis, technical
[7:48] audit of their site, and a one-hour strategy
call with you.
[7:52] Now, let's add on to this scenario and say that you
have a small team with a junior SEO that gets paid
[7:56] $20 per hour and a technical
SEO at $50 an hour.
[8:01] Now, assuming your initial consultation requires
3 hours from your junior SEO and 2 hours from
[8:06] your technical SEO, then your overhead
cost at this point is $160.
[8:12] You'll also have additional overhead like payroll
tax, software subscriptions, rent, insurance, and
[8:18] other operating costs.
[8:20] But since we're talking about a small operation,
the costs will likely be marginal so let's leave
[8:25] these out for the sake of simplicity.
[8:27] Now so far, your rate doesn't even
account for your time.
[8:30] So assuming your hourly rate is $100 per hour
and you're going to spend 2 hours in total
[8:35] to review and edit the deck and get on a call
for an hour with your client, then you should
[8:40] be charging at least $360 for your time together.
[8:45] And this is with zero markup on your
employment costs.
[8:48] Laying out a pricing model like this helps
to justify why you charge what you charge
[8:53] and what the client is actually getting.
[8:55] And it's something that I wish I had done better
when I was consulting to really lay out where
[9:00] a client's money goes.
[9:01] Nick Eubanks actually has a really good post
on how his agency prices their services, so
[9:06] I'll link that up in the description.
[9:09] Alright, the final tip is to apply for jobs.
[9:12] Now, this might sound completely counterintuitive
especially since consultants are usually self-employed.
[9:18] But there are companies that hire in-house
consultants on a part-time basis.
[9:24] Meaning, you get 10-20 hours of work per
week at higher than average hourly rates.
[9:29] And this results in a consistent stream of
revenue, you'll still technically be self-employed,
[9:34] and you'll likely be advising management
or an in-house team of SEOs.
[9:38] This is kind of how I got my start at Ahrefs
and I couldn't recommend this route enough.
[9:43] We have a full video on how a few of us got hired
to Ahrefs, so I'll link that up in the description.
[9:48] Now again, if you're just starting out, focus
on building up your skills, portfolio, and
[9:53] reputation in your niche.
[9:54] These alone are going to help you justify
increasing your rates and attracting better clients.
[10:00] It's not necessarily a fast process, but it's one
that will continue to produce more revenue
[10:05] for your consultancy over time.
[10:08] So if you want to upskill your knowledge in SEO,
I highly recommend watching some of our
[10:12] tutorials on link building, keyword research,
technical SEO, and content marketing.
[10:17] I'll link those up in the description and if you
enjoyed this video, make sure to like, share
[10:21] and subscribe for more actionable
SEO tutorials.
[10:24] I'll see you in the next one.

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