Hi there,

This is my first YOUmoz post, so please bear with me. Also, I'm based in the UK, so I'm aware my experience may not be that of people in the USA, for example. Do feel free to correct or add to this post, that's how I and others learn. :)

However, this topic is close to my heart and I'm experiencing this issue more and more - how to best help start-ups and especially small start-ups.

Premise One: Most start-ups don't seem to have funds

This is a huge issue for someone starting out in their own business. Clients that come to me often want to jump straight in and ask 'how much is this SEO stuff going to cost me?' I urge you don't answer this right away, but always bear in mind that new businesses may not have huge marketing budgets, but that you cannot offer your services for free.

Therefore, over the course of your prospect meeting or your first strategy meeting with your new client, you must gauge where they are at first in order to offer them a proposal that will assist them but not bust their bank account. Your role is to help them grow their business not to bleed it dry.

Premise Two: Keep It Simple

I have a client who is a sole trader - a consultant in the alternative medicine field. She really knows all about her area of expertise and how to treat different conditions. I don't know about these things.

Likewise you may know about web design, user engagement, data structure, link metrics (and so on) and your client may not. Occasionally you will get clients who are more clued-in on the basic principles of SEO, but for the most part they don't.

So it is important if you are to win the client or to gain more business from the client to keep it simple. Use terms the client will understand:

• In-coming links: 'links to your site from other sites'
• Anchor text: 'what text those other sites use when linking to you'
• Authority: 'how important search engines think your site is'
• On-page optimisation: 'making changes to your site so that people and search engines understand the page's content'

And of course the list goes on - but speak to them in their language and don't overwhelm them with data. What they care about is new business or providing more services to existing customers, so speak to them about these things.

Premise Three: Don't Do Everything At Once

Your services need to grow with their business.

Starting a new business is daunting enough, especially for a sole trader, a new small company or partnership. Don't overwhelm them with the many aspects of SEO.

Come up with a plan so that your support for the client is clearly structured and divided into bite-size stages. It's no good saying in your first meeting that you need to tackle the on-page optimisation, link building, guest blogging, tweeting, posting to Facebook, Stumbling etc. They already have enough on their plate!

What I'm not saying is ignore these things. Explain their importance but structure their SEO strategy - and remember that if it's gradually built up, it will appear more 'natural' which of course is much better received by search engines than an unsustained sudden boost.

Premise Four: Report Back the Results

Because new businesses have limited funds they want to see ROI - even if initially they see that in terms of search rankings or the number of visitors to their website. This is how they will judge your services. So report regularly to them - most of our clients want monthly reports, which is a reasonable expectation in my personal experience. But again don't flood them with stats. Key issues are likely to be:-

• Search engine rankings (especially Google) for the keywords you have helped them choose and maybe one or two they would like.
• How many visitors they've had to their website
• How many new visitors they've had
• How many other websites are providing traffic.
• If it's an ecommerce website, track revenue in Google Analytics - ROI in terms of sales is always a great selling point for your services.
• If a client's goal is enquiries via e-mail, ensure those are also tracked.
• And anything else that you think the client will understand and appreciate. And each client is different in this respect.

Final Premise: Enjoy and Don't Apply Pressure

Working on a new client's new business SEO should be a great experience for you both - build the client relationship so that you have repeat business, a better understanding of your client as a person and a business. Don't pressurise your client or prospect into taking your £1,000 package if the £50 package is appropriate.

And vitally - a happy client is likely to be a referring client, so build on the above principles and enjoy the ride.

Thanks for your attention folks!