One of the most common emails I receive is asking about reselling SEO services. How to do it. How to make money from it. How to find clients. This is a subject which is close to my heart as it’s how I got started out in this business. Recently.. well around a 11 months ago now I took a friend of mine from IRL under my wing, I taught him the ins and outs of seo (he caught on very quick) and introduced him to the world of reselling just like I was introduced back when I started out, he’s now doing great. I’ve come a long way since those early days, met some great partners and formed our own inhouse teams, I’ve ran some huge projects which have produced income amounts I could of only ever dreamed of starting out.. but I remember my roots and I’m thankful for the opportunities reselling gave me back in those early days.
For a lot of companies and individuals alike it makes perfect business sense to be Resellers which I will speak about later in the post, being a middle man suits them.
Check this out.. one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies..
“The Art Of Good Business Is Being A Good Middle Man”
I have wanted to put together a post like this for a while but I always felt some people would take it as me just promoting. So firstly…
DISCLAIMER: I sell SEO. I have for many years. It is no secret. What I am about to discuss applies to reselling ANY SEO service.. not any of mine. If you really want to resell SEO then you should find this helpful. Would I love people to resell my services? Of course.. anyone saying otherwise would be 100% full of crap. So again.. this applies to anyone wanting to resell any SEO service.. from any provider.
OK, now that we got that out of the way let’s get down to business..
SEO resellers come in all shapes and sizes. There are people with a small local presence that will handle a dozen local businesses and make a few grand a month. Heck, it is an easy living. Then there are huge corporations that are nothing more than marketers that outsource everything. Trust me, I know several of the “BIG GUYS” that buy from companies I’m involved with every single month. They have huge offices, they spend $XX,XXX a month on pay per click to promote “THEIR” SEO service.. but they are simply outsourcing the work.. and a lot of those sources can be found here on the forum.
I’m not saying everyone should strive to open a 100-person call center and get to that level. The same common sense and approach should be used no matter if you are wanting to be a 1-man show that makes $3,000 a month or if you want to try to crack $100,000 a month in revenue with a small staff.
1. BRAND A NAME
You will see some “SEO Gurus” online that have a personal website and they offer consulting and bullshit. For this you don’t want to use your name. Think of a name that is unforgettable. And make sure the .com is available as well as social media URL’s.
2. SET UP A WEBSITE
Do you really expect a business to order SEO service from you if you have a website that looks like it was made in 1999? The mentality of some of the “reputable members” on this forum comes into question often when I see the sites they are trying to collect business on. How is a business going to take you seriously if you have a $50 template? Or if it looks like you left your web design duties in the hand of a 10 year old. Plenty of designers on out there that do a great job for a few hundred dollars. If you aren’t willing to invest some money into a good site then stop reading now and don’t get into the reseller space.
3. GET A PAYMENT GATEWAY SET UP
Fuck PayPal. Not only can they hold your funds but telling a client to send you money to a PayPal address is unprofessional. You want people to be able to go to your website and place an order 24/7. Before you say some stupid crap like “people like paying with PayPal” don’t worry.. they still can! A company like 2 CheckOut will let them pay by credit card, debit car or PayPal.
There are so many SEO scammers and fly by night companies that pop up and disappear and guess what? They all use PayPal. There is a good chance that the businesses you will be talking to and trying to sell have been burned before. The smoother the transaction.. the less likely they are to continue the checkout process. Oh.. also.. PayPal gives you almost no seller protection. Companies like 2 CheckOut do.. more on that in #4 below.
4. GET A CONTRACT DRAWN UP
You need a contract. No serious business is going to sign up without something detailing exactly what they are getting every month from your company. You should also want one to protect you. You should also have your refund policy in your contract. If your contract says that you don’t issue refunds for any reason and all sales are final then there is nothing your merchant account can do in favor of the client.
They can cry and beg for a refund.. but if they signed a contract with the refund policy included a reputable company like 2 CheckOut will never side with the customer. Also include your refund in your terms of service on your website and you will be protected from the scum that will try to do charge backs. Don’t worry.. it WILL happen eventually. There is always a dickhead client that wants to try to get service for free. Protect yourself son!
5. GET AN OFFICE
Ok, you don’t need an office.. but you need an office address AND a place to meet local clients that IS NOT a freaking coffee house. “Meet me at the coffee shop” reeks of amateur clown shit. You can rent a virtual mail box for a few bucks a month. I know there are a lot of them in the US for $75 – $150 a month. Take it a step further and get a membership at a local coworking space. They are popping up ALL OVER and I’ve seen them talked about around here now a few times.
Most of the requests I receive are from US based resellers so I have checked out a lot of the coworking spaces online. You can get memberships for between $200 and $300 a month at most that will allow you to access the office and work in the general area along with some dedicated time for the conference room.. and then some will give you an actual office for $500 to $1,000 a month. You also get a office address with both options.. this is much better then just a virtual office address. Back home in Ireland I’ve found ones for as little as 200 Euro a month for 24/7 access, you’re not going to be here all the time but at that price it’s a steal and will pay for itself 10 fold.
If someone asks why you don’t have a office and have a virtual office you can tell them that you work at home or remotely.. but there will always be business owners that see that as a red flag and will not do business with you.
The coworking space is the best option for a lot of reasons: If anyone asks if you have an office or wants to meet.. tell them to come on in. It is a professional environment. It will also make you more productive. It is nice to have somewhere to go to work.. no distraction.. no TV.. no beers in the fridge 
Every country is catching on.. and there is a good chance there is a coworking space in your state/city/country that would be a good option for setting up shop, I’ve recently moved to Spain so I’ll be on the hunt for one pretty soon. Start with a general membership and upgrade to your own office there when you grow.
6. GET LEADS
Don’t email spam. Don’t cold call. That is what spammers do and businesses get these calls and emails all day long. You will not stand out.. and just blend in and be called a shitty spammer.
You probably won’t have a huge budget in the beginning so I’m not going to talk about PPC or other paid advertising or marketing to get leads.
Here are three ways you can get business for free.. like a lot of the info in my threads recently the only thing needed is hard work.
A) Go door to door: Yup, head out in your local city and talk to business owners. Ask them if they are happy with their website (hey, you might be able to get some web design deals out of this.. and that $$ can help you ramp up your business) and then ask them if they know where their website traffic comes from.
If they tell you they have a SEO company ask them if they are getting a nice return. If they have no idea tell them that you will help them rank and monitor their traffic etc. These are the types of business owners that will see a ranking report, moz report and Google analytics report (that you can generate in 5 min) and think it is gold.
If they do not have an SEO provider then get into selling mode. Tell them how important local SEO is and pull out your phone and search for whatever they sell. If they don’t come up at the top of local results you have a very powerful selling tool in your hand.. PROOF! That is enough to get most business owners to at least listen to you pitch. Some will be a pain in the ass.. and they aren’t worth your time.
B) Talk at a local small business meet up: There are a lot of local meetup groups that meet weekly and monthly.. usually at a local pub or restaurant. Track down the event organizer and offer to talk about SEO and answer any questions. Don’t do this thinking you are going to have people sign up on the spot.. but if you start to become a regular at the events (you don’t need to talk every time.. just become a friendly face) you will soon have business owners continuing to ask questions. As long as you sound like you know what you are talking about you should be able to get a handful of clients like this on a regular basis.
C) Bribe your social media friends: If you ask your friends if they know any business owners that need SEO you won’t get a response. But if you offer them something they will be all over that shit. Throw out a offer on social media (make it private so just your real friends can see) and offer to pay something like $50 for any business owner that signs up for SEO. They don’t need to know what you charge. They see it as a quick way to make a few bucks and will now tell their business owner friends that they “know a guy that does SEO”.. and because you are now a referral they will be willing to talk.. much different response then if you just sent them a blind email or cold called them.
7. RANK YOUR FREAKING WEBSITE
You are going to be selling SEO so don’t you think you should rank for some local keywords? Even if you live in such a small town that the local SEO keywords have no search volume you need to do this. Just so you can show a potential customer “look.. type in “XXXX SEO company and look at the #1 spot.. that’s us”
You need to have proof that you are a capable company. Even if you are in a very competitive market like Dallas there are ways to look like the man. Instead of trying to rank for “Dallas SEO Company” (which will be hard on a limited budget) you can rank for terms like “Dallas small business SEO expert” and “search engine optimization ecommerce professionals”.. both of these keywords aren’t going to bring dick in terms of traffic.. but who gives a shit.. they will be easy to rank for with good onsite optimization and a few links.. and then when you are pitching a business and you tell them to type those terms into Google and your website shows up at #1 you will look like a SEO-God (but not Charles Floate lulz).
Business owners aren’t stupid.. there is so much free information available online and they will read it.. so if they ask what you rank for you can show them. That will silence them and they will listen to what you have to say. It isn’t hard to find like 10-12 SEO terms that you can rank for by the end of the week.. they aren’t going to make you rich but they will make your business look legit!
8. OFFER SOME DEEP DISCOUNTS FOR TESTIMONIALS
If you really want to get a good local SEO company rocking then you need to get some business owners that rave about you to all their friends.. who are probably other business owners. I’ve wrote an article a wile back talking about how I helped a local business rank for free.. and not even telling them that I was doing it! His business grew very fast and because I did it for nothing he was happier then a pig in shit. Guess what he feels like he has to do now? He tells everyone about me! and it has brought in a lot of new business.
I’m not saying you need to go out and offer to do SEO for free.. going in the hole negative isn’t smart when you start out. But.. offer to do some at “discounted” rates.. mark it up just a bit so your expenses are covered.. the client will think they are getting a STEAL and will be more apt to talk about you to other business owners and they will let you use them as a testimonial on your websites.
With local SEO it helps to have some actual local testimonials. Ever see the testimonials that look like this: “Great SEO…I am #!” – Joe, New York. Those are 100% fake. But imagine if a potential client saw a testimonial from an actual local business? That gives you instant credibility!
9. PRICE IT TO MAKE MONEY
Just because you can get an SEO package on freelancer or some forum for $500/month doesn’t mean you should just sell it for $750 or $900. MARK IT UP AND MAKE MONEY! There are SEO companies that are selling $500 worth of forum packages for $3,000 per month (I know because I’ve sold to them, then watch them sell on). You want to have a handful of clients paying big money instead of a ton of them paying you a few hundred dollars. It is common sense.
Don’t sell yourself short.. make money. If you are scared of being under bid just troll some companies. Heck, set up a fake business email.. register a 99 cent domain and email every local SEO company and ask them to give you info on their pricing.. say you are a new business and you are getting your website set up and looking for an SEO company. As long as your prices are in the ballpark you will be fine. Sell value.. have a nice office.. have a nice website.. and you can get a premium.. back to that branding again!
If anyone reading this is currently reselling SEO and wants to chime in with some more tips I welcome it. There is a lot of money to be made doing this.. the key is to do it right as like I said I know of HUGE SEO companies that do this day in and day out! As always I hope you guys enjoy the read. Until next time..
