Starting an SEO Agency - Any Advice

msharron

msharron

This is going to hurt
Apr 14, 2012
639
18
0
Brighton
I started using WF in April 2012. With what I’ve learned / the contacts I have made I have literally transformed my life.

In April 2013 I left my 9-5 job and became self-employed quickly moving from a median UK wage to a five figure income monthly. By September 2013 it was clear I was going to break the VAT threshold forcing me to transition from being self-employed to a limited company.

I’ve not a baller by even modest standards on this board however I’ve taken what I’ve learned, applied it and now maintain a portfolio of 30+ clients in a diverse range of niches including small businesses, SME’s and I’m starting to attract the attention of large companies/corporate clients.

The services I offer include relationship managed SEO, PPC, Web Development and Social.

My Client’s budgets generally range anywhere from £150 per month to £5000 per month.

I typically acquire 1-2 new clients each month through word of mouth.

Clients are generally so pleased with the results I obtain for them/my approach they refer me/actively market me which means I have never had to advertise (quite a unique position from what other forum users tell me).

I currently charge clients a base rate of £35 per hour (cheap by most standards/I intend to increase it) + expenses such as link building costs/system use/media buys. Each month I reach out to individual clients and review their progress / agree the budget for the following month(s).

Having reached the limit of what I can personally achieve each day I’m looking to scale my operation. The only way I can grow is to start hiring other people.

I have set aside a fair amount of capital and have just employed an ex-colleague full time with the provision he has to become a profitable asset within three months and I am actively looking for office space.

I have offered the new hire a performance related pay structure. £2000 per month basic. Once he generates more than £2000 per month he keeps 25%. Once he breaks £4000 per month he keeps 35%.

I intend to use any additional profit to plough back into the business and repeat the process with another new hire when finances allow.
So.....my reason for posting this…..

Does anyone have any advice they can throw my way.

Things I should / shouldn't do?

Things I should watch out for?
 


secretagentdad said:
Holy balls you're cheap.


Quadruple your prices for non existing customers.
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I'm very concious of that. Everyone needs to start somewhere.

I actually started at £25 per hour. As I increased my portfolio/demonstrable results I've used that as justification to push up my hourly rate.
 
Quickly:

1. You're charging too little.

2. You're trying to expand, and start an agency while charging too little. (Huge headache waiting here.)

3. You're training someone out of college and paying them for performance... why give away that money? They surely don't deserve it, and especially not 25% or 35%. I'd go with performance based bonuses instead of % of profit/sales.

4. You have 30 clients by yourself... and by the sounds aren't making a killing, that's a HUGE red flag you aren't being picky enough with your clients. Or, maybe your definition of clients meant total people you've worked for, and not 'currently active'? I'm not sure.

If I were you I'd fix the hourly rate quick, and see how many clients you would lose over that, and then look at expanding. If for instance right now at £35 you do 1hr minimums on tasks you could easily double that rate, and then change min. billing to 30minutes, and make sure your clients are aware they won't be affected for the misc tasks you do.
 
msharron said:
I'm very concious of that.

I actually started at £25 per hour. As I increased by portfolio/demonstrable results I've used that as justification to push up my hourly rate.
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Quote per project and tell them how terrible your average 25 an hour developer / agency / what ever you're selling is.


Yah you won't close first time agency style service buyers, but the ones that have worked with a bunch of idiots (not aimed at you but people offering services in these kinda niches at those price points generally are) are usually more then happy to pay the 300 an hour to get it done in 5 hours by somebody who already knows how to do it vs 30 for someone to learn on their dime.

Just say it that way to. You've got experience now, think about what you know now vs what you knew when you started. Point out the mistakes that old inexperienced you made as the reason to hire you at your new rates instead of some new kid at moms basement rates.
 
Again your very cheap. I work at an agency in the UK, which charges over x2 what you charge. Is that the rate that you charge web development at etc? If your services have helped your clients out as much as you say, don't be afraid of charging more.

What is your new hire doing? Depending on the role, your paying pretty handsomely. Though the share of income thing is pretty clever, as you get a lot of guys who will come in and stay for a while before going out on their own simply cause they can earn more. It seems to be a threat that some agencies particularly struggle with.

Everything sounds on the right track from the sounds of it. If you can land a couple large corporate clients you should be really on the right track. In my experience they seem to be very insensitive to cost and spend a lot on vanity web/app development projects.
 
I currently run an agency. You are charging far too little. You need to charge enough that someone who knows nothing about seo will feel comfortable that you are an expert.


My rate: $150/hour.

Also if you plan on being an agency you need to address your pricing. Start the lower range of packages at $1,000/month. This weeds out the really cheap painful clients. Having a spread of $150-$5000 a month will leave you with 5-10 $150-$200 a month guys eating up 90% of your time.
 
So you're making 5 figures monthly with your own sites... and decide to take on clients? Weird. Most people here go the opposite path. We start working for clients to finance our own projects, and once we start clearing 5 figures monthly, we slowly start to weed out clients to focus on our own projects more. #justsayin
 
On the hourly rate, you could double it and do fine, but I've always noticed having a low hourly rate and exaggerating hours to make up for it makes clients happy as hell.
 
avatar33 said:
So you're making 5 figures monthly with your own sites... and decide to take on clients? Weird. Most people here go the opposite path. We start working for clients to finance our own projects, and once we start clearing 5 figures monthly, we slowly start to weed out clients to focus on our own projects more. #justsayin
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So fucking this. Why, oh WHY would you waste a single minute enriching others when you have the power to do it all for yourself and avoid the soul-sucking hassle of working with Satan.

Oops, I meant "Clients".
 
Where abouts are you based, Brighton? With the conference and all am I right in thinking there are a lot of SEO companies based there already?

Based on my 5 months at a large agency remember the following rules:



  1. Only take on "Big Brands".
  2. Reap the benefits of the aged domain, brand awareness and consumer acceptability, ensuring you have 0 hard work.
  3. Construct a linkbuilding strategy based solely on paying bloggers £200 for a DA >3 link.
  4. Drip feed SEO improvements and recommendations to justify large retainer fee each month.
  5. Hire people who don't know shit about SEO and are generally ignorant, which in turns gives them more confidence in their bullshit assertions.
  6. Sell no-followed advertorials on sites such as Buzzfeed at £2000 a pop as the next big thing.

    Bonus: Prioritise the cultivation of a hip, young, chino wearing, casual beer drinking friday office culture over providing staff with a decent sized widescreen fucking monitor and desk space.
 
I do stuff in contracting, not exactly seo but its all just business. First I dont work by the hour-ever. If shit takes 5 hours then its a day, if it takes 27 hours then its a week, for my own estimating. People get a price based on the complexity, the PITA factor, and the value I add to your house.

I am sure you know how this would pan out. Look at it per job on a monthly retainer with performance check points.

Professionals dont get out of bed to work by the hour.
 
Send bot generated traffic to client sites along with whatever you do . Stop it if they stop paying . They will come crawling back , profit on a re-setup fee .
 
For what it's worth.

SEO Agency doing local / state work in a very low population state in the US. I start at $750/month and have a decent portfolio.

You should up your prices starting with the very next client. Justify hiring an extra hand. Seems like you've got a solid foundation, you should be going after high ticket clients at this point.
 
Most agencies I know and have worked with ( on both sides of the fence ) charge at least $135 an hour even in my small town.

I'd say you need to bump it up to the $85-$150 range as a trial with new clients, if you get a big failure rate on those charges ( maybe your presentation and closing is weak on higher end clients ), then back it down or offer to "negotiate" price to win them.
 
stamp said:
Send bot generated traffic to client sites along with whatever you do . Stop it if they stop paying . They will come crawling back , profit on a re-setup fee .
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You sound like a legit piece of shit who has to rely upon methods like this because you can't provide results. At least send them legit PPC traffic that actually converts, with your share of the money and not theirs, if you can't actually do the job you're advertising and taking money for.
 
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