HOW TO MANAGE PROJECTS FOR YOUR LOCAL SEO AGENCY
Know more how to manage projects to your agency using this guide
Acquire more clients for your agency
Introduction
The novelty of having a great local SEO strategy is gradually waning. Is it because it is not effective? Far from it, it is because more businesses have realized the importance of having a local SEO agency work for them. Ranking on the first pages of Google is becoming more difficult now. Google is also playing a big role in this by narrowing down the options available for local businesses to reach the top of the SERPs. Hence, it becomes imperative for any business to engage a local SEO agency and work continuously towards retaining the prime position on the SERPs. You have experts at citation websites like Tribe Local to help you in this process.
Major aspects of a local SEO agency project:
You have pitched in your proposal and your client has been gracious enough to grant you the opportunity of managing his business on the local SEO front. The question in front of you is how to run this project on hand.
Sometimes the first steps are the most difficult to take. But, as you manage to do so, the rest of the things start falling into place automatically. It is very much like driving a car. You can experience starting problems. Driving in the first gear is tough. As you keep on raising the gears, your ride becomes smoother. Your local SEO agency is also similar in many ways. Let us see how to overcome these initial hiccups and end up with a great local SEO project.
Meet your clients: Know them well
It always pays to know your clients well. How can you do that? There are two ways of doing it. Confront them straightaway and seek an appointment for discussing their local SEO campaign. The second way is to do discreet inquiries in the market. This is just to have that extra bit of information that your client might be reluctant to divulge.
What do you discuss when you have a meeting with them?
- Try to get the objectives and goals of the client. Once you are aware of his goals, you will be able to formulate the right strategy.
- Understand the client’s demographics and the areas of his expertise. Local SEO is about being as local as possible. It can very well happen that you might think your client’s business is in Wicker Park area of Chicago. But, it might just turn out that his business and therefore his clients are in neighboring Avondale.
- Know who his customers are. This will give you an idea of the demographics of his clients.
- Casually, throw in the question about his other websites and businesses if any. You would have gathered about them through your discreet inquiries. If he does not have any, it is great. Even, if he has, that should not be a problem as long as you are aware.
- Enquire about his previous SEO experience. Make sure that he has never resorted to buying reviews. Google is very strict in such matters. It can result in flagging down the website thereby negating all your efforts. Explain the reason behind asking some tough questions to your client. He will appreciate the same when he understands that these questions are for his benefit alone.
- Request for access to his website and seek permission to run some basic SEO tools like Google Analytics or Webmaster Tools.
1. Basic SEO Audit:
You have gained sufficient information from the client about his demographics, customers, and objectives. The first thing you should do now is to run a simple audit tool to understand the weaknesses and shortcomings in the website. You have a lot of simple audit tools available at websites like Tribe Local. This will give you an idea as to where the customer’s website ranks. You will also get information about his social media engagement levels and his presence on the internet. The basic aim of these efforts is to get a platform to start working on his website. You can use this information in the first onboarding meeting that you have with your client before actually commencing the assignment.
Your basic SEO audit report should focus on the following features.
- Keyword Rankings – Understand how the keywords rank at present. Running keyword analysis tools will help you understand the strength of his keywords. Sometimes, you will find that a simple variant of the same keyword would have a larger reach. These are small things but go a long way in improving the local SEO strategy.
- Backlinking profile – Many businesses fail miserably in this area. They are not exactly aware of the latest rules in force. Google is very strict if it encounters spurious backlinks. It does not take much time in blacklisting such websites. Your basic SEO audit will provide you with vital information regarding your customer’s backlinking profile. You can take necessary action to rectify the same.
- Social media engagement – No local SEO is complete without social media engagement. This has become the most sought-after way to improve local rankings. Social media is a very strong media having a tremendous reach. The more the engagement rate the better are the chances of ranking higher on the SERPs.
- Site Authority – The basic SEO audit will show you the internet presence and the rankings on the search engines. You will not have a platform to begin with. Your objective will be to improve the authority of the website.
- Popular Pages – You should have an idea which pages of your client’s website are popular. You can take appropriate steps to increase the popularity of these pages and make the other pages popular as well.
2. Prepare the report and submit it to the client:
Your client should know the shortcomings of his website. He should also have an idea about the steps you propose to take to improve this scenario. Hence, sharing the preliminary report of the basic SEO audit is imperative. You can offer your suggestions to the client and his technical team. At the same time, they might have their suggestions. It can be of use to you. Hear them out and give credit wherever it is due. After all, the common objective is to ensure the client’s website ranks on the first page of Google and other search engines.
Landing Page Optimization Strategy
This will necessitate the use of keyword ranking tools. Keywords are essential for ranking any page on the SERPs. The search engine crawlers search for the keywords and rank them based on their popularity. Sometimes, you can find a simple variant of the keywords such ‘best plumber Houston TX’ ranking better than ‘best plumber Houston Texas’. These small things can go on to improve the ranking of the website on the SERP. Use such keywords and arrive at the perfect landing page optimization strategy. The key is to keep on improvising all the time. You never know when the existing keyword can run out of steam only to be replaced by the new kid on the block.
3. An excellent content strategy is on the cards
Content is and will always remain the KING of local SEO. There are no shortcuts to success. You should have high-quality content on the website. As a local SEO agency, you need not use your time in writing content. There are millions of freelance content writers in the world. Enlist their services to churn out new content every time. Of course, it goes without saying that your content should be original and not plagiarized from anywhere. The search engine crawlers are experts in finding out duplicate content. Remember that you should be changing the content at frequent intervals. The audience should get something new every time they visit the website.
4. Build up the website’s authority
An effective backlinking strategy is of utmost importance when you sit down to build your client’s website authority. The basic SEO audit report will show the shortcomings in the website’s backlinking strategy. Use the right kind of tools and ensure that you remove the spurious backlinks. Such bad backlinks can drag down the ranking of the website.
Cleaning up the citations is vital for the website’s performance. Use citation tools like Tribe Local to set the citations right. Maintain consistency and accuracy of the citations. You have to clean up the company listings from the unnecessary directories and include them afresh.
Build an effective backlinking strategy by contributing to authority blog sites like the .gov and .edu websites. You can also submit your blogs to influencer websites. There will be a couple of influencers in every local market. Submitting your blogs to their website can get you authority backlinks.
5. Have a social media engagement plan in mind
Social media plays a great role in local SEO. The reach of social media is tremendous. Being active on social media is one way of improving the rankings on the SERP as it can increase the flow of traffic to the website. Develop a strong strategy for the client where he starts posting his blogs and other details about his products and services. Take advantage of the reach of social media to attract as many potential customers as possible.
6. Onsite optimization
You have done the hard work of planning the overall local SEO strategy. You should now concentrate on optimizing the website. This is necessary because it is the optimized web pages that attract the maximum traffic. This requires you to carry out your keyword research repeatedly to determine how your keyword ranks on the local SEO. If it requires a bit of tweaking, you should not hesitate to do so. You would also need changing the title tags and Meta description tags on a regular basis. People always love to have a bit of variety. However, do not compromise on the basic concepts of the title tags and the descriptions.
7. Monthly SEO audits
You had done a basic SEO audit at the commencement of your assignment. Based on that audit report, you had formulated a plan. Once you implement the plan, you should determine whether your plans have borne fruit. The monthly SEO audit report highlights such matters. You can take action on the report and carry out the rectifications you feel need tweaking.
Share the report with your customer so that he has an idea as to where the project is heading. He will be able to determine the ROI on his project.
8. Review your performance
Have a review meeting with your client every month to discuss the progress of your SEO efforts. The discussion should be as transparent as possible. The client might have his suggestions to make. You should consider them if it does not entail making wholesale changes to your project. Your monthly SEO audit report will have everything on record. You can always compare the monthly reports with the earlier ones and judge where you stand at present.
9. Offsite optimization
Onsite optimization is necessary to attract more visitors to the website. Offsite optimization plays a supporting role to the onsite optimization efforts. They are also equally important for the overall improvement of the website rankings.
10. Review the GMB pages
Ensure that the GMB pages are up to date. There can be changes in the address or phone numbers. Make sure that you incorporate these changes in the GMB pages. You do not need prospective customers knocking on the wrong door for business.
11. Check for inclusion of new directories
The local SEO is always changing. You find new directories and categories springing up almost on a daily basis. You should ensure that the listing on directories is perfect. You might have to add the listing in some allied directories at times. See that these directories are relevant to the business of the client.
12. Review the offsite optimization efforts
It is always better to review every act you do on a monthly basis. The review should be had along with the client. Sharing your findings and offering suggestions for improvement is necessary. After all, you need the explicit permission from the client to incorporate changes in the strategy.
13. Comprehensive audits
It is always better to review every act you do on a monthly basis. The review should be had along with the client. Sharing your findings and offering suggestions for improvement is necessary. After all, you need the explicit permission from the client to incorporate changes in the strategy.
Conclusion
Local SEO is ever-changing. You have to be on your toes at all times. Update the content on a regular basis. Remember, the customer should have something different every time he visits the website. These aspects should firm part of your assignment when you carry out your local SEO agency project. Always be open for change. Adapting to the situation and formulating the relevant strategy is the need of the hour.
