A lot of companies offer SEO services and you need to stand out from all of them, so that clients will choose you and stick with you. The best way to do this? Trust. If you can gain a client’s trust they will use your agency for all their SEO needs. Here are seven ways you can build client trust:
1. Defined SEO service
Are you a specialist (a small team of experts in a handful of SEO tasks) or are you an agency (a large team, covering all SEO aspects, with a structured operational processes)? Understand which category you fall into so that you choose the right clients and so clients know exactly what you’re offering.
2. Don’t make promises you can’t keep
We all want to tell the client that we’ll get them to the top of search engines, but Google’s algorithm is too complex to guarantee this. It’s not worth ruining your reputation on a promise you can’t keep
3. Show off your previous work
This is beneficial for three reasons:
- It shows that your strategies work and builds trust with prospective clients.
- It creates linkbait content, which can increase your visibility.
- Finally, it allows you to target a niche. If you work best in a certain niche then publish case studies for those niches, attracting more clients from those industries.
Transparency is vital for trust building, but make sure you ask clients before you use their case study!
4. Show the tools you use
Tools not only help make the SEO process easier at your end, but they also build trust, again through transparency, and also by showing that you’re competent.
5. Feature professional certificates
This is proof that your business is serious. Attaining certifications, such as becoming a WooRank expert, endorses your business, provides backlinks to your website and these links tend to be from high ranking sites with high traffic.
6. Offer free trials
Let your customer know what you’re all about and trust that it will entice them to become a full member. A 14 day-free trial lets customers get to grips with the tools and see what’s on offer.
When offering a free trial always remember to treat people as paying customers, be responsive to their queries and offer them the full service. When their trial is ending make sure to follow up with a personal email asking for feedback. Lastly, don’t feel bad about rejection, any criticism is vital for improving your services.
7. Excellent customer service
Customer happiness is key to retention, so you must always be responsive to client’s questions. At the start this can be done in-house, but should eventually be outsourced. It is also great to meet clients face-to-face, so if you don’t have a dedicated office space consider looking into a virtual office.
Being an SEO startup is never easy, but the best way to be successful is by focusing on a dedicated client base that will grow over time.
