What Is an SEO Proposal?

An SEO proposal is the sales pitch of a marketing agency to impress potential clients with the SEO marketing services the organization offers and convince them to become partners. Elaborate on how the agency and their business are the perfect fit for working together. Agencies can also send SEO proposals to their existing clients, bringing search engine optimization into their new SEO projects. Prospects are also likely to reach out to various marketing agencies in the search for a clear and actionable proposal. SEO proposals that are easy to understand must detail what clients expect from a marketing agency, including the possible timeline for when to see the results. The SEO proposal contains information about how the marketing agency defines its SEO strategy to help clients drive search engine results, deliver organic traffic, and achieve their organizational and project goals. Aside from marketing agencies, SEO consultants and digital strategists also submit these proposals to prospective clients. Writing the proposal establishes the project scope and expectations coming from the marketing agency to the hiring entity. As such, it also defines the boundaries, responsibilities, and success criteria of the SEO project.

Organic search remains to be one of the marketing channels that markets and businesses use to reach their consumers. According to the statistical data from Statista regarding the global market share of search engines from 2010 to 2022, Google remains to be the market leader out of all the available search engines by obtaining 85.55 percent of the market share at the start of 2022.

Components of an SEO Proposal

As many organizations now rely on digital marketing as one of their main tools or channels to market products and services to consumers, it is vital to have a strong SEO system and strategy. As such, marketing agencies that offer their services to organizations must provide a comprehensive SEO proposal to appeal to a business in need of SEO marketing services. The section below details the essential components of an SEO proposal that individuals can use as a starting point. The marketing representative can add or omit sections as necessary as there is no standardized format for writing the SEO proposal.

Introduction and Summary: Use the first section of the SEO proposal to introduce the marketing agency. Let the client know that the agency is the best fit for their SEO needs. Remember that the proposal serves as a sales pitch to clients. In this section of the SEO proposal, make sure to sell the marketing agency and build up trust and credibility. A good introductory section differentiates the agency from its competitors by stating its mission statement and introducing the services it offers. The introduction section must also highlight the experience of the agency by highlighting the past clients and linking customer feedback, comments, and testimonials. It is also encouraged to indicate any official certifications or awards. Lastly, make sure to introduce the marketing team to let the client know who they are working with and the qualifications of the account manager delivering the strategy. The introduction section must contain how the agency plans to grow the business of the client.SEO insights: This section of the proposal includes specific insights that the agency gathers about the current SEO performance. Doing so builds the initial trust and credibility an organization has with the client, seeing the agency has taken up the time and effort to deliver suitable SEO plans for them. Organizations do this by understanding the business goals and problems of a client, researching their website, and personalizing the proposal to cater to their objectives. Two specific insights must always be present in the proposal, including the current keyword rankings of the client to show where the agency can make improvements and an SEO audit of their website to emphasize issues that require fixing. Make sure to include the supporting data on the keyword rankings and the keywords that the agency plans to target. The marketing agency must also consider incorporating keywords that competitors use to conduct a competitive analysis to point out what the client needs. The agency can also include a high-level overview of the current issues and the plan to provide solutions.Solutions and deliverables: This section of the proposal consists of the tasks and projects that the agency performs as part of the SEO campaign. Outline all the necessary deliverables that the client expects from the services every month. Ensure that these outputs are precise and quantifiable. Tying the efforts of the agency to affect the revenue of the client directly is a great way to focus on the return on investments (ROI). The section must also indicate the kind of SEO reporting that the client expects each month. As such, providing a live SEO dashboard at the disposal of the client to monitor results is advantageous, and make sure to indicate it in the deliverables section of the proposal.Goals: The section contains the SMART goals that the agency strives to achieve during the project duration. To set these goals, the agency must have a general idea of its capacity to deliver based on its past clients to support the goal-setting process. If the client permits, acquire access to their Google Analytics account or at least an estimate of their current traffic before sending an SEO proposal, as it provides a benchmark to set goals for the project. Project timeline: The project timeline section contains a project timeline for the proposal to provide the client with an idea of when to expect results from the SEO strategy the agency proposes. Break down each presented solution into specific and measurable milestones. In doing so, clients can keep track of their progress, even if the progress takes a while to improve or generate. Some clients expect immediate results for the work done. Developing a realistic timeline saves a lot of time due to misunderstandings and avoids the occurrence of ending the client relationship.Investment: The investment or pricing section of the SEO proposal includes a pricing list of all the services the marketing agency offers. Indicating the SEO services that the agency helps the business of the client grow and generate more revenue. Remind the client of the results that the agency promises to give and let them know that the services fees that the agency charges are an investment. Marketing agencies must also provide their clients with various pricing options or price quotes to provide clients with the security of the buying process. Introduce the several standard packages that cover all the incorporated services in the proposal. Aside from the standard package, provide at least two other options, especially a pared-down and less expensive package and a deluxe package that consists of additional services.Call to action: The last section focuses on a call to action to clients and is one of the essential components of the SEO proposal. End the SEO proposal with an assertive call to action statement to let clients know the next steps to take in the process. It must also indicate the contact information of the marketing agency.

How To Write a Winning SEO Proposal

After being aware of the essential components that an SEO proposal must contain, the marketing agency can now reply to a request for a proposal. However, when writing an SEO proposal to a prospective client, the agency must follow the requests and needs in their response. The section below covers the steps to writing a winning SEO proposal in favor of your agency.

Step 1: Identify the Business Goals that the Agency Wants To Achieve with the SEO

A good proposal starts with making a positive first impression in the opening lines of the document. An initial pitch makes the business goals of the agency clear by identifying how the agency can help with the SEO issues of the client. The approach must start with a unique selling proposition. Ensure that the agency backs up the statements with case studies and data evaluations of similar projects from past clients. You can use the words of the client in echoing their concerns and needs in the SEO proposal with a positive and encouraging tone. When presenting the business goals through the SEO proposal. The rule is to indicate performance metrics and powerful results that the team achieves in the introduction and the executive summary.

Step 2: Write the Key Services that the Agency Offers and the Problems they Aim To Solve

The opening section and cover letter set up the path for more information so the client can easily understand and review the benefits of availing of the agency services. Outline the specifics of all the agency-provided services and how these services can aid the client to solve and address their SEO problems. As such, the marketing agency must conduct a complete website audit to understand the current performance and areas of improvement for the website. After acquiring the information, write a solution-based outline to present to the client. It must provide a step-by-step process about the page optimization processes that boost SEO effectiveness, explore technical SEO strategies to make the website user-friendly for better search ranking, and demonstrate how off-pages can drive traffic and increase website popularity.

Step 3: Understand the Target Audience and Identify Their Search Keywords

Marketing agencies must showcase that they know the target audience of the client to gain its attention. As such, the agency must conduct thorough research and share data with the client. The best way to produce this information is to show an understanding of industry insights and customer behavior by backing these with facts that tell the client to keep up with the market trends in the industry. The marketing agency must also provide a presentation of the findings from keyword searches by researching about best-performing keywords in the industry and how to properly use them. Lastly, conduct competitor research and SWOT analysis that allows the marketing agency to show they can help the client and keep up with industry competitors. Make sure to utilize various visibility scores to outline the changes and acquire the best results and rankings.

Step 4: Develop a Project Timeline

Finally, ensure that the proposal contains a project timeline that describes when the client can expect the deliverables and the results. It means that there must be a set of project expectations that align with the client projections. The agency must implement the SMART goal-setting approach to create the objectives of the project. Remember that the SEO proposal only becomes as effective by using the right language, voice, and tone in writing the document.

FAQs

How do you pitch SEO to clients?

Selling SEO to clients is challenging. However, by fostering the right sales and marketing strategies with data and research-based findings, clients become more open-minded. A marketing agency must first understand local search optimization and have an understanding of the client, their vision, and their needs. Afterward, customize the pitch accordingly, bring valuable information, practice the material before presenting, and follow up on its status.

What are SEO deliverables?

SEO deliverables are the outcomes that a marketing agency promises to deliver to a client after implementing SEO strategies. One of the deliverables that a company can expect from SEO is a content strategy consisting of keyword search volumes, difficulty scores, and replacement advertising costs.

How do you sell SEO services to prospective clients?

When selling SEO to different clients, make sure to gather all the necessary information and business context then conduct a discovery review of possible issues and opportunities for improvement. After, determine the best SEO and discuss where to start while presenting the issues, approaches, and opportunities the agency needs to perform. Deliver the proposal by outlining the costs and scope of work and get the sign-off with the client.

Completing SEO proposals may seem difficult in the beginning. However, knowing the struggles and issues of the client when it comes to keyword searches on their website, it will become easier for the marketing agency to consider the most effective strategies to help their clients. To do this, agencies must commit to taking the time to research and acquire information that can help convince the client that they are the best to get the job done. Develop a comprehensive and effective proposal for a client by downloading the templates available in the article above, along with other templates for the business after visiting Sample.net.