How to Find Local SEO Clients Without Any Cold Calling

Gaining top rankings for broad, competitive keywords can be a real struggle, requiring time, money, and research. Most local terms, though, are within reach for the average business. Apart from the most competitive industries in big cities, quickly gaining the first-page ranking can occur. Reaching one of the top few spots can sometimes be more rigid but not on the same level as a non-geographical term.

Targeting local businesses is one of the best ways to build a sustainable enterprise for a web developer with some SEO knowledge. However, a common problem is convincing business owners to trust you with their SEO. In addition, many people are uncomfortable pitching for business, whether in person or over the phone, while unsolicited emails usually go unanswered. There are, however, several proven ways to find clients without directly pitching for work, allowing you to focus on the task of ranking sites.

Develop Your Website – you don’t need cold calling then

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Developing your website is the obvious first step in attracting local clients. People naturally want to see examples of your success and understand what you offer. Business owners searching for local SEO terms are also highly targeted prospects, so ranking at the top for the main terms will give you an edge.

Build Niche Sites

There are probably particular niches in your area that are highly competitive. These niches could be specific to your locality, but they often include lawyers, real estate agents, dentists, and other popular industries. Creating niche sites in these industries will give you a prominent advertisement when potential clients start searching for their websites.

Rent or Sell Sites

While the traditional model includes building a branded website or ranking an existing one, there is an alternative. If you make a niche site, you can consider selling or renting it to a client, as mentioned in the previous method. Renting an ad on the site’s main page could bring in consistent income, with the possibility that the client will also want you to work on their site.

Encourage Existing Clients to Find Leads

Your existing clients will almost certainly have relationships with other local business owners. If you can encourage them to recommend you, there will be far less selling involved in closing the deal. Offering a discount or deal, possibly a free month or additional social media promotion should be enough to start promoting you to their network.

Buy Retargeting Ads

Retargeting ads appear across various sites after a visitor has left your website. Most people don’t purchase the first visit, but this is particularly true when discussing business decisions that impact your online plans. Retargeting ensures your brand is seen on multiple occasions, increasing the business owner’s chances to keep you in their mind. Retargeting is a subtle way of branding and promoting yourself, often with reasonably low ad costs.

Join a Local Business Group

Local business groups are a great way to meet potential clients but don’t require much self-promotion. SEO is something many business owners understand they need, though they may not completely understand it. As part of a business group, explaining what you do can often lead to several new leads.

Finding clients is one of the most significant stresses for many people, so these options can reduce the need to pitch yourself directly to clients. Of course, there will still be some salesmanship required, with competitors also looking to gain business, but your promotional efforts will be dramatically reduced. Ultimately, if you can develop a solid base of satisfied customers, you should see an increase in clients as your reputation starts to grow.

Access Example SEO GAP Analysis

SEO.London checked 35 websites and over 150,000 keywords. The result of over 5 million data points is presented below.

Open Data Studio