seo business plan pdf

"Weekly blogging can feel like a lot, but if you're starting out, content production is truly what you need. You want to become the most trusted resource within your niche so your users are served and Google prioritizes your site in SERPs,” Ashbridge explains.

Pro tip: A simple Google sheet helps manage blog production.

“At minimum, use a Google sheet to keep a record of the blogs you‘re posting, their keywords, the date published, the cluster they belong to, and the live URL. Refer back to this sheet when you’re monitoring performance or for internal linking,” she says.

6. Create a link-building plan.

The topic cluster model is your way forward in SEO, but it‘s not the only way to get your website content to rank higher once it’s been created.

While our first five steps were dedicated to on-page SEO, link-building is the primary objective of off-page SEO. Link-building is the process of attracting inbound links (also called backlinks) to your website from other sources on the internet. As a general rule, sites with more authority that link back to your content have a more significant impact on your rankings.

Dedicate some time to brainstorming all the various ways you can attract inbound links. Maybe you’ll start by sharing links with local businesses in exchange for links to their own sites, or you’ll write a few blog posts and share them on different social media platforms. You can also approach other blogs for guest blogging opportunities through which you can link back to your website or find different agencies that provide link building services .

7. Compress media files before uploading them to your site.

This is a small but important step in the SEO process, especially for mobile optimization.

As your blog or website grows, you‘ll undoubtedly have more images, videos, and related media to support your content. These visual assets help retain your visitors’ attention, but it's easy to forget that these files can be very large. Since page speed is a crucial ranking factor, it’s important to monitor the size of the media files you upload to your site.

The bigger the file size, the more difficult it is for an internet browser to render your website. It’s also harder for mobile browsers to load these images, as the bandwidth on their devices is significantly smaller. So, the smaller the file size, the faster your website will load. But how do you compress images and still retain quality?

It’s worth considering the use of a compression tool to reduce file sizes before uploading images, videos, and gifs. Sites like TinyPNG compress images in bulk, while Google's Squoosh can shrink image files to microscopic sizes. However, you choose to compress your media, keeping files in the kilobytes (KB) range is a good rule of thumb.

8. Stay up-to-date on SEO news and best practices.

Just like marketing, the search engine landscape is ever-evolving. Staying on top of current trends and best practices is an important strategy, and there are multiple online resources that can help you do so. Here are a few resources to check out:

• Search Engine Roundtable .
• Search Engine Land .
• Diggity Marketing .

9. Measure and track your content's success.

SEO can take a lot of time and effort, and because of this, you’ll want to know if your strategy works. It’s important to track your metrics to understand the success of your overall process and identify possible areas for improvement.

Not sure where to start when it comes to metrics? According to 2023 HubSpot data , sales, leads, and conversions are the most important metrics tracked by web analysts. Next up are total monthly visitors, click-through rate, search traffic, and bounce rate.

You can monitor organic traffic using your preferred web analytics tool or create your own dashboard using Excel or Google Sheets. For a more comprehensive solution, consider using HubSpot's Marketing Analytics and Dashboard software , which provides a centralized platform for tracking all your key SEO-related metrics. 

Also, tracking indexed pages, conversions, ROI, and your rankings on SERPs can help you recognize your success as well as identify areas of opportunity.

Creating an SEO Report

An SEO report is an overview of the SEO efforts you’ve enacted over a specific period of time. It essentially shows how successful you’ve been, as well as any areas that need improvement. Having a consolidated report also helps you present the data to relevant stakeholders to display why your SEO activities are important and how they drive growth for your business.

Your SEO report can contain metrics like organic traffic results, the SEO health of your website, inbound link generation, and also address any areas where growth has declined that need to be addressed for future improvement.

The image below is an example of an SEO report from Ahrefs, which has given an overview of the link-building progress of the SEO efforts.

1. Historically optimize your content.

Devote some time each month to updating old blog posts with new and up-to-date information to continue ranking in SERPs. You can also use this time to add any SEO best practices that weren’t initially addressed, like missing image alt text.

2. Look out for changing keywords and new search intent.

After a few months, track how your blog posts are ranking and which keywords they're ranking for. This can help you adjust subheadings and copy to leverage new search intent that your audience may be interested in.

3. Add more editorial value to your old content.

Sometimes, you'll find that a post is completely out of date. In this scenario, you should go beyond the average historical SEO update and give it a full refresh. You can do this by updating out-of-date information and statistics, incorporating new sections for added depth, and adding quotes or original data to give the post more referral traffic.

4. Create a monthly content plan.

To keep up with your SEO strategy, it can be helpful to create and refine a monthly content plan. You can place it into a spreadsheet, and your teams can track it accordingly. The list below is an example of a monthly content plan that takes the above steps into account.

• Devote time to keyword research related to your industry.
• List blog post ideas that leverage opportunistic keywords.
• Identify blog posts that can be updated or refreshed.
• Identify other SEO opportunities, such as holidays.
• List content ideas in a Search Insights Report.
• Assign content to your team.
• Track progress at the end of each month.

With a monthly SEO plan like the one above, plus a tracking document like a search insights report, you can build out and execute an efficient SEO strategy. You can also identify and leverage low-hanging-fruit topics to discuss related to your industry.

Create A Strategy That Supports Your Business Goals

Ranking in search pages can be difficult. While it may seem enticing to create content that is centered around high-traffic keywords, that strategy may not help you meet your business goals.

Instead, opt to create an SEO strategy that helps you address your individual business needs, like increasing customer acquisition, for greater marketing success.

Editor's Note: This blog post was originally published in April 2019 but was updated in January 2024 for consistency and freshness.

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How To Kick-Start Your SEO Marketing Plan (Infographic)

More than 5 billion people have access to the internet — and when it’s all added up, they’ll spend 1.4 billion years’ worth of time online in a single year. As you can imagine, that’s a lot of search queries to process at any given moment on platforms like Google Search.

So how do content marketing experts take advantage of all this time spent online? How can you make “search marketing” just one more tool in your digital arsenal?

The answer: search engine optimization, or SEO.

Why Do You Need SEO?

To understand the why of a digital marketing plan, you need to know the what . So let’s start here: What is search engine optimization?

Every SEO strategy is about positioning your company’s web pages in search results. The higher you are on that search engine results page (SERP), the higher your chances of earning a click through organic SEO.

SEO marketing, then, is all about playing to search engine preferences. Your goal is to find out what these systems like and put that in all your content — whether it’s a high-value keyword, a certain number of headings, a specific format, or even just a good level of user-friendliness. 

There are plenty of behind-the-scenes technical factors that go into SEO, such as the use of Google Analytics and Google Search Console, but at heart, it’s about assessing your current standing in search, identifying potential ranking opportunities and executing on content gaps.

You’re going to need tools and automation to help with this process. ( That’s right here. )

And you can save time and resources by knowing the best way to build or use an SEO strategy template. (You guessed it. We’ve got that, too.)

Why do you need an SEO marketing plan? Here are a few digital marketing statistics that will make you want to take your content strategy to the next level:

Competition

69% of marketers actively invest time in SEO marketing . If you’re not doing the same, you’ll be left behind — and so will your content, which is far more likely to be overlooked by a search engine.

Flexibility

These days, people are on the go — or even just on the couch — and away from their computers. Luckily, SEO marketing is flexible enough to meet customers where they are, as almost 25% of companies invest in mobile optimization as a top SEO marketing strategy .

With plenty of online shoppers worldwide, it’s more important than ever to make sure your content is the first search result they see. Why? Over 40% of shoppers go to Google to research a purchase, whether they intend to shop in-store or online.

Effectiveness

Compared to traditional marketing and advertising, SEO as a strategy is cheaper, more effective and better aligned with demographic, digital and purchasing trends.

How Do SEO and Content Marketing Fit Together?

SEO marketing and content marketing are inseparable; in fact, they’re practically synonymous.

Thorough, high-quality content feeds search engines, allowing your brand to own more SERP real estate and index a higher number of crawlable web pages. Similarly, SEO ensures the content you produce is analytically sound, target audience-oriented and much likelier to serve searcher intent by incorporating relevant keywords and a solid SEO content strategy.

However, these two parts of digital marketing have their differences, too. For example, the teams involved in building an SEO marketing plan might not be the same people actually creating the content. 

So how do you fit these two puzzle pieces together to create an SEO content marketing strategy? Here are a few things you’ll need:

Expert Work

An SEO expert can be anyone, from an SEO manager to a trained content writer. No matter what field they come from or what kind of experience they bring to the table, these teams must work together to create something search engines and readers will love, guided by an SEO roadmap. Generally, this starts with an SEO strategy template or a digital marketing plan — but as you work through the details, you’ll find more ways to ensure everyone stays on the same page.

High-Quality Content

Authoritative, trustworthy content is a must — not just because readers want it, but because search engines expect it.

Content that contains rich media , scannable action items and logical next steps for readers is inherently more valuable to readers than stale, surface-level writing. Google’s algorithms prioritize this reality accordingly in SERPs.

On-Page and Off-Page SEO

SEO content marketing strategies are nothing without considering on- and off-page SEO.

On-page SEO refers to just that: anything directly to do with the metadata and the content that exists on a page. This includes:

• Title tags.
• H1 – H6 tags.
• URL strings.
• Internal/external linking structures.

Off-page SEO refers to inbound link-building. Though not direct ranking indicators, social media engagement, influencer marketing and brand mentions provide adjunct off-page benefits as well.

What Is an SEO Marketing Plan?

When it comes to digital marketing, it pays to have a plan. But what does an SEO plan look like?

An SEO marketing plan is a documented system of every tactic, asset, execution and analysis of a site, its content and its reach. This system must revolve around the talents of in-house or outsourced marketers, the value proposition of a brand and the nature of search engine algorithms.

Basic tenets of an SEO marketing plan include:

1. Inventory of All Site Collateral and Marketing Materials

Content and other assets should be shared with all appropriate stakeholders and be able to quickly be delivered to sales teams, executives and prospects at a moment’s notice.

2. SEO Audit

This year’s SEO marketing strategy needs to be different from last year’s. Knowing where your current strengths and weaknesses lie, which landing pages need refreshing and where Featured Snippet opportunities exist is paramount. An audit, supported by tools like SEO analytics and Google Docs for collaborative planning, gives you a solid starting point.

3. Digital Hierarchy of Priorities That Outlines Benchmarks and Next Steps

To organize and empower any SEO effort, you need clear priorities. Which metrics matter to the marketing team? How about the sales department? What about the CEO who doesn’t know a thing about mobile site traffic? How will you appease all of the above?

4. Regularly Updated List of Current Keyword Rankings and Potential Ranking Opportunities

This is your SEO success dashboard and it spotlights the likelihood of ROI on given search terms. What’s working? What isn’t? Utilizing an SEO tool like Google Keyword Planner can provide insights into target keywords and relevant keywords to boost your search engine ranking.

5. Editorial Calendar and Content Schedule

A clear, well-documented content pipeline or SEO content brief keeps all producers aware and engaged.

6. Content Optimization Goals for High-Conversion Pages

Updating existing content is now the industry norm, as opposed to churning out new content every day (if you can do both, that’s great). Landing pages that drive conversions are often square 1 in terms of choosing how to schedule content optimizations.

7. Distribution, Syndication and Promotion Channels and Possibilities

As stated above, off-page SEO is important. Networking with relevant influencers, pitching industry publications and customizing social media posts pays off.

8. Automated Metrics Tracking and Analytics Reporting

To keep your SEO marketing strategy on track, you need daily performance metrics at your fingertips as well as monthly, quarterly and annual figures to show progress or justify changing course.

To achieve the SERP dominance you seek, you must not only be mindful of how search engines serve results but how they determine the quality of your work. That means your strategists, web managers and content creators must be singularly focused on the most prominent Google ranking factors.

9. Pay-Per-Click

While pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns are by definition not under the same umbrella as “organic” or “SEO,” they can still be valuable complements to a content and search marketing strategy, especially when leveraging platforms like Google Ad and Bing Ads for increased visibility.

Also, remember that paid ads appear at the top of SERPs, so there is definitely value in crowding out the organic results of competitors and owning the branded keywords that searchers are querying.

One of our asset management clients paired SEO and PPC to reduce their total cost-per-lead by 63% .

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3 Keys To a Stronger SEO Marketing Plan

Knowing what goes into a successful SEO marketing plan is a victory unto itself. But how do you launch one?

1. Focusing Your Investments

If you’re starting from scratch, you need a few things:

• Site audit: What’s your Domain Authority? What’s your page speed? Are you using structured data?
• Content audit: How much collateral do you have that can immediately be repurposed and republished? How much content will be needed to achieve your SEO goals? How diverse should your content be?
• Competitor audit: Who are your primary, secondary and tertiary competitors? What do they rank for? What do their link profiles look like? Do they have a coherent social strategy?

Knowing where your strengths and weaknesses lie, as well as those of your competitors , allows you to hone in on keyword targets and ranking potential.

2. Targeting Quick Wins

Setting marketing aside for a moment, you also need to know who cuts your checks.

We see it every day: Stressed marketing manager is given 3 months to show ROI or their budget is nixed.

That means you need to come out swinging, with quick SEO wins to prove the value of content marketing.

Here’s a handful to get you started:

• Improve site speed. Optimal page speed is 1.5 seconds or less.
• Optimize for mobile. Google now uses mobile-first indexing, so this is a must.
• Update everything. That includes your Google My Business account.
• Fix site errors. All your users will thank you.

3. Creating a Plan for Longer-Term Initiatives

As a general rule, content marketing ROI doesn’t normally materialize until month 6 or later. But once you lay the groundwork, SEO marketing victories tend to snowball: Your Domain Authority rises, your social media engagement improves, your content generates more leads, etc.

6 months to a year out, your SEO goals should be:

• Qualified lead generation.
• Shortened sales cycle.
• Bottom-line ROI.
• Additional marketing investment.

Examples of Winning SEO Marketing Strategies

Need a little inspiration for your own search engine marketing strategy? Here are 2 examples from our own repertoire:

Example #1: Prioritizing The Right Parts of SEO

One of our clients came on board with a flat URL structure and was concerned their industry was way too niche to rank for even one high-value keyword.

Through a series of technical SEO cleanup, advanced keyword research and landing page optimization, we were able to get our client ranking on Page 1 for 5 of their most critical search terms.

Technical SEO projects often turn into a game of whack-a-mole. Lesson: Fix all site errors first and then optimize existing copy for immediate SEO gain.

Example #2: Turning SEO Into ROI

Another client in the consumer products space was unclear on how to attribute ROI to their content marketing. They came to Brafton in need of fresh blog content across seven brands.

We were able to drive not only higher traffic and engagement but actual revenue from our optimized content. For an $833,000 investment, the client earned $4.03 million in revenue attributed to Brafton content marketing.

We, Brafton, generated 4 million in revenue. Lesson: You can draw a straight line from SEO to ROI. To show results, focus on metrics that matter (AKA money).

Make Your SEO Strategy Shine

By now, it should be clear that you need a search engine optimization strategy, like, yesterday . The good news is that SEO marketing comes to life when you have the right content — and when you know how to plan, create, schedule and position it.

But content marketing isn’t always easy. Search engines can be picky and even your customers themselves aren’t necessarily sure what they want. What’s a marketing expert to do?

Your best bet is to brush up on all things digital marketing. Keep an eye on search engine updates, let your SEO strategy template evolve organically and — perhaps most importantly — remember that SEO delivers real results if you know where to look. That means leveraging effective SEO marketing strategies and understanding the importance of search engine optimization.

Editor’s Note: Updated June 2024.

Michael O'Neill

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Mike O'Neill is a writer, editor and content manager in Chicago. When he's not keeping a close eye on Brafton's editorial content, he's auditioning to narrate the next Ken Burns documentary. All buzzwords are his own.

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How To Start and Grow Your SEO Business

Stevie Carpenter

11 min. read

Updated May 10, 2024

Free Download:  Sample Digital Marketing Agency Business Plan Template

There’s never been a better time to start an SEO business. In this day and age, SEO is all but essential to businesses. It’s crucial for helping brands get seen by the right customers at the right time.

Consequently, starting an SEO business can be a lucrative venture.

But with so much competition, it takes time and effort to successfully grow an SEO agency that stands out against your competitors. In this piece, we look at how you can start growing your SEO business, from business plans to lead generation.

• What is an SEO business?

As the name suggests, an SEO business is a company or agency that performs SEO services for and on behalf of a brand.

For those not in the know, SEO refers to  search engine optimization . This is the practice of helping a website appear higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) for keywords related to their specific product, service, or niche. An SEO business, then, is one that offers this practice as a service.

With  81% of people looking to search engines  to find a product or service and a further 74% of those people actually making a purchase, SEO is clearly essential to businesses.

However, the actual process of optimizing your website can be complex, requiring a degree of technical and niche knowledge in order to do so. SEO businesses provide the skills, experience, and tools to help their clients optimize their digital presence so they appear higher in the SERPs.

Naturally, with SEO so important to growing businesses, there are plenty of potential clients out there. But actually winning those clients is a different matter.

• How to write an SEO business plan that outlines your goals

A business plan is essential for any growing SEO business. It’s what guides your SEO agency’s growth and trajectory, identifying where you want to go — and how to get there.

Here are a few key points you should bear in mind while writing your SEO business plan:

Identify your target customers

Who are you targeting  your SEO business’ services towards? You might want to be an all-rounder SEO agency or, as we discuss later in this piece, you may want to specialize your verticals.

Build a solid value proposition

There are a lot of SEO businesses out there — what sets you apart from your competitors? Do you have a proprietary tool that you leverage? Expertise in a specific industry vertical or process? Work to set yourself apart early and showcase to both customers and investors why they should choose you over other agencies.

Write a concise executive summary

The  executive summary  is a general overview of your SEO business that covers all aspects of your business plan. Be sure to save this part of your plan for last, since it should function as a concise representation of your larger business plan.

Outline your financial plan and forecast

Your  financial plan  will include your cash flow statements, estimated sales forecasts, profit and loss statements, and more. This is an essential component of your plan that will help you layout steps for growth and help prove that your SEO business is viable.

These are just a few points that your SEO business plan should include. For a full and comprehensive list (with business plan templates), check out our  step-by-step guide to writing a business plan .

• How to get SEO clients with a solid sales pitch

Part of the trouble with getting clients for your SEO business (or, indeed, retaining them) is that it is difficult to convince prospects that are not familiar with SEO of its value and necessary tactics.

SEO takes time to execute and take effect. Indeed, it is often in constant competition with  PPC for budget . PPC is comparable to a speedboat — fast, agile, and quick to pivot but, as it requires constant refueling, it can soon get expensive.

SEO, on the other hand, is more like a sailboat. Sure, it’s slow, to begin with, and it can take a while to gain momentum. But once a sailboat gets going, it really comes into its own, spurred along by the wind — no expensive refueling required.

Due to this relative lack of speed on SEO’s part, it can be difficult to make the case for it, but leaning on data can help.

Prospects that are unfamiliar with the intricacies of SEO (and why it’s arguably better than PPC) might be reluctant to sign up as a client. Or if they do, they may be reluctant to stay on past their contact’s end date because they haven’t seen the instant results they desire.

That’s why it is essential that you thoroughly outline your forecasted results for your clients during your sales pitch,  and  back those predictions up with solid data.

Present value with data

This guide from SEOmonitor  explains that you need to demonstrate the value of your targeted keywords and showcase where a brand stands against its competitors. Use this to create a forecast that showcases what really matters for the business: the link between clicks and conversions.

Convincing prospective clients of the benefits of SEO all comes down to one thing: the positive impact on their business. Clients that are familiar with how SEO works might be an easier sell, as they know that good SEO takes time and effort to implement and to see results. But for those clients that are new to SEO (and, indeed, for those that aren’t), it requires a solid, data-backed forecast of the expected results from your proposed optimizations.

By backing up your predictions with hard data — translating ranking increases into estimated clicks, conversions, traffic, and so on — you can convince even the most skeptical clients of the value of your SEO business.

Educate your customers

In the same vein, you should also seek to educate your customers. Offer one or two real insights, relevant to your prospect’s niche, that they can use and that demonstrate your own expertise and authority.

Don’t share too much, of course — give too much away, and your prospect won’t need your help. But by providing a few nuggets of useful information at first, you then prime them for further collaboration, helping your sales pitch convince and convert as a result.

• Sell local SEO services to local businesses

Many local businesses rely on word-of-mouth, local out-of-home (OOH) advertising, or high street footfall to get customers. But as consumers increasingly turn online to search for their desired products or services, these traditional marketing tactics fall short.

Now, in a post-COVID world, OOH advertising and customer footfall have become less valuable. With the rise of eCommerce during the course of the pandemic, these habits will likely remain long after the world returns to any semblance of normality.

Consequently, SEO businesses looking to grow should target local businesses with the offer of local SEO services.

Why offer local SEO services?

Local SEO helps your clients reach new customers in the same area, customers who might otherwise have looked to national brands to buy a product. As consumers become increasingly conscious of the benefits of buying local, this is essential.

It also helps them appear ahead of their competitors in local searches. By ranking higher in the SERPs, local SEO gives them a slight (but valuable) edge.

Beyond this, local SEO can also help your clients expand into new (but still local) regions. Rather than limiting their reach to the strict geographical area, your clients can appeal to customers in the next town or district.

The essentials of SEO for local businesses include, but is not limited to:

• Completing your Google My Business listing:  a business’s Google listing is essential for SERP success. These appear first in local search results, so it’s important your client’s listing is complete.
• Optimize page titles, meta descriptions, and URLs:  metadata is essential for targeting local keywords. While meta descriptions aren’t important for SEO, they can help convince customers to click on your client’s result.
• Get your schema markup right:  your client’s schema markup helps search engines understand your client’s website and display relevant results in local search queries.

These are just a few ways you can build local SEO for your clients —  this Search Engine Journal guide to local SEO  outlines them more in-depth.

But by targeting businesses with the offer of local SEO services (and clearly outlining the benefits of it to them), you can increase your roster of smaller (but paying) clients.

• Grow your SEO business by specializing in your verticals

When you first start your SEO business, it can be tempting to take on clients from all industries. As long as they are willing to pay and take onboard your actions, they’re a worthy client.

While this is certainly a valid approach, you run the risk of overreaching. Trying to cater to every business under the sun can be done, but it is often more manageable (and, indeed, more lucrative) to  go niche .

Often, the best way to increase your client base is to narrow the scope of industries your SEO business caters to — your verticals. Although most SEO techniques can be applied to any business, each industry has its own unique challenges and issues.

Take pharmaceutical clients, for instance.

If you are  working with online pharmacies  or drug manufacturers, they will be subject to strict and specific guidelines over what they can and can’t say on their websites.

Potentially misleading claims could result in strong penalties, both from industry regulators and from search engines themselves. This requires a working knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry from a digital point of view. An all-rounder SEO business might struggle to get to grips with these complex regulations.

But an SEO agency that specializes exclusively in pharmaceuticals would hit the ground running with any new client from that industry, leaning on tried-and-tested tactics that provably grow their business.

By specializing in one, two, or a few specific verticals, you can build up your knowledge of the challenges and requirements these industries face in SEO. Consequently, you can look to offer a broader skillset and depth of experience to potential clients. Your value as an SEO business grows considerably and will help grow your client roster as a result.

• Improve your own SEO, improve your SEO business

If you’re looking to grow your SEO business, you should first start by  ensuring your own SEO is in order . Your prospective clients should be able to enter the keywords relating to your SEO business and see you appear in the first search engine results page, at least.

This starts with a modern-looking website that is well-designed, quick to load, and represents your brand and its SEO offerings. Build out your service pages so they clearly outline exactly what you do, and how potential clients can benefit from it.

Accompany this with plenty of relevant keyword-optimized content that demonstrates your value as an SEO business, both to potential clients  and  to search engines.  As outlined by this Search Facts blog , building expertise, authority, and trust are essential for good SEO, and your website is where this begins.

Your website also includes the other basic elements of SEO: optimized metadata, good site structure, plenty of backlinks, and so on.

But alongside this, you should also improve your accompanying digital channels too. Your social media profiles, email newsletter, paid ads, and so on all create a comprehensive digital presence that, whether directly or indirectly, enhances your business’ SEO.

• Market your SEO services by offering something for free

Every growing SEO business needs a solid lead generation strategy, and one of the best ways to grow your SEO business this way is by offering something free.

A contact form is a good way of building up your potential client base, creating an email recipient list that you can target with value-adding email marketing newsletters. But getting relevant, qualified leads to actually sign up for your newsletter isn’t always easy.

Convincing prospective clients to hand over their personal details requires a value exchange, and in order to incentivize potential customers to sign up, you need a way of encouraging them to provide their contact details.

Consequently, it is worth offering something free to achieve this.

For SEO businesses, this typically means a  free SEO site audit , but this can get expensive if you’re not guaranteed a sale out of it. But you could also look at including content templates, tools, social media calendars, and so on.

Whatever incentive you decide to offer should appeal to your target client, relevant to SEO, and adding value without detracting from or replacing your own services.

While this won’t guarantee clients, it will increase your potential audience base for your SEO business and help you get your marketing messages to the right people, boosting your business as a result.

Starting and growing an SEO business 

The tips and tactics outlined above are just a few ways  you can start growing  your SEO business. Start with a plan, set milestones, and explore opportunities to differentiate your service offerings. With time, effort, and no small amount of patience, you could soon build up a solid client base that spurs your SEO business growth.

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Stevie Carpenter is an experienced writer and editor with over 10 years of experience. Passionate about marketing and developing profitable side hustles, Stevie specializes in writing about business and entrepreneur-related topics.

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The Ultimate SEO Proposal Template (with PDF & Guide)

New business should be a core activity carried out by every digital agency. Whether your agency relies on outbound sales tactics, inbound marketing or a mixture of both; an SEO Proposal is fundamental to the process of converting leads to clients.

Our Embeddable Audit Tool plays a pivotal role in enabling digital agencies to scale their new business activities. Through this and agency founder interviews, we've learned exactly which components you should include in your SEO Proposals to help motivate prospects and win more business. We've distilled these learnings into an SEO Proposal Template which you can download below in PDF format. Use this SEO proposal template in conjunction with our guide on how to create SEO Reports for clients .

Prefer Google Slides? Save the SEO Proposal Template Slides to your Drive.

Before we run through an SEO Proposal sample in full, make sure you know the answers to these 3 very important questions from the prospective client:

1. What are their business objectives?

Since we're talking about SEO, their likely objective will be to "increase traffic" but try to dig a bit deeper and understand what's potentially underneath this. As there are several true business objectives that can be extrapolated from "increase traffic", here are just a few:

• Increase revenue
• Increase traffic quality
• Increase conversion rate
• Increase visibility in search results
• Optimize  Google My Business listing
• Outrank competitors in search results

2. What are their target search terms?

Simply looking at what the site currently ranks for is not enough. Have a discussion with the prospective client and understand what search terms and phrases they want to rank for.

3. Who are their key competitors?

Not only will this help you provide context around their current search performance, it may also help you in the future by potentially supporting a business case for additional work that helps your prospective client compete more effectively against their competitors.

You could always take an educated guess at answering these questions (and it might be obvious for some businesses) but nothing beats hearing it from the prospective client directly. Schedule a call or better still, a Zoom call so you can discuss these points and hear how they describe their business and their challenges. Take note of what they emphasise and the level of emotive adjectives they use. You'll want to make sure you're 100% clear on these 3 questions before continuing because you'll be reiterating the answers to all of them in the SEO Proposal! This will show you have a solid grasp of their business and that you can build SEO strategies that help them achieve their goals.

Once you've got those answers, download the SEO Proposal sample . The following guide will explain each section of the template:

Section 1: Insights from an SEO Audit

The best SEO Proposals are the ones that provide value upfront. Don't talk about how great your agency is on page 1. Skip writing a cover letter (save that for the actual email). Page 1 of your SEO proposal should be about value exchange. This is what makes your agency stand out and how you can build trust at the very start of a relationship.

Lead with an executive summary showing key insights that identify current SEO problems on their website, what they mean for their rankings and how you'll fix them so rankings improve. Use these insights to identify opportunities and how you'll help the client create differentiation among their competitors in search results.

Pro Tip: Reiterate the prospective clients' goals and objectives throughout the proposal

Everything you're suggesting in the SEO Proposal must have a tangible, clear connection to the business objectives they told you at the start. Don't throw in service line items unless each one is rationalized and clearly supports one or multiple business objectives. It may seem obvious to you why certain services are needed but half the job in the SEO proposal is to make them sound absolutely mandatory if they want to achieve their objectives. Underpinning your entire proposal with the client's business objectives shows you that you're invested in their success.

Section 2: SEO Implementation Roadmap

At the start of a client relationship, SEO services may contain multiple concurrent moving parts. Some of these are one-off tasks & fixes while others may become weekly or monthly processes. To best capture the value you'll be delivering across all this work, its best to group individual tasks into separate projects and roadmap them in a timeline view like a calendar or Gantt chart:

Depending on the client's stage and the amount of work, you could create multiple milestones and price them separately which may help the client budget their spend accordingly.

Pro Tip: try 'downselling' the client initially by carving off a small milestone at a low price (sub $1,000)

This tip may seem counter-intuitive but it can be effective for converting SMEs. If they're willing to embark on a small piece of work with you like a strategy plan or fixing critical SEO issues in a short time frame, your chances of picking up the full project itself increase considerably. Hitting the client with a big project and big cost upfront is not ideal when no trust has yet been built. A small piece of work can build trust quickly if you can delight the client and deliver a great experience.

Section 3: Agency Methodology, Values, USP

Now that you've covered the SEO Audit and Roadmap you can answer the next all-important question: 'why you?'. Make sure you cover your methodology and what your view on SEO best practice looks like, what your agency values are and your USP (Unique Selling Proposition).

In a crowded market like digital marketing, you need a way to stand out when clients compare SEO proposals. Without creating differentiation, the client will be forced to use price as the deciding factor. This is not where you want to be as a service business. First, you need to have a comprehensive view of the competitive landscape and know exactly how your competitors are positioning themselves. Once armed with this insight, you'll have better insight into how you can differentiate.

There's a growing trend among digital agencies to 'niche down'. In response to high levels of competition, agencies are specializing in one or two service offerings or are niching down by industry or sub-industry. This makes it all the more important to know your local competition. Of course, with most in-person business currently being conducted virtually over Zoom, your competitors may not just be down the road but potentially on the other side of the world.

We wrote about how you can determine your positioning as part of our guide to starting an SEO agency . Aside from niching down, Sylvia Moses from Workamajig outlined some other tactics to create a competitive advantage:

• Differentiate through authority: become an authority on SEO in your area and/or focus on winning industry awards and accolades that reinforce your level of expertise
• Differentiate through content: write thought leadership articles, write a book!, create videos or how-to's, conduct research studies, run webinars/live events, create tools or open-source frameworks
• Differentiate through branding: a strong brand is memorable and has cut-through. Remember "branding isn't just about how you look, its also your attitude, beliefs and even your name"
• Differentiate through pricing: consider alternative pricing models rather than the standard hourly billing or retainer structure

Pro Tip: Perform a digital marketing audit on your competitors

A comprehensive digital marketing audit across all channels will help you better understand competitors' positioning and illuminate opportunities for differentiation.

Section 4: Key People

As much as you talk about 'the agency', you also need to talk about yourself and your team - the humans behind the agency who bring the work to life. The long-standing adage that 'people buy from people' is an enduring truth in business development. Ben Davis, editor at Econsultancy says:

"Clients want to know what drives the people with which they work. And vice versa. Agencies need to understand the client and what value means to them."

You might also consider structuring your agency staff in a unique way (department structure) or use unique job titles to emphasize your approach. Rather than simply having an "SEO Specialist" job title consider some creative job titles that stand out.

Pro Tip: Avoid the 'bait and switch'

Clients hate this. It happens when they feel they've met the team they'll be working with during the pitch or proposal stage but then once work commences, they get handed off to a completely new team they don't know. To prevent this, ensure the client meets everyone early so its a smooth transition to working together if you win the work and need to involve other personnel.

Section 5: Case Studies Testimonials

The last section of this SEO Proposal Template is where you tell the client how good you are but using the voice of previous and existing clients. Nothing helps build trust and credibility like hearing your previous clients talking about how your services helped transform or accelerate their business. If you can produce case studies that show positive movement on key metrics like traffic, revenue, conversions, conversion rate, etc these will work wonders to help bolster your SEO proposal. Let the work speak for itself.

WebMarketers helped Argyle Associates improve their Google rating from 3.6 stars to 4.7 stars and increased their conversion rate to 12%:

Encourage all your clients to leave public reviews for your agency on sites like Clutch.co or Digital Agency Network . Even a simple Google Review is useful too. All these actions help derisk the decision for a potential client.

Pro Tip: Build processes for capturing client feedback

Every agency should be brainstorming ways to capture more client feedback in all different formats whether this be star ratings, single-line quotes, written testimonials or video reviews. Adding client feedback into case studies showing how you've achieved business objectives provides a great reason to engage for any prospective client.

Download the SEO Proposal PDF

If you haven't already, make sure to download our SEO Proposal PDF . While it's nice to think you can use one template over and over for client proposals, the reality is you'll need to modify and augment each proposal to fit the client needs and expectations. But sticking to a structure of providing value upfront with the SEO audit, then roadmapping all the pieces of work will help set you up for success.

If you can maintain the client's interest up until this point you can win them over with the subsequent sections explaining your agency's methodology, the key people and your case studies.

We hope this SEO Proposal Template is useful to you, please let us know your feedback! Tweet to us @seoptimer .

Tim's background is in digital marketing working for both large and small digital agencies and diverse client types. He has a passion for tech, software and staying up to date on the latest search engine news.

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Free PDF Business Plan Templates and Samples

By Joe Weller | September 9, 2020

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We’ve gathered the most useful collection of business plan PDF templates and samples, including options for organizations of any size and type.

On this page, you’ll find free PDF templates for a simple business plan , small business plan , startup business plan , and more.

Simple Business Plan PDF Templates

These simple business plan PDF templates are ready to use and customizable to fit the needs of any organization.

Simple Business Plan Template PDF

This template contains a traditional business plan layout to help you map out each aspect, from a company overview to sales projections and a marketing strategy. This template includes a table of contents, as well as space for financing details that startups looking for funding may need to provide. 

Download Simple Business Plan Template - PDF

Lean Business Plan Template PDF

This scannable business plan template allows you to easily identify the most important elements of your plan. Use this template to outline key details pertaining to your business and industry, product or service offerings, target customer segments (and channels to reach them), and to identify sources of revenue. There is also space to include key performance metrics and a timeline of activities. 

Download Lean Business Plan Template - PDF

Simple 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template PDF

This template is designed to help you develop and implement a 90-day business plan by breaking it down into manageable chunks of time. Use the space provided to detail your main goals and deliverables for each timeframe, and then add the steps necessary to achieve your objectives. Assign task ownership and enter deadlines to ensure your plan stays on track every step of the way.

Download Simple 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template

PDF | Smartsheet

One-Page Business Plan PDF Templates

The following single page business plan templates are designed to help you download your key ideas on paper, and can be used to create a pitch document to gain buy-in from partners, investors, and stakeholders.

One-Page Business Plan Template PDF

Use this one-page template to summarize each aspect of your business concept in a clear and concise manner. Define the who, what, why, and how of your idea, and use the space at the bottom to create a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) for your business. 

Download One-Page Business Plan Template

If you’re looking for a specific type of analysis, check out our collection of SWOT templates .

One-Page Lean Business Plan PDF

This one-page business plan template employs the Lean management concept, and encourages you to focus on the key assumptions of your business idea. A Lean plan is not stagnant, so update it as goals and objectives change — the visual timeline at the bottom is ideal for detailing milestones. 

Download One-Page Lean Business Plan Template - PDF

One-Page 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template

Use this business plan template to identify main goals and outline the necessary activities to achieve those goals in 30, 60, and 90-day increments. Easily customize this template to fit your needs while you track the status of each task and goal to keep your business plan on target. 

Download One-Page 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template

For additional single page plans, including an example of a one-page business plan , visit " One-Page Business Plan Templates with a Quick How-To Guide ."

Small Business Plan PDF Templates

These business plan templates are useful for small businesses that want to map out a way to meet organizational objectives, including how to structure, operate, and expand their business.

Simple Small Business Plan Template PDF

A small business can use this template to outline each critical component of a business plan. There is space to provide details about product or service offerings, target audience, customer reach strategy, competitive advantage, and more. Plus, there is space at the bottom of the document to include a SWOT analysis. Once complete, you can use the template as a basis to build out a more elaborate plan. 

Download Simple Small Business Plan Template

Fill-In-the-Blank Small Business Plan Template PDF

This fill-in-the-blank template walks you through each section of a business plan. Build upon the fill-in-the-blank content provided in each section to add information about your company, business idea, market analysis, implementation plan, timeline of milestones, and much more.

Download Fill-In-the-Blank Small Business Plan Template - PDF

One-Page Small Business Plan Template PDF

Use this one-page template to create a scannable business plan that highlights the most essential parts of your organization’s strategy. Provide your business overview and management team details at the top, and then outline the target market, market size, competitive offerings, key objectives and success metrics, financial plan, and more.

Download One-Page Business Plan for Small Business - PDF

Startup Business Plan PDF Templates

Startups can use these business plan templates to check the feasibility of their idea, and articulate their vision to potential investors.

Startup Business Plan Template

Use this business plan template to organize and prepare each essential component of your startup plan. Outline key details relevant to your concept and organization, including your mission and vision statement, product or services offered, pricing structure, marketing strategy, financial plan, and more.

‌Download Startup Business Plan Template

Sample 30-60-90 Day Business Plan for Startup

Startups can use this sample 30-60-90 day plan to establish main goals and deliverables spanning a 90-day period. Customize the sample goals, deliverables, and activities provided on this template according to the needs of your business. Then, assign task owners and set due dates to help ensure your 90-day plan stays on track.

‌Download Sample 30-60-90 Day Business Plan for Startup Template 

For additional resources to create your plan, visit “ Free Startup Business Plan Templates and Examples .”

Nonprofit Business Plan PDF Templates

Use these business plan PDF templates to outline your organization’s mission, your plan to make a positive impact in your community, and the steps you will take to achieve your nonprofit’s goals.

Nonprofit Business Plan Template PDF

Use this customizable PDF template to develop a plan that details your organization’s purpose, objectives, and strategy. This template features a table of contents, with room to include your nonprofit’s mission and vision, key team and board members, program offerings, a market and industry analysis, promotional plan, financial plan, and more. This template also contains a visual timeline to display historic and future milestones.

Download Nonprofit Business Plan Template - PDF

One-Page Business Plan for Nonprofit Organization PDF 

This one-page plan serves as a good starting point for established and startup nonprofit organizations to jot down their fundamental goals and objectives. This template contains all the essential aspects of a business plan in a concise and scannable format, including the organizational overview, purpose, promotional plan, key objectives and success metrics, fundraising goals, and more.

Download One-Page Business Plan for Nonprofit Organization Template - PDF

Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan PDF Templates

Use these fill-in-the-blank templates as a foundation for creating a comprehensive roadmap that aligns your business strategy with your marketing, sales, and financial goals.

Simple Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan PDF

The fill-in-the-blank template contains all the vital parts of a business plan, with sample content that you can customize to fit your needs. There is room to include an executive summary, business description, market analysis, marketing plan, operations plan, financial statements, and more. 

Download Simple Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Template - PDF

Lean Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan PDF

This business plan is designed with a Lean approach that encourages you to clarify and communicate your business idea in a clear and concise manner. This single page fill-in-the-blank template includes space to provide details about your management team, the problem you're solving, the solution, target customers, cost structure, and revenue streams. Use the timeline at the bottom to produce a visual illustration of key milestones. 

Download Fill-In-the-Blank Lean Business Plan Template - PDF

For additional resources, take a look at " Free Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Templates ."

Sample Business Plan PDF Templates

These sample business plan PDF templates can help you to develop an organized, thorough, and professional business plan.

Business Plan Sample 

This business plan example demonstrates a plan for a fictional food truck company. The sample includes all of the elements in a traditional business plan, which makes it a useful starting point for developing a plan specific to your business needs.

Download Basic Business Plan Sample - PDF

Sample Business Plan Outline Template

Use this sample outline as a starting point for your business plan. Shorten or expand the outline depending on your organization’s needs, and use it to develop a table of contents for your finalized plan.

Download Sample Business Plan Outline Template - PDF

Sample Business Financial Plan Template

Use this sample template to develop the financial portion of your business plan. The template provides space to include a financial overview, key assumptions, financial indicators, and business ratios. Complete the break-even analysis and add your financial statements to help prove the viability of your organization’s business plan.

Download Business Financial Plan Template

PDF  | Smartsheet

For more free, downloadable templates for all aspects of your business, check out “ Free Business Templates for Organizations of All Sizes .”

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SEO Plan Templates in PDF

Get A Detailed Plan for Your SEO Process to Increase Visibility to Your Website with Template.net’s Free SEO Plan Templates in PDF Format. Download Our SEO Plan Samples to Increase Rankings with a Choice of Templates for Freelance SEO, Marketing, Strategy, Agency, Company, Development, Growth, Action, or SEO Content Plans. All Templates Are Editable in PDF File. Download Now!

• SEO Cover Letter
• SEO Proposal

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of boosting the quality and quantity of site traffic to widen and increase its visibility from search engines. Once your website or webpage has better visibility in various search results, the more likely it attracts attention and more customers to your business.

SEO is essential in marketing your business because of how people use search engines almost every day. Users come to search websites like Google and Bing to have direct information and answers with the product that they are looking for. The search results from these search websites increase the company’s visibility. To help every business generate eligible and organic leads to their respective websites, they need to come up with an SEO plan like a Strategy Plan or Action Plan . If you’re having trouble starting with one, Template.net can assist you with that matter.

With us, you will find several ready-made SEO Plan Templates with pre-documented headings and contents ready to be downloaded in Adobe PDF. Our templates will help you develop one good plan instantly as it comes with editable content that you can personalize to suit your desired plan. The following templates are also easy to use, leaving you with no hassle once you avail of one. So, stop wasting your time and start making a professional template plan by downloading our available templates.

Grab this chance of improving the quality of your website’s page to maintain higher traffic in every visit of any user by creating a well-detailed plan. Check out our templates now!

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