SEO Agency Reseller Program - How it works?

[OnlineLobstar]

I am from Bangladesh, a South-Asian country. For over 9 years I have been doing SEO. On December 17, I have founded Ninja Creative Marketing with a senior from my campus. Today our team consists of six members. Most of our works come from one source, a multimedia company based in Florida. We handle the digital marketing needs for the websites provided. For each individual website, we work on a fixed monthly budget based on the extent of services.

We do research, technical SEO and Off-page SEO (I don't like this term) for their clients. This is what SEO Reseller, right?

I have been writing about SEO on my blog and some other platforms. The goal is to promote myself (personal branding) and my company (company branding). However, it isn't getting us any new partners (except one) who would outsource or resell their SEO clients to us. I am very much aware of growing my company and my team of course!

Problems I have been facing:

1. Business owners often don't trust an overseas SEO agency (I know there are lots of scammers out there & the majority of incidents involve people or teams from Asia)
2. Budget- It is obvious that people who want to outsource services from an overseas agency most likely to get the work done with the low budget. But I don't work with the budget like $99/month to get the rankings within two weeks which is insane. I prefer to give them a custom proposal for each project.
3. Guarantee- Most people like to get guaranteed results, but how?
4. Time-Frame: Clients think or would love to hear that we will get them the rankings within a few weeks or few months but I prefer a long-term goal (it's the best practice & there is no way to force your way out in this sector) but then they think we're not able to deliver.
5. I love being straightforward. Can't or don't lie or make any fake promises. But this is hurting the growth of my company.

If you were in my situation what would you do? Any suggestions for me or my company?

 

[chadkimball]

Chad Kimball here, I normally stay focused on google maps but thought I'd answer you here. Ever try to partner with a US based (american accent) sales person who can reach out for you? A good USA sales person can solve all of the problems on your list.

 

[JoyHawkins]

My experience with reselling SEO services is that it is near impossible to do it at scale. I worked for an agency that offered this as a service and the average agency that outsourced to us did not send more than 5 clients. Having spoken with others in this industry it usually is because the moment they get to a high enough demand, they realize it would be much easier to do it in-house with someone they directly oversee.


My advice would be to try and get direct clients (SMBs) instead of agencies. I think Chad's advice would help with that as well.

 

[Rich Owings]

Don't offer a guarantee. I just tell people to Google "SEO scams." The first thing on most lists is guaranteed rankings.

 

[chadkimball]

If you include paid traffic in your offerings you can usually guarantee them some minimum number of calls or their money back. Or, if it doesnt look like you're going to hit your target for the month, use part of the cost of the client fee to buy some traffic to top it off. Client stays happy, thinks you are a total maps elite genius, and you can work on getting those calls to your client for free through SEO in the meantime.

 

[BenFisher]

We do 70% of our work via white label partners who resell our services. Some of our customers will only hit that 2-5 client range, mainly because they are so involved and working in their business versus on their business, they cannot figure out how to grow. Although, we offer scalable solutions that can be packed very easily. So while I love working with SMB's, I equally love working with my agency partners. Our large agency partners will bundle our services in with theirs. We save them tons of time and money.

 

[Garrett Sussman]

Hey hey Lobster. I agree with other folks that there is opportunity, but it's just a massive challenge and requires the continued hustle.

A few ideas for you:

I took a look at your website, and it's a comprehensive service that you offer!

First off: I'd recommend really going through your copy and make sure there aren't any errors in grammar. I think if you're working with US customers (especially more sophisticated ones that might have more of an understanding of SEO and the value) you need to be perfect. Saying that you're fluent won't be good enough. In your values section about 'Value of Money', etc. there are some minor phrases that reveal that your copy writer has english as a second language:

“Best quality service at reasonable price” is the definition of Ninja Creative Marketing.

Instead: 'The best quality services at a reasonable price.'

It sounds trivial, but those are minor cues that might set a business owner off.

"Our portfolio includes our best work"?

"Review our case studies to see the results that we've produced for other agencies"?

It's also not incredibly clear who you're targeting. On your blog, you seem to write to some more technical content intended for other SEO specialists (which is great!). Maybe spell it out on your home page. We provide outsourced SEO services for agencies, consultants and brands.

You're probably not working with small single location businesses. Highlight the value prop. "We can complete the technical implementation, strategy with best industry practices, and help 'your clients rank' etc.

It's clear your goal is white label SEO services, once you get to that page. A lot of your best service information is hidden away on that page!

Why don't you make that the focus of your messaging on your home page and differentiate yourself that way?

One last suggestion:

In your case studies, maybe highlight some of the keywords that you've ranked for (and the difficulty level of ranking for them) that would impress an agency or more sophisticated business. I think we are very conditioned to focus on the data, but sometimes the communicated 'social' proof could be effective.

And earn more reviews on Clutch! (I'm biased working for a review management company haha.)

Hope this advice is helpful.

 

[chadkimball]

I agree with Garrett, get person from the USA to comb through the language and fix all those small errors. They don't have to be an elite academic just a normal USA english speaker will be able to point that stuff out.

On a positive note, I like how you have costs of traffic in the recent SEO clients section. In fact I would add a question to your faq page "What does it cost?" or "How much does it cost?" and link to your SEO clients. I'm in a similar situation with my coaching, even though its not a one size fits all pricing/setup, the biggest question in people's mind is often "How much does your course cost" or "How much does your training cost?" Having something like the SEO clients section that answers the question of what is the cost, even in a general way, is helpful.

While we're on the subject of your FAQ page, I think the FAQ page is a bit too geeky. (Like I talked about in this thread: Chad Kimball Rant - Local Search Forum )Tailor the questions more around what you will get for the agency or client that hires you and less to SEO geeks. What are the problems that agencies/clients have that you will solve? What are the questions in their minds? Answer those and you'll have a very powerful FAQ page.