Only 80% of small businesses survive the first year. Meanwhile, only one in three businesses get past the 10-year mark.
If you’re planning on starting an SEO business, you need to set yourself up for success now. Then, you can get that far into the future. Instead of becoming one of the businesses that fail, you can make strides as a bigshot in your industry.
29% of the businesses that fail run out of money.
If you want to discover how to start an SEO business, you need to consider your funding first. Keep reading to discover the six tips you need to succeed. With this guide, you can make your mark as a success story.
Make setting up an SEO company simple with these tips.
1. Make a Business Plan
The first step to any successful business is to make a thorough business plan. As part of your plan, you’ll want to:
- Obtain a loan
- Receive investment capital
- Grow
You need money in order to start and operate your business. Otherwise, you’ll fail to get beyond that first-year mark.
In addition to helping you learn how to start an SEO business, your plan will help you outline the first few years. First, outline a specific goal. Make sure your goal is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-specific, or SMART.
A SMART goal will help you keep on track. For example, you might make a plan to generate $10,000 within the first three months of business.
As you work on your business plan, consider what you want to do and how you’ll achieve those goals. Let your plans outline the first three to five years of your strategy.
Once you have a business plan in place, you can use it to lead you through the rest of our tips.
2. Secure Your Funding
Remember, you need to have money to make money. When starting an SEO company, you need to secure capital to get off the ground running.
First, take a look at your business plan. What do you need? Do you plan on working from home in the first year?
If so, you won’t need as much capital as an SEO business with an office space.
Are you hiring employees or working alone?
Consider how much you’ll need to start your business. Then, determine where you’ll find your funding. Here are a few of the top funding sources you can look into:
- Personal savings and credit
- Friends and family
- Venture capital
- Angel investors
- Banks
- Crowdfunding
A lot of money will probably come out of your pocket. In order to avoid cash flow problems, make sure to consider funding as a part of your business plan.
Starting an SEO business is a lot easier when you know where the money is coming from. Make sure to include a financial plan with a:
- Balance sheet
- Sales forecast
- Profit and loss statement
- Cash flow statement
These documents will help you determine how much funding you’ll need to raise before you can get started. You might find the sum is a lot more than you initially expected.
Proceed with caution when you ask other people for help. Don’t give significant equity away before you get started.
You can use these professional business services to start strong.
3. Network
You’ll likely need help in order to successfully launch your SEO company. Start by networking. The majority of startups begin with small teams.
Remember to take a look at your business plan to determine how many people you need. Before you hire anyone, make sure to register your business name. Then, get you’ll get a federal tax ID number from the IRS.
You might need to consult a lawyer, accountant, and/or financial advisor during this process. They can help you determine the legal requirements and tax obligations for your business.
Meanwhile, network with other business owners and entrepreneurs. Attend conferences or local meetups. You might even find your first client while you’re networking.
4. Build a Site
Building your website is an important part of learning how to start an SEO business. After all, you want to show people you know your stuff!
Don’t wait until the day your business launches to launch your site, too. Instead, use your website to start promoting your business.
Make sure your website is mobile-friendly (an important component to SEO).
Don’t forget to check your site speed! A slow site will impact your SEO and scare off visitors.
You can also use this time to start blogging. Make a list of keywords you want to focus on. Use Google Trends, Google Keyword Planner, or SEMRush to start researching.
Then, optimize your blog for your SEO keywords. Blogging now will help you attract potential clients. Don’t forget to optimize your site for on-page, off-page, and local SEO.
Then, you can use your site to start generating income.
5. Become an Expert
Search is the number one driver of traffic to content sites. In fact, it beats social media by 300%. While there’s plenty of opportunity in the industry, you’ll fail if you can’t keep up with the trends.
For example, voice search is becoming increasingly popular as consumers use assistants like Alexa and Siri. You’ll also want to consider:
- Blockchain technology’s impact on SEO
- Video marketing
- The rise of Amazon search optimization
- Content relevance and user intent
- Artificial intelligence (AI)
- Virtual reality (VR)
Google’s latest algorithm update, BERT, is able to understand searches better than ever. The update is changing how SEO writers phrase their keywords. Make sure to keep up-to-date with any future algorithm changes as well.
If you fall behind, you’ll lose your competitive advantage.
6. Attract Customers
Use your SEO expertise to start attracting customers. For example, you’ll want to keep your blog up-to-date with relevant, unique content.
You can also use other digital marketing techniques, such as:
- Social media marketing
- Search engine marketing
- Pay-per-click advertising
- Affiliate marketing
- Email marketing
Make sure to optimize your site for leads by adding a general form and email signup form. Then, you can turn those leads into paying customers!
How to Start an SEO Business: Funding Your Startup & More
Learning how to start an SEO business is easy once you have the proper funding! With these tips, you can fund your startup and start on a path toward success. Get started with these six easy steps!
Explore our latest SEO tips to keep yourself up-to-date!