SEO Resellers

Great info for those trying to resell SEO

As always, I am watching the airways for new SEO reseller material that you might find interesting. This article floated by today and I thought it was worth a read.  They make the case that joining an SEO reseller program is actually the conservative thing to do when you are just launching. As I think about all the risks involved with starting your own business, I have to say that I agree. There is just so much emphasis needed on sales and marketing that you can easily lose yourself in the depths of product development. In this SEO Reseller article, they basically say that you should not take your eye off the ball. Sales and marketing are key to any business, especially in the SEO space. So let someone else do the delivery work for you while you work out your sales process. On other words – Outsource first. Sell. Then you can consider bringing the SEO services back in-house if you are not happy with the quality or think you can do it cheaper. All in all, good advice for those headed into the SEO reseller maze. Give it a read and see if you agree.

As always, I am on the look out for blog posts and other websites that talk about how to evaluate a program for a good fit. Here is the article I found today.  This is another in a series I have located on the topic of helping people sort the good SEO reseller program from the crapy. And make no mistake, there are a ton of bad programs out there. It really is the wild west when you start to see what’s going on. Everybody sees that the land is available in this SEO markeplace and they are all scrambling for the stake. There is really some crazy stuff out there.

As always, I advise people to go with what feels right. Find an SEO reseller program that seems honest. They shouldn’t be too hyped up, but will also be confident. They should seem like the know what they are doing, but they should also admit that nobody completely knows how Google works other than Google. The only way you will get to this level of understanding is to spend some time with them and discuss strategies. Share your SEO stories. Ask about other resellers and how they have done. What reselling strategies work best? What has not work for other resellers. This dialog will be very helpful both for getting information as well as just learning about each other.

If you are really attracted to the idea of selling SEO services, then there are a number of factors you should consider. First, nice job for doing some research. If you reading this it is because you’ve realized the importance of a proper survey of the players before jumping into any relationships. In business they call it due diligence. That’s appropriate.

The first thing to realize about the search engine optimization space is that it is much more competitive than you think. There are simply very low barriers to entry. And if you remember anything from Adam Smith – you will understand that this will put downward pressure on prices (remember supply and demand curves?). The other thing to recognize is that SEO services today don’t mean just changing someone’s title tags. That’s very 2003. And those days are seriously over. If you don’t have a clear handle on the difference between on-site SEO and off-site SEO, you have more work to do than I thought.

If you do have the knowledge and desire to really offer SEO, then becoming an SEO reseller might be the smart first move. The reselling model is not unique to SEO. There are resellers in many many different industries. Many well-known ones are in technology. And the same trend is developing in search engine optimization. Here’s a quick overview of how it works.

Someone decides they want to be an SEO reseller because they want to be in this space but don’t current have a search engine optimization product to bring to market. So they look around for organizations that are specifically set up to offer the services. Most good programs offer a private label, or white label SEO, approach where the customer is not aware that the delivery work has been outsources. This is generally attractive because the customer relationship is maintained with the organization that sold the account. In this fashion, being an SEO reseller is VERY different from being an affiliate sales person.  If all works well, both the sales organization and the delivery organization make a share of the profits. The customer receives excellent value and all are happy. At least in theory.

What is white label SEO? This is when one organization does the reselling of the search engine optimization and another does the delivery work. In this sense, it is a partnership between two organizations. If they work well together this can result in a great business arrangement. A private label SEO program allows the sales team to really focus on selling while the SEO delivery team does the work associated with good, white-hat SEO. This is good for both groups – when they are a good fit. But you need to be sure you have found a good fit before you make a long-term commitment.

There are many people out there who want to become you resellers. These people span for very small one-person businesses up to large organizations. You’re looking to increase revenues, and you’re in the region technology and, it is very logical to consider becoming an SEO reseller. It is, if you don’t already offer search engine optimization services.

If you sell web design or web host and, or example, SEO is natural extension for your customers. In fact, they have probably Re: ask you about search engine optimization and wondered if you were in the SEO space. Are people buying a website, SEO is a natural part of the website  process. For these reasons, you should there looking at SEO resellers.

When you research SEO resellers, you want to try to find out what kind of firm is behind the reseller plan. This is because you only want to partner with a professional at SEO company. There are, unfortunately, many firms out there that will offer you in a SEO reseller plan but are not worth working with. As you will be bringing your customer to this product is important that the company you partner with is trustworthy. This requires doing your homework.

Searching Google on the term at SEO resellers. Spend some time with the results from the first page. It stands to reason that you want to work with a firm that is very good at search engine optimization. For that reason, the first page of Google is a great place to start. If they are any good, they should be listed on the first page. This is a great predictor of that type of work they will do your customer in the search engine optimization space.

After you’ve made your shortlist of SEO resellers, get to know each firm. Interview them. Have conference calls and ask to speak to people as high up in the organization as you can. You’ll have to recognize that large organizations will not let you speak to folks at the very top. A smaller boutique SEO firm might give you access to the leadership. In any case, form a judgment about the organization and how it will be to work with them after you’ve become partners.