How to Write a Stellar SEO Proposal for Your Agency Clients (Grab Free Template!)

Every agency owner aims to onboard more clients, grow their sales, and scale their business. A polished and detail-oriented SEO proposal is a crucial part of your sales process.

The main challenge of preparing an SEO proposal is to present all your know-how in a way that builds authority, showcases value proposition, and doesn’t make clients’ wallets cry.

The study says, 96% of prospects are well-informed and do their homework before contacting a sales rep. That’s why your proposal needs to be outstanding and convincing.

We’ll be your Robin here and share how to create an SEO proposal that stands out from your competitors and wins you more clients!

What Is an SEO Proposal?

An SEO proposal is a document that showcases how you can help your potential clients boost their website’s visibility in search engine results.

It’s more than just a list of services and prices. It outlines customized SEO services, the scope of work, your methods, and your unique value proposition. Converting a prospect into a happy client takes a lot of effort.

Pun!

How to Create SEO Proposal for Your Clients

Crafting an effective SEO proposal begins with understanding your potential client’s needs and goals.

Identify what specific SEO strategies and services will address their unique challenges and objectives.

Then, present your proposal clearly and concisely, ensuring it’s tailored to their requirements and preferences.

Take the First Step: Know Your Prospects

The first and crucial step in creating a smashing SEO proposal is knowing your prospects. It’ll help you to understand who they are and what they want.

Start by asking your prospects a few pointed questions, like:

• What Are Your SEO Goals?

Asking this question will help you understand what the prospects want from your SEO services. Usually, you will hear them say, we want more leads/conversions/sales.

Encourage them to be more specific, like what type of leads they want. For example, if they are a local bakery, do they want more walk-in customers or online orders? This will help you fine-tune your SEO proposal.

• Who Is Your Ideal Customer?

Knowing the target audience of your prospect helps create a more relevant proposal. You can include SEO strategies in the proposal that will help attract their target audience.

• Have You Done SEO Before? If Yes, What Was Your Experience?

This is an important question. Knowing about the prospect’s experience can help you address any previous shortcomings and highlight how your approach will be different and more effective.

• What Do People Search for When They Are Looking for Your Company/Business?

This question helps identify the key search phrases and terms people use when looking for the potential client’s company/business. Including them in your proposal can help you win new clients.

• Who Are Your Top Competitors?

Competitor analysis is one of the crucial elements of a successful SEO strategy. Asking this question helps you understand who the prospect’s competitors are. Your proposal can include the gaps you’ve identified in their current strategy and the solutions you can provide.

When answering these questions, encourage your prospects to be as thorough as possible. These details will help you tailor your SEO proposal to meet their needs.

15 Key Elements of an Effective SEO Proposal

Once you have all the necessary details, start writing the proposal. Here’s a list of key elements to get you started.

1. Talk About Your Agency

Use this section to introduce your agency, but be brief. Don’t bore your would-be customers to death with too many details. Introduce your agency, its name, and where it is located (if you have a physical location). Do mention how many years you have been in the business.

Highlight your unique selling points. Talk about what sets you apart from other cookie-cutter agencies. But focus on telling the would-be clients how you can help them and what results you can deliver.

2. Introduce Yourself

Whether you are the agency owner or a sales rep, introduce yourself. It adds a human touch to your proposal, which goes a long way in building trust with the prospects. Talk about who you are, what you do, and how you can help your prospects. Assure your potential clients that they are in good hands.

3. Goals and Objectives

Clearly articulate their goals, objectives, challenges, and pain points. Moreover, talk about the target market, customer persona, market research, and insights. This will help convey that you are aware of the problems they face. However, this isn’t a time to go into too much detail. Focus on helping the prospects understand what they can achieve with your SEO solutions.

4. Briefly Explain Your Services

Briefly explain your services. Although the prospect has reached out for SEO services, this section allows you to educate them about what you offer and how it can benefit them. It also helps them understand the value you bring to the table.

5. Provide Website Performance – Benchmark Data

Use webmaster tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush to check the performance of the prospect’s current website. You can add a screenshot of this analysis to offer a glimpse into their website’s health.

6. Technical SEO Audit

A technical SEO audit points out various website performance issues. Explaining these issues shows you thoroughness and expertise.

You can cover issues like:

• Search engine crawlability and user experience
• Missing meta tags, headings, and alt text for images
• Mobile-friendliness
• Checking the robots.txt file, sitemap, and detecting crawl errors
• Security features, including SSL certificates
• Page loading speed analysis
• Canonical tags and redirects
• Broken links and error pages
• URL structure and schema markup

7. Keyword Analysis

Keyword analysis is one of the core elements of a successful SEO strategy. Start with the prospect’s current keyword rankings. Show them where your keyword research can provide improvements. Highlight valuable and competitive keywords and long-tail keywords that can drive more traffic. Help them identify keywords that align with the search intent. Pointing out keyword gaps is an excellent way to draw their attention.

8. Content Analysis

Content Analysis is another vital component of your SEO proposal. It involves a detailed review of the existing content on the prospect’s website. Mention the analysis of content metrics in the form of Findings and Solutions. Provide a relevant solution for each problem you’ve identified.

For example, if your analysis finds that the overall content quality is poor, you can suggest solutions like revamping the old content or creating new SEO-optimized content.

Similarly, you can identify topics and areas that are not covered but are crucial for the target audience. In short, you can discuss how relevant, engaging, and actionable the content is.

9. Local SEO Analysis

This section is similar to previous ones but outlines local SEO issues and solutions. Local SEO is critical for SEO, especially for businesses targeting specific locations, as local and organic searches make up 69% of overall digital trafficIf your prospect is a local business, use this section to highlight your strengths.

Focus on how well the prospect’s business is optimized for local SEO. Address critical local SEO elements like name, address, and phone number (NAP) consistency, Google Business Profile setup , customer reviews, and visibility in local search results.

Also, identify the most relevant location-based keywords and how they are optimized into the website’s content. Quickly walk them through your suggestions and how those can boost overall local search ranking.

10. Backlink Analysis

Another key analysis that goes into your SEO proposal is the backlink analysis. It is a critical search engine ranking factor, with the #1 result in Google getting nearly 3.8x more backlinks than positions #2-#10.

Break down the quality and quantity of external links pointing to the potential client’s website. Find out and discuss the opportunities for improving their backlink profile. Explain the process you will follow to strengthen their backlink profile. List the tools you will use for backlink analysis, the frequency of this analysis, and how you will keep track of the changes.

11. GA-4 Audit

A GA-4 audit offers a comprehensive health check for your prospect’s digital strategy. Your SEO proposal should provide an overview of GTM Audit, GA-4 Audit, and Google Search Console Audit. Identify potential red flags and how you can address them.

Explain the process you use to integrate GA-4 to capture critical data points. This includes defining specific events, goals, and conversion paths that align with the prospect’s business goals. Be sure to mention that regular GA-4 configuration is a part of your SEO strategy.

12. SEO Action Plan

This is the most important part of your SEO proposal. It provides a comprehensive, step-by-step strategy for executing SEO solutions. We recommend creating a plan that spreads across six months. Each month includes specific tasks and deliverables.

For example, the first month consists of:

• Keyword Research and Analysis
• On-Page SEO Optimization (Meta tags, Headings)
• Website Technical Audit and Fixes
• Performance Tracking Setup – GSC, GA4, GTM
• Blog Post and GBP Post

In the final month, you can provide a comprehensive SEO audit, create web stories, blog posts, and GBP posts, and provide a final report or review.

The plan is designed to be dynamic. It evolves as your SEO strategy progresses over time. Check the SEO action plan template to see month-specific tasks and deliverables. You can tweak this plan to match your deliverables to the client’s business goals.

However, be sure to mention the following in your proposal:

Tell the prospect how frequently your team will send reports and updates on the progress and performance of your SEO solutions.

Provide a list of SEO metrics you will track, such as ranking, traffic, and conversions.

13. SEO Pricing

Clearly define the cost of your services. Every agency has a different pricing model. While agencies like E2M offer fixed monthly plans, others may charge a flat fee for their services. Some agencies might also have pay-as-you-go models.

Whatever your pricing, be transparent. Hidden charges can kill your agency business faster than you think. The best policy is to offer a breakdown of the services included in each package. This helps your prospects see exactly what they’re paying for and the potential return on their investment.

14. Testimonials

Testimonials can help you build trust and credibility. Most small business owners find SEO providers through referrals, Google searches, and online reviews, with only 8% finding them through online advertising. Adding testimonials to your SEO proposal can increase your chances of converting a prospect.

Choose the testimonials carefully. It’s better to find clients from the same niche or industry who have benefited from your services. Alternatively, you can choose clients from different industries and demonstrate your adaptability and flexibility.

Additionally, choose testimonials with quantifiable results, like “We got a 30% boost in organic traffic in four months.” These testimonials serve as concrete evidence of your success. That, in turn, can encourage the prospect to try your services.

15. Call to Action

Finally, end the SEO proposal with a suitable call to action. It should prompt the potential client to take the desired action. Keep it clear, and compelling, and convey a sense of urgency.

Here are a few examples:

• Ready to Boost Your Online Presence? Contact Us Today!
• Let’s Discuss Your SEO Goals – Schedule a Free Consultation!
• Start Your Journey to the Top of Search Results – Get in Touch!

Make it easier for the potential client to follow through. For example, if your CTA is “Let’s Discuss Your SEO Goals – Schedule a Free Consultation,” add a link to your calendar. This will help the prospect schedule a meeting quickly.

Things You Should Keep in Mind While Creating SEO Proposal

Before you hit the send button, you will need to consider a few things. Keeping the following factors in mind will increase your chances of hearing back from the potential customer.

1. A Crystal-Clear Subject Line

Email is the best way to send your proposal. When emailing your SEO proposal, the subject line is the first thing your prospect sees. In fact, 33% of people open emails based on the subject line alone.

Your subject line should be straightforward and reflect the essence of your proposal. A clear and concise subject line sets the right expectations. This immediate clarity helps to engage the prospect’s interest from the beginning.

Here are a few examples:

• Tailored SEO Strategy Proposal Inside!
• Boost Your Business: Custom SEO Solutions for [Client/Company Name]
• [Client/Company Name] – Your Roadmap to SEO Success Awaits!

2. Personalizing Your Proposal

Every prospect is different, even if they are from the same niche or industry. Customize each proposal to fit the specific needs of your prospect. This personal touch shows that you have taken the time to understand their unique challenges and goals. It’s like a firm handshake that helps build a good rapport.

At the same time, maintain a balance between personalization and professionalism. This is a sales pitch, and it should be standardized to include key sales elements. Your USP, experience, services, and knowledge should be consistent across proposals.

3. Follow-Up After Submission

Sending an SEO proposal is not a one-and-done deal. It’s just the beginning of the conversation. With 60% of customers saying no four times before saying yes, you need consistent follow-up to win new customers.

Use a mix of emails, phone calls, or even social media interactions. But reach out to the potential clients without being overly pushy. That’s why timing is equally important. Don’t send a follow-up email the very next day. Give them enough time to review the proposal. Usually, you can send the first follow-up email a week later.

This process isn’t written in stone. You can tweak it to suit your needs. But always maintain a positive and professional attitude when following up.

The Free SEO Proposal Template by E2M

Conclusion

Think of SEO Service Proposal as your golden ticket to successful sales. From the prospect’s business goals to the comprehensive monthly action plan, be sure every element of your proposal connects with your potential client.

This strategic approach will increase your chances of winning new customers.

Get in touch today to know how we can help your agency grow!