SEO audits are an important step in getting your foot in the door, and starting a relationship with your future client. There are a lot of different ways to deliver an SEO audit, so it’s important to choose the right process for your agency and your clients.
Some options include setting up a Zoom call, doing an in-person consultation meeting to go over the findings, or even just delivering the findings via email. No matter which option you choose, the most important thing is that you provide value to them and help them improve their website’s SEO.
How to Create an Awesome Audit Report
To start off, I would like to mention the importance of delivering a great audit report. It’s important to get this part right, because it’s your opportunity to show your expertise, build trust and show clients what you can bring to the table.
Fortunately, a professional audit tool like SEO HERO, makes this step easy. You can quickly scan any website and generate a client-ready report. SEO HERO combines many tools under the hood to cover On-page, Off-page and technical SEO and saves you countless hours of sales prep work.
It’s important to take some time to add your branding details, as well as customize the tests you want to run for your clients.
Customize your report with over 50+ SEO tests.
How to create a Branded Document
First impressions matter, so I advise against using audit tools that don’t allow you to add your own branding and deliver a consistent experience to your clients.
SEO Hero allows you to create white-labeled report with your own branding with easy. Simply upload your logo and agency details and you are good to go!
Add your logo, company details and personalise the report in the SEO HERO dashboard.
Deciding How To Deliver The Audit
Now that you have an awesome audit report to show to the client, you should decide on how you want to deliver it.
1. In-person consultation
This is the most common, tried-and-tested method. Visit the client at their premises and deliver the audit in person. Show them which areas of their SEO need the most amount of work and how it will impact their online visibility.
Pros: This battle-tested method has the highest conversion rate. Nothing beats an in-person meeting in terms of outcome as it gives you a chance to build a personal relationship with the client as well as answer their questions on the spot.
Cons: This option comes at a high cost to you, the agency owner, because of the time spent on the consultation meeting without knowing if the prospect will sign up or not. I recommend pre-qualifying their goals, interest and budget over a phone call before setting up the meeting.
2. Zoom meeting
You can use a service like Zoom to screen share the audit report and have a call with the client at the same time. This delivery method also allows you to build a personal relationship with the client and answer questions. You will also get a chance to scope out your clients budget and get feedback on your offering.
Pros: You can get to engage with the client and add value in real-time and waste no energy on commute.
Cons: While you save time on commutation vs. an in person meeting, you still have to spend the time on preparing and executing the call.
3. Recorded Screencast
This is an awesome method that takes the Zoom call idea a bit further. Instead of waiting for the clients response or arranging a suitable time between you an the client, you can skip straight to the presentation. Simply open the audit, fire up a screen recording tool like Loom and record yourself walking through the audit report. When you’re done, send the prospect a link to the screen share and instructions on what the next steps could look like.
If you are an early bird or a night owl – this is a fantastic way of delivering expertise to client on your own schedule.
Pros: Both you and the prospect can review the content on their own schedule without depending on one another. Additionally, the prospect can watch and re-watch the recording as many times as they like. Your commentary on the screencast allows you to show your expertise and go beyond the audit report.
Cons: You don’t get real-time feedback from the client and don’t get a chance to answer questions instantaneously.
4. Email delivery
On of the most common ways of delivering audits is in the form of a PDF over email. SEO HERO gives you full flexibility here, you can download and send report manually or your can automate the entire process and email your prospects the report automatically.
Build an automated lead funnel for your agency.
You can even customize the email . What should your lead do next, after receiving the audit? It’s important to include the next step in the email e.g. a link to your Calendly page or an offer to book a consultation with you.
Pros: This is an incredible timesaver as you can automate this and have your system deliver audits while you sleep. If you have a lot of traffic coming to your agency site, this is a no-brainer.
Cons: It’s harder to close the deal without a consultation, especially if the client is not technical and not well-versed in SEO. You should still follow up with the prospect and offer a consultation where you can connect the dots and show clients the big picture.
How to Close A Deal with a SEO Audit
SEO audits are a great way to get your foot in the door and built trust. You can show the prospect which areas of their SEO need work to help them improve their online visibility. This is an excellent opportunity to show your expertise to the client and ultimately transition them into a paying client for your services.
No matter which method of delivery you choose for your audits, this framework will help you move the needle:
- Introduce yourself and highlight the experience you have in the field
- Walk the prospect through the audit report and explain the terms
- Highlight any issues you’ve identified as priorities and how they relate to their website
- Outline how you would approach their SEO project
- Explain how better visibility in search will result in more sales for their business
- Show your point of difference, and why your are the right fit for this project
- Pro-tip: Back up your services with a case study
- Provide your pricing options, proposal or schedule another call to close the deal
Don’t forget the golden rule of sales: Always end the call with a clear, scheduled, next step for both parties.
