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How I Increased My Freelance Income by Offering SEO Products and Programs! by Dorit Sasson

January 9, 2020

How I Increased My Freelance Income by Offering SEO Products and Programs! by Dorit Sasson
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One of the ways writers can significantly increase their income is by adding a valuable skill set. Increasing website traffic using keywords is a top priority for many businesses, companies, and entrepreneurs but authors tend to shy away from SEO because of its nerdy and technical nature.

After becoming SEO (search engine optimization) certified early last year, I decided to target authorpreneurs who are in the business of marketing their books. This decision came after I noticed how a blog post I’d written on SEO for authorpreneurs started positioning high in the search engines, which led to an uptick in traffic to my website. This topic was hitting a nerve! Coincidentally, I had reached out to a Facebook author group, and asked about their members’ marketing concerns.

One author lamented, “I have a very specific audience, but I don’t know how to reach it.”

Bam!

This was the exact response that validated the “who” and “how” of my target audience and, within six months, I was able to increase my income significantly.

First, I approached hybrid publishers, and offered to teach a free webinar for their author clients on how to get more online traffic using SEO and keyword research. In general, running a webinar can be very profitable because you are teaching timely content and it’s a perfect platform for promoting a product or service.

It made sense to approach hybrid publishers who worked closely with authors since I was just starting out. But, I had to be careful with my new audience, and explain keyphrases and keywords in a user-friendly way. Offering content-rich information that’s timely also increases a publisher’s perceived value to authors. By teaching relevant content, I was able to position myself as an expert, and build the services part of my online platform. The first time I ran that webinar, 60 authors participated and more than 350 authors have since listened to the replay.

Second, I created an irresistible online course at the end of each webinar.

My first offering was a 4-week online SEO training course called Connect and Convert that walked authors through SEO and keywords, how to conduct basic keyword research, and why it’s important. The bulk of my time was spent explaining how to do keyword research.

I used the Zoom platform to teach four content-rich lessons, prepared a focused learning guide I emailed participants at the start of each new week, and offered “office hours” each week. There was a lot of hand-holding and Q&A. I designed the course purposely in this way because I knew there would be a high learning curve.

I charged $349 for the course and, when I first promoted the course, I had five participants sign up within an hour of running the webinar. Two paid for the course while I was still running the webinar! That’s $1,745 – three times the amount I made monthly as an adjunct for ESL students!

Third, I customized an upsell – an SEO coaching program for authors who wanted me to do keyword research for their books.

I would promote this coaching program towards the end of the online course. I charged a premium for this program starting at $1397 because I knew I would be doing a lot of keyword research, narrowing down keyword and keyphrase choices. Part of my time would also involve educating them on providing recommendations for these keywords. Out of those five students, four were repeat clients who opted for a coaching program.

Fourth, I created a higher customized upsell – keyphrase editing.

Again, I would educate my students on keyphrase editing and what it entailed. I would have access to the backend of author sites, and optimize their sites with targeted keyphrases and keywords that I already identified from doing keyword research. Out of those five clients, one repeat client opted in for keyphrase editing at an hourly rate of $50.

When teaching online courses, it’s really important to understand your client’s pain points. In my case, SEO is a very specialized service and not every author may get it right away. As you can see, the return on investment after getting certified, or learning a new skill, can pay for itself over and over again in a number of different ways.

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Dorit Sasson, award-winning author of the memoir Accidental Soldier, is also the creator of SEO Made Simple. Through her SEO content writing services, courses, and webinars, she empowers the busy authorpreneur with information how to increase website traffic and conversions. To learn more about Dorit and how she can help build your author platform with search engine optimization or register for one of her upcoming courses, click here.

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