I’ve written before about why every services-based business needs an SEO strategy and I was happy to see that that blog post struck a chord with my of my readers. I received quite a few comments and emails about that blog post - people liked the post but they wanted to learn more about how to actually APPLY that strategy.

The number one question I received was “How can I use SEO to drive more sales/book more discovery calls for my services-based business?”. Fantastic question and I’m super excited to answer that in today’s follow up blog post!

Most of my clients are services-based business owners. I’d say about half of them run their businesses entirely online and rarely work with in-person clients, whereas the other half serve local clients and rely on their website to serve as their “online home”.

In both cases, these services-based business use their websites as a way to connect with their (potential, current and past) clients and customers, and promote their offerings online.

Services based businesses serve a whole variety of industries - we’re talking law firms, accountants, engineers, plumbers, florists, personal trainers, coaches, photographers, consultants, PR pros, social media managers, graphic designers, gardeners, dog walkers, psychics, bakeries, physiotherapists - you name it, the list goes on.

Some of these services must be performed in person (e.g., dog walkers, massage therapists, gardeners, etc.) but others can be done either in-person OR online/remotely (e.g., consultants, personal trainers, graphic designers, etc.).

Services based businesses can be one-off projects or ongoing, recurring services…. really, the sky’s the limit and there’s a huge amount of flexibility in services-based business models!

Almost all services based businesses, however, have a website. At this point, it’s pretty much a requirement because hardly anyone (except your granny) is going old school and looking up businesses in a physical phone book. Yes, we still rely on word of mouth and recommendations from our friends and family, but the trend is increasingly to connect with businesses online. More often than not, we check out a business’ website and then get in touch if we want to work with them.

But having a website doesn’t guarantee that potential clients and customers will find out about your business- far from it, in fact. All websites are not created equally! Different types of websites work in different ways. The requirements and strategy for a services-based business website is going to be totally different from a e-commerce shop or website that sells digital/physical products. Not only will the look & feel of these websites be different, so too will the SEO strategy and goals.

SEO can act as the perfect bridge between a website (think: business) and an online audience (think: future clients/customers). It’s the pathway that warms up a potential client to inquire about your service and ultimately book you out.

You already know that I’m a firm believer that every services based business needs and SEO strategy and beyond that, I know that SEO can directly drive leads and grow your business. SEO will help grow your website but it also connects you to a much wider online audience who can potentially become paying clients and customers. Which, if you’re running a services based business, is the ultimate goal!

In this blog post, I’m going to show you exactly how SEO can drive leads for your services-based business. Whether your website is on Squarespace or another platform, the goals and outcome will be the same.