Selling Content Upgrade as a service

[bernard]

I'm thinking about offering this as a service, basically a content writing service with a twist. I like to think of it as Content+.

Here's my idea:

Sell content rewrites of poorly ranking content based on my own strategy for optimizing content.

This could be:

- Analysis of Google Search Console for "impression/low click" keywords for new content creation or "high impression/low CTR" for Meta Desc upgrades

- Analysis of User Intent for individual search term+page combos, then rewriting or recommending other changes

- Content creation based on various keyword research tools

As you can tell, this is mostly a content creation service, as I don't want to do "SEO", because I don't like doing, explaining or selling all the technical stuff to companies. I'd like to stick to my strengths, which is combining an understanding of data with an above average writing ability.

I consider charging an hourly rate for research + a fixed fee pr. word, what do you think about that? This research rate would apply both for say analyzing Search Console and Ahrefs, but also for researching topics when doing the content rewrites.

This would get me out of the content writing incentive trap of either charging an inflexible exorbiant pr. word fee or doing less than optimal research. With this pricing model I could write only 1000 words but charge 3-4 hours worth of research. This also incentives clients to invest with me long term as I'd need less research as I came to know the niche.

 

[Ryuzaki]

@bernard, I've had a couple people mention something like this to me too but nobody has gone through with it yet.

Another angle would be to take failed content (assuming it's optimized well) and use Search Console to see what terms Google is giving it love for, which isn't the terms that they originally went after. You could re-optimize it around these terms that actually have a chance to be ranked for and salvage the content so it at least starts contributing to some degree. The case is probably that they optimized around terms they had no chance of ranking for, whether that's due to an mis-matched intent or competition.

As far as the pricing model goes, it's hard to say. Hourly rates over the internet require a lot of faith as a buyer that the seller is being honest and not fluffing their time. I've been scammed in a huge way like that before. I tend to prefer "per project" pricing, simply because all expectations are laid out on the table and the only variable after that is turn-around-time.

 

[bernard]

@Ryuzaki That's another good idea.
I am thinking at this as "content upgrade", which can definitely be what you suggest. Data driven content upgrade.
As for the hourly rate, I suppose you could replace with a "startup fee" and a "research fee". The important thing is to make it easy to understand for clients what goes into pricing. Usually higher end writers seem to have a problem explaining their very high pr. word count.
I think that could work, a startup fee for a new client and then a research fee for each new order.
As for hourly rates, I suppose most people are uncomfortable with that over the internet. I would probably do this irl though and meet people for a coffee somewhere.

 

[becool]

Another angle would be to take failed content (assuming it's optimized well) and use Search Console to see what terms Google is giving it love for, which isn't the terms that they originally went after.

I like this idea. A lot. In fact, I also like the idea of (also) revamping existing content based on keyword planner and Google Search Console data by looking for related keywords/queries that aren't targeted by the existing content, as well as keywords/queries with better "buyer intent". I'd like to be able to outsource something like this. Similarly, re-writing/optimizing (good or even okay) content will probably be less time consuming than writing content from scratch.

On a related note, I've observed folks selling on-page audits, but the ones I have seen/envisioned appear to be relatively one dimensional in that they provide information that's easily obtainable from AHREFs or other such tools (e.g. "You have too many H1 tags.") A three-dimensional or, better yet, more nuanced view of a site's on-page content with actual implementation such that you're not just providing a report (e.g. "You're targeting "grey sweaters" which has an estimated volume of 1/month instead of "buy grey sweaters" which has an estimated volume of 1,000/month) but you actually take it further by implementing the edits (or providing the content), thereby effectuating what you would otherwise report. Just my thoughts.

 

[bernard]

I sold an "seo audit" + "keyword research" + "implementation" through Wordpress for $300. It's an interesting client, who doesn't rank well, but has some exposure in media. I offered this low price to test my theory about GSC and Search Intent. I imagine I can significantly improve just by figuring out which pages are ranking for what and concatenating some blog posts into more of a lander. She has more of a blog thing going on.

I got the client to install GSC. How long until I get some data? A week?

 

[Ryuzaki]

I got the client to install GSC. How long until I get some data? A week?

Back in the day (it's been years now since I've created a new account), it would take about 30 days before data would populate. You know how certain parts aren't as real time as others and take a while to refresh, it seems to be like that.