Local SEO White Labeling with Dani Owens

It's not uncommon for agencies to overlook a potential source of clients: other agencies.Yet Dani Owens has cracked this code. She's the founder and owner of Pigzilla, and some of her biggest clients are fellow marketers: people who use her white label local SEO services to get the job done.She also offers a variety of consulting and training services to SMBs, which offers them a more affordable local SEO option than simply paying a consultancy many hundreds of dollars per month.It's a model that shows all of us that there's more than one way to, uh, bring home the bacon!So tune into today's podcast and learn about a different way to structure your agency.The highlights: [1:43] What local SEO training looks like. [3:39] Businesses more likely to DIY vs. businesses more likely to hire a consultant. [5:53] Cautions for DIYers. [7:56] A great way to warn clients that Google's a fickle beast. [8:43] What white labeling SEO services look like. [9:57] Setting up a business arrangement with another agency. [12:35] Trends, and predictions for the rest of 2021. [15:06] Creating white label reports. [18:00] Shout-outs. [20:18] Dani's cause.The insights:What does Local SEO training look like?Dani admits that Local SEO training is a challenge."There are so many different tools and methods for completing certain SEO tasks. So trying to get that documentation together can be challenging. Local SEO training could include videos, walkthroughs, and of course, SOPs."She has put together a local SEO training database that stores all of her training documents in one place."It comes with a timeline so you can work through the tasks that need to be worked on. It's not super simple."Of course, the big challenge for many local business owners is they have to focus on actually running the business. "For them to start trying to become an SEO is a totally different discipline. It's similar to learning another trade. For them, I think it's challenging because they have to decide. Do I want to become an SEO expert? Or do I want to hire someone to take care of that?"In spite of the fact that training is a major part of Dani's business model, she nevertheless believes it makes more sense for most SMBs to hire an SEO  to take care of the work unless they are someone who is very interested in learning SEO for its own sake. Which businesses are more likely to DIY?The SMBs who take the most advantage of Dani's training services tend to be smaller businesses. "They want to get the work done, but they don't have the budget for it. Local SEO is expensive."She says there are a few things that can help SMBs keep their costs down."Clients can start collecting their own reviews. Sending out emails or asking people they've serviced to go ahead and leave them reviews using tools like GatherUp or Grade.us. They can write their own blog posts because they're experts in what they do. If they just created one blog post a month about a topic they get questions on, that helps."Dani notes that SMBs can often even do their own basic link building."Maybe they have a partnership with a company. They could simply ask: hey, would you mind linking to my website, or putting a badge on your site saying we're partners? Those are practical things that the small businesses can do that don't require a bunch of SEO knowledge." Of course, there are pitfalls."With GMB, you know the categories that are assigned to the listing are super important. Just shuffling those around could have large impacts. Somebody could go into a GMB listing just to optimize it and maybe they destroy the rankings it has, or they're thinking they're going to put a keyword into the business name, which could get them suspended. They can definitely damage their SEO efforts by not knowing the full story before they start working on things." A great way to warn clients: Google's a fickle beast!One challenge local SEOs often face is that when Google starts suspending listings or changing their algorithms, clients get impacted, and they get upset. This was especially prevalent during the pandemic where Google limited its support staff, ensuring it takes longer than ever to get help."It also seems like listings are getting suspended much more easily just for making simple edits to the listings. It takes a little while to get reinstated."Instead of trying to crack the code on turning Google into a helpful entity, Dani worked on finding a way to help her clients understand that this is all part of the process."I love to set the expectations. I want people to have realistic ideas of what's going to happen. Because otherwise, it just leads them to disappointment and frustration. I do like to tell them that SEO is optimizing the best we can for the search engine. The search engine is in control of everything. They're going to be deciding where and when to show your website. The expectations are super important to me."What white labeling SEO services look likeDani offers several options to ...