For SEO consultants
Nobody can promise rankings. Your proposal can promise the work.
An SEO sale usually starts with a quick look at the prospect's site, a call, and a proposal that has to do two things at once: show you've found something real, and explain why results take months. Prospects compare you with someone offering 'page one guaranteed', and the retainer that follows is judged monthly by people who may not know what a crawl budget is.
ApeiroCraft sends the proposal as a link with your audit findings, the monthly deliverables, how you'll report, and a plain timeline clause. You see when it's opened and reopened, it's signed in the browser, and the first month or the audit fee is invoiced from the accepted proposal.
Where SEO engagements go wrong.
Results expected in month one
The client signs in March and asks in April why traffic hasn't moved. If the proposal didn't set expectations about timing, every monthly report is a defence.
Implementation nobody owns
You recommend technical fixes; the client's developer never makes them. Without a line on who implements, the lack of progress lands on you.
Invisible monthly work
Retainers are cancelled when the client can't see what they're paying for. 'Ongoing optimisation' is not a deliverable.
From mini-audit to monthly retainer.
Findings that prove you looked
Lead with two or three concrete issues from their site the prospect can verify, then the plan. The proposal does the selling the call started.
See when they're checking your claims
Opens and re-opens are recorded on the link. A prospect reopening the proposal over a few days is probably checking your findings — follow up with one more.
Signed deliverables
The signature records name, email, IP address and a UTC timestamp, and can't be altered — monthly deliverables and the timeline clause are on record.
Audit fee or first month
Convert the accepted proposal into an invoice in one click and send with your payment link. Raise the following months against the client record.
What an SEO proposal has to include.
Good SEO proposals are specific about the work and honest about the outcome.
Findings
If it's left vague
A generic 'SEO audit' section that could be about any site.
With ApeiroCraft
Two or three real findings from their site, with why each matters.
Monthly deliverables
If it's left vague
'Ongoing optimisation' that can't be seen or checked.
With ApeiroCraft
List monthly output — pages optimised, content briefs, technical fixes, links pursued — in numbers.
Implementation
If it's left vague
Recommendations sit undone and the stall is blamed on you.
With ApeiroCraft
Say who implements technical and content changes, and how delays affect the plan.
Timeline and guarantees
If it's left vague
The client expects rankings within weeks.
With ApeiroCraft
State that results depend on factors outside your control and give a realistic review point.
Reporting and term
If it's left vague
The client cancels after month two because they can't see the work.
With ApeiroCraft
Describe the monthly report, the metrics, the minimum term and the notice period.
- Monthly retainer invoices against the client record.
- Kanban tasks for each month's deliverables.
- Team notes per client for audit findings and decisions.
Common questions.
How do SEO consultants usually price their work?
Common models are a one-off audit fee, a monthly retainer for ongoing work (often with a minimum term), project fees for migrations or content programmes, and hourly consulting. Many start with a paid audit and convert it to a retainer. ApeiroCraft holds the model; it doesn't suggest prices, and doesn't do SEO analysis itself.
What does an SEO retainer proposal look like here?
Three findings from a quick look at the site; a first-month technical clean-up; then monthly: four pages optimised, two content briefs, internal-linking work and a report; the client's developer implements technical fixes within an agreed window; a clause that ranking changes can't be guaranteed and a review after a stated number of months; a minimum term. The marketing lead reopens it three times, signs, and you invoice month one.
When is ApeiroCraft not the right fit for SEO work?
It doesn't do rank tracking, crawling, keyword research or reporting dashboards, and it doesn't connect to analytics tools — there's no API. It won't bill retainers automatically each month either. Use it for the proposal, signature, invoices and client record alongside your SEO tools.
Should I guarantee rankings?
Most experienced consultants don't, because rankings depend on factors nobody controls. A proposal that promises the work and reports honestly tends to build longer relationships than one that promises positions.
Is there an SEO proposal template?
Yes — the SEO proposal template includes mini-audit findings, quantified opportunity, monthly deliverables and an honesty clause about timelines.
Lead with a finding they can check.
Start from the SEO template and send a proposal with real findings today.
Start freeStill deciding? Talk to the founder
Keep reading
Free template
SEO proposal template
Mini-audit, quantified opportunity, monthly deliverables, and an honest timeline clause.
Solution
ApeiroCraft for consultants
Scope, phases, and value-anchored fees in a document that gets signed, not edited.
Solution
Proposal tracking, explained
Timestamped opens on the proposal itself — not an email pixel, not a guess.