AI SEO is the fastest-growing service opportunity for agencies in 2025.

But there’s a problem: The market is flooded with overnight “GEO experts” making impossible promises. Your clients are interested, but skeptical. They want AI visibility, but they’ve been burned by hype before.

So how do you sell legitimate AI SEO services that clients actually trust?

In this episode, Ryan Shelley of SMA Marketing reveals the exact framework for selling AI SEO services

Get the proven playbook that’s helping agencies add $5-10K/month AI SEO retainers, without sounding like snake oil.

What You’ll Learn

Ryan goes beyond buzzwords and shows you how to talk about AI SEO in a way that earns trust and drives revenue. You’ll learn how to:

• Decode what clients are really asking for — and how their concerns differ from what most agencies assume
• Use “trust-first” framing to reduce skepticism and establish authority early
  
• Position AI SEO as visibility + demand capture, not manipulation or “gaming the algorithm”
  
• Package, price, and prove your offer so clients see the business case instantly

Whether you’re already offering AI SEO or still figuring out how to explain it, this episode gives you the playbook for selling it with confidence.

About Ryan Shelley

Ryan Shelley is the founder of SMA Marketing, a top-tier search marketing agency based in Florida, USA. As an AI and SEO consultant with over 15 years of experience, Ryan helps businesses like DealHub.io and PopFoam to grow their organic visibility across AI and traditional search platforms. 

Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn!

But what if that advice is holding you back?

In this episode of the Agency Growth Series, Jonny Nastor challenges the conventional wisdom around vertical niching. 

Instead of niching down to one industry, Jonny built a million-dollar agency by doing the opposite: solving the same problem across multiple industries. His horizontal approach helped the agency scale faster, work with better-fit clients, and avoid getting stuck doing work he didn’t enjoy.

And he’s sharing this playbook with us. You’ll learn how to:

• Deliver high-quality results without deep domain expertise
• Vet and land the right clients regardless of industry
• Price your services confidently, even without a vertical focus

This episode is for any new agency owner tired of following “niching playbooks” that don’t fit. By the end, you’ll have a clear, actionable horizontal niching strategy to build momentum, stay flexible, and grow without compromising your vision. 

About Jonny Nastor

Jonny Nastor is a DTC SEO strategist and the founder of Digital Commerce Partners, a content-focused SEO agency built for e-commerce businesses. He has more than 15 years of experience in SEO and has been featured in top publications like Shopify, Backlinko, and Semrush. Connect with Jonny on Linkedin!

And it’s understandable. Pricing, pitching, and building a client pipeline? That stuff is hard. 

That’s why, in Episode 2 of the Agency Growth Series, we’re bringing in Liam Quirk of Quirky Digital to share his proven lead gen playbook for winning and retaining SEO clients sustainably. 

What You’ll Learn:

The easiest way to get your first clients (Hint: It’s all about personal branding) 

When to transition from founder-led lead generation to employee-first client acquisition 

The one question you must ask before taking on new SEO clients (this alone can save you time and headaches) 

How to create a repeatable lead generation system that keeps your pipeline full 

How to compete with bigger agencies and win high-value SEO contracts

We’ll also tackle something many agencies overlook until it’s too late: what happens after you start getting and closing leads — because agencies often focus on lead generation but fail to plan for the workload that comes with it.

Liam will share a client capacity planner template — a tool designed to help you match your lead-gen efforts with your actual capacity. No more overcommitting, underdelivering, or scrambling to hire at the last minute. With this, you’ll know when to hire, adjust pricing, and take on new clients without stretching your team too thin.

At the end of this session, you’ll leave with: 

• Quick-win strategies to start bringing in clients from day one
• A scalable model for lead generation and retention
• A reliable system to take on new clients without breaking your agency

If scaling your SEO agency is one of your priorities this year, this session will give you all the tools to do that without burning out. Sign up to be the first to know when it goes live. 

About Liam Quirk

Liam Quirk is the Managing Director of Quirky Digital, a seven-figure digital marketing agency based in Liverpool. He has been featured in multiple media and SEO publications, including Ahrefs, MSN.com, and Liverpool Echo. Connect with Liam on LinkedIn!

Overcoming growth plateaus and breaking through the seven-figure milestone isn’t about working more hours — it’s about building the right systems, offers, and mindset. It’s no doubt a lot of work, but the good news is that you don’t have to figure it out on your own.

Join us for the first episode of the Agency Growth Series, where we’ll take you behind the scenes of what it really takes to scale an agency to seven figures.

We’re chatting with Matt Ross, Senior Vice President and Director of Operations at Hozio, who’s been through the trenches and knows exactly what it takes to break through growth barriers. He’ll share insights like:

How to craft scalable processes that deliver quality at scale

 Balancing your role as a founder: Working on the business vs. in the business

The exact tools to automate time-draining tasks while proving ROI to high-revenue clients

The #1 roadblock holding most agencies back from scaling sustainably

This isn’t just theory — Matt’s walking you through real strategies that helped Hozio hit seven figures and maintain momentum.

By the end of this session, you’ll leave with:

A clear roadmap to scale your agency without burning out

Lessons on what not to do so you can avoid costly mistakes

Don’t miss this chance to learn from someone who’s been there, done that. Sign up now and be the first to know when we go live.

Meet Matt Ross

Matt Ross has over eight years of experience with SEO agency operations. He is also a local SEO expert with hands-on knowledge of PPC, SEM, and Sales.

Connect with Matt on LinkedIn!