How do you charge for SEO work?

fatmoocow

fatmoocow

Señor Member
Feb 1, 2009
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My main client who I did a major conversion and site redesign for has a whole lot of hardcore fans. They are starting to contact me about doing site design (wordpress themes really) and SEO. I basically tell those that want themes that a new site design isn't going to bring them any more traffic. They need SEO and content. This usually scares this group off pretty quick.

The other's want SEO. Most of these guys have either a local business or they are selling their own products (instructional DVD's). I'm not sure how well these guys will convert even with a decent bump in trafic.

How do you structure your pricing for SEO work? Do you charge some sort of hourly rate, set fee, % of increased sales, fee for a certain page rank?

The hard part is figuring out how much I can do for these guys. They want to be like my client, but he's got years of creating content almost daily, and he's highly respected in his industry. A red_virus blast backed up with xrummer links isn't going to make their blog awesome all the sudden, so I think they need a lot of coaching on content. They probably need to do a lot of work on their side, writing guest posts, etc. to get higher quality links than what I would just grab from BST.

Any thoughts on how to build a system to teach these guys how to be more legit, or should I just be blasting their sites with backlinks? If I do this right I can basically run an entire industry's internets. A little success with some of these smaller guys and it will spread even faster.

What should I do with the people who just want a new wordpress theme? I have no time for coding bullshit right now and they're not going to be happy with a great looking site that has no traffic, but I want to bring them on as clients to build my base.

For reading all that shit by me:




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Monthly fees are generally what I do. I charge depending on the niche. A lawyer ain't going to get the same rate a science fiction writer -- for obvious reasons.

And I price with retention rate in mind.
 
I only do rev share nowadays. And if there's no rev to share, the client has to find somebody else.

At the end of the day, you are always on rev share. You can pretend to charge hourly or monthly, or yearly, or by the number of yellow cars that pass by your window in a given hour. But really, if there's no revenue, they won't pay you or drag their feet or try to negotiate you down.

A great opportunity exists where you see a site with great potential (i.e. great content in a niche that can monetized) that has been poorly served by the previous web guy. Then you work out a rev share deal, work your buns off for not much at start, but in x amount of time it gets very profitable for both you and your client. Win-win.

In this particular case, it sounds like the client doesn't have good content and wants to short-cut using that magic SEO voodoo. I dunno, I've done more than a few of those types and no more for me.

If you gotta take those types of clients to pay the rent, just keep a baseball bat handy as you may need it 30 days after you submit your invoice.
 
An easier way is to find someone in the Phillipines to do all the work and then charge the client twice as much.
 
Benji49 said:
I only do rev share nowadays. And if there's no rev to share, the client has to find somebody else.

At the end of the day, you are always on rev share. You can pretend to charge hourly or monthly, or yearly, or by the number of yellow cars that pass by your window in a given hour. But really, if there's no revenue, they won't pay you or drag their feet or try to negotiate you down.

A great opportunity exists where you see a site with great potential (i.e. great content in a niche that can monetized) that has been poorly served by the previous web guy. Then you work out a rev share deal, work your buns off for not much at start, but in x amount of time it gets very profitable for both you and your client. Win-win.

In this particular case, it sounds like the client doesn't have good content and wants to short-cut using that magic SEO voodoo. I dunno, I've done more than a few of those types and no more for me.

If you gotta take those types of clients to pay the rent, just keep a baseball bat handy as you may need it 30 days after you submit your invoice.
Click to expand...

good point about the bat. i'm about to go fucking crazy on a client who's... whatever.

i don't know about the rev share angle. i hear you, but i'll tell you that it's tough to sell an attorney on a 20/80 split. in fact, it's illegal, from what i understand. the same with r/e agents. and those two are just a couple of the obvious sources for seo clients.

it is all rev share, but for some clients, responsible results can't be had overnight. and i sure as hell ain't working seven months for kicks.
 
Just my two penneth from a clients perspective.

I spent a lot of time looking for an SEO company to work on my sites. There were the $1000 a month brigade with no guarantee of longevity, especially if you opt out of the 'contract'.

I avoid them like the plague.

I finally settled for a company where I pay a fraction of the above on a monthly basis. All their work done for my sites is cosher. They are transparent in their offerings and I get a monthy report on work done and my site's rankings.

I can also call their technical guy anytime for off-the-cuff advice at no extra charge.

So as a client I am happy to give them a monthly up front payment. The work is beginning to pay off now and everyone is happy.
 
ericchristopher said:
Monthly fees are generally what I do. I charge depending on the niche. A lawyer ain't going to get the same rate a science fiction writer -- for obvious reasons.

And I price with retention rate in mind.
Click to expand...

DO THIS! Find your target audience and price it accordingly.
 
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