SEO: How do you charge?

[gemd89]

I am currently looking for SEO for my website for 2 major phrases, looking at smaller phrases later on and the quotes are varying massively. So what do you actually quote on:

Time that it takes or just a set fee monthly for a specific list of things you provide? Or something else?

And what are people actually doing to quote these fees?

I have had quotes £50 per hour - I guess it depends what they are doing in this hour.

Quotes at £4000 for 2 keywords to stay at page 1 for 6 months. How can they guarantee it?

Then the £300 per month for a year quotes - Which i guess is just a set amount of things each month - But surely one size doesnt fit all and its nice to have a tailor made quote..

So what are the SEO actually offering for there money and where do they get the quotes from?

Gemma

 

[Blood Lust]

I am currently looking for SEO for my website for 2 major phrases, looking at smaller phrases later on and the quotes are varying massively. So what do you actually quote on:

Time that it takes or just a set fee monthly for a specific list of things you provide? Or something else?

And what are people actually doing to quote these fees?

I have had quotes £50 per hour - I guess it depends what they are doing in this hour.

Quotes at £4000 for 2 keywords to stay at page 1 for 6 months. How can they guarantee it?

Then the £300 per month for a year quotes - Which i guess is just a set amount of things each month - But surely one size doesnt fit all and its nice to have a tailor made quote..

So what are the SEO actually offering for there money and where do they get the quotes from?

Gemma

What do you need someone do to, all strategic planning? If you pm everything you want a SEO doing I might be able to help.

 

[gemd89]

Hey, I just want to know why the rates vary so much and how do you decide who to work with just based on rates over a specific period. I am a control freak - I like to know what they are actually doing for the money

Gemma

 

[Blood Lust]

Hey, I just want to know why the rates vary so much and how do you decide who to work with just based on rates over a specific period. I am a control freak - I like to know what they are actually doing for the money

Gemma

There is no set rate they all make up their own.

Generally the better they are the more they charge. Why not explain your current situation to a few and ask them to write a report detailing what they would do. You can then judge by the quality of returns who you want to do business with.

Its a good way of seperating the wheat from the chaff and making sure they are worth what they're charging..

 

[gemd89]

Generally the better they are the more they charge.
Its a good way of seperating the wheat from the chaff.

I could set up an agency/website tomorrow charging £1000 per keyword - Wouldnt make me better than the other SEOs...

I have contacted a few back and will be interesting to hear the responses of why their quotes vary so much especially if they are doing same things

Gemma

 

Generally the better they are the more they charge. Why not explain your current situation to a few and ask them to write a report detailing what they would do. You can then judge by the quality of returns who you want to do business with.

Better still find out what the have done in the past and get recommendations.

There is no one size fits all in SEO.

Price will depend on ,product,competition and in some cases profitability of products.

In most cases being on page 1 is not good enough ,being in the top 4 is imperative IMHO.

Earl

 

[Websitehandyman]

Perhaps you need to read this ?

http://www.alternativestoebay.com/blog/seo-lemons/

SEO is the new HI-FI

People who buy my services get seo advice free, if they have hands and a computer then they are very capable of doing all the SEO for themselves and I show them how. Not because I have any secrets or because regard myself as some expert but because I know for a fact all those that say they are experts are not well not as expert as they claim to be anyway. Thats like William Tell saying he can hit a moving target even-though he's not told where it's moving to

 

[BrandBeKnown]

In my opinion

Claims vary due to a variety of reasons the same as other services

Guy A is in london
Guy B is in stoke on trent

In SEO the variety can be greater one is in new york and one is in india.

The main factor of this is can you communicate with them reliably.

Then the other factor comes in by whos bin in the game for longer in which they charge more because they feel they are worth more. Or rather they have the clients and value there time.

The other part with SEO is its a open entity. There is no solid rules for how competitive a market is, there is no solid rules for how much work it may requirer. It is also unknown how it may change tomorrow or the next day so on big projects you must factor that in as a constant learning curve.

Then you have the problem of you want a guaranteed ranking(sensible) but it adds to the risk.

For instance I could say to rank 1 of your keywords you require

£50 worth of on page optimization
£100 worth of article and press release backlinks
£200 worth of networking links and social networks
£50 worth of blog comments
£100 a month retainer

This would in most circumstances work for your keyword. However if it doesnt the person needs to keep working so normally I price to twice the basic price I expect it to take me to be able to offer the guaranteed ranking.

You can also receive quotes based on your keyword traffic * % of traffic expected * (cpc-set%) = monthly price

This gives you a price that is better than using cpc but will normally be more expensive than it needs to be, I stopped using this model to offer more cost effective services.

Based on the keyword "party supplies" and a set % of 60% of the cpc price and a 5% traffic share the keyword party supplies would cost £400 a month. As you would spend more than that to receive the same traffic from adwords.

Hope makes sense and clears up some things for you!

Oh and also viewing what someone has ranked for in the past will mostly mean nothing to the buyer because they dont understand seo even someone who does cant say exactly how impressive a keyword is.

I have seen endless companys saying we are ranked for "X" "Y" "Z" they are all keywords that nobody cares about, examples would be a company who ranks for there own domain name as a example of being able to rank on the first page.

 

[RevaxMedia]

I am currently looking for SEO for my website for 2 major phrases, looking at smaller phrases later on and the quotes are varying massively. So what do you actually quote on:

Time that it takes or just a set fee monthly for a specific list of things you provide? Or something else?

And what are people actually doing to quote these fees?

I have had quotes £50 per hour - I guess it depends what they are doing in this hour.

Quotes at £4000 for 2 keywords to stay at page 1 for 6 months. How can they guarantee it?

Then the £300 per month for a year quotes - Which i guess is just a set amount of things each month - But surely one size doesnt fit all and its nice to have a tailor made quote..

So what are the SEO actually offering for there money and where do they get the quotes from?

Gemma

Hi Gemma,

I currently run an online marketing agency and we quote for jobs similar to this on a daily basis, firstly I would like to say no one can guarantee rankings. Most companies will hold their hands up and admit this and offer a highly likely chance of your website remaining on their for a set period (due to a strong off-site strategy).

£50 per hour for an SEO is industry average, we have some staff on more and some just below this, it would depend on what you want. If you were wanting quotes for an hourly charge then you would put your targets into a word document, send them to the agency and they will quote in hours x hourly rate.

The things you need to know when getting a quote are:

• What will I expect to gain within a set period (1 week, 1 months)
• What guarantees do I have if they are not met (money back?)
• Look at their portfolio - Are they experienced?
• Look at their testimonials - do they seem honest?

Getting quotes for an SEO job can be tricky and it's full of SEO gurus who can talk the talk but sit them down in front of a computer and they don't have a clue.

 

[Prestige-SEO]

Brand be known, that is a great post!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[terryuk]

I am currently looking for SEO for my website for 2 major phrases, looking at smaller phrases later on and the quotes are varying massively. So what do you actually quote on:

Time that it takes or just a set fee monthly for a specific list of things you provide? Or something else?

On your niche, I would say scrap the idea of two phrases and look at targeting more from day 0. That would make sense.

2 keywords is not much imho, the stronger more competitive keywords will be an uphill battle no doubt. Someone should tell you that.

I would go via recommendations. I saw an 'SEO pro' website the other day, his home page was the size of a piece of string and couldn't find the contact form.... I wouldn't hire him because I can't contact him for starters

 

[Dave.F]

Gemma your website got the same rating as mine 52%

http://marketing.grader.com/site/www.gdpartysupplies.co.uk

 

[gemd89]

Thanks Dave - Looks like alot of work ahead!

Gemma

 

Hi Gemma,

I currently run an online marketing agency and we quote for jobs similar to this on a daily basis, firstly I would like to say no one can guarantee rankings.

If that is the case then the SEO has not done sufficient research.

Whats the point of hiring an SEO company of they don't earn you money?

And any decent SEO will not take on work that won't return a profit for there client.

Earl

 

[Dave.F]

Thanks Dave - Looks like alot of work ahead!

Gemma

Hummm That's what I thought.....I started naming all my images alt tags then I saw how many images I have to do.............

Still, no pain = no gain

 

[gemd89]

Apparently i have 50 images with alt_tags and 64 without - No idea how to add alt tags so can't remember how I do the 50 images!!

Gemma

 

[BrandBeKnown]

<img src="http://www.image.com/location.jpg" alt="picture of image location" height="42" width="42" />

Thanks prestige

Please note that you shouldnt be looking to change all your keywords to 1 or 2 words to give on page seo. It reads like that is the idea from yours and dave f.s post, thats not what you want to do and wont yield any better than focusing on 1 page with similar alt tags targetting 1 keyword per page.

 

[Dave.F]

Please note that you shouldnt be looking to change all your keywords to 1 or 2 words to give on page seo. It reads like that is the idea from yours and dave f.s post, thats not what you want to do and wont yield any better than focusing on 1 page with similar alt tags targetting 1 keyword per page.

Hi BrandBeKnown,

Could you please explain this a bit more, I am not sure I fully understand you:redface:

Dave.

 

[nk400]

It's impossible to give really good advice without specifics unfortunately.

As a general rule I would say:

The more expensive they are the better they are likely to be
Most legit firms don't give guarantees

There are so many cowboys out there it's untrue. The best advice I can give is get them to show you proof of rankings they've done for their clients which are based on competitive phrases.

An alternative tactic might be to hire an individual who knows what they're doing for some sort of long-term revenue split based on performance. So long as this structure genuinely rewards them and doesn't take the mickey I'm sure you would get some takers.

 

[BrandBeKnown]

Hi BrandBeKnown,

Could you please explain this a bit more, I am not sure I fully understand you:redface:

Dave.

When doing on page SEO, you should focus on 1 foundation word per page. You should then focus all your efforts on ranking that page for that word.

You can use multiple phrases throughout your alt tags on that page create better relevance.

In gems example of doing on page seo for 1 keyword and picking the seo of "party supplies"

In my very top image alt tag would be the word party supplies

If I had other alt tags on that page Id use variations

e.g

childrens party supplies
birthday party supplies

Depending on the level of keyword they maybe sectioned out onto there own pages and use other lower level keywords.

Generally I try to rank for 1 keyword per page and 2 other sub keywords that are long tail keywords.

You should think of your site as a A-Z catalogue of your niche and you only need to reference each word once to give it the best importance. This will overall give google the information what your niche is accross your site. So there is no need to have a alt tag on every page that is the main niche.

This is how google looks at it.

 

[Alan]

One reason for massive variation in prices is that some firms are offshore in India , or they are UK firms that outsource to Indian firms.

In the UK to pay the keep of a professional employee firms need to charge £40-60 / hour, in India they need £6-£10 per hour.

Obviously there are pros and cons of using an offshore service.

 

[James Greg]

Offshore or onshore. I would really choose some company that can prove their work. If they can't have their own website ranking on the first page then it is worthless.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Offshore or onshore. I would really choose some company that can prove their work. If they can't have their own website ranking on the first page then it is worthless.

Why?
Surely the proof of the pudding is where their client websites rank?

 

[Alan]

If they can't have their own website ranking on the first page then it is worthless.

Just wondering about the specifics of your statement

If I told you the keywords, would that be sufficient evidence, for instance we rank Page 1 Position 1 organic for "seo adwords company woking" on google.co.uk from UK locations. But honestly, to achieve that is virtually no more effort than any one with a bit of common sense can achieve.

Or would you reject an SEO company that isn't in the top 10 organic (out of 33,000,000 search results) for a generic keyword like 'SEO Company'. Which frankly tells you that they have a digital marketing budget many times bigger than your local small (but expert) firm has. And you know who actually pays for large marketing budgets, eventually, of course.

Personally, I believe you should select your SEO consultants based on their expertise, communication skills & honesty, not their marketing budget. But then I am biased.

 

[Alan]

Surely the proof of the pudding is where their client websites rank?

I respect what you are saying, but feel it needs to be expanded on slightly, as people less involved in SEO than us may fall into another SEO marketing trap ... I have seen website testimonials on this that are so misleading "we achieved position 1 for xyz ltd" when you examine on what keywords there is virtually zero competition so they are easy wins.

For instance, you also know that as well as I do, that with combined local & general search on google, that quick job setting up a 'places account' could promote a business to number 1 for some keywords that includes their location or locality if there is little competition.

[It is a bit like the adverts "nothing works faster than anadin" "nothing cleans better than daz" etc. they are 'true' , but at best they are saying their products are only as good as the competition, at worst they are saying you are better off using nothing!]

 

[JDX_John]

Offshore or onshore. I would really choose some company that can prove their work. If they can't have their own website ranking on the first page then it is worthless.

In that case there are only about 10 companies in the entire world worth contacting.

 

I am shocked that you are asked for so high rates for SEO... i did it for $1000 for one time in every 4 months and $400 per Keyword...

So how much do you think an SEO should charge a company turning over 40 million a year?

Earl

 

[JDX_John]

So how much do you think an SEO should charge a company turning over 40 million a year?

Earl

You think people should arbitrarily increase their costs simply when the customer has more money? On that basis, Google should be paying $10k for a Biro.

Unfortunately I have to disagree with your statement because...
Just because I dont target SEO as a keyphrase doesnt mean I cannot do SEO.

You misunderstood. I was making the point that it's crazy to suggest only companies on the first page for "SEO" are worth using.

 

[jayfcf]

You think people should arbitrarily increase their costs simply when the customer has more money? On that basis, Google should be paying $10k for a Biro.

You misunderstood. I was making the point that it's crazy to suggest only companies on the first page for "SEO" are worth using.

My bad,

Sorry about that.

I read all the time that people should only use companies that are on page one for SEO or SEO services and it makes me mad.

I now see the irony in your post.

 

You think people should arbitrarily increase their costs simply when the customer has more money? On that basis, Google should be paying $10k for a Biro.

Well if some of the 40 million is attributable to the work the SEO has done I would think that would be fair.

Don't you?

Earl

 

[jayfcf]

Well if some of the 40 million is attributable to the work the SEO has done I would think that would be fair.

Don't you?

Earl

SEO should be priced on how difficult the job is and not how much the company makes.

If it takes me a day to get them to number one I charge for a day.

You will usually find that companies turning over that sort of money will be targeting very profitable and highly competitive keywords.

By default you would charge more because it would be harder to rank them, but only if that was the case.

If they were turning over 40 million a year targetting very easy keyphrases we'd all be minted.

 

[JDX_John]

Well if some of the 40 million is attributable to the work the SEO has done I would think that would be fair.

Don't you?

Earl

Not unless I agree a commission/royalty payment, no. Since when is it about "being fair" rather than charging a sensible price for your work?

Sounds like greed to me, things should cost what they cost.

 

[Chunkford]

You could say the same for football. Espically the players wages?

 

Not unless I agree a commission/royalty payment, no. Since when is it about "being fair" rather than charging a sensible price for your work?

Because SEO is not just a job ,its a wealth creating process and I prefer to share that wealth.

I would suggest anyone doing SEM on a fixed payment is either not very good at it or does not realise what they are creating.

Earl

 

[JDX_John]

Because SEO is not just a job ,its a wealth creating process and I prefer to share that wealth.

A job is a wealth creating process. The majority of suppliers to a large company are involved in helping it make money but it's not reasonable to suggest everyone is entitled to a slice of the pie, or to leech off the company's success.

Do YOU pay a % of what you make to Google for providing the excellent tools you use in your company, which directly help you make money?

 

[RadiusBPO]

A job is a wealth creating process. The majority of suppliers to a large company are involved in helping it make money but it's not reasonable to suggest everyone is entitled to a slice of the pie, or to leech off the company's success.

Do YOU pay a % of what you make to Google for providing the excellent tools you use in your company, which directly help you make money?

Actually quite a few PLCs give shares to their staff so when the company does well they get dividends.

 

[JDX_John]

Yes - to employees. If you do SEO for a giant company, you can spend your income from the work on buying shares, and make a profit from how successful your work is

 

Yes - to employees. If you do SEO for a giant company, you can spend your income from the work on buying shares, and make a profit from how successful your work is

Or you can set up in competition and make even more money.

You see we are salesmen ,who very often get paid on there results.

Earl

 

[RedEvo]

I would suggest anyone doing SEM on a fixed payment is either not very good at it or does not realise what they are creating.

Earl

I disagree with this analysis. My staff need paying this week not in 6 months time when the profits from the work they do start rolling in for the company they have worked for. Businesses (as opposed to working on your own from home) require a slightly different model.

I'm not against sweat equity, I've just secured a 10% stake in an e-learning company in return for my expertise but I couldn't run my business on this basis.

d

 

I disagree with this analysis. My staff need paying this week not in 6 months time when the profits from the work they do start rolling in for the company they have worked for. Businesses (as opposed to working on your own from home) require a slightly different model.

I'm not against sweat equity, I've just secured a 10% stake in an e-learning company in return for my expertise but I couldn't run my business on this basis.

d

Quite in your present situation that may be true.

But if when you started you had taken a share in the companies ,you may well have enjoyed various channels of income for many years without incurring much work.

Again when I first started I did not realise the value of what I was creating,but soon realised I would be many times better off having equity in various companies.

Earl