How much should I charge for SEO?

[iagotheinsane]

My sister's Company owner saw my work and how I was able to get my sites on the first page of G. Their keywords have low competition so I'm positive in getting them on the first page. They are asking me how much it would cost to do this.

I will Re-build their terrible looking site, write articles and back link. What would you charge for this? It's a medium size company. I'm also getting requests from local beauty salons. What would you charge the latter?

Tyia

 

[beezee]

Charge what you want to earn

Seriously though you have to factor in their value per new client and the search volume for their kw. In other words how much do they stand to earn from using your services. Whatever that # is your monthly fee needs to be less to make you a profitable investment (this is why I prefer biz where each new customer is worth alot of $.)

SEO alone might not do the trick, if their website doesn't convert, in which case you have the opportunity for an upsell or finders fee.

 

[blackma]

This would be ideal for a continuation fee. Charge them every day their website appears at the desired search engine result positions. Could be just $10. This is highly scalable too so I wouldn't just stop at one business!

 

[twinkletoes]

It's going to depend on the area.

You have to also consider how what you are doing needs to improve the companies ROI.

Anyway, if they are looking to rank, you need to find out which keywords they want to rank for and figure how many of those you are going to work on. Then you can set rates on a sliding scale for how many words you are willing to tackle (do 3-5 to start).

For a site redesign, that can go anywhere from $300 - 1k - again I don't know your area.

Of course, that fee can increase based on implementing some onsite SEO.

Don't go for less than 10 bucks an article - but again I have no idea how complicated the writing might need to be for the main company.

You can surf around for some rate sheets, and make a list of each of the things you can include and then mix them into some packages you can offer.

 

[philly3]

This would be ideal for a continuation fee. Charge them every day their website appears at the desired search engine result positions. Could be just $10. This is highly scalable too so I wouldn't just stop at one business!

This would be hard to do. Sometimes sites move rankings during the day. Come up with some monthly maintenance fee for keeping the sites going and improving them. Also for improving the ranks of the site. Price depends on the niche and how much $ they will be gaining from your hard work.

 

[Lawrencess]

I am going to use figures that are appropriate for a quality SEO guy consulting to a mid sized (500k-3m Turnover) business in Australia, so you may have to scale them up or down depending on how good you are and how big your clients are.

I find that a "facelift" then "hours per month" model works well. Your hourly should be around $120, because after phone costs, internet costs, outsourcing expenses and taxes, there will not be a lot left.

Charge them $2000 amount to get started, rewrite articles, redo onpage and outsource some backlinks. They will see how good you are and what you have to offer them. They will think that continuing to pay you will keep them there.

Then offer them a monthly onpage maintenance pack of 4 hours per month, give them a discount to $100. So sell them a 4 hour a month pack for $400.

In this time just roll over or even spin the content on their website. If ranks start to slip, sell them another backlink package.

 

[popcrdom29]

I agree with Lawrencess in what he says to charge, it seems reasonable plus you don't want to charge too little. If you do they might not take you seriously. Charge higher fees and they will see you as a professional in your field.

 

[oxonbeef]

I agree with a lot of the members above and charging in relation to increased profits is
reasonable assessment.
However don't miss an opportunity for the sake of pricing. This is an Ideal opportunity for
you to create a case study of how you ranked this business, not only increase their rankings, increase
their conversions as well. Look at all "on page" factors that could increase their conversion rate.
Once you have a case study and a reference you can command business on demand for yourself.

 

[goads]

dont sell yourself short. I dont charge less than 3k a month for small clients. Youll put in more time then you think and you need to make it worth all your work. Make sure you get a year contract paid in advance every month. And alway use some backlinks from your own blog network so if they are late with a payment you can derank them.

 

[chillcee]

$5k a month

 

[bigwali]

Anyone know where you can download some standard seo contract language forms?

 

[iagotheinsane]

Found this pricing structure

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/seo-pricing-costs-what-should-you-charge-how-much-should-you-pay

 

[greenleaf4u]

well see what they take here for service, andalso count how many hours u have to work, are u using any programs like scrapebox SENuke xrumer or so, well its easy math, hours backlinks videos, twitter facebook, what is it worth for them? under how long time will u work until they are on topspot, then u have to keep them there also.
good luck!

 

[elocin]

Im a full time web designer... i wouldnt go near any project concerning website design/development for less than $1500... SEO I charge $300 monthly... Maintenance $200 monthly... All contracts are for at least 6 months. And 50% up front on the web site design...

It really depends on where you are located? Expertise? Competition? Etc...

Good luck.

 

[bananaman5000]

i recommend charging 1.5k+ then $30 or more an hour

when i started out, i did seo & web design for $15 an hour. this led to people basically using me as their pet monkey, making arbitrary changes, calling me 5 times a day to change stuff, it was bad, didn't have time for anything else.

now i charge by results for SEO, i figure out how much the client stands to make (like the guy above), and charge big if the it ranks on the first page. that way, they don't feel jilted if the site doesn't rank, and i don't get a bad reputation. the harder it is to rank the site, the more i charge when it does rank. hope this helps

 

[99diesel]

There are already some good answers here, but I will throw how I do pricing into the mix, too.

There is a lot to consider. What is your time worth? What are your costs going to be?

My highest paying clients are my favorite, not just for the money... the ones that come to me with a low budget are almost always the one that are emailing me constantly and trying to get more and more for less and less.

Another big thing to consider is what each customer is worth to them. For example, a rel estate company, car dealer, dentist, jewelry store, etc... will be willing to pay a lot more to get a new customer.

Also take into account the amount of competition in the area. If there is a lot of competition for them, there is more of a reason to need your SEO help, which means they will be willing to pay you more.