Client wants to pay me $7000 - need advice.

[brainstorm1]

If they don't want to pay you consistently then I don't know how they expect you to work consistently.

Fiverr it a bit and then that is it, I guess.

 

[AdisLCS]

So now he pays you $300/month and $7000 would cover about 2 years.

How much SEO you need to do monthly ? I optimize sites for long term. I retain many first page rankings after years not touching them. Some are in B2B lead generation, even internet marketing and stupid small niches.

Point being , you may be able to do great SEO initially and very little later while maintaining his position, but in all honesty it is unlikely in his niche.


You must first clearly define "SEO" + "Lifetime" and set all the terms, tasks and expectations straight. Dentist niche is not easy to stay on top and I have a feeling the guy has no idea what he is asking you to do. probably he don't even know what SEO stands for. I never take those clients even if they offer big money. Trust me those guys are biggest pain in the arse. Not worth it, too me at least.

Its a tough one, but I would stay away from it. I know $7K might sound a lot but that is really 2-3 months lower middle class blue collar wages. Put it into perspective somehow. $7K is not very much to maintain constant flow of leads/clients and maintain his ranking for a lifetime! Plus you would have to give up other dentists in his area, no?

Good luck, what can I say more.

 

[scorpion896]

I would pass as well. SEO on a large business site can be charged up to $500 month (sometimes way more). At this rate you fall into the "slave" category in 14 months! Not worth it.

 

[Lebron2727]

7k for lifetime seo, haha.

How can you even put that into a contract?

I would take it, on the internet "forever" means one year... At least when linkbuilding...

I would advise you to exactly explain the guy what will happen if he pays a SEO company 7k for "lifetime" SEO. It will not work, the example with a guy paying 7k for "lifetime" dental would be a nice one to use. Or lifetime insurance for 7k, nobody would be on the other end of that deal, so he must understand that you will not be on the other side of that deal.

Maybe he wants you to do more, just ask a lot of questions, maybe it is time to have a good convo of what he expects and what is reasonable for the amt hes paying you.

 

[spasovski]

Yeah, cover a deal for 2 years. 7k for lifetime seo lol not even in Africa.

 

[Wyld88]

Do not take the deal. The $7,000 may be very tempting, but the client wants
you to get them to the top position and constantly work on it. It's an endless
cycle that isn't work $7,000 because it puts you under the client's thumb.

It would be better if you negotiate a price with certain guarantees of ranking.
If you decide to go with the $7,000 offer, make sure to stipulate that the lifetime
agreement ends once you've met certain requirements. If you get
the client to the position desired for X amount of days or whatever, then
the lifetime arrangement would expire. Add some extra terms to the agreement.

 

[rulez05]

accept the offer and run like a hell lifetime oh men Thats a lot of time

 

[mark27]

Never accept a lifetime contract no matter how desperate you are, and that 7k only covers 2 years worth of your current fee when you'd be working for life. That doesn't sound good.

My advice with whatever you do is to HIRE A LAWYER! Make sure to get one that will give you good advice and isn't just concerned with making their fee. They can look through any proposed contracts and tweak them to make sure you don't get screwed. They're also great for new business referrals as they know lots of legit businesses with loads of money.
Edit: Long run you will save tons of money and frustration having a good lawyer. Maybe even save some jail time if you're really blackhat

 

[Fathom]

Why would a company just decide to pay you $7000, are they mad? Have you given them such great profits to justify that 7k?

A company should always allocate a certain percentage of profits on marketing, ie if they are making 10k profit pm then a 10% budget is ideal.

As you grow that companies profits, they then have more faith in you which results in more money to advertise. you don't see small starter companies advertising on the tv, you see established companies with a high marketing budget.

To me your client sounds like an idiot. If you don't take that money and do the best for them, I assure you someone else will snap it up in an instant.

 

[BlueTurtle]

I would explain to them that SEO is an on-going, ever changing process that requires you to work diligently to keep up to date with the industry and to keep the site ranked on page 1.

Explain to them that there's many SEO companies charging $1000-$5000 per MONTH, so any company offering them a lifetime deal of $7000 is looking to take their money and run.

Don't be conned into a shady lifetime commitment. Lifetime is potentially 50 years, lol. The $7000 will be long spent and you'll be stuck working for free for a client for a long long time.

 

[richv100]

I agree with Blue Turtle, that said it all depends on how much you need the money. For me personally I would say that is risky and none of us know what will be required for SEO in say a few years time. It could really come back to bite you in the arse.
Unless you get very clever with the contracts and say that current services will be maintained, however if more is required in the future then a further payment could be made.

 

[Maja92]

AdisLCS: I have kept them on page 1 in the 2 - 3 months i have been with them without much work, i.e: unique 350 - 400 unique articles posted on web 2.0s and them bookmarking those web 2.0s has been enough to keep them on page 1 so far, so not a lot.

no, he's my only dentist client.

Lebron2727: lol, yeah makes no sense, but like i said, this is what she "claims" her competitor did, listed the competitor on page 1 of this thread. they told me from their perspective, it's too much work paying monthly and explaining it to their accountant.


Fathom: I have improved their rankings with little effort, so i suppose, but for them its more about long term savings as oppose to profits now. but they are maybe mad though

if you guys want, i can post a screenshot of one their checks.

 

[artizhay]

Too complicated to explain to their accountant? That's an internal issue, not yours, if their accountant can't handle something as simple as monthly payments.

 

[BlueTurtle]

Lebron2727: lol, yeah makes no sense, but like i said, this is what she "claims" her competitor did, listed the competitor on page 1 of this thread. they told me from their perspective, it's too much work paying monthly and explaining it to their accountant.

lol she sounds like an idiot. "explaining to her accountant". There's nothing to explain. It's just an operating expense, plain and simple.

If it's too much work to setup a monthly bank transfer then she has no business in business.

Too complicated to explain to their accountant? That's an internal issue, not yours, if their accountant can't handle something as simple as monthly payments.

lol

 

[mandude]

Like everyone else said, $7k is not enough for a life time. Tell them to ask their secretary to work for a lifetime at $7k cash. See what her answer is.
Now maybe if they offered you something like $50k up front, hell I'd take that (im sure anyone would). But even at $1k (which id be charging) thats 50 months, 4 years, thats sufficient.

But not $7k DONT DO IT MAN!

 

[redrubies]

Well wait a minute. What exactly is his competitor in Google for? Cuz it would be really funny if the dentist was on the first page in Google for his name or business name, and that's what he paid 7k for. LOL Did this dentist happen to mention what he wants to rank in Google for? Is it something like "John Smith, DDS" or "Happy Smiles Dental Services"? Or does he want to rank for something like "dentist in Oregon"? I know someone who did SEO for a man willing to pay 10k to have his site designed (it never needed updating unless he moved, as it was just a couple of pages for business) to be in Google for his name, which was also the name of his site. She tried to talk him out of it, but he said he'd go with someone else. So she did it and he thought she was the best thing on earth. My first reaction was to tell this dentist no, but then I wondered if it was something similar to what this woman went through. It was the easiest 10k she ever made.

 

[hungryforfb]

so if his business lasts 100 months. you're paid 70$ a month...

 

[ash134u]

7k OMG how you can book yourself for life time SEO its seem like free service for life time LOL in life time you can earn more tan 7K dude kick on there ass )

 

[Falrish]

First step: Ask the client to tell you the key words that his competitor is getting for this $7K lifetime fee. This will allow you to dig and see that they are getting this service on a LOW competition phrase or word. If it is a regional specific one I could see the $7K being sufficient as you would have to put in like 2-4 hours a month of work tops!

Second step: Talk to the guy who is running mastergoogle.com and ask if they have a "lifetime client" they are charging $7 for.

Third step: Call your clients bluff with an offer for a once a year bill for $3000 (he gets 2 months free you get lump sum payments).

Fourth step: Do his SEO.

Hope this is helpful

 

[Maja92]

spasovski: Lol

artizhay: lol, yep, that's what she said. Agreed.

BlueTurtle: yeah, she doesn't seem very pride, lol, but her husband/dentist appears calm, quiet and collected.

lol.

redrubies: Yes they did and I have ranked their requested keywords, not names, but general exact match keywords, yes, examples: Oregon dentist, Oregon downtown dentist, Oregon cosmetic dentist, etc which actually get traffic.

Interesting, nice share, good for her.

Falrish: very good suggestions, thank you, and yes they are regional keywords - city based.