How do you provide a potential client with a SEO quote? :S

[ShadeDream]

These are one of the things I am puzzled about. I'm not really sure how to provide quotes when it comes to such clients. Some people will want information on the type of work and the costs involved with it before they decide on what to do. How do you provide such clients with SEO quotes?

 

[Corrupt]

I'd just tell them that the type of work involved is an in-house secret. If you're doing business with a reputable businessman he'll never ask you what kind of work you will do. Atmost he'll ask you if you're doing whitehat or blackhat, if he's looked up SEO on google.
When you eat at a restaurant do you ask them how much it cost them to buy the food and how much they pay the chefs and the waiters?

 

[lanbo]

You could offer a backlink breakdown for them

 

[ShadeDream]

I'd just tell them that the type of work involved is an in-house secret. If you're doing business with a reputable businessman he'll never ask you what kind of work you will do. Atmost he'll ask you if you're doing whitehat or blackhat, if he's looked up SEO on google.
When you eat at a restaurant do you ask them how much it cost them to buy the food and how much they pay the chefs and the waiters?

That's a good point. I'll keep that in mind. Though then again at a restaurant you get a physical product within a few minutes of ordering whereas with SEO it takes time and it is a virtual asset.

You could offer a backlink breakdown for them

I guess this could work but I'll probably need to give more of an overview. I'm not too sure on what to present.

 

[WhosYoDaddy]

I know that as a nusiness owner, I wuold want to know as well. and if anyone used the term "In-house secret", that would be a big red flag for me.

 

[shura17]

I just post or tell what I can do for them.I will tell what services I offer.

 

[ShadeDream]

I just post or tell what I can do for them.I will tell what services I offer.

This doesn't always work with serious clients that have money. Clients with money want an outline of what will be done as well as a quote for the work. It is obvious that certain things will cost more/less but in the real world people rely on quotes.

 

[Scripteen]

I'd suggest that you contact other SEO providers in your Country/Area (from a random email address of course) and get a quote from them on any random website/keyword and see how they present their quote (work based or results based etc...).

 

[ShadeDream]

I'd suggest that you contact other SEO providers in your Country/Area (from a random email address of course) and get a quote from them on any random website/keyword and see how they present their quote (work based or results based etc...).

I was thinking of doing this too but I then thought I would be better of asking here. I guess I'll give that a shot and report back on the information I get. Cheers.

 

[Corrupt]

I know that as a nusiness owner, I wuold want to know as well. and if anyone used the term "In-house secret", that would be a big red flag for me.

That's because you're on this forum and know about it.

 

[GuinnessMan]

Just detail what you're going to do. Start with an opener of something like:

This contract is to provide Business Name the following technical services:

Then follow up with a description of the services themselves in bullet format.

1. Review and remedy of on site Search Engine Optimization practices including but not limited to - page loading times, keyword targeting and density, content review and layout.

2. Create and execute manual link building strategy to other niche specific web properties.

3. Etc...

Now, you're not really giving away the actual strategy, just the breakdown of what the strategy is.

Professional people like to track (and sometimes will bill) deliverables. Yes, the bottom line matters, but they want to know that you have a trackable plan of action to accomplish a better bottom line that justifies your billing.

This is your field. Fill that opening line and the bullet points with technical detail that describes the process without detailing when you will stop to wipe your ass. You're not giving away anything - you're actually strengthening your client. They KNOW what they're getting.

 

[imperial109]

Quote as high as possible. If you've been on fiverr with high level accounts, you'll know that the higher the price the less questions. Start with $500 per month per kw. This sounds ridiculous, but don't disregard it before you try. The very first 5 meetings I had were only for $50/month, and they wanted updates every week, even though the short contract clearly said once a month, which they read and signed.

This is important to get the price that you want:
Tell them as little as possible, and if you do have to explain anything replace words like link juice with value. When you're talking to them, sell the benefits (more clients for them), not the features (SEO, backlinks, etc).

I lost a $9000 contract for 6 KW because the genius thought he knew what SEO was, and insisted that he be ranked for KWs that weren't getting any traffic. I gave him a crash course on the subject, but his "beliefs" told him otherwise.