How Much Can I Charge for SEO?

I have a client who wants to rank for a HIGH competition Keyword.
He is an international consultant based in London, UK and does guest speaking gigs.

I would like to undertake some of the work myself as well as outsource to a third party.

What is a reasonable retainer to quote in the current market place?

Thanks in advance for your opinions.

A professional SEOer doesn't ask how much to charge for his services.

Aty said:

A professional SEOer doesn't ask how much to charge for his services.

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There is none of those here.

InsanelySane said:

There is none of those here.

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I'm sure there are quite a few, but apparently op is not of them.

Usually when I'm not sure how much to charge a client, I set an hourly rate for myself. It will take x hours to complete the task, and I charge $xx per hour, so I'll charge $xxx. As SEO is usually an ongoing task, you could work out how many hours it will take per month, and then charge the same rate every month, or something like that.

Alternatively, you could just pull a number out your arse and hope for the best.

How much is that ranking worth to your client?

You should always, always price based on the value that you create, rather than an hourly rate.

It would take the same amount of my hours to rank for a keyword worth $10k a month as it would for a keyword worth $1k a month. Which do you think I should focus on?

A price you would pay your yourself. What do you think is fair compared to the work you're doing?

blackhatbeavis said:

I have a client who wants to rank for a HIGH competition Keyword.
He is an international consultant based in London, UK and does guest speaking gigs.

I would like to undertake some of the work myself as well as outsource to a third party.

What is a reasonable retainer to quote in the current market place?

Thanks in advance for your opinions.

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This is a difficult question although based on that alone I will assume you do not have a lot of experience in SEO.. and that is totally fine.

Your quote should be based around how much it will cost you to outsource SEO. You may find it more beneficial if you 'whitelabel' yourself and outsource the work to a reputable service.

So basically you need to figure out which keywords he wants to rank for and figure out how much competition there is.
Only then you can determine how much SEO effort you are likely to need to get to your goal and your customers goals.

In a nutshell I'm saying to you do your research and then outsource it to someone in the marketplace that knows what they are doing and maybe add 20-30% to the price you give to your customer. Be honest with your customer as there are NO GUARANTEES in SEO. What you do today may land him on page 1. What the algo does tomorrow may catapult him into the oblivion.

Nothing has a set value, its only worth what the buyer believes its worth. You could sell a penny for 1 million dollars if the buyer believes its worth that much.

do research into his niche and find out how much he will be making if you rank him. you don't want to charge him $100 if he will be making $1,000 a week with those rankings. you have to work out what will be best for both of you money wise. you are selling seo so will want to make as much money as you can but at the same time he wants a good ROI. but also make sure if you are outsourcing that you know what you are doing and you also give yourself a nice profit margin.

tony_d said:

How much is that ranking worth to your client?

You should always, always price based on the value that you create, rather than an hourly rate.

It would take the same amount of my hours to rank for a keyword worth $10k a month as it would for a keyword worth $1k a month. Which do you think I should focus on?

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THIS. Figure out what your client's average sale will bring in and how many sales he can expect to make from different spots he'd rank in. Then make him an offer say 50-75% of that. If you know how to sell well, this shouldn't be hard to do.

Just echoing what other have said.... work out how much this is worth to your client!

How much is an investment? That is basically what you are asking. How about assessing your clients market, working out your overheads and a ROI. Simple marketing. I suggest before getting into the "professional" SEO game, do a basic marketing course. You will see the world differently.

It depends on the keyword competition, website & we need to check other factors before giving the quote for 1st page rankings. You can PM me for more details.

So random... Barry Schwartz over at SERoundtable has highlighted this thread for one of his articles today. Perhaps you can find your answer in that article.

You will have to do your own calculations, depending upon your experience levels and how soon you think you could rank.

Well professional SEO's will never declare the price for what they are in expert. And i think i can find many experts from this forum who can guarantee to rank well for high competition keywords.

I'd guess at least $400 USD, if not closer to $600 USD. As for a retainer... what makes you think that is normal?

blackhatbeavis said:

I have a client who wants to rank for a HIGH competition Keyword.
He is an international consultant based in London, UK and does guest speaking gigs.

I would like to undertake some of the work myself as well as outsource to a third party.

What is a reasonable retainer to quote in the current market place?

Thanks in advance for your opinions.

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ThopHayt said:

I'd guess at least $400 USD, if not closer to $600 USD. As for a retainer... what makes you think that is normal?

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Yes minimum charge is $450 - $750. Also it depends on keyword and page we are targeting. We also need to analyse the Top10 pages ranking for that keyword. Need to check each and every site backlink profile to plan our campaigns to reach 1st page.

Based on how hard you think it will be to rank - how much of your time will it take, how much will it cost you in outsourcing or other fees? And also how much do they stand to make if you deliver results?