How to Get Paid By Clients?

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PandaDomo

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This is going to sound a little bit dumb, but here's just a basic question I have.

Okay, so for the longest time I've mostly been doing SEO stuff for myself, and for a few local businesses here and there, nothing big.

Now, I'm in the process of landing my first fairly large client (in comparison to what I've had in the past), and will most likely be signing a minimum of a six month contract. Now usually, for these local businesses, I've never had a contract signed because it was usually small-time work and was in the lower amount range of $XXX figures, and I usually collected upfront before doing anything else.

My question is, now that I could possibly become contracted, how and when should collect my payment? My first and foremost question however, is when should I collect my initial payment? Immediately at signing or after the first month has been done?

Hopefully looking to get this question answered by people who actually have this kind of experience, thanks! :)
 
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I always get the money first. No money, no work. I've been burned a few times by people promising to pay. If they aren't willing to take a risk and pay a professional, I'm not willing to take a risk and work for someone unprofessional.
 
You should send them an invoice when the contract is signed, they should pay in 10 days. Rebill on the anniversary date.
 
BHopkins said:
I always get the money first. No money, no work. I've been burned a few times by people promising to pay. If they aren't willing to take a risk and pay a professional, I'm not willing to take a risk and work for someone unprofessional.
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So using some basic numbers just for simplicity's sake, lets say you have a 6 month contract with a salary of $6000, meaning you'll get paid $1000 each month.

Would you be collecting your full $6000 salary upfront or would you collect $1000 upfront for your first month, and then collect the rest on a monthly basis?

Also, I noticed you post a lot on topics regarding ORM/reputation management, do you mind adding me on Skype or something so I can ask you questions regarding this in the future in case if I have any?

I have a fairly decent knowledge and some ideas on how to help this potential clients, but some parts aren't my stronger suit and I'd like some help on those topics.
 
BHopkins said:
I always get the money first. No money, no work. I've been burned a few times by people promising to pay. If they aren't willing to take a risk and pay a professional, I'm not willing to take a risk and work for someone unprofessional.
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Ditto. With some of my long-term clients I do 50/50, or even afterwards, but I never hand over the content until I've been paid. New clients won't get me to even start working unless they send the money first.
 
Techxan said:
You should send them an invoice when the contract is signed, they should pay in 10 days.
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I'd prefer not to be paid by PayPal, paranoia and whatnot.

I was most likely going to be asking for check or bank transfer, would this make a difference?
 
Always get a deposit. Doesn't matter how much the job is worth, any legit client should be happy to pay you at least 50% before work starts.
 
Treeofl1 said:
Always get a deposit. Doesn't matter how much the job is worth, any legit client should be happy to pay you at least 50% before work starts.
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Okay, this sounds great.

Thanks! :)
 
PandaDomo said:
Would you be collecting your full $6000 salary upfront or would you collect $1000 upfront for your first month, and then collect the rest on a monthly basis?
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Each month they would pay you 1K. That is pretty much the standard in any industry as to a contract.

PandaDomo said:
I'd prefer not to be paid by PayPal, paranoia and whatnot.

I was most likely going to be asking for check or bank transfer, would this make a difference?
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No, that won't make any difference... a wire transfer may look a little funny for a small account that is only 1K a month, and for some people a bit of a pain as they have to go to their bank, but both are acceptable.

I'd just bill them, get them to pay you via CC and off you go.
 
BassTrackerBoats said:
Each month they would pay you 1K. That is pretty much the standard in any industry as to a contract.

No, that won't make any difference... a wire transfer may look a little funny for a small account that is only 1K a month, and for some people a bit of a pain as they have to go to their bank, but both are acceptable.

I'd just bill them, get them to pay you via CC and off you go.
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In the case if I DO land this contract, it'll be a lot more than 1K. I just simply used 1K as an example because it was a nice round number :P

And I usually prefer not to use PayPal, I've just had bad experiences with it in the past which is why.
 
PandaDomo said:
In the case if I DO land this contract, it'll be a lot more than 1K. I just simply used 1K as an example because it was a nice round number :P

And I usually prefer not to use PayPal, I've just had bad experiences with it in the past which is why.
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Not using PP is fine... lots of people don't care for it. A wire transfer can be a little bit of a pain for some is all as some people are unable to facilitate that from their office and have to go to their bank to accomplish that.
 
BassTrackerBoats said:
Not using PP is fine... lots of people don't care for it. A wire transfer can be a little bit of a pain for some is all as some people are unable to facilitate that from their office and have to go to their bank to accomplish that.
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Well, I could accept either wire transfer or check, getting a check would be my preferred method actually.
 
I always use Paypal and very rarely have trouble. If you're dealing with legitimate people, you won't have issues. When I was selling a $99/month service I had a lot of trouble.

I'm with BTB on the payment schedule. If you're doing monthly work then collect a monthly payment. That should come at the beginning of the month. If you're worried about getting paid (I would be) then see if they'll give you their CC number and then you can send them an email and run their CC at the beginning of each month as stipulated in the contract.

Wire/Bank transfers can be done online, I haven't done one at my bank in over a year, I always do it online so they might be able to as well.

Regarding my ORM, I almost always do half upfront and half upon completion. This might not work in your industry, but it gives my clients peace of mind knowing exactly what the cost will be (no hidden fees or monthly payments) as well as the satisfaction that they won't be paying the final amount until I actually get the work done.

Add me on skype if you have any questions. Skype: BrandonHopkins
 
Been considering doing some SEO for local businesses for a while but I haven't and don't plan to do so due to the fact that local businesses and my volatile c&b strats don't synchronize all that well :)
The way I would get paid if I were to do client SEO would be to have a monthly base-fee and then having an agreement to be paid a monthly bonus if the site reaches, for example, top 3 rankings.
Would be fair for both parties IMO.
 
PandaDomo said:
I'd prefer not to be paid by PayPal, paranoia and whatnot.

I was most likely going to be asking for check or bank transfer, would this make a difference?
Click to expand...

You can invoice them with quickbooks or whatever. Forget doing business without invoicing your client, they need those records for tax purposes.
 
Techxan said:
You can invoice them with quickbooks or whatever. Forget doing business without invoicing your client, they need those records for tax purposes.
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Yeah, I was curious about how taxes would work for this kind of deal.

I guess I'll just have to work it out with the person later on about the method of payment, but I'll definitely have to accept at least the first month upfront at least.
 
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