They're paying me what?!?!

S

SEOHoe

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*Edit: The company is in Dubai, I am in America.*

Hey guys,

I have a quick question. A company that sells dresses for no less than $500 wants to pay me $400 per month to do the following tasks:

{NOTE: This company approached ME because they were impressed with my own website/blog in a related niche. I did not contact them first.}

-Write 5 blog posts
-Manage blog comments
-Make Twitter posts
-Increase/Interact with Twitter followers
-Increase/Interact with Facebook fans
-Create contests to get new customers

My original proposal included more tasks. I told them $2,000 per month. They emailed me back with the above.

What should I do? Is $400 a realistic amount? What can I do to convince them to pay me more money?

My original proposal was very thorough and VERY convincing, imho. I don't know if they're being cheap or what... Please help.

Thanks in advance.
 
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i guest 400 bucks its a real amount (get paid at the beggining anyway)
U can make those taks in 5-6 hours a day
If u wanna get more paid , offer them seo service backlinks, 2.0 webs etc etc
 
in my opinion that's good. considering how much time it will take you (not much at all)...
i'd put in the contract though, a minimum amount of months they are guaranteed to pay for your services to keep the recurring payment for a year or so. remember you can always go to their competition.
 
That is too abstract.

Where are you from? The States? Ireland? Israel? Egypt? India?
Obviously for someone from India that is huge and for someone from Ireland that is good for 2 dinners out.
 
also since they're not asking for SEO work you can go to their competition with the google proposition and do those same tasks for another company. maybe even do a little "insider trading" and help them both grow through social media/compete agaisnt each other so they will want to continue paying you just to get the edge above the competitor that you're working for :P
 
Simply think about your hourly rate. If it is $40/hr then you should put in 10hrs per month. Can you do the tasks in 10 hrs per month? If yes then take it, if not make another proposal.
 
#Bross: I'm in America. The company is in Dubai. And they hired the number one PR firm over there to help launch their business a year ago.

Thank you to everyone else for the quick replies!
 
Keep Negotiating. That's your best bet over here:

-Write 5 blog posts- Can be outsourced for $30
-Manage blog comments-Little work if the site is not very popular.
-Make Twitter posts-Can be automated. So, no work
-Increase/Interact with Twitter followers-Can be automated-So, no work
-Increase/Interact with Facebook fans-Not sure
-Create contests to get new customers-This would need fair amount of work.
 
Well it would probably take an hour a day at the most. so that would be 30 hours a month. That's roughly $13/hr. Not too bad I'd say. But I'd ask for a little more. Maybe $450 and tell them you will do a little extra work for them.
 
I agee with Super11..Outsource it all.
The left over money will pay some bills off at least. :D
 
send 'em my way. ill shoot the price WAY up, and then they won't think the 2k is so bad
 
philly3 said:
Well it would probably take an hour a day at the most. so that would be 30 hours a month. That's roughly $13/hr. Not too bad I'd say. But I'd ask for a little more. Maybe $450 and tell them you will do a little extra work for them.
Click to expand...

Haggling for an extra $50 and risk insulting the client? I think thats a bad tactic. If you want to shoot the price up at all, you increase by at least 50% to 100%. This doesn't insult them, but rather expresses to them that you feel your work is more valuable.
 
I would imagine they are fishing and have sent the same offer to other site owners and SEOs as well.
It's a common tactic to find an average price of what the should be paying.
There is no way I could give them an estimate unless I knew the demographics of their
customers.
I would also want to find out how much each new customer is worth to them, their average spend and how many of those become returning customers.
I would want to know what marketing methods they use at present and how they track their conversion rate from those methods.
You have to show them the value of your services.
There are a thousand other questions I would be asking them before I would
even consider presenting them with a price.
You should be qualifying them not the other way round. Some companies
are just not worth your time and effort for what they wish to pay.
Remember you are not selling them services, they are buying customers
and if position yourself as the authority on your services price will not be an issue.
 
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take it. cash is king. if they do see their sales rise after hiring u, u got them by the balls
 
UPDATE!

I told them that 32 hours of work would cost $1600, but that I would do it for $1200. This morning they offered $900/month for 3 months and then we could renegotiate after that. I'm VERY excited because I really wanted $1,000.

Oxonbeef is so right! I know this company's niche very well and when they asked me to simply blog for them for $150 a month, I knew that I could do much more for them.

And all the praise goes to Allah* (Arabic word that literally means THE GOD -- Arab Christians use the word Allah too)! :-)

Now, how do I write up this contract????? This is my first REAL seo/marketing client.
 
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congrats on the higher offer. hopefully after the three months you will be able to prove the value of your work and get even more.
 
SeoHoe..

My solid / based on experience (and believe me worthwhile) advise:

Take them to oDesk and DON'T deal with them on paper (AKA directly) unless you get paid 75% or more in advance.
Work on an hourly basis. This is also better for THEM as they will be invoiced for tax purposes what wouldn't happen with you probably.

They can't scam you on oDesk IF YOU WORK ON AN HOURLY BASIS, nor bail out without paying.

If you do this you can save the future (might be) "I got screwed" thread.


SEOHoe said:
UPDATE!

I told them that 32 hours of work would cost $1600, but that I would do it for $1200. This morning they offered $900/month for 3 months and then we could renegotiate after that. I'm VERY excited because I really wanted $1,000.

Oxonbeef is so right! I know this company's niche very well and when they asked me to simply blog for them for $150 a month, I knew that I could do much more for them.

And all the praise goes to Allah* (Arabic word that literally means THE GOD -- Arab Christians use the word Allah too)! :-)

Now, how do I write up this contract????? This is my first REAL seo/marketing client.
Click to expand...
 
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