Where to start with pricing and how to present what you will be doing to clients
-
More and more of my clients are asking me to apply my SEO knowledge to their websites now but I'm unsure of how to price and structure it for them.
I know what to do and how to do it, but I just can't decide on the best way to set out a plan for the clients.
Should I just bill them by the hours that I do or is it best to create phases ie - Phase 1: Competitor analysis and on-site optimisation. Phase 2: Link building and content writing etc..
I always feel that client wants to know what they are getting for their money but don't know how to quantify what I do.
Ideally I'd like to offer my services in phases but not sure how to price and what to include in that phase.
Phase 1 - £xx, Phase 2 - £xx etc..
Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should be doing? I've looked through loads of the blog articles and questions and I can find checklists to get organised, but its mainly just how to price for the jobs I'm stuck with.
-
**"JavaScript / CSS / Flash **__optimisation" point is an interesting one. What would you be doing here? Is this to speed up the site load times or to correct things that make for a bad user experience within their site?
-
Ha.... that's better. Many thanks for your input David.
-
Whoops, I should have taken out:
- Title tag optimization
- Meta description optimization
- Alt attribute optimization
- Header tag optimization (H1, H2, H3)
That is phase 2.
-
All this isn the first phase? Would you not break some of this up to be applied into the second phase? Unless of course the price reflects what is being done I guess.
-
Yup. Specifically,
- Registration with search engine's webmaster tools
- Registration with analytics
- Visitor review if analytics are available
- Google webmaster tools error report repair
- General content review
- Robots.txt review
- User experience review
- Canonicalization review
- Server response code review
- XML sitemap submission
- HTML sitemap optimization
- Footer optimization
- Main navigation menu optimization
- Duplicate content issues
- Crawl errors
- JavaScript / CSS / Flash optimization
- Internal linking review
- Optimization of search verticals (image search / news search / video search / etc.)
- Title tag optimization
- Meta description optimization
- Alt attribute optimization
- Header tag optimization (H1, H2, H3)
- Search engine friendly URL optimization
-
Thats great thanks David. WHat would you include in your Comprehensive Site Analysis? Something similar to Danny Dovers?
-
Phases work or you could sell things as packages. For example,
Keyword & Competitor Research - Price
Comprehensive Site Analysis - Price50 pages of on-site optimization - Price
1 Premium Blog Article (700+ words) - higher price
1 Standard Blog Article (>500 words) - lower price
I usually estimate about an hour a page for on-site optimization. The comprehensive site analysis is based on how big the site is. Keyword & Competitor research is also based on how big the site is - I usually do about 20 hours though.
As for backlinking & social media - I never quote these up front. WAY too complicated and it requires that your client REALLY trusts you because hourly is really the only way to price this. Pricing per link will come back and bite you in the rear... trust me.
-
Thanks Guillermo, I'm actually creating my task sheet as we speak so I can then break it down into stages. I guess the main tasks for maintenance would be link building and content writing.
I'll create a post with my version when its done. Thanks again.
Alex
-
Alex,
I am definitely not a fan of charging by the hour and instead outline from the beginning what a person will get for a set price. Since SEO is an ongoing effort, the cost is recurring on a monthly basis with tasks broken down into the appropriate phases as you have described. The challenge is pricing this recurring cost and managing the expectations of the client upfront. I've never had a problem with clients who understand the value of my services at the start and also had the proper expectations. As for organizing yourself with the phases, I would highly suggest writing down everything you could possibly do for a client from A-Z, and really taking the time to examine the tasks and break them up into phases accordingly. Hope this helps!
-
So would you price for the full job or break it down into Phases? What would you include in your task list first?
Phase 1:
Competitor Analysis
Keyword Research
Check site for errors
Title Tags
H1's
Robot.txt
CanonicalizationPhase 2:
Content writing
Link building
Article submission
Social MediaPhase 3:
Maintenance ??
I'd be interested to know how other people set out their job tasks for seo on a clients project.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Tips for interview with large electronics company / focus on brand magazine?
Hi all, I have a second round of an interview on Tuesday for a large / internationally well known electronics & household appliances company. They are producing an online brand magazine (target group: millennials) with tips on how to use their products, among other things (e.g., how tech makes life easier). I'm not new to writing / content/copy writing, but new to SEO in the grand scheme of things - I have experience in writing blog posts, social media posts, and articles with an SEO focus, and I'm taking a course currently. But the scale on which this would be SEO focused writing is something I don't have direct experience in. The person I interviewed with is the person I'd be working with, and we got along very well - the second interview is with them and their higher up, who I need to convince. However, they did originally want someone SEO focused, so the interviewer asked me to prepare to talk about a variety of things to see my knowledge / what I could research. They include the brand magazine, using SEO with their brand / brand-focused SEO, how the brand can support their magazine, and keeping the SEO organic so the traffic goes there naturally - there isn't a plan to market the magazine on social media. Do you have any tips or resources for this so I can read / watch / learn and speak intelligently on this topic? I have a trial of Moz's pro search bar - anything there that could give me advice on tips to give them? Thanks in advance!
Jobs and Opportunities | | bernrc0 -
Help with Case study for an interview
I recently appeared for an interview and have been asked to work on 2 case study related to Paid Advertising. I have created the strategy document for Organic and Email Marketing, I need help with paid advertising. CASE STUDY 1 The Challenge Client is a newbie (Sam’s Pizza) in online pizza delivery (veg & non-veg) services in the country. Online pizza delivery is a competitive marketplace, so the client needs to expand its marketing efforts to be among the top. The client decides to try Google AdWords to expand business. Challenge is to gain qualified traffic and to convert visitors to sales. Also, the Client is looking to make their business more efficient by using the Internet to allow customers to order food. Client needs to present its service only to certain cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai), as he isn’t providing delivery service in the whole country. The pizzas are priced competitively at 10% (avg) lower than the top players. The client chooses to allot a test budget of Rs 2,00,000 (3000$ approx) for the initial phase. You own the campaign, How would you take this forward?
Jobs and Opportunities | | jankit19810 -
Are you looking for an SEO job? National Pen (Pens.com) is hiring!
Hi all, We have an opening for a Senior SEO Associate. Would love to hire someone in the Moz Community. Here are the details: Sr SEO Associate https://g.co/kgs/Ucwzp7 Cheers, Dana
Jobs and Opportunities | | danatanseo0 -
Taking advantage of a radio interview
Hi, My colleague is doing a series of radio interviews with the BBC (to be played everyday for a week and can be downloaded for a Month from the BBC website) about our business and our trade in general, but with it being the BBC we can't have any links, tweets, FB, etc links. However I don't want to miss an opportunity to try and generate some 'juice'. We can have a link to the download but anyone else have any suggestions? It is local but it is the BBC. Thanks in advance, Paul.
Jobs and Opportunities | | archdecor0 -
Seeking Director, SEO - San Francisco
http://www.minted.com/jobs/list?jvi=otVw0fwE,Job Reporting to the VP Marketing, the Director of SEO is responsible for driving the company’s search engine optimization strategy and practice. You will develop creative strategies that increase Minted’s traffic and revenue from organic search. We’re seeking a creative, dynamic, and detail-obsessed SEO expert. You will lead a team of scrappy SEOs, formulate and drive our on-site and off-site SEO strategy, and act as the chief SEO advocate and explainer inside the company, educating engineers, PMs, designers, and marketers, alike in order to make Minted a world-class SEO company. You will build Minted’s SEO strategy across our burgeoning set of new ecommerce verticals, product categories, proprietary content, and user community. About the Company: Minted is a design marketplace connecting consumers with the world’s best artists to create something one-of-a-kind. Combining community with commerce, Minted was founded by a successful serial entrepreneur and has been featured on the Today Show, Wall Street Journal, InStyle, Real Simple, Martha Stewart Weddings, Daily Candy, TechCrunch, and many other national media outlets. We come from Google, Amazon, Microsoft, eBay, Yahoo, Goldman Sachs and numerous disruptive startups. This is a great opportunity to learn from a stellar executive team and work on a world-changing product, all supported by a proven business model. Responsibilities: Formulate creative on-site and off-site strategies that build sustainable, scalable, white hat competitive advantages for Minted in SEO Bring industry best practices into the organization by keeping abreast of the latest ideas in SEO and translating them into internal processes and strategies Act as the chief SEO evangelist inside the company, creating internal training programs and processes that ensure that good SEO decisions are made throughout the organization Lead an SEO team that serves Minted’s multi-vertical businesses, helping each of your team members adapt your strategy to the needs of their particular category Design processes and train your team to take on SEO modeling, forecasting, analytics, research, site optimization, and reporting practices Own and manage traffic and revenue goals from organic search for the company as a whole and for each of our major businesses Skills and Experience: Bachelor’s degree with a high GPA 8+ years of online marketing and/or technical experience 5+ years of SEO experience required, SEO experience within ecommerce is a plus Extremely strong technical understanding of SEO, including relevant topics in website architecture, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, XML Knowledge of SQL is a plus Very strong analytical skills, including building complex Excel models Clear verbal and written communicator People management experience is a plus Teaching, coaching, or training experience is a plus http://www.minted.com/jobs/list?jvi=otVw0fwE,Job
Jobs and Opportunities | | minted0 -
Should I accept a lower role than what I applied for?
Hello everyone, I have a small quick question... I recently applied for a role in a digital agency. They got back to me offering a lower role. My question is whether I should accept it or politely decline? Also... should I ask the interviewer for the reason? I would appreciate your opinions. Regards, Talha
Jobs and Opportunities | | MTalhaImtiaz0 -
Potential new clients - any tips to enter well armed?
Hi, What are the steps people follow when arranging a meeting with a new client? I've got two meetings next week, and want to arm myself. All previous SEO work I've had so far has just landed on my desk with no need to pitch for it. Whilst I'm no stranger to selling, what steps do other people go through when visiting a potential client? I'd hate to go in after some other SEO company has really pitched well and find myself looking stupid? I obviously have a subscription here, but are there other tools people would recommend? Whilst this may be good for discussion, I'd appreciate any tips. Thanks in advance,
Jobs and Opportunities | | Gordon_Hall0 -
Keyword Research: How do I conduct my first client interview?
I have a fairly good understanding of my client's project and his business. I am now about to begin keyword research for the first time. My questions are - What kind of expectations should I set for giving him results 3 months down the line? - What kind of Questions should I ask? - He has given me a list of keywords he wants to target. But these are very difficult to compete for. How do I convince him that he will still get traffic for his pages? Would love to hear about how professionals in this community go about taking on this challenge.
Jobs and Opportunities | | amit20760