SEO rate per hour

[findconstructionjobs]

How do you charge a client for SEO works per hour?

Directory Submission -
Article writing & Submitting -
Forum Posting -
Ad Posting -
Blogging -
Social Bookmarking -

If seo was done by an individual for a client, what is the rate per hour or monthly pay?

[kettlewell]

There are many different business models of charging clients for SEO - This Article over at SEOmoz was a great introduction to the topic, and does a much better job than I could formulate in a Forum post

SEOmoz | SEO Pricing & Costs - What Should You Charge / How Much Should You Pay? (http://www.seomoz.org/blog/seo-pricing-costs-what-should-you-charge-how-much-should-you-pay)

[findconstructionjobs]

That was a great detailed list which has a comparison study for seo rates. Thank you.

[innominds]

It depends upon the various factors.
You need to consider the present position of the website.
Is the website fully indexed?
If the site is new, then you need to start from the scratch and you may charge more.

[MayaLocke]

Good summary. I think it is more typical to pay monthly, with a certain number of months commitment.

[ogletreeseo]

I charge $60 an hour for everything. If I outsource something for real cheap I will charge them for an hour but put in 2 hours worth of work.

[williamc]

Unless the job only requires one or 2 hours, we always set up a custom campaign for each client based on their needs which has the charges detailed in it. This way they always know what the biling will be each and every month. When paying hourly, rates tend to get escalated by say working 40 minutes and charging an hour today, same thing tomorrow, etc. In the end, the client loses and you get a bad name.

[ogletreeseo]

It all depends on what you get for that hourly rate. $12 an hour might not be too bad for somebody to go in and right a bunch of titles for you and submit you to directories. If you want serious link building it is going to cost a lot more. I talked to a guy last night that charges $200 a link.

[williamc]

Ogletree: yes but that really is not 'seo' just a few minor parts of an seo campaign.

[ogletreeseo]

I agree will I was just trying to point out you get what you pay for.

[shakir]

How do you charge a client for SEO works per hour?

Directory Submission -
Article writing & Submitting -
Forum Posting -
Ad Posting -
Blogging -
Social Bookmarking -

If seo was done by an individual for a client, what is the rate per hour or monthly pay?
Difficult to say hrs based charging better charge by posting...
Directory Submission -.05$
Article writing & Submitting --.10$
Forum Posting - .10$
Ad Posting -.20$
Blogging -.50$
Social Bookmarking -.10$

just my thoughts

[Cigtina23]

^ just like to ask.. are those based per hour? If that so.. it was too low.. :confused:

[williamc]

^ just like to ask.. are those based per hour? If that so.. it was too low.. :confused:

Like Ogletree stated above: "You get what you pay for...."

[inertia]

rates tend to get escalated by say working 40 minutes and charging an hour today, same thing tomorrow, etc. In the end, the client loses and you get a bad name.I charge per hour but find it works the other way, i.e. ill quote for 10 hours a month but end up doing 12. It just always seems to happen like that and its largely unavoidable as clients contact me on an irregular basis with questions and ideas. I'm also making the transition to self employed so im doing a lot of work for practically nothing in an effort to build up a solid client list. Its damned hard work as im still doing the 9-5 so im putting in 12 hour days at the moment... but all will be worth it i'm sure
(will be when im in south america, sat in a beach bar with my laptop! :cool:)

I'm basically estimating my monthly fee on an "required hours per month" but what I'm actually doing is using my target hourly rate as an approx of a monthly retainer...

If I was running an agency id do it differently though. From experience (and you guys who run agencies might be able to chip in here), all clients can be put into 3 groups:



"The Tick-overs" - who just want a low level service which maintains their basic rankings/traffic and ensures someone is on hand to answer questions and problems that may come up.
"The Periodical-pests" - you don't hear from them for months but then they appear from nowhere, hassle you like mad before disappearing again (a lot of the time people like this are being hassled periodically from higher up the chain of command, so they pass this hassle on to you until it subsides, then they go back to playing spider solitaire until the cycle starts again).
"The Pro-active" - the ones who are on your case all the time! If these guys are paying a decent amount (and arent idiots) then theyre the best type of client because things get done. But! If theyre the type who ring you every day with questions such as "why arent we number one on Lycos" or "we cant get online" then theyre a pain in the ****

[sheena]

i heard to other seo expert they charge $10 per hour and sometimes they charge per link

[williamc]

i heard to other seo expert they charge $10 per hour and sometimes they charge per link

Bull. Those are outsourced link monkees, NOT Seo's. There is a whole WORLD of difference.

[joedavies1987]

I don't like charging per hour, or per month really, I like to analyse each job or 'problem' and come up with a price that is worth it for the customer and worth it for me.

I mean it could take me an hour to sort out all the on page stuff on a site, but it might make say $10,000 difference a month - like title tags on pages, an accidental noindex on a page, h1 tags, internal links, giving the site a real lift.

I wouldn't charge for half hours work. I'd charge the worth of that job to me and to them.

[full house]

some offer it for $ 3 per hour and some for $ 2. But I guess its not enough, it should at least $ 10 per hours.

[dburdon]

Working in London £125 ($200) per hour. Working from my office £35 ($50) per hour. The key is client payback. Hire an external SEO you can see the exact costs and compare them with a nominal or specific performance measure related to ROI, ROE or cost per sale, Cost per lead, cost per action etc. Hire an employee and you're paying for 6 weeks of holidays, 2 weeks sick leave, training time, maternity/paternity leave, office space, HR etc.

[victorsmith]

There are different rate for SEO,
I am charges per submission,...

[williamc]

There are different rate for SEO,
I am charges per submission,...

You have just described a link monkey, not an seo.

[sweetfranky]

I tend to charge based on work done rather than hourly rate. It gives me an incentive to finish the work faster and not waste time.

[mjtaylor]

I charge $599 to look at a small business site (and that includes analysis and recommendations - you can see exactly what that gets you here: Search Engine Placement - What You Get For Your Money (http://www.cyber-key.com/search_engine_placement.html)) and $95 hour ongoing SEO, copywriting and link building.

In certain cases, I will simply charge my hourly rate, but I usually want the retainer so that I can be clear on the site and what it needs.

[williamc]

MJ, Steve and I do the same thing. We charge $500 for an SEO assesment (http://www.seo-shop.com/seo-website-assessment.html) that gives them basically what they need to do. Most people who use that option will go for having us do it anyway, simply because we will get it done faster.

[inertia]

I charge a flat £20 per hour and estimate each jobs price by this benchmark. That's cheap I think, but it's early days and my freelancing is still in it's infancy. Over time I plan to creep that up...

[scott5430]

i prefer charging on a project or results basis. for my ideal clients i set up a monthly retainer, and then tell them what "work" and results they will be getting for their fees. i always try to focus the client on the results aspect

[deepsand]

I charge a flat £20 per hour and estimate each jobs price by this benchmark. That's cheap I think, but it's early days and my freelancing is still in it's infancy. Over time I plan to creep that up...
Without being familiar with the market where you are, or knowing yours costs and needs, it's impossible to know if you're charging too little or not.

Nonetheless, if the current rate works for you, it's much easier to start low, attract new clients, and then slowly raise your rate until you begin to meet resistance, than it is to start high and perhaps wait for the phone to ring.

[deepsand]

that's a lot of money for a seo.
What is a "lot of money?"

[inertia]

Without being familiar with the market where you are, or knowing yours costs and needs, it's impossible to know if you're charging too little or not.

Nonetheless, if the current rate works for you, it's much easier to start low, attract new clients, and then slowly raise your rate until you begin to meet resistance, than it is to start high and perhaps wait for the phone to ring.

My thoughts exactly!

[deepsand]

It's been said that great minds think alike. ;)

[babloodmax]

How to choose hours in seo work.. related...??? meet again...

[williamc]

deepsand, and then you have babloodmax...

[Crystonemedia]

$125.00 per hour, just ask your tech to determine how long it will to complete each task

[deepsand]

$125.00 per hour, just ask your tech to determine how long it will to complete each task
Does this mean that you're just passing the work off to someone else, that your "tech" is the real SEO? :confused:

[inertia]

$125.00 per hour, just ask your tech to determine how long it will to complete each task

Damn it I'm cheap!

*generic whistles in corner while looking guilty*

[deepsand]

That's 'cause you're not a "tech!" ;)

[inertia]

That's 'cause you're not a "tech!" :wink:

Damn! Thats where I've been going wrong! So do we actually have to make changes to websites as well?!

[deepsand]

Nah; just re-brand yourself like so many others do! :lol:

[seoconsult1]

Directory Submission - $4
Article writing & Submitting - $6
Forum Posting - $8
Ad Posting - $10
Blogging - $15
Social Bookmarking - $15

[williamc]

I have a feeling some in this thread think that recips are awesome and that page load speed is a ranking factor.

[crystalgiftaward]

i have charged for seo $250

[marky101]

Per hour sometimes becomes too much for the client to handle. I believe it is better to assess the work and then implement a strategy based on that. Most of the time, I go with a monthly rate

[deepsand]

That does, of course, presume the ability to estimate the amount of work to be done, and the time to complete such, with a high degree of certainty, along with the assumption that nothing will change and/or go wrong.

[saymon]

generally i charge 10$/hr for the above.i don't think thats too high.by the way are u a buyer of any freelancing sites?

[williamc]

I have a guy offer me one hundred directory submissions and 100 article submissions 100 forum postings , for about $130. Is that a good deal?

If you want your link profile to look like total shite from all that spam.

[simonm]

Reading the above I seem to be about right for UK rates at £50 per hour. What I feel is missing in the comments above is any reference to regular reporting to the client during the project. I note that others eg. mjtaylor do however provide a paid initial summary / review which includes "this is what I am going to do"

In doing SEO it also helps to have a strong project management or marketing background. The comments above have already differentiated between people who simply build links and those who do SEO.

I would also like to suggest an alternative approach which I am trying with two companies, one a startup, one with no effective proactive web presence. With the latter, unwilling to invest in a large project, I have created a new company with the owner specifically to promote his services online. We own the company jointly, he provides content, I do web and seo development. A dedicated 0845 number, trust etc. The company gets a 10% commission on all work generated during the 1st year following a web referral. Basically money where my mouth is.

With the former, I have got so involved in the company that I am now a direct investor and am exchanging work time - now developing client management software - for shares.

There are two things I would recommend to anybody offering SEO, (1) if you can't do it for your own site, how can you do it for somebody else. (2) Never compete against yourself, if you are promoting widgets for one client, don't promote widgets for anybody else.

Slightly missing the original point of the topic but to my mind fits in with what to charge.

[joelietz]

I think it's typical to pay by the hour or even as a package deal, depending on what you are having done. With some research though you can boost the ranking of your website but of course it will take some time and effort on your part.



Good summary. I think it is more typical to pay monthly, with a certain number of months commitment.

[sparkposts]

I would charge per output rather than per hour. Example, I charge per article that I write instead of the number of hours it takes me to write that article. I think this is a more fair set up for both client and provider.

[Jectillplum]

I think 15$ to 20$ per hour is reasonable rate For SEO.

[williamc]

I think 15$ to 20$ per hour is reasonable rate For SEO.

And what you will get is a bottom of the barrel link monkey.

[Little Sister]

There are many different business models of charging clients for SEO - This Article over at SEOmoz was a great introduction to the topic, and does a much better job than I could formulate in a Forum post


seomoz.org/blog/seo-pricing-costs-what-should-you-charge-how-much-should-you-pay

I read this article a few days ago and was surprised at the prices SEOs charge. I'm beginning to this I am under-paying myself. Thank you for this link.
glgl

[coyogi]

Why not charge customers a flat rate of whatever to rank him on the first page. I have done this in the past and I know this model is more assuring for the customers.

[Mike22]

Why not charge customers a flat rate of whatever to rank him on the first page. I have done this in the past and I know this model is more assuring for the customers.

Rank them on the first page for what query?

One of the best question I've seen in an SEO forum (cant remember where now) for an SEO interview was "can you assure first page" or "can you assure the number one position"

If they confidently say "yes", they're taken out the back and behead.. drastic, nah... It's just survival of the fittest (people with dumb ass answers get it in the neck)

This isn't always something you can assure. And dang! you don't want to do a whole load of work its not realistically possible to get there. If its a standard flat rate for a position, then you might fall into this trap.

If you were trying to get a customer to number one for "funky green bananas with whipped cream" this would be a little easier than "SEO Forum"

Personally, I'm not in SEOer for business (no doubt it shows)... I'm actually not into any of my web developing for business (we get 20 lashes at my company for moonlighting), I just try to create things that are useful

Money, Meh... I settle for those rather annoying virtual hugs these days.

[Webnauts]

Some companies offer guaranteed seo services, others do it hourly like you're talking about. It's not really fair to charge hourly, but instead by result. The college kid out of school can charge hourly, a professional seo company will work up a total package for their seo services.
SEO is not a college. And customers are not college students. If a customer cannot afford a package and just needs some advice, there is no reason to not provide that.