How much should i charge?

...for website optimisation, SEO, log analysis....

[followgreg]

Hi all :)

I recently got a contact with some medium size company, and i dunno what i should charge them.

I already gave them valuable advises ("almost" complete SEO report, PPC ...) and now they are starting to understand how important where those advises.
They want me to analyse their traffic from PPC campaign to suggest website improvements. They receive about 10,000 visitors/day, i'll get the log files in a few hours.
This company is located in US, me too since a few mounths, i used to work in europe before and im still working from the distance but i guess that the pricing is slithly different.

Could you guys give me some advise about that?

Thx :P

[SEOMike]

Depends on how good you are, and how well you can sell your services. Your prices would be different if you are new to the game than someone who has been in it for a number a years.

It's really hard to give you an exact answer without examining your proposal. I split mine up into 5 categories:
1. Site Optimization
2. Specifically targeted content
3. Ongoing maintenance of the site (recurring monthly fee)
4. Link building / optimizing (recurring monthly fee)
5. misc.

I charge according to how in depth I will have to go to optimize, how competitive the niche is, how much research is needed, how big the site is, how much content I'll have to write / optimize, how much time they need spent for ongoing maint. and link building, and then misc accounts for other charges (editing pictures, changing link structure, etc.)

So, my only solid advice on what to charge, is to charge what you think your time is worth.

[followgreg]

Thx SEOMike, i appreciate the answer.
I have a pretty good experience in IT consulting, but not only in this area. I was not working as independant until a few months ago, my company was charging their clients about $800/day for my advises.

I think it may be a bit too much for now since i don't have the same infrastructure but i know also that i should not ask for too little or they won't take me seriously.

Is there some place online where i could find some pricing range?

Thx.

[edit_g]

Is there some place online where i could find some pricing range?

Whenever I have questions as to what to charge for something I check out my competitors' sites.

[netguy]

followgreg, obviously it depends on the complexity of the project, but I would say you have already gone a long way with this client from a credibility standpoint.

As far as consulting rates - depending on how 'hungry' they are - I have seen good, independent consultants range in price from $25 to $60 or more an hour. Assuming your last firm was charging $800 a day (US) for your services, I wouldn't think it would be out of line to charge in the $60/hr range - particularly on those portions of the project that require extensive knowledge and experience.

If the project ends up being less SEO/SEM/PPC management - and more of the mundane product page coding, you will probably want to offer those services for much less.

Steve

[followgreg]

Thanks a lot guy, you're being very helpful :)
As you know it is a bit more difficult to set up your own business than working for others.
As edit_g said, i checked my competitors' pricing but i needed some confirmation perheaps from some of you that are in this business also, in an open conversation.
To Netguy: this project is much more about SEO/PPC/Web analitics, does not involve coding....that is better for me, fits better my skills. But later i will probably need to involve a real coder for some changes in the website structure itself...sucks a little from the SEO point of view:P