Monthly Fees for Promotion

I feel I may be getting a raw deal here

[Total Paranoia]

Any SEO worth their salt knows that in any competitive area SEO is an ongoing process.

I recently had an existing client approach me that offered $1600 per month if I can deliver an additional 150'000 hits per month to his company website through SEO. The aim is to quadruple traffic from the current 50'000 per month.

This is in a competitive but high traffic area and only the top websites in this field could dream of seeing traffic to this extent - it is possible but is no easy feat.

Traffic to sales conversions are probably as low as 2% out of season and as high as 4% around Xmas time. Profit is low in this industry with a markup as low as 3% on some products and 30% on others so a high volume of sales is required for survival.

My question is, is this worth my time? $19'000 over year for potentially multiplying their amount of business 3-4 times over.

We go back a long way but I feel that this client is taking advantage by expecting too much for little payment. I am confident that I can get the results but feel a little sad that this company only feels that this is worth $19'000 per annum.

How do I calculate what the real cost should be?

Is the client being fair or am I expecting too much?

[topr8]

>>>How do I calculate what the real cost should be?

(how much time it will take X what you think you are worth per hour)
+ other expenses involved.

seriously its the only way. but you must consider if you trust them not to dump you, and also what happens after a year. i think some kind of set up cost plus a monthly mainenance fee is good.

[Total Paranoia]

That is just it though - estimating the time spent to improve the websites performance is virtually impossible on a project like this.

[topr8]

thats true because ultimately you could spend all day every day doing it, i think you should set aside say 1 day a week or 20 hours or whatever you decide and work within that timeframe and do what you can.

imo, you are somewhat foolhardy agreeing to triple/quadruple their traffic with natural serps, you shouldn't give a guarantee like that because its impossible to keep (without cheating), for a start you have no control over the opposition, they might start cranking up their efforts too.

[Leosghost]

You could always calculate the increased revenue they will get if you know their conversion rate and try for a piece via a percentage deal or settle somewhere in the middle ..

[Shane]

Don't do an "all or nothing" deal. Put it on a sliding scale so you will at least see some return for the effort.

..... Shane

[percentages]

Total Paranoia, That is a tad over 1 cent per visitor.

Help me out guys.....doesn't anyone here know where they can buy targeted traffic for 1 cent per visitor? Okay, so none of you do, and therefore this deal stinks.

I wouldn't even entertain a conversation with this joker client for less than $16K per month, and then I would be looking for a Win-Win deal at $30+K per month.

The client is cheap, they are trying to take advantage of you, don't let them!

My 2 cents worth....which is more than they are offering you!