SEM Marketing Price Quote

Need opinions please.

[WebOne]

Hello,
I have a 20 page database web site almost complete and the designer's marketing dept. has quoted me the following SEO package. I'd like to know if this seems to be a resonable price -

$1,000 per month.

- Meta Tag Programming
- Monthly manual SE submissions
- 25 Inbound Links
- 4 satellite sites w/optimized domain + hosting
- 15 doorway pages.

I will do my own PPC using Wordtracker.

Seem fair? How can I tell if they will do everything as promised. I was thinking perhaps do for one year while I learn SEO. I am not going to pay someone $100,000 over a ten year period..

No competitors quotes please..

Thank You

WebOne

[The Contractor]

Meta Tag Programming - meta tags need done once correctly and maybe adjust one more time unless the content of the page changes

Monthly manual SE submissions - may have to submit once to some engines, but most never do as your site will be crawled from other links

25 Inbound Links - is this per month?

4 satellite sites w/optimized domain + hosting - dumb IMHO

15 doorway pages - dumb IMHO unless you don't plan on keeping your domain/site for long term purposes.

Judge for yourself, but a 20 page site should not have to spend $1k monthly in my opinion for the services listed above. Too much of the above depends on the quality of the work (like getting links and page optimization). Anyone that states they will resubmit your site monthly to search engines....I would turn and run.
It shows they don't know what they are talking about or trying to pull the wool over unsuspecting people who don't know any better.

[WebOne]

Do you think that if I spent $1200- $1500 per month on PPC I may achieve just as good results?

Thanks

[abbeyvet]

Do you think that if I spent $1200- $1500 per month on PPC I may achieve just as good results?

With a well set-up campaign and a site that can convert, almost certainly way better.

If I was looking at spending money for outside advice in this sort of scenario I would be looking at getting expert advice on setting up the PPC ad campaign and on making sure I have good selling pages.

[sem4u]

The whole quote sounds a bit sketchy and risky to me. I would get some more quotes from SEOs who know what they are talking about, and then compare them with the one you have.

You could put the money into PPC, but you would have to learn how to use the PPC engines as well.

[WebOne]

Thanks for your help. But specifically what is good selling pages? Is Wordtracker enough to launch a good PPC campaign?

Thanks

[abbeyvet]

By a good selling page I mean one that converts - there is no point in driving traffic to your site from any source if people do not buy when they get there.

I cannot count the number of times I have been searching for something I wanted to buy, clicked an ad and ended up on a page that either didn't sell me on what they had, made it hard for me to buy or made it hard for me even to find out how to buy. Or all three.

They were wasting money on PPC as they were not looking at how to convert those who clicked their ads.

Read a bit about copy-writing and usability for more on all this.

As for that site being all you need for a PPC campaign - no, all that does is get you a list of keywords.

You need to really understand how the various programmes work, how to set a good bid price for your ads in each of them, how to write ad copy that encourages potential customers while putting off idle browsers, how to target different markets, how to track conversions and ROI, and a myriad of other things. Reading in the forums on both adwords and adsense and others here will help a LOT.

It is incredibly easy to burn through money and get a lousy return on a badly thought out PPC ad campaign. It is also common.

[WebOne]

Thanks to all of you. Your knowledge and professionalism is far superior to any forum I've ever known. Not to mention your sharp eye for spotting beginners like me. :)

Thanks
WebOne

[gamb]

"Do you think that if I spent $1200- $1500 per month on PPC I may achieve just as good results"

I'd go the opposite way. With SEO, you can get the work done and drop the firm and hopefully let your ranking ride. With PPC, you always have to buy traffic....

I SEO'd my site very well 3 years ago and spend maybe 5 hours a month on it now. Thank God I'm not using PPC.

[DavidDeprice]

The only way you should agree to pay $1000 a month would be if this was a risk free offer. That is you would get X unique visitors a day first and then cut them a check. My guess is that somebody spotted a newbie with money and tries to take advantage of you. if you are going to spend 1000 bucks a month on PPC, invest 50 bucks in ebook by Perry Marshall or get a mentor who would actually expain you how to invest wisely in PPC. For instance, as a rule, you should almost never be the highest bidder, because highest ROI as a rule are for the third spot (unless the bids are low or your margin in over 300%).