Forum Moderators: LifeinAsia
Should I go by hours, or project (it's possible there may be many from one person)?
I'm guessing this project will take me about 120 hours to complete. Do I shoot high or just give a flat no-budge rate?
Should I include a maintenance plan with or without the hours? Should I give an option?
Any help would be appreciated!
A search of our site turns up a few threads about SEO rates [google.com]
Should I include a maintenance plan with or without the hours? Should I give an option?
What if, say for example, the hourly rate is $100 an hour (not realistic at all in today's market, but for the sake of illustration). If there are two hours a month agreed upon, or $200 a month agreed upon, and the client takes up that time with email questions, what if there's work on site pages needed in addition?
If the fact that the $200 amount or 2 hours (both hypothetical) is eaten up by client questions, and researching and/or emailing responses, does that eliminate doing any "work" on the site pages that need it?
Keep track of how many hours it takes to accomplish a certain task and then multiply that by what you think you're worth and adjust the later as your skills increase over the years. If you haven't built a website yet offer to build a simple one for free for a non-profit org and keep track of your time. Your most precious asset will be your portfolio and satisfied customers.
PS. another factor is your overhead--someone working from home who writes code by hand can charge a lot less than someone who has an office and has to update WYSIWYG programs every year.
[edited by: Lorel at 12:44 am (utc) on Dec. 5, 2008]
I don't think there is a set price for web designing.
Sites can be SEO'd without touching the site design.
Bill, I would be interested in hearing how you can SEO a site without touching the design.
I would be interested in hearing how you can SEO a site without touching the design.
We recently went through a large SEO tender process and had most of the largest SEO companies in the UK in to pitch, not one of them would touch our site to make any changes as it opens them up to too much liability if something were to go wrong.
We were paying the SEO for their expertise, it is up to our own web design and marketing teams to get the recommended changes implemented, with advice and guidance from the SEO.
However when I worked with sme's and start ups the expectation was that we would do the changes as they didn't have available resource, so the choice of whether or not to include site changes in your service really depends on your level of expertise and the sort of clients you are working with.
Very precisely-worded questions and answers will increase the usefulness of this exchange. :)
As they say in debate, "Define your terms."
Jim
We were paying the SEO for their expertise, it is up to our own web design and marketing teams to get the recommended changes implemented, with advice and guidance from the SEO.
I try to do it this way as well, but as you pointed out it tends to only work with the larger clients. The small and even mediums sized businesses generally don't want to hire an expert and then hire a developer to implement. In my experience they want a one stop shop.
We're drawing some lines here between consulting SEOs who provide only reports and recommendations and hands-on SEOs who will edit the pages (given a signed liability waiver, of course)
I agree we are drawing a line, but while I am no lawyer I do know that just providing expertise vs. hands on service, even with a waiver, isn't a get out of jail free card. There are TONS of lawsuits against consultants, accountants, and other professional service providers that provided just expertise. Most high end consultants I know carry E&O (Errors and Ommissions) insurance just for this reason. If they give advice and the client implements it, even with their own team, and it goes sour they can and probably will sue the provider of said expertise.
While I have not looked at law suits regarding SEO providers I can't believe they would be exempt from a law suit simply by signing having a waiver and never physically touching the site.
