Status
Not open for further replies.

byronyasgur

New Member
Hi. This is a question about SEO business, if it's in the wrong section or inappropriate in any way then apologies.

I am a web developer based in Kilkenny. I am usually able to handle my own SEO because most of my clients are simply interested in competing on a local level; so an hour or two of simple SEO work is usually all that's required to get them roughly where they want to be. However I've been thinking lately about connecting with an SEO specialist for occasions where a client wants to compete on a national or international level or in a competitive or multiple areas because I'm a sole operator and I dont really have the time to keep up with SEO to that degree, plus I have enough work with regular design and development. My questions are:

  1. Is this typical or am I the only freelancer thinking this way.
  2. What is the best way to go about vetting people. I am sure there must be some to avoid.
  3. What method of charge do SEO specialists typically use - i'm wondering is is usually a fixed price contract, monthly charge, per hour rate and if it varies from client to client then what are the general criteria involved in determining this.
  4. Is there a big price difference between companies. I read somewhere that SEO moz used to charge a minimum of 100k a month and obviously at the other end of the scale I myself can do basic SEO and obviously wouldn't charge anywhere near that, so it seems like a wide scope and I am wondering how to know what sort of price group to aim for. I know this must vary from client to client too, but none of my clients are really competing on an international level, and only a couple are particularly worried about national level ..... though that may be changing a bit this year, which is why I'm investigating this.
  5. Being a web developer I'm more interested in recommending a company to my clients who are not focusing on taking on the actual web design/development because obviously ideally I don't want to loose my clients if i can help it, though I know there's a large overlap between seo and development .... so Is all this a reasonable expectation or not ?
PS. SEO specialists reading this feel free to PM me. Please include some detail about pricing and clients.
 

link8r

New Member
Really good question and I hope my experiences are helpful

I am a web developer based in Kilkenny. I am usually able to handle my own SEO because most of my clients are simply interested in competing on a local level; so an hour or two of simple SEO work is usually all that's required to get them roughly where they want to be. However I've been thinking lately about connecting with an SEO specialist for occasions where a client wants to compete on a national or international level or in a competitive or multiple areas because I'm a sole operator and I dont really have the time to keep up with SEO to that degree, plus I have enough work with regular design and development.

This type of thinking and subsequent arrangement happens up and down the country and has been for the past decade. It makes a lot of sense. Ranking in increasingly complex markets takes more time and specialism. In our case, we were a Web Developer who re-specialised as an SEO/SEM Agency. Or, better, we cut off the web services part of the company. So we understand web development, design and SEO but we focus on where that matters to SEO. And that adds a lot of value to web designers - we're non-competitive and we're also good at what we do.


My questions are:
  1. Is this typical or am I the only freelancer thinking this way.
  2. What is the best way to go about vetting people. I am sure there must be some to avoid.
  3. What method of charge do SEO specialists typically use - i'm wondering is is usually a fixed price contract, monthly charge, per hour rate and if it varies from client to client then what are the general criteria involved in determining this.
  4. Is there a big price difference between companies. I read somewhere that SEO moz used to charge a minimum of 100k a month and obviously at the other end of the scale I myself can do basic SEO and obviously wouldn't charge anywhere near that, so it seems like a wide scope and I am wondering how to know what sort of price group to aim for. I know this must vary from client to client too, but none of my clients are really competing on an international level, and only a couple are particularly worried about national level ..... though that may be changing a bit this year, which is why I'm investigating this.
  5. Being a web developer I'm more interested in recommending a company to my clients who are not focusing on taking on the actual web design/development because obviously ideally I don't want to loose my clients if i can help it, though I know there's a large overlap between seo and development .... so Is all this a reasonable expectation or not ?

1. Quite common - we've been getting calls like this for nearly 10 years now
2. You have to build a relationship with the SEO - that suits both of you. For example, We'd never be behind the scenes but then, that might suit some SEO's down to the ground
The key is to remember however you charged for it before may have been the right/wrong way and the SEO will [should] have their own. Don't be surprised if that's more than the cost of developing the site (in some cases)
3. I'm guessing that varies widely but we've always had a 12 month contract with monthly payments and a setup fee for new clients
4. Yes there are. There are some agencies that have a minimum hourly rate PLUS a minimum number of hours. Its really dependent on the client, their target and the amount of work required. If all 3 parties try to pretend that this isn't a time based service then you're set for failure
5. Yes, I think that is. I don't think the same skill sets suit 1 individual. For example, I'm colour blind and never enjoyed the graphic design element of website production as much as I do the Analytics, Content and Creativity that I build into SEO.

Hope that helps.
 

byronyasgur

New Member
Thanks, that was very helpful. If you care to PM me your details if you're taking on work at the moment then do feel free ( though I cant promise anything either ) .
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top