Look what people are charging for basic Google listings

Agreed, those prices do look ridiculous. Ridiculously cheap that is. I would wager he/she is not providing much of an SEO service at that price.

I think if you focus on delivering value to the client and helping them bring in leads and sales, they will be happy to pay whatever you charge.

Anyone that does a Places listing in 5 minutes is not doing it right and in that case it's not worth much. Anyone that thinks it's just a 5 minute form fill job doesn't quite get what's involved I don't think. I WISH it were that easy!

To do a professional optimization job IMO takes hours and hours, depending on the situation.

I have 3 hours invested with each client, doing research, documentation and fine tuning before I even touch their Place page. Then entering all the data, images, video and making tweaks takes me at least an hour because I do a lot of extra things most people don't do. Oh and then too there is rank checking and loading all the client data and keywords into the software. I do that before and after optimizing and send the client reports. That all takes a lot of time too.

Then after that there are often times duplicate problems which can take hours, Google bugs and all types of other things can crop up and eat more hours. Then if you are doing full service there are citations to build and teaching the client how to build up reviews (honestly) and giving them all the tools that make getting reviews easier.

I charge $1,800 for Places Optimization and 200 per duplicate on top and some of my clients have 8 dupes. To do it right and cover all the bases that need to be covered takes a lot of time! Plus I do a lot of extras for my clients that most people don't do or don't even know about. So my fees are on the very high end, yet I stay busy, usually with a waiting list at that price. Never prospect, never close anyone, never even follow up to try to get the sale. I just do a free consult after doing lots of research on their case. Present where they're at and what needs to be done to get them where they want to be. And if it makes sense to them we move forward. No pressure whatsoever.

So I echo some of the comments above about perceived value and charging high as long as you can deliver and make sure to go the extra mile for clients. If they feel your service is worth it and you have lots of happy customers singing your praises and basically pre-selling your service for you, then you can charge what you are worth. And then too, like J above me said, prospects sort of qualify themselves and you end up only working with customers that can afford to pay, appreciate the service and send you referrals.

Now I don't know what that company does. There are def companies that just pay a data entry person to do a quick form fill, take the money and run. If they are doing fake reviews then that tells me they probably are just doing a quick hit and run job and likely even breaking other Places rules. But I don't know for sure.

So there are varying levels of service and quality with Google Places to take into account too. Just like if you look at SEO pricing, there are low end get rich quick guys pretending they know what they are doing and selling with a lot of hype and a dishonest guarantee. From there prices cover the gamut going up all the way up to very high end corporate, big brand agencies that do SEO and charge a ton more. So in any industry prices vary a lot. You usually get what you pay for but not always. :rolleyes:

These are two separate issues.

If they actually are madeup reviews, then the first is illegal (at least in the US) and the second is completely a matter of perception.

Marcia Yudkin

I personally dont see how a GP Listing with a whopping 2 fake reviews is going to return investment on $575.00 USD, as I communicate with Business's the one thing I know that makes them bite is explaining the ROI Vs. Expense, Wow though, If I was a Biz owner, I would be a little more into knowing what I just spent some $$$ on especially when I see the cheesy GP Listing, it could come back to bite him in the BUTT! Ugly Greed, or Savy Sails pitch..... Hmmmmm.... :confused:

Shoppers shop for Value first. Price is not even second for most.

However, a shopper's idea of Value is partly created and shaped by the Price.

A golfer has a pretty good idea what a high-quality titanium driver goes for. So, if you offer your new model of hi-tech driver for $25 bucks... you have a big problem. Same for a price of $5000. Real players won't even look at cheap-ass clubs, and you label yourself a fraud at five grand.

Add all the factors for weighing value, such as the seller's credibility and we have Perceived Value

But there's the rub with SEO services to local businesses, isn't it?

Market prices have not been established to guide a shoppers perception of true Value. They simply have no guideposts.

Some thoughts in a prospects mind might be like this...

Ambulance-chasing attorney: " I don't know how this stuff really works, but if he charges that much, and he has all these clients, he must be the best. $1995 a month is nothing if I get the right client"

HandyMan with a rusty pickup: "Holy Crap, no way a 5 page website could be worth $395, I'll get my cousin to do it."

Qualifying Prospects

I'm a big fan of letting my suspects and prospects qualify themselves... without my intervention. Less work and better pitches.

Price is often the best qualifier, leading to the best customers.