How much would you charge?

Nobody has any input at all??

Depends on how competitive the keywords are. I'd probably charge a nice upfront fee for all that plus a monthly fee to keep him ranked and make sure everything goes smoothly.

Depends how competitive the term they want to rank in the top 10 with is. For example:

Dentist New Jersey
Dentist Red Bank, NJ
Dental Surgery Red Bank

Also check Google's keyword suggestion tool to see if anyone is searching for the particular town. If you get a #1 ranking but no one uses the term you could have any unhappy client.

Find out the lifetime value of a new customer and base your rates off of that.

Shawn

Think about how long the work will take and charge an amount that you are comfortable with. I have been doing offline for a few months and I much rather err on the side of charging too little in an effort to get the client than charging too much and scaring them away. When I have too much work I definitely will be raising my prices.

Not only do you need to know the lifetime value of a customer, but the one time value of them as well. Are you doing all of the work yourself or will you be outsourcing any of it? There are many times that I go into a meeting and have a set price in mind, but after talking to them you can get an idea of how much you can charge. After talking you may be able to go higher, or have to go lower depending on what you are hearing in your meeting. If you are doing all the work yourself, I would start on the 700-950 range and then 250-350 a month.

Of course if you are outsourcing then you have to decide how much you want to make each month.

Hope that helps.

You could also offer him a reduced rate, say after the first month or two at whatever regular rate you go with if he signs to an extended contract. If there are only a couple of dentists in your area you may have to bring it down a bit. Depends on your potential client's competition.

Gotcha; great points.

Not So New - I'd also like to hear how you do your rates based off of the "lifetime value" of a new customer; that sounds like a model that would make sense as I continue to grow my business.

Do you base rates as a percentage? If so, what percent would be the norm for you?

ntouch - Great response; thx! I was thinking of outsourcing some of the initial SEO work in the beginning... (maybe do a hoist package or something), and then switch over to doing the work myself after that. But we'll see how it goes.

Here is what I posted in another thread

Here is how I figure out what to charge for any services I do.

Number of hours it will take(125% flub factor if I am not sure)
X
Hourly rate I feel I am worth.($20 to $100 gives you a good idea)
+
Any outsourcing not figured into the hours above(this you may decide to charge at a lower hourly rate or just include it above. Bare minimum double what the outsourcing will cost you.)
+
Any other costs(normally double these as well)
=
Amount I would charge

This formula is fair. It allows you to within mins of figuring up a project to be able to make a real quote on it.

Certain things like simple fan pages you should just have a set rate you can quote. Remember the guys who need a better fan page are upsold into it. "I could do a basic fan page for $300 as I told you. Or based on what you would like I believe I could put together all that for $1,000. Which way would you like to proceed?"

That way the customer sees he is getting more vs. what you provide for $300 but he always has the option to simply take the basic(save face for budget reasons). This is a classic sales technique used in large item sales. Never make them choose between the high price and nothing. There should always be a choice with less features that allows them an out vs. the item that fits all their needs. To make it really fun price out 3 options with an extra above and beyond what they wanted. This way it leaves you an upsell.

EDIT:
Also remember when figuring up your hourly rate that you have to mentally take taxes out of it including 15% minimum for SS and Medicare(self employment tax). So your hourly rate must be higher than what you would get paid at a "job".

He has money to spend. Charge $1000 upfront plus $250/month for sustained performance.