So I've Seriously Under-quoted My Clients...

#1
Emphasize benefits rather than features. SEO is a feature you offer, however the benefit to your client could be 1) increased visibility, 2) increased reach, 3) stealing competition's market share, 4) higher likelihood of conversion, etc...

#2
Emphasize ROI. Business owners will be more interested in how you will bring them more business, and deliver a return on their investment. Ask them: what is the value of a new customer? In many cases, you'll be able to show - either in reasonable theory or using past case studies - how their incremental revenue potential far exceeds the cost of investing in your services.

#3
Perception is reality. Don't assume that because you're new and have a limited portfolio, that you need to have rock bottom rates. In reality, what you're actually doing is lowering your own bar, and many potential clients may actually perceive you to be an inferior option to others that charge more. Instead of charging less because of lack of experience, find what makes you different from your competitors and leverage that as an advantage. Then you can justify a higher rate, since you offer something that can't be easily found elsewhere. And remember, it's MUCH easier to lower your rate (and cut deals), rather than raise your rates once you've gotten everyone used to the rock bottom deals.

Hope that helps, and best of luck!

There's also a method that sometimes works but it really depends on you and the client. That method is pure honesty. I have a few regular clients and recently put prices up for a couple of them. I was honest and said that costs have increased and I need to increase my fees as well. I have not lost a single client because I provide excellent service.

Dante also provides some great tips so you need to make your own mind up.

Here's what I would do:

At this point I'd recommend keeping constant communication going. Like in Math, show your steps to get extra credit. Keeping them updated will show them you're trust worthy and offer good customer support. Many times they aren't used to this and realize they won't get it elsewhere.

Depending on your keywords you could probably get them on the first page for a few or all of them for that price outsourcing it. No profits mind you, but when their rankings improve give them a call. They should get excited, and trust that you're doing what you said. Track your progress, and document it with a few updates here and there by phone call. Then if you find you're not getting all the results you promised, but have been showing them progress, tell them that you're not going to be able to complete the job at the agreed price.

At this point they should have gotten some good updates from you and are happy with the web design and maybe a few phone calls. They'll realize you gave them above and beyond $100 and may agree to continue at a higher price point, or you can offer to scale back if it's in your best interest. If they're still unhappy offer to create a free landing page or add a widget or something to their website. Show that it's a good value and worth $100 then part ways.

I know you're not feeling experienced, and I don't know the market you're in so I can't be specific. I just hope you find something in that that could help you. Value really is in how you position it. Giving them phone support is the best way to show you care and aren't just looking for a hundred bucks.

Right now you're dealing with people who are comfortable at the $X level.

There are other people out there who are just as comfortable at the $2X, $5X and even $10X level.

You may not believe that because you haven't seen them yet, but they are out there.

People are buying websites at $99, $990, $9900 and yes, even $99,000 (huge companies with massive budgets, who want tons of legit content NOW to drive inbound marketing). You just have to choose what level you want to work at, and then go find those people.

The only person who knows you are new ... IS YOU ...

Most people asking for references, or asking for a email/fax snail mail
for more information are nothing more then tire kickers / time bandits.
They aren't really sold, and don't have any intention of buying from you.

Dont get me wrong, there are legitimate requests for references, but those are few and far between, and as you get more skilled talking to people, you will be able to easily tell who they are.

For now, since you cant tell and you don't have a portfolio or references
just let them go, move on to some one who doesn't want to fight you for the sale.

Treat every new client like gold, and you will have a portfolio and references pretty quick.

As far as a strategy to raise your prices. Well, just raise them period.
You don't need to justify it to any one other then yourself.

and since you realized that you already low balled a few, that means you have already made the justification , in your own mind.

Again, the prospects don't know anything about you, other then what you tell them, and what they can glean from your attitude.

Everything you do is worth money, everything, even when you come in here and ask questions, your educating yourself, your clients aren't,
The time it takes you to prospect and get new clients, the time it takes
to learn, the knowledge you have putting together VA's, the knowledge you have to do on page SEO, ect, these are things your client cant or wont do.

All of it is valuable, and worth something. That should be all the justification you need to raise your prices. Because if you don't, you already can see it takes more time to deal with a client then you
thought, it takes more resources, including money as well.

That's all value that needs to be included in the price you quote.

And then when you have that price in mind, Add 50% this way you have room to haggle on the phone. You can drop the price a little and make the sale a little more tasty for the prospect and you will still have room for profit and unforeseeable / hidden costs.

BTW, i am usually glad when a company has not heard of SEO.
it usually means i don't have to spend 20 minutes telling them
everything they think they know about SEO is wrong.

I hope this helps some.

btw, watching your skills grow and your questions mature as you
have been out there walking the walk and learning,

has been like a breath of fresh air. Props brotha, props !

How much are you worth per hour? $100? $50? If $50 that is 2 hours of SEO work each month. You can maybe even outsource it.

Reason I say this is that $100 a month is basic SEO and I hope you sold it as such. I think $100 a month for very basic SEO is fine. You can upsell them on a package of agressive SEO for $? per month.

Or you could do more than you normally would for $100 a month for these guys and ask them for refferals and charge those new clients more. But overall I think your prices seem fair as long as you don't do too much work.

This is something that helped me: I didn't have the confidence in the same way you are saying you don't.

First, why is it that you do not have the confidence to charge SEO? Unsure of what you should? Unsure of your abilities?

For myself, I was unsure of my abilities. So, before I sent my first peice of mail, I ranked a website for local keywords back in November. The site is for chiropractors in a city of about 150K or so. Still sitting at #2/#3 for most keywords. Haven't touched it (I prob should try to do something with it but I forgot it was there for the most part).

Great, now I have confidence I can perform SEO.

My second issue was: zero sales experience, zero idea of how to talk to business owners, really, I had no clue what I was doing. So how did I fix this? I sent mail, people called, I sucked, I fumbled, I learned by touching hot stoves.

How did I land my first couple of clients? At the first sign of my asking price (which was $597 set up fee for 5 keywords), if they even flinched or became "I don't know ..." I immediately fell back to this: "I know that seems steep, and you really have no reason to trust myself or my abilities, how about we do this.. let me optimized 1 keyword for $97 (or whatever you feel comfortable with), and once I rank you on the first page, we can talk about the rest of the $597 and a contract" - My first 2.. or 3 clients I got that way ..

eventually I got stronger on the phone .. and I don't bat an eye when I quote my price now, which is substantially more than that.

So not sure if this "test out 1 keyword to prove your worth" is something you want to think about, but starting out it worked well for me. Most of those clients ended up referring me to numerous people as well.



Ryan