13 replies
Hey guys I just started to sell offline services to small businesses and I was wondering how I should price my services.

I know it is all about how much I can increase my client's bottom line, but I am still not sure. I sell my services to small to medium size business owner using cold calling, adword and craiglist. Here is a list of some of the services I offer and I would like to know how much you would charge for each.

1- A 8 page web site using wordpress.(theme,2-3 25$ plugins ,15 hours to implement)
2- A 2 minutes animated promotional video.
3- One company logo(great quality, 5 designs to chose from, 3 revision on the chosen design)
4- One month of SEO( Backlink analysis, competition analysis, keyword search(5 new kw), content creation and optimization for the new kw, enough backlink to rank a low-medium competition keyword in 1-3 months, includes up to 10 keywords, monthly report).
5- 5 social media page.(Banner design, 5 post, description)
6- How much would you charge a client for all of the above?

If you have sold or purchased these services can you tell me how much do you think they are worth? I know it can vary depending on many factors so I want you to give me a rough estimate. Its just to give me an idea so I can price my services with confidence.

If you would like you can check my website at Home | Altovisio Marketin (french version, english version coming).
#agency #pricing
  • Profile picture of the author DABK
    Google white label x reseller

    Replace x with the service name

    https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C....0.jx4GG2uGh34 is the one for seo service

    It's not just about the money you can make them, it's about the type of business you want, the amount of money you want to make, your overhead and other costs, your greed, etc.

    I can double my favorite bakery's profit within 3 months, but he's only making a thousand a month. He can't afford to pay me what I want for the work required to double his profit (not even if I triple his profit).

    If I double his income, I get him so many clients, he'll have to change his set up. He's willing but has never run a larger, successful business. Others have failed when they got extra business.

    And, no, it's not about the money you make them... if that means you do the same thing but charge differently depending on whether your client is a criminal attorney or a florist or a mortgage broker, or an insurance agent...

    The store you buy your bread from, charges the same amount for the same bread no matter who buys is. That strikes everybody as fair.

    Different stores charge different amounts. I can buy 2 lbs rye bread for $1.99 or for $3.44. But it's from different stores.


    Originally Posted by droberge View Post

    Hey guys I just started to sell offline services to small businesses and I was wondering how I should price my services.

    I know it is all about how much I can increase my client's bottom line, but I am still not sure. I sell my services to small to medium size business owner using cold calling, adword and craiglist. Here is a list of some of the services I offer and I would like to know how much you would charge for each.

    1- A 8 page web site using wordpress.(theme,2-3 25$ plugins ,15 hours to implement)
    2- A 2 minutes animated promotional video.
    3- One company logo(great quality, 5 designs to chose from, 3 revision on the chosen design)
    4- One month of SEO( Backlink analysis, competition analysis, keyword search(5 new kw), content creation and optimization for the new kw, enough backlink to rank a low-medium competition keyword in 1-3 months, includes up to 10 keywords, monthly report).
    5- 5 social media page.(Banner design, 5 post, description)
    6- How much would you charge a client for all of the above?

    If you have sold or purchased these services can you tell me how much do you think they are worth? I know it can vary depending on many factors so I want you to give me a rough estimate. Its just to give me an idea so I can price my services with confidence.

    If you would like you can check my website at Home | Altovisio Marketin (french version, english version coming).
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    • Profile picture of the author droberge
      Originally Posted by DABK View Post

      Google white label x reseller

      Replace x with the service name

      https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C....0.jx4GG2uGh34 is the one for seo service

      It's not just about the money you can make them, it's about the type of business you want, the amount of money you want to make, your overhead and other costs, your greed, etc.

      I can double my favorite bakery's profit within 3 months, but he's only making a thousand a month. He can't afford to pay what I want to do for the required work.

      If I double his income, I get him so many clients, he'll have to change his set up. He's willing but has never run a larger, successful business. Others have failed when they got extra business.

      And, no, it's not about the money you make them... if that means you do the same thing but charge differently depending on whether your client is a criminal attorney or a florist or a mortgage broker, or an insurance agent...

      The store you buy your bread from, charges the same amount for the same bread no matter who buys is. That strikes everybody as fare.

      Different stores charge different amounts. I can buy 2 lbs rye bread for $1.99 or for $3.44. But it's from different stores.
      I completely agree but the thing is that the services that I will offer these business will vary on those precise factors. In fact I would like to eventually charge 2k a month to clients that can pull in big sales like a gold broker company for instance in exchange of high end SEO services and conversion optimization tactics. But if I work with a florist like you said i just might make him a nice 5 page website and a logo for 495$. Heck it costs me 150$ max to get done properly,20 minutes over the phone to close the sale, maybe a little meeting when I come and get the check( 2/3 of the time) and at the most 3 hours of management. I could even hire a VA for 6$/h to do most of the management.
      `
      I can run a direct marketing campaign selling a nice little package like this. I use Adword, Bing, Kijiji, Craiglist, cold calling and flyer blast( I found a deal for 1000 flyers, printed and sent to local businesses for 250$). I mean there are a lot of business owners that don't give a dam about marketing, they just want a clean website so people can find them on internet. Their bottom line is small and they can't affort more than a couple hundred dollars at a time. Also most people who are good at marketing these services normaly try to reach prospects with more money. Most agencies I think will try to get at least 1.5k out of a basic website. All the other dudes selling 500$ services only post a couple add on classified site a week

      I mean its kind of like selling a product, I will just roll with it, I'll keep you guys posted. Thanks for the feedbacks, it made me formulate my strategy better,
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      • Profile picture of the author DABK
        Originally Posted by droberge View Post

        I'll keep you guys posted.
        Please do. I'm curious.
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  • Profile picture of the author krnekdo
    From my experience number 1 is not worth it.. People expect you will be jumping through hoops for them for a few hundred bucks for months to come.. Depends on your clients thought. I had 2-3 that turned out a nightmare and dropped it.

    Number 4 if you think that you can safely and longterm rank keywords with 1 month of SEO work, then you shouldn't be offering this service in the first place.. Get a monthly retainer here with a minimum of 6 months (especially since if you will also build the site, it will be a new site).. Here and through social media marketing is where you can make a nice income.

    Making the site for cheap is just a foot in the door tactic. Don't think one month, think how you can get customers that will be with you for a year or ten years..

    Btw, your title is missing a G (Marketin..). Also remove home from your title..
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    Want to build quality links? Tired of Google penalties and spammy links?

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  • Profile picture of the author joshril
    Do you have an idea on what types of businesses you're going to target?

    Industries? Size? Etc.?

    It's really tough to be everything to everyone... I think many started out that way.

    I was doing a consulting call not too long ago with someone looking to begin offering marketing services, and when I asked him what his target market would be, he told me everyone... Any business that is looking to grow their business.

    Unfortunately, that type of business model just doesn't work.

    The most successful businesses have a defined target market and they are solving a specific problem for that market.

    I would recommend starting with...

    1. Who you're going to work with...
    2. What type of value your service provides that market
    3. What type of costs you have on your end to fulfill the service(s) you're providing
    4. Set your prices accordingly

    Thanks,


    Josh
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    • Profile picture of the author droberge
      Originally Posted by joshril View Post

      Do you have an idea on what types of businesses you're going to target?

      Industries? Size? Etc.?

      It's really tough to be everything to everyone... I think many started out that way.

      I was doing a consulting call not too long ago with someone looking to begin offering marketing services, and when I asked him what his target market would be, he told me everyone... Any business that is looking to grow their business.

      Unfortunately, that type of business model just doesn't work.

      The most successful businesses have a defined target market and they are solving a specific problem for that market.

      I would recommend starting with...

      1. Who you're going to work with...
      2. What type of value your service provides that market
      3. What type of costs you have on your end to fulfill the service(s) you're providing
      4. Set your prices accordingly

      Thanks,


      Josh

      1- ''I have 2 different target market for 2 different services; 1- Small business owners who are looking to get their business on internet but who don't have the marketing budget to pay thousands of dollars. Specifically businesses that are not targeted by other marketers e.g: acupuncture, landscapers, etc. Really the kind of guy who only wants a ''online business card'' for 300-600$. 2- People who are looking to boost the online sales of an already existing product or services. E.g; gold brokers, niche products sellers, etc. This is phase 2 of my plan. For the moment my marketing efforts will all be concentrated on the first group.

      2- What value do I bring them?
      - Increase brand presence with a web site
      - Makes all information about their business easy to find 24/7/365
      - Converts client better from classified sites and yellow pages(otherwise they only have a limited description with only few pictures)
      - Make them feel technological, it is kind of ''cool'' to have a web site. Most business owners know they need a web site just to look more professional.
      - I give them the opportunity to be on the internet for a lower price they would normally pay, thats value in itself.( e.g ; how glad were you when you first found out about fiverr??)

      3- Costs
      -I try to go between 20-33% of the project total. I will try to get it down to 20% as much as I can. A simple 5 pages website done with a wordpress theme by my web designer would cost me around 75-150$.

      4- Selling price
      a- 5 pages wordpress site ; 495$
      b- SEO(2 keywords); 200$(starting cost+ first month) + 79$ for each months.
      c- Logo( 4 drafts, 2 revisions on chosen draft) 175$
      d- Design( banner, business cards, etc) 80$ for each design
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      • Profile picture of the author savidge4
        Originally Posted by droberge View Post

        2- What value do I bring them?
        - Increase brand presence with a web site
        - Makes all information about their business easy to find 24/7/365
        - Converts client better from classified sites and yellow pages(otherwise they only have a limited description with only few pictures)
        - Make them feel technological, it is kind of ''cool'' to have a web site. Most business owners know they need a web site just to look more professional.
        - I give them the opportunity to be on the internet for a lower price they would normally pay, thats value in itself.( e.g ; how glad were you when you first found out about fiverr??)
        Where exactly is the value in any of that? That is straight up no holds bar FLUFF. Nothing more nothing less.. What about actual TRAFFIC.. what about actual CONVERSIONS.. what about an actual Monetary RETURN.

        You are kidding yourself and your clients! AND SEO for 2 keywords hahahahaha what? "Store in city" and "city store"? For the love of Pete
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        Success is an ACT not an idea
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        • Profile picture of the author DABK
          SEO for 2 keywords

          In a city like Chicago or Houston, you get some 600 hundred searches. If you make it to #1, you get what, 70 visitors. If the site converts amazingly, say at 20%, you get him/her 14 leads. If the site converts like most sites, say, 2%, you get him/her 1 or 2 leads. If they convert 1 in 10, they make a sale once every 5 months. It's costing them close to $400 (+ the setup fee) to make a sale.

          If you're good at SEO, you're also going to get them some traffic from long tail keywords that include your 2 main keywords. So, maybe, your clients end up paying $300 to make 1 sale and make one every 4 months.

          If they're a mortgage broker, in many places, they wouldn't mind the price, but even in that industry, there are places were one sale brings in only $1500.

          If your client is in a smaller city, they'd have to wait longer...

          I don't see you having happy clients.
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          • Profile picture of the author savidge4
            The overall idea in business is to sell something to someone as many times as you can over your and or the clients life. With web design, you cant expect to get clients that are changing the face of their page on the monthly. ( Look at big Corporate America, that is basically what they are doing ) But once every few to 5 years is kind of expected.

            Your cant get rich waiting on this, much less pay your bills.

            A slight bit easier target you can shoot for is referral business. If you have given something of value to a client, and they SEE that value, they are more inclined to refer. People like to share success. They also like to share disappointment.

            So you are putting together a 5 page site for $500. GREAT starting, point you will do well with that. Here is my BIG issue... SEO consists of what? some internal linking, making sure the images are named and tagged, make sure all of the pages are tagged. ensuring there is contextual words on all the pages. you get the idea. Doesn't that really sound like something you would could and should be doing when you BUILD the site?

            So you are charging another $200 just because you can, and then $79 a month for what? Its going to take what, 3 weeks to get indexed, a good 2 weeks before it settles in the SERP's. You make some onsite changes, then another 2 weeks. etc. The only thing that has not been done here is get some back linking. And the truth is as I will show below there are better ways to get those, and actually show work for it.

            What happens if you were to charge $99 a month for 6 months to get a Google Business + listing? Well things change here a bit. there is the whole submission process, going around the web and take ownership of listing. You can provide actual proof that you are doing things across the 6 months ( as in 6 months - 5 new citations a month ) AND in the damn process you are doing what? creating back links. ( Work smarter not harder )

            So the "Product" you are selling is a SEO'd 5 page website for $495, and the added service you want to sell is the one that will actually provide VALUE and RESULTS the Google Business + listing.

            You could even still do the $200 the first month and not only provide that Google listing, but get the Bing and Yahoo listing as well. Then for the 6 months provide the ownership program.

            Either way, #1 you are now making more money.
            #2 No one is going to call you out for BS ( well I wont at least )
            #3 You can actually show something tangible as proof of work
            #4 There will be RESULTS
            #5 The client will see the VALUE

            Over a bit of time you can charge $800 for a site, and $450 for the Business listings + a 3 month Citation contract AND $50 a month for hosting. That puts you into developing $1500 websites.

            That FUTURE potential is DEPENDENT on what you are doing right now. Provide Value ( Real, tangible value ) and Results from the beginning. It will pay off.
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            • Profile picture of the author droberge
              Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

              The overall idea in business is to sell something to someone as many times as you can over your and or the clients life. With web design, you cant expect to get clients that are changing the face of their page on the monthly. ( Look at big Corporate America, that is basically what they are doing ) But once every few to 5 years is kind of expected.

              Your cant get rich waiting on this, much less pay your bills.

              A slight bit easier target you can shoot for is referral business. If you have given something of value to a client, and they SEE that value, they are more inclined to refer. People like to share success. They also like to share disappointment.

              So you are putting together a 5 page site for $500. GREAT starting, point you will do well with that. Here is my BIG issue... SEO consists of what? some internal linking, making sure the images are named and tagged, make sure all of the pages are tagged. ensuring there is contextual words on all the pages. you get the idea. Doesn't that really sound like something you would could and should be doing when you BUILD the site?

              So you are charging another $200 just because you can, and then $79 a month for what? Its going to take what, 3 weeks to get indexed, a good 2 weeks before it settles in the SERP's. You make some onsite changes, then another 2 weeks. etc. The only thing that has not been done here is get some back linking. And the truth is as I will show below there are better ways to get those, and actually show work for it.

              What happens if you were to charge $99 a month for 6 months to get a Google Business + listing? Well things change here a bit. there is the whole submission process, going around the web and take ownership of listing. You can provide actual proof that you are doing things across the 6 months ( as in 6 months - 5 new citations a month ) AND in the damn process you are doing what? creating back links. ( Work smarter not harder )

              So the "Product" you are selling is a SEO'd 5 page website for $495, and the added service you want to sell is the one that will actually provide VALUE and RESULTS the Google Business + listing.

              You could even still do the $200 the first month and not only provide that Google listing, but get the Bing and Yahoo listing as well. Then for the 6 months provide the ownership program.

              Either way, #1 you are now making more money.
              #2 No one is going to call you out for BS ( well I wont at least )
              #3 You can actually show something tangible as proof of work
              #4 There will be RESULTS
              #5 The client will see the VALUE

              Over a bit of time you can charge $800 for a site, and $450 for the Business listings + a 3 month Citation contract AND $50 a month for hosting. That puts you into developing $1500 websites.

              That FUTURE potential is DEPENDENT on what you are doing right now. Provide Value ( Real, tangible value ) and Results from the beginning. It will pay off.

              The 200$ is for campaign set-up : deeper keyword search, competition analysis and one month of link building + monthly report. I provide enough backlinks to rank a low competition keyword in 1-2 months and a medium competition keyword in 3-4 month.

              And for those hating about the 2 keywords ; This is a basic quantity! I can charge them 400$/month for 10 keywords too! How could you not figure that out?

              Also 2 low competition keywords with an average monthly search of 1000 can fetch 200 targeted visitors a month. That's for only 80$ a month! How much would 200 targeted clicks be in adwords or facebook? It freaking costs between 600$ and 1000$/month to have a full page in the yellow pages! These 200 clicks might just be what they need to fill their schedule. I would argue at least a 10% conversion rate and then a 50% closing rate on the calls. So that would be 10 new contracts a month! I know this is a good conversion rate but SEO traffic is the best in the industry period. People don't want to buy on facebook, they don't want to click on adword's add and they sure as hell don't want to click on solo adds!

              Someone said this ''Where exactly is the value in any of that? That is straight up no holds bar FLUFF. Nothing more nothing less.. What about actual TRAFFIC.. what about actual CONVERSIONS.. what about an actual Monetary RETURN.''

              Okay so if you selling marketing services you necessarily need to bring your client sales and increase their bottom line? WRONG! I am going to get a check from a client this afternoon, they want a simple redesign of their web site. Just so people can find their info online, nothing less nothing more. Most of the times it doesn't even concerns you, they could not care less about online marketing. They want that ''online business card'' where they can share all their info, thats it! There are thousands of companies just like that. I think you spent too much time in the ''making money online'' world, in real life we don't necessarily buy stuff that are supposed to make us money. We sometime like to buy the fluff so we can belong to a certain idea we have of ourselves. Some business owners are starting a business and because most big business have a web site they would like one too. They think its more ''professional'' and that they would look better if there would be a website address on their business card.

              We did a website for a lady that owns a daycare a couple weeks ago. She did not wanted more client, she's got a waiting list of 50 people wanting to get into her daycare. All she wanted was to post the documents she was normally printing for parents online. Guess what? She is saving a couple hundred dollars a month on paper and she is glad to have a website because she is a proud business owner.

              I think some clients want sales from a website, but there are definitely some that want some web design for the look and the practicality of it. I think you are an utter noob to say that you necessarily need to bring traffic and conversion to a business owner in order to get a sale. Have you ever heard of branding? What if they don't give a **** about your traffic and conversion? What if they got a ton of clients and all they want is a sexy website or a new logo?
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              • Profile picture of the author DABK
                You asked about pricing SEO. You got answers to that question.

                Yes, we know you can do more than 2 keywords, if you so desire. But that's not what you said you desired.

                Overall, you asked the wrong question or you're missing the point of the advice you got.

                Originally Posted by droberge View Post

                The 200$ is for campaign set-up : deeper keyword search, competition analysis and one month of link building + monthly report. I provide enough backlinks to rank a low competition keyword in 1-2 months and a medium competition keyword in 3-4 month.

                And for those hating about the 2 keywords ; This is a basic quantity! I can charge them 400$/month for 10 keywords too! How could you not figure that out?

                Also 2 low competition keywords with an average monthly search of 1000 can fetch 200 targeted visitors a month. That's for only 80$ a month! How much would 200 targeted clicks be in adwords or facebook? It freaking costs between 600$ and 1000$/month to have a full page in the yellow pages! These 200 clicks might just be what they need to fill their schedule. I would argue at least a 10% conversion rate and then a 50% closing rate on the calls. So that would be 10 new contracts a month! I know this is a good conversion rate but SEO traffic is the best in the industry period. People don't want to buy on facebook, they don't want to click on adword's add and they sure as hell don't want to click on solo adds!

                Someone said this ''Where exactly is the value in any of that? That is straight up no holds bar FLUFF. Nothing more nothing less.. What about actual TRAFFIC.. what about actual CONVERSIONS.. what about an actual Monetary RETURN.''

                Okay so if you selling marketing services you necessarily need to bring your client sales and increase their bottom line? WRONG! I am going to get a check from a client this afternoon, they want a simple redesign of their web site. Just so people can find their info online, nothing less nothing more. Most of the times it doesn't even concerns you, they could not care less about online marketing. They want that ''online business card'' where they can share all their info, thats it! There are thousands of companies just like that. I think you spent too much time in the ''making money online'' world, in real life we don't necessarily buy stuff that are supposed to make us money. We sometime like to buy the fluff so we can belong to a certain idea we have of ourselves. Some business owners are starting a business and because most big business have a web site they would like one too. They think its more ''professional'' and that they would look better if there would be a website address on their business card.

                We did a website for a lady that owns a daycare a couple weeks ago. She did not wanted more client, she's got a waiting list of 50 people wanting to get into her daycare. All she wanted was to post the documents she was normally printing for parents online. Guess what? She is saving a couple hundred dollars a month on paper and she is glad to have a website because she is a proud business owner.

                I think some clients want sales from a website, but there are definitely some that want some web design for the look and the practicality of it. I think you are an utter noob to say that you necessarily need to bring traffic and conversion to a business owner in order to get a sale. Have you ever heard of branding? What if they don't give a **** about your traffic and conversion? What if they got a ton of clients and all they want is a sexy website or a new logo?
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                • Profile picture of the author droberge
                  Originally Posted by DABK View Post

                  You asked about pricing SEO. You got answers to that question.

                  Yes, we know you can do more than 2 keywords, if you so desire. But that's not what you said you desired.

                  Overall, you asked the wrong question or you're missing the point of the advice you got.
                  I understand what you mean and I agree 2 keywords would only be good for a business with a low budget. But I still don't agree with your conversion figures, there is something I forgot to tell you. I live in Montreal and SEO is easier here than in the US, therefor it will be easy to rank my client and bring them results. Obviously I would only do so if my client needs the traffic.
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  • Profile picture of the author droberge
    Okay guys I want to give some feedback.

    First and foremost : DO NOT target businesses with low prices, I had a business owner asking me for a bazillion modification on a website because he had trouble viewing his new website on EXPLORER 6! ( This was a 10 pages 550$ website). I still managed to get a good profit, but it was a lot of time wasted on small, useless modifications.

    The fact that you price yourself cheap just tell them that you are a sucker that is willing to say yes to every demands they might have. I learned the hard way that there is a reason why marketing agency don't target low budget clients even if they are potentially profitable.

    If you want to sell offline services it is better to price your service correctly and look as professional and trustworthy as possible. Check other web agency's price chart and don't go more than 33% cheaper. Take the time to learn everything about this trade and be mindful that this is your career, not just some ',get rich quick scheme''. If you want to low ball the market you will only end up with dead beat clients who will torture you with their endless demand. If you want to start with cheap projects to build your portfolio make sure to state your limit at the beginning. Make it clear that there will be very few modifications because the price is so low. Make them understand that you are doing them a favor and that you can't be bothered that much. Make it clear that you are only giving them a bargain because you are starting out, don't be afraid to lose the contract. Its better to just take your time to find serious client who are willing to pay for quality offline services. Also if you put your price too low you will scare those good clients because they will assume you are a newbie cutting corners.
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