Help! Quoting SEO and Micro Niche Project

Here's how one might price it, depending on client's standing and requirements. But remember that this is your price, and every SEO's price and value are different. They depend on what you can do.

Design and Dev:
Low end: $900-$1,100
Mid range: $1,200-$1,900
High end: $2,000-$5,000

(Of course, custom application development with extensive requirements and coding can cost a lot more.)

Domain research:

Low end: $500-900
Mid range: $1000-$2,000
High end: $2,000-$50,000

Well, this depends hugely. Be very careful about what you promise. How confident are you of achieving results? What kinds of results? Typically, do not promise sales. Sales are not the SEO's responsibility. I have sometimes boosted clients relevant traffic and rankings, but the sales did not increase proportionally because their crap didn't sell.

You will find it's very common for people to expect you to bear their risk. There is not reason you should: it's their business and therefore their risk.

That said, one might charge as follows:
link development (from avg. PR5 level sites), resulting in likely eventual domination of the keyword market, though no guarantees can be made. Neverhteless, the client will see a tremendous within a few months, and will be able to see measurable results in traffic and rankings within one month, and in many cases as quickly as within 5-7 days (now, with Google Caffeine, possibly even faster). Can you promise something like that? If so, pricing might be as follows:
low end: $1,500-$2,000 month
mid range: $2,500-$5,000
high end: $5,000+ (usually not necessary, but would depend on specific requirements. If the client wants you to run a full publishing platform in a cutthroat industry like gambling, it can be as much as $50,000/month)

Note: I am not talking about low-level link building here. It costs less but can prove a waste of money, IMHO.

Who is the SEO, he or you? Why is he telling you which keywords to target? This is something YOU should control, and you can honor his wishes only so long as they are reasonable. Warn him that he is likely to be disappointed f he goes for the high volume terms first. The correct way is to unlock the long tail first and grab the low-hanging fruit. There are methodologies for doing that correctly. Eventually the client will rank for his top-level terms as well.

The way I tend to go is to promise traffic rather than specific rankings, though I can easily provide specific rankings if the client insists, but I can require a specific bonus for them. Feel free to propose a base rate to your client and set bonuses for specific landmark.

So here are my questions for you guys:

It depends if you agree on the kinds of results you reasonably promise and expect. SEOs have varying degrees of confidence. If you are very confident, go for it. But since you have to ask, I would be cautious.

I don't take on my client's business risk unless I really believe in the model and there's a chance of making a huge profit. Ask them to make you their best offer. The vast majority of startups go out of business within a year or so.

Yes. And for one time services I ask for 50% up front and 50% on completion. For recurring services I charge a monthly rate with 36 hours cancellation notice. Since results are felt quickly, I don't have to lock clients into a long contract. But again, this depends on your confidence, and suck flexibility is not something that I recommend. A 6 month contract sounds pretty reasonable, perhaps in 3 payments of 1/3 each, or monthly.

I hope this helps!

He needs to understand that every business is a risk and it shouldn't be at your fiscal expense if the campaign doesn't work. To me, it sounds as if he'll use any reason not to pay you ... and even when the money does come in... he'll tell you it's his work AFTER you messed everything up that made the performance lucrative.

My thoughts are that if you're able to do the work and hit the targets he sets then you're probably better off doing the sites for yourself. If the client is looking for guarantees before significant payment then you're carrying all the risks for little reward.

If you're going to have to wait before getting paid why not just DIY and see returns for years to come?