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?'s from a small business owner looking to hire SEO/PPC..

by curios
8 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hey Guys,

I own a few brick and mortar locations(newer franchise)that offer a service. I'm looking to hire a business to help with SEO and/or PPC. We get estimate requests and email contacts and obviously we are looking to increase it.

Here's the question. I've seen companies charge very little per month ($200-$500) as well as companies that charge much much more for SEO. Is there any kind of a standard? Also that service charged by the amount of keywords. Is that common practice?

Currently I'm speaking with a company about running a PPC campaign in various places and their proposal is around 4-6k for setup and research and then they receive percentage of whatever is spent on campaigns continually while they continue to manage/refine it. This company was highly recommended to me but from a business owner who is in a completely different market with much different margins and sales volume.

What should I expect to pay for SEO? PPC? I appreciate anyone's thoughts. I've thought about learning more and doing it myself however I think hiring out for the expertise will save me time which could be spent more effectively elsewhere.

Thanks
-C
#business #hire #owner #seo or ppc #small
  • Profile picture of the author abdul786
    Some companies will quote you $500 and some $5000.

    It all depends on your website and keywords you're trying to rank.

    I might charge you $500/month to rank a site on #1 for keyword "social network" but if you demand the same for keyword "facebook", just add another zero.

    PPC campaigns are quite different from SEO so you can't compare both while designing a budget or measuring standard prices. As far as SEO is concerned, i will recommend you to never hire someone who quote outrageous prices ($5000 or $5). Both shows that the company/individual in subject is going for bucks.

    You can find many good individuals and seo companies in the Warriors For Hire section.

    Hope it helps.
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by abdul786 View Post

      Some companies will quote you $500 and some $5000.

      It all depends on your website and keywords you're trying to rank.

      I might charge you $500/month to rank a site on #1 for keyword "social network" but if you demand the same for keyword "facebook", just add another zero.

      PPC campaigns are quite different from SEO so you can't compare both while designing a budget or measuring standard prices. As far as SEO is concerned, i will recommend you to never hire someone who quote outrageous prices ($5000 or $5). Both shows that the company/individual in subject is going for bucks.

      You can find many good individuals and seo companies in the Warriors For Hire section.

      Hope it helps.

      Your not going to rank #1 for the keyword facebook for $5k, like FB would sit around with their thumb up their azz & let you walk in at random & take over a multi-million dollar business. Not even close to being realistic.
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      • Profile picture of the author abdul786
        Originally Posted by yukon View Post

        Your not going to rank #1 for the keyword facebook for $5k, like FB would sit around with their thumb up their azz & let you walk in at random & take over a multi-million dollar business. Not even close to being realistic.
        And that was merely an example not specifically about "how much to rank keyword 'facebook' " but about how competitive keywords pricing differ than others when seo companies quote.

        Perfect example of a reply which has nothing to do with the OP's question.
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        • Profile picture of the author yukon
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          Originally Posted by abdul786 View Post

          And that was merely an example not specifically about "how much to rank keyword 'facebook' " but about how competitive keywords pricing differ than others when seo companies quote.

          Perfect example of a reply which has nothing to do with the OP's question.

          My comment has everything to do with OPs question, OP asked:
          What should I expect to pay for SEO? PPC?
          You gave an example of ranking facebook for $5k. Not only is that not realistic, it wouldn't happen If you had $500k to try & rank for facebook. If for some out of this world reason you managed to rank for facebook (wouldn't happen), Google would do a manual slap into oblivion. Google would slap your site so hard your neighbors dog would feel it.

          My advice for OP If your outsourcing SEO, start with a small budget on a new domain, don't let the oursourcer know your real domain until they've proven they know how to rank a page in the SERPs. That's a safety net for you, If the outsourcer screws up, dump the $10 domain & find someone else. There's a lot of link blasters that will nuke your site with junk links. If all goes well, use the new domain as a backlink for the real site.
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          • Profile picture of the author abdul786
            Originally Posted by yukon View Post

            My comment has everything to do with OPs question, OP asked:


            You gave an example of ranking facebook for $5k. Not only is that not realistic, it wouldn't happen If you had $500k to try & rank for facebook. If for some out of this world reason you managed to rank for facebook (wouldn't happen), Google would do a manual slap into oblivion. Google would slap your site so hard your neighbors dog would feel it.

            My advice for OP If your outsourcing SEO, start with a small budget on a new domain, don't let the oursourcer know your real domain until they've proven they know how to rank a page in the SERPs. That's a safety net for you, If the outsourcer screws up, dump the $10 domain & find someone else. There's a lot of link blasters that will nuke your site with junk links. If all goes well, use the new domain as a backlink for the real site.
            You're making an example the hottest current issue of this world.

            I mentioned "It all depends on your website and keywords you're trying to rank" followed by an example. I'm sure that OP would have understood it very well by now.

            Originally Posted by yukon View Post

            Google would do a manual slap into oblivion. Google would slap your site so hard your neighbors dog would feel it.
            Alright, type facebook and find this:

            mashable.com/category/facebook/ (neighbors dog, be ready)

            Google is not a killer. If your site has got authority to rank for a keyword, google will not kill you.

            Going back to the main point again, you have misunderstood the example of how seo companies quote differently on low to high competition keywords.

            We're all giving our opinions here and no one is 100% right.
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  • Profile picture of the author Marty Foley
    Originally Posted by curios View Post

    What should I expect to pay for PPC?
    Full Disclosure: I run the Convert More Traffic PPC management company, so my advice could be biased. But here are some things to consider beyond just pricing...

    ------------------

    PPC management prices, pricing structures, and services offered, are all over the map. Here are some issues to weigh when comparing PPC service providers:

    * Do they charge a sizeable setup fee even before a single click is generated? If so, how much?

    * Are they Adwords and Bing certified?

    * Can you hire them month to month, or will you be locked into a contract?

    * If they don't perform as well as expected, can you easily terminate the relationship?

    * Do they offer flat-rate pricing, or do they charge based on a % of ad spend, or some other method?

    * Generating targeted traffic is just one of the two most important elements to website success. Do they go beyond just generating clicks, by also helping with the other most important element, improving your website's conversion rates?

    * Do they insist that you use web analytics on your site, to leverage the key insights such data can reveal for improving PPC results?

    * Will you have access to the PPC account so you can monitor performance, ad spend, etc.?

    * Will the account billing be in your name, so you can pay for Google or Bing clicks directly? Will the PPC management company pay for the traffic and then charge you for it?

    * Will you retain control over the PPC account, and analytics data, if the relationship is terminated by either party?

    ~ Marty Foley
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  • Profile picture of the author RedShifted
    And thats why you should never hold a lax attitude when doing competitor research.

    In response to the original poster.

    I highly suggest you learn as much as possible about SEO/PPC before you spend a penny.
    I own a small brick and mortar biz myself (not a franchise), and w/out the little bit of background I have, I would have likely gone broke trying to find a company.

    For one of our websites (I have another that I do all by myself), it took us 3 months just to find a place I liked. I'd make a few calls everyday, blast them with tough questions, and eventually I found a company that answered all my questions right (most of them did a terrible job ftr). I also made it a point to call up every single person who left a testimony on their site, and blast them with questions too.

    Everybody in this world is trying to make a quick buck off someone else. And even if my best friend recommended a specific company, I still wouldn't trust his recommendation w/out doing a sh!tton of research.

    ps. I realize you own a business, and probably don't have the time. As most business owners love to say. But I also believe a lot of small businesses fail because they refuse to learn some of the most important aspects of running a business. Like SEO/PPC/direct mail/social media/homeshows.. what good copy looks like.. so many things to learn. So little time.
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  • Profile picture of the author FakeItTilYouMakeIt
    Banned
    Look for a firm that has worked with other (well ranked) small businesses in your niche if possible. Like if you are a carpet cleaning service in Austin you want to talk to the SEO team that put a carpet cleaner into the top spot in Dallas. Look for well ranking businesses that are similar in size and niche but not your direct competitors, find out who is doing their SEO. I would say really if you want to learn you should, it's so easy to get swindled these days. Whether you end up hiring someone or not you should know the basics so you can spot a scam. Or you can delegate the learning to a smart, trustworthy employee if you must. Just keep an eye on them
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