Not sure how much to charge companies for Google Ranking Services?

I've got two seperate things.

First please don't call us and offer page one of google. Everyone does that and honestly after the 3rd call(some days I get 3 in the same day) it simply doesn't ring true. So find a script that works.

Second you are wondering how to price things.
1. Figure out how much your services are worth per hour. I suggest $50 to $200 an hour and most SEO is around $100 to $150/hr
2. Figure out how many hours of work(yours and those you hire) it will be.
3. Flub factor the hours by 120% or so. Basically 5hrs become 6.
4. Are there any other costs you need to add in?

Now it is just math.

You'll notice here that to hit page one might take longer for some than others. You might tell people you have packages starting at $300 a month but that each client is different and you will make suggestions on what the budget should be each month to reach the results they want.

BTW in the US an hourly rate of $125 will give you about $50k take home pay if 1/3rd of your hours are billable. I did the math in another thread a while back to help someone decide what they were worth per hour.

Michael, the money you ask for is the perceived value to the client.

I price based on: value per client , competition, feel of the conversation

I do not have set prices for i.e. I have 1 client who paid a 797 set up fee for 5 keywords, and $599 to maintain the rankings. He removes trees, 1 client can average about $1500, and he has even landed a 10K client. The competition is stiff, but local SEO rankings is really easy because 9 out of 10 are done incorrectly. So when you do it correctly, they rank, and they rank fast.

I have another client, who pays me $445/month for 1 keyword.

So, when talking to them, find out how their business ticks, what makes it work, look at the traffic , take a small percentage of the traffic as going to them, how much money does that translate to that business?

Also keep this in mind: businesses are bombarded with SEO promises daily from companies, most have been burned in the past. You have to separate your self from that. I like to play on that emotion " I Know you have been burned in the past, you see these large companies, you are just a number to them. They don't care if you rank. They count on so many quitting and the sales team making so many sales. I, on the other hand take a set up fee, and do not charge the monthly until 1 of your keywords is on page 1"

I don't get many "nos" to that (plus I pre-qualify, they are calling me interested).

Then, 10-14 days later, when they are ranking, I get the first monthly install payment, which they are more than happy to pay, simply because they think it will take "months".

Ryan

Definitely agree with what others are saying about perceived value. I actually think you should only target customer with a higher unit of sale so that they won't cry over spending $1,000+ a month for your services.

I find that one price doesn't fit all. Some businesses will be a lot harder than other to rank for which involve more hours and more works. Therefore your rate should be higher. I also find that I can feel out a client to and see what their price range will be before I give any prices. However, with that in mind be sure not to under value yourself.

Sean

To the OP - another example

Just had a bail bondsman call me yesterday, not long after I posted here actually. Again, I pre-qualify, and get people to call me, so if that phone rings, they are already interested. In this case, it was an old friend, who find out what I do, so he still was interested.

We talked for a moment, and I found out how long he has been in business, how much he is paying right now for SEO, found out he is not happy with it .. which is obvious he isn't on the first page (I already know he is not on the first page), and a couple of other things he has going on. I found out that his average bond would net him about $500-$700, so I called it $600.

I already know the traffic for the city, and it is pretty good traffic across 5 keywords, (1500 searches monthly give or take).

I asked him if he was on the first page of Google, and receiving just an extra 10 extra bonds a month, or 6K extra a month, would it be worth paying someone 1K to make 6K? Or if I gave you 6 bucks, you can just give me 1 dollar back? He said "well shoot yeah".

Break it down in to terms that make sense for all parties involved, I can't guarantee him he will close, I can only work towards his rankings, but from what I have seen, my clients get ranked in top #3, their phones ring substantially more than in the past, I also have a good feeling that he will get more than "10" bonds once ranked, and paying me the 1K a month will be an easy decision for him to make every month.

Ryan

Ryan that is a great example of figuring out their budget and making a plan that works.

As long as you can get him ranking good in about 10hrs of work or less per month that will be a great deal. Though if you outsource you can afford to pay them for more hours in the begining to get the process going.

Also I forgot to mention in my above post that once you get a person ranked you will spend less time working the account but can keep the fee the same since he is still getting the value from your service. And in a way you can "bank" those hours. Say you only take 2hrs a month once you get him going if google makes a big change you won't feel bad putting 40 hours into the account one month to fix his rankings since he's paid you for those "hours" already.