38 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
38 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Can I (or anyone else) really get paid for monthly SEO?

by Andrea Rillo
31 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi all,
I am following this section of the forum since some months.
I have some basic seo experience and I'm improving my SEO skills daily but I have a doubt.
Can we really get a contract with a company to do SEO for them when there is actually no guarantees that we could get them in first position?

I mean, correct me if I'm wrong but it's hard or almost near impossible to determine when their website will get ranked on first position of google (or even second and third and so on).

There's the ban risk, the not-guaranteed ROI, and so on.
What's your strategy while doing SEO for companies?
I was thinking about 2 strategies :

Strategy A) A money back guarantee of 3 months.( I was planning on getting monthly payments for it)
Like, I try to do my best with SEO and ranking their website up the google search engine.
If I won't get the excepted results in 3 months I will give them money back.

Strategy B) I rank my own sites (for example : would I like to send leads to a wedding planner or rent him my website? rank on top with weddingplannermycity.com).
This last strategy would be less risky and more sustainable in my opinion but I really would love the opinion of a great community such as this.

Thank you in advance for the advices.
Andrea
#monthly #paid #seo
  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    Without fully knowing what you are doing, do not even think about touching the website of a real business. You can do serious damage to their site that they will never be able to recover from.

    If you are going to do anything, go with the second option so you don't mess with someone's business.

    Too many people think they can read a few forums and run out offering SEO to people. Rank your own stuff. Prove you can do it over and over again. Then maybe, maybe think about doing SEO work for someone else.
    Signature

    For SEO news, discussions, tactics, and more.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9615484].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Andrea Rillo
      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      Without fully knowing what you are doing, do not even think about touching the website of a real business. You can do serious damage to their site that they will never be able to recover from.

      If you are going to do anything, go with the second option so you don't mess with someone's business.

      Too many people think they can read a few forums and run out offering SEO to people. Rank your own stuff. Prove you can do it over and over again. Then maybe, maybe think about doing SEO work for someone else.
      I'm actually just doing web design+ basic seo+ ppc campaign and so on for my customers. I'm not doing SEO professionally yet but already done the basics on websites that I have already developed for some companies.
      Anyway I think that even the "most experts" can't do magic while talking to SEO.
      What I think is that it's not a safe way to do business, etc.. These are my main doubts.
      I have the fear that even if I study alot on SEO and become what could be called "an expert" , I would get no far away from where I am as results.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9615493].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author altesino
        Sounds like your main gig is web design. If you are good at that, I'd focus on that side and getting new clients. Web designers are at a great point in the buying cycle of online marketing. These people need a website, hosting, SEO, etc.

        Partner up with someone to offer SEO services. You'd get a cut with a lot less effort and that let's you focus on your strength.
        Signature
        PBN links available: Many niches & each domain only has 10 OBL.
        PM to Guest post on Buzzfeed style 5 year old site. DA 38 / PR 4 / 300+ linking domains.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9615502].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Joshnano
          Originally Posted by altesino View Post

          Sounds like your main gig is web design. If you are good at that, I'd focus on that side and getting new clients. Web designers are at a great point in the buying cycle of online marketing. These people need a website, hosting, SEO, etc.

          Partner up with someone to offer SEO services. You'd get a cut with a lot less effort and that let's you focus on your strength.
          You wouldn't believe the amount of east Indian SEO companies I get daily sending me their price packages trying to get me to buy from them. I'm surprised as well: their English and grammar is great for English not being their native tongue.
          Signature
          Learn How To Make Money Online & Learn SEO, Web 2.0, Marketing Strategies, Social Media, Content Creation & Much Much More! Offering SEO Services very soon! Visit us below:
          http://www.markethydra.com
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9615819].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Kevin Maguire
        Originally Posted by Terminator3018 View Post

        I'm actually just doing web design+ basic seo+ ppc campaign and so on for my customers. I'm not doing SEO professionally yet but already done the basics on websites that I have already developed for some companies.
        Anyway I think that even the "most experts" can't do magic while talking to SEO.
        What I think is that it's not a safe way to do business, etc.. These are my main doubts.
        I have the fear that even if I study alot on SEO and become what could be called "an expert" , I would get no far away from where I am as results.
        You have a better understanding then you think.

        Reading forums will mainly rot your mind.

        Try reading posts from forums instead. Follow members who you feel know what they're talking about.

        Just never forget, you're in the world of dreams and sparkles. Don't be blinded by the lights.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9617072].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Andrea Rillo
          Originally Posted by Kevin Maguire View Post

          You have a better understanding then you think.

          Reading forums will mainly rot your mind.

          Try reading posts from forums instead. Follow members who you feel know what they're talking about.

          Just never forget, you're in the world of dreams and sparkles. Don't be blinded by the lights.
          Thank you. I was feeling like guilty of thinking in this kind of way. I'm never pessimistic but I'm also a realist. I never took money if I wasn't sure that I would have done a good job. I think I will go for strategy B at the moment and think for strategy A only in case the keywords are with a really low competition.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9617089].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
            Originally Posted by Terminator3018 View Post

            Thank you. I was feeling like guilty of thinking in this kind of way. I'm never pessimistic but I'm also a realist. I never took money if I wasn't sure that I would have done a good job
            Dude you just shot ahead of a pile of people presently offering SEO with that attitude so I see no reason why you could not be good if you apply yourself within months. I'll disagree with some others - you are fine thinking about offering SEO as a business just as long as for now you just concentrate on preparing.

            I get people refer to me as a guru sometimes (in a good and bad way as if I claimed the title) but the truth is there are no gurus in SEO or in ANYTHING related to internet marketing. I've been reading a lot of people recently who act like they have something to offer that no one else or group can.

            Its all garbage. SEO or IM is not rocket science. Its not even as difficult as coding or programming.

            As for guaranteeing top three? Yes you can. If you go after multiple keywords and do competition research right you can and will hit top three for even one. The problem in the market now is that customers are doing the work of SEO by telling them what terms to go after when in real business SEo its the job of the SEO to go after the right keywords to bring the customer traffic.

            Most business customers are not like people on WF - they do not give a fig leaf about ranking number one. They care about traffic. IF you took 12-20 terms and none of them hit 3 but they got hundreds of customers they never had before they will still love you for life
            Signature

            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9618262].message }}
            • Profile picture of the author nik0
              Banned
              Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

              Most business customers are not like people on WF - they do not give a fig leaf about ranking number one. They care about traffic. IF you took 12-20 terms and none of them hit 3 but they got hundreds of customers they never had before they will still love you for life
              Good example, I've had plenty of clients switch providers despite sending 100's of visitors a day, but just because they weren't ranking in the top 3 for their main keywords. Screw that.

              I'm not even focusing on new clients anymore, just maintaining what I have and building sites for myself. Way more profitable.

              If I see how much one of my affiliate clients makes per month and how much he sends me each month, probably 1/5th, then reduce that amount by 50 percent that covers my margin and other costs like advertising, hosting, domain renewals and it comes down that I make only 10 percent of what they make. And that's based on affiliate marketing with crappy 7-8 percent commissions.

              Then there are probably even better methods out there like CPA that makes it even more lucrative, though never tried.

              Only benefit is that doing SEO for clients provides a more stable income but at the cost of what.
              {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9618276].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Neiltrino3
      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      Without fully knowing what you are doing, do not even think about touching the website of a real business. You can do serious damage to their site that they will never be able to recover from.

      If you are going to do anything, go with the second option so you don't mess with someone's business.

      Too many people think they can read a few forums and run out offering SEO to people. Rank your own stuff. Prove you can do it over and over again. Then maybe, maybe think about doing SEO work for someone else.
      Totally agree with Mike on this.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9621660].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author altesino
    Originally Posted by Terminator3018 View Post

    Hi all,
    I am following this section of the forum since some months.
    I have some basic seo experience and I'm improving my SEO skills daily but I have a doubt.
    I think you already know is no. If you have to ask you shouldn't. Your best bet is to keep learning and working on your own assets. If you are successful, that will be a great case study for perspective clients.
    Best of Luck
    Chris
    Signature
    PBN links available: Many niches & each domain only has 10 OBL.
    PM to Guest post on Buzzfeed style 5 year old site. DA 38 / PR 4 / 300+ linking domains.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9615491].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author DPM70
      Originally Posted by altesino View Post

      I think you already know is no. If you have to ask you shouldn't. Your best bet is to keep learning and working on your own assets. If you are successful, that will be a great case study for perspective clients.
      Best of Luck
      Chris
      You mean prospective, right?
      Signature
      I don't build in order to have clients. I have clients in order to build. - Ayn Rand
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9623983].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
    From your questions you aren't an SEO expert in any way, you shouldn't be offering an SEO service at this point in time you could cause serious harm to a businesses livelihood!!!

    You don't even know the basics like no one can guarantee any SERP other than super easy worthless SERPs. I can gaurantee to rank a site for "Why SEO Consultants Prefer Chips to Fries", but no one can guarantee a SERP like "Wedding Planner".

    3 months of SEO is nothing, SEO is long term you are looking at a year plus unless the sites on-page SEO is so dire fixing the on-site problems will result in major improvements. For the most part you'll be dealing with small to medium sized businesses and though there is a tendency for poor on-page SEO with most business websites it's backlinks they are seriously lacking.

    David
    Signature
    Freelance SEO Consultant
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9615594].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Andrea Rillo
      Originally Posted by Stalliontheme View Post

      From your questions you aren't an SEO expert in any way, you shouldn't be offering an SEO service at this point in time you could cause serious harm to a businesses livelihood!!!

      You don't even know the basics like no one can guarantee any SERP other than super easy worthless SERPs. I can gaurantee to rank a site for "Why SEO Consultants Prefer Chips to Fries", but no one can guarantee a SERP like "Wedding Planner".

      3 months of SEO is nothing, SEO is long term you are looking at a year plus unless the sites on-page SEO is so dire fixing the on-site problems will result in major improvements. For the most part you'll be dealing with small to medium sized businesses and though there is a tendency for poor on-page SEO with most business websites it's backlinks they are seriously lacking.

      David
      Exactly. As I wrote before I am aboslutely not an expert and I wasn't even considering myself one.
      I have experiences of getting in the first page of google on the #1 with low competitive keywords. Anyway I solved my doubts but a question still remains.

      How can you propose a company to pay you monthly for SEO (which as you wrote could take even up 1 year) if at the end of the year there's no even guarantees that you will get on page 1 at #1? Plus as someone said after your post, the conversation rate may vary.
      Thank you for the answers.
      Andrea
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9616069].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
        Originally Posted by Terminator3018 View Post

        How can you propose a company to pay you monthly for SEO (which as you wrote could take even up 1 year) if at the end of the year there's no even guarantees that you will get on page 1 at #1? Plus as someone said after your post, the conversation rate may vary.
        Thank you for the answers.
        Andrea
        I offered SEO services for over 10 years, one of the reasons I shut my SEO business down was how long it takes to rank (not the main reason, that is health issues: working as an SEO consultant is a 365 days a year job).

        When I first started offering SEO services within a few months a client would see a ROI, but by 2010 it was taking 9+ months for serious ROI and unless you are willing to lie/mislead potential clients you'll scare most off with the truth at the SEO quote stage.

        Pay me $3,000 a month retainer fee and in 9 months to a year we should see some good rankings though not guaranteed, if not, tough, that's SEO for you :-)

        Gets tiring explaining over and over again what we do today off-site won't show rewards for maybe a year. People are so impatient, add money into the mix and!!!

        Google has done a really good job making SEO harder, I put it mostly down to a link benefit delay. Seems to take about a year for new links to pass full SEO benefit, 5+ years ago it was 3 months.

        Since links are related to trust/authority it's like being kneecapped as an SEO working on a new project.

        Good luck :-)

        David
        Signature
        Freelance SEO Consultant
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9617496].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Kevin Maguire
          Originally Posted by Stalliontheme View Post

          I offered SEO services for over 10 years, one of the reasons I shut my SEO business down was how long it takes to rank (not the main reason, that is health issues: working as an SEO consultant is a 365 days a year job).

          When I first started offering SEO services within a few months a client would see a ROI, but by 2010 it was taking 9+ months for serious ROI and unless you are willing to lie/mislead potential clients you'll scare most off with the truth at the SEO quote stage.

          Pay me $3,000 a month retainer fee and in 9 months to a year we should see some good rankings though not guaranteed, if not, tough, that's SEO for you :-)

          Gets tiring explaining over and over again what we do today off-site won't show rewards for maybe a year. People are so impatient, add money into the mix and!!!

          Google has done a really good job making SEO harder, I put it mostly down to a link benefit delay. Seems to take about a year for new links to pass full SEO benefit, 5+ years ago it was 3 months.

          Since links are related to trust/authority it's like being kneecapped as an SEO working on a new project.

          Good luck :-)

          David
          Sorry to offend, but that entire post along with a few others you recently posted.

          The only useful info I have taken from it is personal info about yourself. But not in a very good light.

          From what you have said. I would say you have as much experience ranking a page, then the man in the Moon.

          If anything I would say, it's you who might need some SEO consulting. And you're wondering which part I find "misinformed", pretty much every point you made about ranking. The misleading part is all of the self promotion, pure pie in the sky figures, numbers, times.

          It sounds like something you read in a WSO.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9617906].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author nik0
          Banned
          Originally Posted by Stalliontheme View Post

          I offered SEO services for over 10 years, one of the reasons I shut my SEO business down was how long it takes to rank (not the main reason, that is health issues: working as an SEO consultant is a 365 days a year job).

          When I first started offering SEO services within a few months a client would see a ROI, but by 2010 it was taking 9+ months for serious ROI and unless you are willing to lie/mislead potential clients you'll scare most off with the truth at the SEO quote stage.

          Pay me $3,000 a month retainer fee and in 9 months to a year we should see some good rankings though not guaranteed, if not, tough, that's SEO for you :-)

          Gets tiring explaining over and over again what we do today off-site won't show rewards for maybe a year. People are so impatient, add money into the mix and!!!

          Google has done a really good job making SEO harder, I put it mostly down to a link benefit delay. Seems to take about a year for new links to pass full SEO benefit, 5+ years ago it was 3 months.

          Since links are related to trust/authority it's like being kneecapped as an SEO working on a new project.

          Good luck :-)

          David
          A year for new lnks to pass full SEO benefit? Tjing lor?? or in English: REALLY????

          Yes Google doesn't seem to assign the full value right away, I see plenty of clients that keep on climbing even when we don't add new links, but the initial boost, which is good for let's say 50-80 percent, just to name something, will happen 9 out of 10 times within weeks or sometimes even within days.

          So what excuses are you making up for yourself.

          I bet you suck pretty much at SEO if it takes you 1 year and maintaining that crap by telling yourself fables.

          For the record, as long as the quality of the site is decent, structure wise and such, and the links have strength then it takes about 4-5 months to see the full effect of it, and that is without using a single anchor text. When adding exact anchors for money keywords the process is faster (say 2-3 months). Probably there are people who can do it even faster, but saying 1 year is beyond ridiculous.

          Ever figured the links you build might have close to zero strength and the reason the clients went up after 1 year is cause Google launched some update that negatively affected a lot of your competitors and thus your client went up, as for each that go's down others go up.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9618050].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
            Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

            A year for new lnks to pass full SEO benefit? Tjing lor?? or in English: REALLY????

            Yes Google doesn't seem to assign the full value right away, I see plenty of clients that keep on climbing even when we don't add new links, but the initial boost, which is good for let's say 50-80 percent, just to name something, will happen 9 out of 10 times within weeks or sometimes even within days.

            So what excuses are you making up for yourself.

            I bet you suck pretty much at SEO if it takes you 1 year and maintaining that crap by telling yourself fables.

            For the record, as long as the quality of the site is decent, structure wise and such, and the links have strength then it takes about 4-5 months to see the full effect of it, and that is without using a single anchor text. When adding exact anchors for money keywords the process is faster (say 2-3 months). Probably there are people who can do it even faster, but saying 1 year is beyond ridiculous.

            Ever figured the links you build might have close to zero strength and the reason the clients went up after 1 year is cause Google launched some update that negatively affected a lot of your competitors and thus your client went up, as for each that go's down others go up.
            Why the negativity???

            So you think
            50-80% of the link benefit within days or weeks.
            Full strength in 4-5 months.

            That doesn't make a great deal of sense. If Google passes up to 80% of the SEO benefit in days, why would it take 4-5 months for the remaining 20%?

            How long you been doing SEO? It's never been a case of links pass decent SEO benefit in days, even in the early 2000's when links where EVERYTHING it was still months.

            I don't think I'll waste my time with you.

            Though if you can achieve this level of success in days, where is your proof? As a link builder you must be ranked for top 10 SERPs like

            Cheap Text Links
            Buy Cheap Text Links
            Niche Text Links
            Themed Text Links
            Gain Text Links
            Text Links from Directories
            Text Link Brokers
            Text Link Brokers Review

            Oh, my mistake that's my site ranking top 10 for those SERPs and I don't even sell links or offer SEO services.

            Consider most businesses looking for an SEO consultant aren't after easy SERPs that can be achieved in weeks/months, they are after competitive SERPs which takes serious off-site SEO not a bunch of low quality crap backlinks many link sellers acquire. If a site is targeting competitive SERPs even building high quality backlinks can take over a year to rank for even semi-competitive SERPs (most of the SERPs above are semi-competitive at best, none are highly competitive).

            Buy Cheap Text Links isn't even semi-competitive, why not use your skills and rank for it in a few days and put me in my place.

            David
            Signature
            Freelance SEO Consultant
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9618162].message }}
            • Profile picture of the author nik0
              Banned
              Originally Posted by Stalliontheme View Post

              So you think
              50-80% of the link benefit within days or weeks.
              Full strength in 4-5 months.

              That doesn't make a great deal of sense. If Google passes up to 80% of the SEO benefit in days, why would it take 4-5 months for the remaining 20%?

              How long you been doing SEO? It's never been a case of links pass decent SEO benefit in days, even in the early 2000's when links where EVERYTHING it was still months.

              Consider most businesses looking for an SEO consultant aren't after easy SERPs that can be achieved in weeks/months, they are after competitive SERPs which takes serious off-site SEO not a bunch of low quality crap backlinks many link sellers acquire. If a site is targeting competitive SERPs even building high quality backlinks can take over a year to rank for even semi-competitive SERPs (most of the SERPs above are semi-competitive at best, none are highly competitive).

              Buy Cheap Text Links isn't even semi-competitive, why not use your skills and rank for it in a few days and put me in my place.

              David
              Maybe it's closer to 50 percent, afterall it becomes more steep the higher you get, but it definitely does not take 9 months to 1 year, that's the point I made.

              I'm doing SEO for 4 years now and my first site ranked for a semi competitive keywords at #2 within 3 days (back then it was pure spam that drove the rankings).

              Sorry I don't show proof of rankings, as it makes no sense to out my network in such way, I do rank for quite a few similar keywords, never used those anchors but it's in the domain name and someone offered that a while ago. Anyway what sense does it make to show a keyword that anyone can rank.

              Want to see proof? Buy my service and you'll see same like with any other customer.

              As for low competition clients, I charge $149/month so I wouldn't expect people to come up with keywords like "life insurance quotes"

              Since May this year there seems to be a bit of a hold on rankings for new sites, it's openly being discussed on multiple forums so ranking a keyword in days seems to involve a certain bit of luck.

              ps: If I can't show something within weeks most clients cancel already, and they do expect to rank at the top in 4-5 months and most of the time that's achievable, even with such small budgets.
              {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9618219].message }}
              • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
                Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

                Want to see proof? Buy my service and you'll see same like with any other customer.

                As for low competition clients, I charge $149/month so I wouldn't expect people to come up with keywords like "life insurance quotes"
                I'll pass thanks, no interest in services that can only target easy long tail keyword SERPs that can be gained in days.

                If I were paying for monthly links, it would be for competitive SERPs, those take serious effort.

                David
                Signature
                Freelance SEO Consultant
                {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9618650].message }}
                • Profile picture of the author Andrea Rillo
                  Originally Posted by Stalliontheme View Post

                  I'll pass thanks, no interest in services that can only target easy long tail keyword SERPs that can be gained in days.

                  If I were paying for monthly links, it would be for competitive SERPs, those take serious effort.

                  David
                  In my opinion a customer should be charged monthly for the result it gets instead of the effort that you take to do your job. I mean if he's smart enough to understand which are the best keyword with good volumes and low competition and he let customers pay for that, I'm fine with this.
                  I mean what's important for customers are results, not being ranked with a "shiny" keyword(which takes much more effort).

                  Anyway thank you all guys for the big and great advices. I really mean it.
                  Thank you too David. You all made me clear alot of doubts. You are great!
                  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9618691].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author nik0
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Terminator3018 View Post

        How can you propose a company to pay you monthly for SEO (which as you wrote could take even up 1 year) if at the end of the year there's no even guarantees that you will get on page 1 at #1?
        If you do a fine job the ROI from search engine traffic should far exceed what people get from other methods like PPC and other forms of paid traffic.

        It's all about risk/reward ratio's.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9618071].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author st0nec0ld
    SEO is a puzzle and a continuous learning process. If you do have a full knowledge about SEO then it can be very complicated and risky especially if you intend to do it for services.

    Plus, even if you rank on the first page of SERP it will not give you an assurance that you will get leads or conversions, that's a fact; conversion and leads is more on internet marketing and not seo specifically.
    Signature

    12BET | Live Casino Malaysia

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9615803].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author GyuMan82
    Like any sort of advertising nothing is guaranteed. Businesses that understand SEO know that there are no guarantees and fluctuations can occur.

    The important part is your credibility. If you build up a good reputation by doing good work and being honest, you won't have any problems with people hiring you.

    If you do good work, you'll make your clients money, and then people will go out of their way to find you.
    Signature
    Learn To Blog Like The Pros. No Experience Necessary!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9617509].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author RafaelPratt
    Originally Posted by Terminator3018 View Post

    I mean, correct me if I'm wrong but it's hard or almost near impossible to determine when their website will get ranked on first position of google (or even second and third and so on).
    You're quite right about this. With the latest Google Penguin refresh just released (and the upcoming updates and refreshes), It's hard to determine if the strategies that once worked would still do as good as they did before.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9618057].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Seymour
    I'd go with B if you aren't fully into offpage work. Be sure you dont touch the client's site when it comes of link building if you aren't completely sure. It's just etiquette.


    Since you already do web design, you can hone your skills in onpage SEO and technical improvements. There's a constant need for those so you can charge a retainer.

    You could offer that on the side when you quote for a web design project. Usually, it's good enough to get some visibility.

    Partner with someone to do your offpage work then get a commission or a recurring cut.


    Then once you are ready to offer your own full seo service, preferrably with your own team, offer another package to complete it.

    ROI wise, you can calculate by estimating the traffic he gets and the value Google assigns to the keyword. Assuming that he ranks on the front page, at a certain spot, you can calculate the ROI per keyword (there's a study on % of clicks based on the position in the serps out there somewhere) and add that together with how many keywords you want to commit work on.

    With your experience in SEO by then, you can estimate the time to get to that position, say, page 1 at position #3, then base your proposal with that in mind.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9618136].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author JohnnyPlan
    No one can really guarantee a spot on Google, but many do and are good enough at this scam to convince others they can do the job long enough to get paid. And, most companies will fall for the guarantee a few months as they have spendable cash lying around to pay any 'expert' they want. And, once they realize what's going on, the person who they are contracting with has folded up their tent and moved to a new town of new companies to find someone else to scam.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9618718].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author kbrady
    In my experience as an offline marketers, businesses these days are extremely wary of anyone promising Page One rankings. Most of them have been burned by SEO companies offering the moon and under delivering.

    So I have concentrated on services that are much easier to deliver such as mobile websites, reputation marketing, website design, social media marketing, etc. However I do have some SEO clients still and so yes, I guess the answer to your question is that some companies still do pay for SEO. Not the easiest way to make a buck though.
    Signature
    *** Check out my Daily WSO Reviews and my own online journey at IMProfitsHub.com ***
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9622197].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Andrea Rillo
      Originally Posted by kbrady View Post

      In my experience as an offline marketers, businesses these days are extremely wary of anyone promising Page One rankings. Most of them have been burned by SEO companies offering the moon and under delivering.

      So I have concentrated on services that are much easier to deliver such as mobile websites, reputation marketing, website design, social media marketing, etc. However I do have some SEO clients still and so yes, I guess the answer to your question is that some companies still do pay for SEO. Not the easiest way to make a buck though.
      That was not my question.
      My question was about if the "bucks" taken was always worth something and how do others tell to the customers that they have to pay monthly even if the SEO "experts" doesn't have any guarantee.

      Thank you anyway for your answer.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9622253].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    What's all this talk about guarantees?

    Does an Indy car pit crew guarantee the driver will win a race? Looks like an easy way to go broke.

    All you can do is guarantee you'll do the best work to your ability. With that being said, hopefully you've already ranked 100s of your own pages/keywords & know what you're doing.

    If needed you can document your work to show a client but that can be very time consuming so factor that into the cost for the project.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9622312].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author GyuMan82
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      What's all this talk about guarantees?

      Does an Indy car pit crew guarantee the driver will win a race? Looks like an easy way to go broke.

      All you can do is guarantee you'll do the best work to your ability. With that being said, hopefully you've already ranked 100s of your own pages/keywords & know what you're doing.

      If needed you can document your work to show a client but that can be very time consuming so factor that into the cost for the project.
      This.

      Whenever I see "money back guarantee" for SEO I interpret it as "Ok send me money, and I'll try to hack it for a few months and see what happens. If I don't get results I'll give you back your money (maybe?) and your penalized website".

      For the most part SEOs providing money back guarantees have to do so because they have no skill or track record of success.

      Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but I think most businesses who know a little SEO are pretty wary of guarantees as they know most "legit" companies do not offer them.

      It sounds counter intuitive, but usually money back guarantees are a bad sign when it comes to SEO.
      Signature
      Learn To Blog Like The Pros. No Experience Necessary!
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9622346].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Kevin Maguire
    The strange thing about this industry is, I think most SEO services look at the industry the wrong way. The real key to being the perfect SEO service provider is not the ability to rank the site. You only need not to tank the site. And that's a really easy thing to do if you ask me.

    You just need to be a little less greedy, and a lot more honest with your clients. They're adults, they might understand the current state of play with Googles actions.

    Greed is another story, not all are guilty of and they do stand out among us. The mark ups I see on most of these services is scandalous. I've seen people selling link packages that I'd done myself would have a 1000%+ profit margin. What kind of service makes that margin. Selling and re-selling and re-selling piles of worthless dunghole.

    The prices I charged where quite high, but my mark up was never higher than an average salary. 10-20% on a good day. I thought that's how it should be. Fair.

    I work for myself now, but I've had some decent clients in the past. But the SEO that they are doing, is hard to even call SEO. It's evolved more into an online asset management system. SEO's need to start educating their clients toward proper investment, development and protection of their assets. Anyone who doesn't get on the bus soon, if fear will fade.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9622553].message }}

Trending Topics