Rates for Freelancing

I've been doing SEO on & off for a few years now, but it's either been for myself or for a company I was working for. So, I've never been in control of pricing.

Now I've got my own freelance gig going on & it looks like I'm about to engage in a fairly extensive SEO project with an established corporation. So, what should I be saying when it comes down to discussing terms of engagement & pricing & all of that?

We're going to do the whole nine on this project, likely -- optimizing site architecture & content, working on getting some high quality links, etc. -- likely for a period of at least a few months.

It all depends.

How much, in terms of results, can you bring to the table to demand a high price? If this company gave you your first freelance SEO gig they might be expecting low rates.

It really depends on what you think your time is worth. A big dog SEO is always in demand so they can demand high hourly or monthly rates.

If it is a revenue based site you will be working on the best plan of action might be to ask for compensation based on a % of the revenue. Thus you get paid on results, but you could see income well into the future from this.

As dsnyder said, it all depends... but let's say for discussion that you are able to create a significant positive cash flow for any client that never had access to all that new money...

What is that worth?

Honestly it's all up to you because you are the only one able to sell yourself.

If you can only sell yourself as a discount service provider $1000 or less...

A regular service provider $2K - $30K. obviously there is a huge difference between 2,000 dollars and 30 thousand but the service package aids to determine that.

A premium service provider $30K - $100K... obviously to sell at this level you need more than a smooth sales pitch...

...but again no matter what - what level can you sell at?

If you need bargain prices to close the deal... you'll never be a regular or premium provider... and no one can really tell you what level you can sell at.

I do not do SEO for other but i used to do lot of consulting work. I based my charges on the following basic formula.

1) what you want per hour x the amount of hours you expect to work on the project (or per week)

2) What I expect to pay subcontractors plus a markup on their services.

3) a bonus system based on pre agreed perfomance criteria

4) add at least 50% to this as everything allways takes longer than you think.

best of luck

thx for the feedback, everybody.

the client is NOT an online store rather a business services provider trying to carve out a niche a niche for themselves in a developing market area.

my role in the project will be primarily consultation & coordination. i can code myself, so i don't think sub-contractors will be an issue.

they currently view their website as a place to post information so people who are already aware of their business can learn more about what they do. i want to totally turn that around for them so the website becomes a source of new leads for them & the sales team can worry less about cold calling new clients and concentrate instead on closing deals with already interested parties.

i was thinking of selling them on a 6 month engagement @ $1,000 - $1,500 per month. i like my time to be compensated at $40-50/hr, so worst case scenario that's decent compensation for about 25 hrs/month. or am I selling myself short?

i've gotten results doing this before. at the company i worked for a couple of years ago, my SEO campaign brought them to page 1 on Google results (from about pg 35) for the buzz-term in that industry (customer data integration), and right before the company was acquired by IBM (thus making my job redundant) they signed a multi-million dollar deal with one of the top 25 banks on the US who came to us through the website when they were researching that particular term.

if i can have a similar result this time around, i don't think $9,000 for the total package would be that outrageous.

any thoughts?

Just a couple of things to consider 1) subcontracting can include link building services (going rate around $8 to $10 per link).
2) What budget will they give you for the other things you need to pay for ie directory submission.
3) Include a decnt bonus structure that rewards your efforts ie can be linked to pre agreed perfomance criteria.

best of luck

some time it depends on your efforts and site that how much time you are going to spend over particular site for clients.