Page 3 - Salary question

I'm a little bit like you. I want to launch my own sites but am so busy with existing clients that I haven't taken the time or risk to do it. Working strictly on an hourly basis without long-term agreements, sites I created have, so far, generated more than $35M in sales for my clients.

Meanwhile I've been hobbling along billing clients by the hour. It kinda hurts to know that even a 5% commission would have been nearly $2M for me. I'm starting to do monthly billing, rather than working by the hour, and wanting to do some speculative work beyond existing clients. The problem is this: I need a product to sell! A lot of clever SEO doesn't do much good without a product to generate revenue. I'm not sure where to start.

Andrew A

We take a direct comission on sales from the companies we work for, but it's still a very hard business. The nice part is knowing that it can pay off in the end, and that your success will directly translate to financial compensation. The incentive system makes for very efficient, high quality workers

i feel your pain about the salary. i too work for an SEO company and feel like i am underpaid for the 'value' of my services. however, i am a hard worker and love the people i work with. i am a firm believer of karma, and feel very strongly about 'what goes around comes around'. life tends to work itself out in the end. (sometimes you have to do something about it yourself though)

While I have only been really working at SEO since last November, I have seen tremendous results in a short time period. I entered into a deal with someone last November for a flat fee per month plus 5% of sales. 5% is the base and it increases based on performance. I have went from $0 USD to $2000 - $2500 USD per month in five months. I do this on the side at night.
If you have had success in launching this company's Internet biz, then you should get a fair share of their pie.........or somone else's pie.

My salary is: 200 USD/month . Any body here can get me with more salary? ^.^

I don't mind percentages as long as I have enough steady monthly income to cover basic expenses. That revenue can be generated by web hosting or some type of monthly subscription services.

I'm considering the possibility of getting about 20 local small biz clients who just want to have me maintain their PPC campaigns. Most established business owners want reliable web traffic numbers without spending a lot of time. Our local phone company is selling sites with "guaranteed traffic" now. At 30 clicks per month they charge $70/month. For $400/month they provide a 5 page template site with a "guarantee" of 170 monthly clicks. Of course, they make no mention about whether the "clicks" are even qualified for the keyword. The traffic could be from the phone company's own call center in India.

I haven't completely decided how much to charge for the service of maintaining a PPC campaign. With 20 small clients paying an average monthly fee of $50 depending upon the number of k/w targets, that's an extra $1,000 per month. (Clients pay own PPC charges.) It won't make me rich, but since I'm already monitoring a couple hundred keywords anyway, adding a couple hundred words shouldn't take too much effort. I'm guessing an average of 1 to 1.5 hrs per day 5 days per week for 20 clients targeting 15 k/w each. The bonus is that many of those clients may buy other services beyond merely setting bids & running reports. Other costs: 1) Finding the clients takes time, 2) keeping clients takes time, 3) collections.

Andrew A

Kind of sobering isnt' it. If one can actually promote and optimize a page for page 1 performance then one deserves a piece of the pie. If you are basically selling yourself and your talents for a price then it's your own fault. If you aren't very good at SEO, then you are better off taking the safe bet of a fixed fee. Personally, IF I were to hire an exteranl SEO, I wouldn't hire any SEO that was willing to take a fixed fee. It would make me question their abilities.

Randfish has it right; get a piece, you get them listed and ranked, they get more business, you get paid and they do the work they do best. Everyone wins. Anyone that is getting paid by the hour for this kind of work either REALLY loves serving someone else or may not have what it takes...

I didn't read all the responses... just thought I would share a progresssive way to get what you wish without risking too much.

Highsight is everything - had you known the potential in advantage you would have developed terms based on risk leveraging [you know your capabilities, they don't so you are willing to accept greater upfront risk and gain greater returns].

However, the key word in "risk".

Over the years I have switched business models to leverage my "known" [to me only] knowledge, skills, and experience to benefit me in greater "future" return.

While you shouldn't do this "if" the development was more based on luck than ability - however - if you are confident in your ability to replicate - stay with the firm for a fixed period and then walk away... it doesn't take long for success to disappear when no one of knowledge is at the helm and competitiveness continues to grow.

Often the outcome is - "can you help us again"?

Now you are in the driver seat - well yes - but it needs to be worth my while - what it $100K a month [or more] worth to you?

If peanuts - well I know a firm [XYZ company and their closest competitor that will pay this $$$$$]?

Care to deal?

I run fixed length contracts - not to guarentee income but to dump the bottom feeders - so I can acquire more lucrative ones:

Progressively over the years:

Started with $250/month

at years end - re-negotiated for $500/month - some stayed some went and acquired new ones at the new going rate

at years end - re-negotiated for $1000/month - some stayed some went and acquired new ones at the new going rate

at years end - re-negotiated for $2000/month - some stayed some went and acquired new ones at the new going rate

at years end - re-negotiated for $3000/month - some stayed some went and acquired new ones at the new going rate

At this time - the most lucrative contracts are 100% commission on sales - and no limit.

Risk leveraging - offers substantial rewards.