Telephone consultation

I'm toying with the idea of providing telephone consultation specific to company/individuals website.

There are imo 2 ways to do this. I could have a 'premium' number where it costs say a dollar+ a minute (of which minus charges I'd probably end up with 80 cents per minute.) Or use say a paypal account and charge an rate of $100 per consultation for up to an hour. I think there is market for it as many webmasters have a good idea but want reassurance or want specific advice on a single seo issue rather than have me optimize the site in total.

The advantages of a premium number is that I dont have to worry about the backoffice/payment side of things. And it is far less hassle for a client than first paymewnt then consultation. The disadvantages are however that there is a limit you can charge per minute realistically and I may just end up with loads of 5 minute calls. Also it wopuld have be to be local as in Germany for instance it would be a 0190 number which wouldnt be function for all those calling from the states or UK for example.

The advantages of say a paypal prepayment for an hours telephone consultation is that I am guaranteed a minimum of say $100 for a consultation and anyone in the world can make a call. Although I dont officially offer this service yet I have already done a telephone consultation through a paypal payment as described above.

I'm interested on thoughts as to whether this would make sense either / both of the above to offer to clients on my website and promote.

Alan

Good idea, but you can get any phone number through IPvoip.

Some companies that offer this is www.vonage.com and many others.

i would probably charge on a plan basis:

X min = X dollars
Y min = Y dollars

etc.

Not quite what you are looking for, but have you seen www.keen.com?

Good idea, but go for option X, $100 call. That is the miniumum to make it worthwhile. $4 for a 5 minute call is just a hassle, but $!00 for a call is a great idea!!!

Thanks for your feedback. I've checked out the sites and they all seem to need registration and I dont think my German potential clients are going to have much joy with the systems. I agree with you project that it has to really be min $100 per call. Otherwise I would be hassled all day for 5 minute calls as you say.

Its just the payment side I need to sort out really. paypal or some kind of creditcard clearance is the answer I think. Although in Germany a low percentage of the population has a credit card, I'd probably need to accept other payment forms as well.

Alan,

Go with verisign Payflow, you can accept all sorts of credit cards (huge in the USA) and e-checks, etc.

Plus you can integrate it directly into your Web site. They have awesome tools and I use them on all my upper class e-commerce sites.

http://www.verisign.com/products/pa...processing.html

Pro is the best, but you might not need it.

Thanks for that Rusty,
I'll look into it.

Hello Webby,

Consider an option such as below for $200-$300....

1) client emails you a URL along with a statement of his / her goals for a site.

2) you spend one hour assessing the site and gathering a list if recommendations

3) client calls you on phone and you spend up to one hour in a discussion of the site and the reccommendations that you have developed

4) when the call concludes the client has learned a few things and has a "to do" list of improvements for the site.


Footnotes:.... I have had a couple consultations like this with pro SEOs and the ROI has been very high. Webby did one of these consultations with me when I was remodeling a site and he did a super job - helped me get the code into tip top shape. :-P

At the time of our consultation I had already optimized the site based upon lots of reading, experimentation, studing successful sites and previous SEO consults. Webby still had lots of improvement ideas and gave me a big "to do" list during the call. I moved up in the SERPs while reaching for more keywords.

In my opinion, this was a much better option than the $100/hour consult. Reason - the SEO gets to hear what you want and think about it while he / she explores the site and determines where help can best be given.

Anyone interested in improving their site should think about how doing just one thing better could improve their bottom line. You can spend lots of time experimenting again and again and again, waiting for your changes to show in the SERPs every time .... or you can get pro assistance by spending a little money. Which one of those is cheaper?

Ending on a humorous note.... when I called Webby (who is in Germany) I worried about being able to understand his German accent and unfamiliar words like suchmaschinenoptimierung that he might throw at me.... but then I found out that he speaks perfect English!

EGOL, I use the to-do list concepts and the followup phone call for consultations often. Sometimes in person as well. Price is based on hours worked. But it is cheap relative to doing the code work.

I think that is a good concept Rusty, especially if you can spell out the top three changes so the client has priorities.

I probably know enough about SEO that I could go into the business but... I also realize that I can learn important things from almost anyone. For that reason, I would like to get the two hour site review / consultation from several SEOs.... I think that my site would be hard to beat after that kind of tune-up.

I am not too far from you Rusty, maybe I'll come in someday for the face-to-face consult. I've enjoyed using your seocount service.

Thanks.

You might want to attend the Search Engine Strategies Conference in Chicago this December.

I am sure it will be very informative.

I will be there and I might speak at the conference.

I will like to meet you one day!

I would like to attend one of those SE Conferences some day. Unfortunately, I am already attending a meeting in Reno that is back-to-back with this one.

What will you be speaking on?

Do you attend these meetings regularly and find them informative - with things that are not discussed by members of this forum?

Maybe the Toronto or San Jose meetings will work for me.

I do not know if I am speaking yet, still waiting on the final word.

This will be the first time that I will be attending. I am sure it will be very informative. All the leaders in the SEO/SEM industry will be there. I look forward to knocking heads with a few.

I hope to attend many more in the future.