So, you want to help your clients with their problems in search engine rankings. However, in the business world, there is no such thing as free services, especially if you can deliver more than what is expected. You also need to make money out of your Professional SEO services.As a beginner in the online marketing, you have to decide what SEO services you are going to offer. Moreover, it is rather hard to establish how much to charge your clients and how to charge them.

What optimization services should you offer?

Offer services that you can deliver, something that you know very well. Then, combine it with excellent customer service. Remember, you are starting out as an SEO consultant. It is quite tempting to offer every SEO service that you think you are capable of doing. However, doing so will not yield good results.

Second, focus on a service or two and make them your specializations. Add another one to complement the two services that you offer.

For example, you are planning to offer website analysis and search engine optimization.
As you increase your clients in number and hire employees to help you out, that is the time to add more Professional SEO services in your product lines.

How should you charge your clients for your services?

You can charge your clients a number of ways. You can charge them a monthly retainer, in per project or by service rendered.

Per Project

Some company may only need an SEO service during the promotion of a newly released product. Usually, they need a press release optimized with the appropriate keywords.

Alternatively, they want you to build followers in a social media before the formal release of their product or while the product is in the marketing stage.

Most of the times, these kinds of project are one-time deals. Sometimes, they hire your service every now and then. The charging of a project may be in an hourly rate or any system that you and your client agree.
A project may last for months or depend on the nature of the project.

Monthly retainer

You may use this type of charging your clients if they decide to hire your services in a regular basis. They pay you a fixed amount and you help them with their SEO marketing plans.

In this setup, you are supplying updates about their SEO efforts in a monthly basis. You report to them in a specific period of the month about the progress of their online marketing. You give them analysis and reports.

From time to time, you recommend ways to increase their page views and search engine page ranking and more importantly, increase their leads.

In a monthly retainer system, you continue your research. You read on current trends on Professional SEO services to ensure that your client gets the worth of their payment.
It often involves a contract, which may last months or even a year.

By Service Rendered

Sometimes, clients only need a specific service such as website audit or analysis. After rendering the service, you provide them a report and recommendations of improving their site and their SEO plans.

Costs differ, depending on the service rendered. Some services are more expensive than the other services you are offering. Factors such as how extensive the analysis is, or how long do you spend analyzing are just a few on how much to charge your clients.

How Much Should You Charge Your Clients?

To set up a fixed pricing package is not a good strategy for your business. The fees are entirely dependent on the needs of your clients. You may charge a client more as compared with other clients, due to variable factors.

One factor may include the extent of changes that you have to make with the client’s site. Another is the difficulty level of the product that they offer. It’s easier to build SEO marketing for some products. Difficulties often emerge due to marketability and necessity issues.

Before establishing a pricing system, check out the pricing system of your competitors. Compare and contrast to see which services that you can offer at an affordable price without sacrificing your monthly revenue.

Monthly retainer fee starts at $250. For a larger company, they often bill their clients at a very high cost that may even reach a five-digit figure. As a starting out marketer, it is more practical to set the lowest and reasonable price.

As for an hourly rate, you may charge a fee starting at $100 while SEO audit is more expensive which may range from $600 to $3000 for a detailed analysis.

Tips on Gaining an Upper Hand in SEO

No matter how small or large your SEO firm is, always remember to deliver what you can expect to deliver. Professional SEO services are services that businesses cannot fully understand even with the many niche blogs talking about the services.

Your advantage over the other firms is to provide excellent customer service. Never stop learning about the industry. SEO changes as the internet and technology become more advanced.

If you need to take seminars and certifications on marketing and SEO, do it. Gain an advantage over your competitors in the SEO industry so you can keep up with the fierce competition.

In addition, target those businesses that want to employ SEO but are restricted to do so due to cost pricing. Conduct a study on how can you penetrate that market and succeed.