price comparisons _for seo & web design services

we're not chicken...we do lay out our prices though

types of pricing | fee structures | cost comparisons of web design and seo agency pricing

PRICING VARIATIONS: SEO & WEB DESIGN COMPANIES

^ What differentiates an SEO who will WORK on your website vs. an SEO you have hired who won't? Very Important: An SEO assuming the role of Consultant and / or Analyst, will typically NOT include any onpage or offpage modifications that result from analysis and related reports, if applicable. Many SEO agents list tiered "packages", commonly offered at three price points levels, that include INFORMING you of their assessment regarding your website's problems, or negative ranking factors. The consultancy rate listed does not include actually relieving you of these issues, but merely to advise you. Some SEO agents will follow their reporting methods with a proposal for administering recommended techniques and measures, others may refer you to an affiliate or alliance to perform the labor specified in their assessment of your site. Often, a referral fee ranging from 30% to 70% is withheld by the consultant, if the labor is "subcontracted" to their connection.

I want to help you get a feel for what my industry is about, on a professional level. What your expectations can and should be. What our clients have experienced with other web agencies. The experiences of friends, associates, family members, and even those of competitors. Past and current clients; what went right, and if something went wrong, what the catalyst was, and how it can be avoided and converted to a positive. Everything in our realm is positive. Toxicity not welcome, we'll kill it with kindness and tolerance.

If you snivel at the cost of good conversion analysis, testing, optimization, and profit related work on your behalf, you might consider changing and becoming an SEO yourself. Especially if you believe it's easy money.

1. hit me... beat me...

but don't make me feel cheap!

Be SURE to read the Companion Page to Cost Comparisons:
Shopping and Hiring SEO and Web Design Services

The link above, to the Companion Page to Cost Comparisons, contains direct link to Google's guidelines and advice regarding hiring and employing SEO Firms.

2.yous·er !Don't get used and abused. Usability should focus on the website, not the client. Be careful when shopping and hiring Seo Services. Seo can be quite complex, and it should go without saying that an ethical Seo should first do no harm. Unfortunately, there is opportunity to exploit both Seo clients, and their websites. Some of the red flags are so subtle and seemingly innocuous. It can take a few years of immersion in the Seo industry to develop ability to immediately identify threats. Harmful tactics can range from outright scams to shady and ulteriorly motivated ploys. Some exploits seek out web properties and access for personal gain. Others may be so misinformed, or outdated as far as techniques, that they are completely unaware their "services" are effectuating an actual decline in ranking.

The below offer is taken verbatim from a SEO services provider in March, 2011:

This particular SEO "package" offers 100 reciprocal links for $799.00
As is common with this type of approach, prospective "optimization" clients can sign up and pay for the package online, sans any dialog as to the uniqueness, let alone appropriateness, for the project or specifics. Have a banned site? 100 reciprocal links will typically exacerbate an already precarious search engine visibility problem, fyi.

Also, per the verbatim offer from this provider, they clearly admit the use of automated link submission, tracking, and email solicitation practices.

Automatic Link Exchange Many websites that are willing to link back also use a data-driven links management system. These sites usually require that you submit your link information using their online form. A proper links management system tracks which sites require this. We also have efficient methods for submitting client site information to these sites. Properly structuring the various email messages that are needed in this process takes experience to know what works. An improper approach can result in a very low link-back rate. Also, email scheduling and link tracking is required to keep from asking for links from sites that have already linked, or just from asking too often.

*Note: Current and effective search optimization firms will not typically advertise massive "reciprocal linking" services. Although such links may at times be considered on an individual case by case basis, for the most part, you will want to build a high quality and relevant profile of Incoming backlinks vs. direct two way links between your website and another of equal or lesser authority and weight.

3.the add-visor: actual work will cost more... You've seen the signs: "will work for food". This approach is more to the tune of "won't do the work...that is more $". The advisor pricing model is a very common in SEO pricing. What this typically entails, but is rarely described as, is SEO Consulting. There is absolutely nothing shady about web consulting, so long as it is offered at face value. Complications can arise when these services are innocently mistaken to by clients to be actual solutions to ranking problems and website related issues. As the examples demonstrate, these services are diagnostic only in nature. These types of "packages" merely recommend changes, improvements and / or revisions to be applied to the website being evaluated. The price for actually performing the work identified by the recommendations is often left unclear. Also, without thorough investigation, the SEO client cannot be assured that the "consultant" even offers "hands on" SEO work as an option, or as a subsequent phase to the "reporting" service. In summary, these offers are designed to tell you there is a problem, not to actually DO anything that effectuates resolution. Depending on the provider and the quality of methods implemented, the report, or diagnostic service, could be implemented by free software, a commercial application, or in rare instances, by hand. The latter would include manual deconstruction of your site, as well as manual backlink assessment, and perhaps competitive analysis, if included in the selected service "package". A common characteristic of the "add-visor" approach is online ordering and payment processing for "services", or advice. Web and SEO Consulting are 100% legitimate services, just be aware that you are paying for information, rather than actual "services" that will affect your site's performance. The work, or recommended work, will have to be arranged in addition to the information you are buying with this "plan" type.

This specific pricing comparison reflects a very low cost example. Typically the prices for the "insight' services are much costlier. Following is a low budget "package", with links to the site, accordingly:

Monthly SEO Maintenance Rate:
Monthly cost to tell you where you site ranks on Google: $125
As the description states, doing anything to affect that ranking, takes more time...and money. You will receive a rank status update monthly.

Custom Search Engine Optimization Rate:
Note: All Services consist of Recommendations ONLY. $599
These are legitimate services. What these providers do is charge you to determine what work needs to be done, which accounts for time. Time is money. More time will cost more money, obviously.

Search Engine Optimization: What Do You Get For Your Money?
The process of optimizing your site for the search engines involves research into the most relevant keywords for your site and your site's current placement to provide a baseline for success and to establish where your site needs the most improvement. Once the keywords are targeted, the home page and site are optimized for those phrases.

The process:

keyword research and report to determine the most relevant and most searched terms for your site;
research and report site's current SE position on most relevant terms;
content recommendations for home page and site;
recommendations for full optimization of home page:
title tag creation,
meta tag (description and keywords) creation, graphic file name creation,
alt tag creation for graphics,
where to place and how to format headings,
text optimization on home page - editing for keyword density, placement and formatting;

general recommendations for the site:
file name creation for new site (10 pages maximum),
anchor text creation for links on the home page,
anchor text creation for site-wide links to the home page,
search engine submissions where necessary.

4.analyze these... The following links are provided as resources for additional web services pricing research and cost comparisons. We hope they help. Please feel free to call us regarding corrections, inquiries, commentary, and feedback.

The below quotes are an excerpt from awebguy.com's entertaining and realistic article:
How Much Does SEO Cost?

I want to leave you with these thoughts regarding the cost of SEO from my perspective: Yes, I have a family of five, and each of them like to eat every day. Yes, I do own a motorcycle that cost more than my first two houses, combined. Yes, that is a real Picasso hanging in my living room (pictured above). Yes, it will cost you a lot more than the money in my hand to get my attention. Yes, my clients always earn more profit from my work than I do!

Web Consultation and related pricing from Internet Veteran Ralph Wilson of Wilson Web

Bruce Clay; Respected Web Professional Website Design Pricing:

One more excellent, detailed example of SEO Services Priced Monthly by We Build Pages.