SEO "experts" and what do they charge

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chevrolux

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#219105 26-Jul-2017 12:03

Hi all,

Just after some real world info about companies that specialise in SEO and social media work.

Have come across a customer who is paying a company $1700/month for SEO "management" and $800/month for a social media campaign. It just seems utterly ridiculous to be charging someone that much for something that is so non-descript. Just for the record, I have no intention of taking these services over, I just feel bad for the client as he is an older guy that just doesn't understand what he's got himself signed up for.

We pushed this firm for a report on what they have actually done for the client after charging them $2.5k for the last 18 months. And all we got back was a bunch of reports straight off google about how many keywords they have ranked in "position 1" and "position 3" - what does that mean?

Then they did a little report about competitors domains and their change in position. It shows a clients competitor has increased rankings across the board and that the clients rankings have DECREASED across the board - for $1700/month i would have expected results!

They also mention in the report that they need access to the clients google analytics account to do more - but the little rankings thing looks like its from the google analytics domains page, so not sure how that works?

And then the social media campaign is even worse. Its a single facebook page. They have done 90 posts over the period when they started work. However, the engagement per post is abysmal - the highest post reach is 1500 people. I know I can do that in a couple of days by spending maybe $20!

Page impressions have decreased 43%, audience engagement has decreased 15% and "total fans" have increased by 2.8%. And then there is just some garbage about audience demographic.

Am I barking up the wrong tree here in terms of they have just taken advantage of someone who doesn't know better? Or is this sort of pricing quite standard?

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#1830600 26-Jul-2017 12:06

Anything higher than $0.00 is too much of a charge, IMO.

Benjip

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#1830604 26-Jul-2017 12:14

I would say they are definitely taking advantage of someone who doesn't really know what they have signed up for. In my experience, 90% of "SEO specialists" are scam artists.

kobiak

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#1831566 26-Jul-2017 12:30

Charge seems to be fine. However, there should be goals set, if these goals not achieved for consecutive months - review charge.

they might be spending 2.5k a month for social/search marketing, but making 20-100 dollars on every dollar spent. So it's really about context and not dollar value invested.

helping others at evgenyk.nz

Oblivian

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#1831575 26-Jul-2017 12:45

From forum moderation experience.

reports straight off google about how many keywords they have ranked in "position 1" and "position 3" - what does that mean?

Usually means they have taken your cash, done a bit of basic work then ended up down the line outsourced to SEO link farmers in india who charge $150US for 1000 back links to your domain with blog posts and forum accounts with a URL in the profile.

If they are fast, google with rank it. And before long realise they are not true organic reach links and be blacklisted along with the place they are posting them.

https://www.freelancer.com/job-search/freelancer-backlink/

I recently pointed this method out to a mag wheel company on FB (who the SEO spammers were posting FB and twitter links for...), and they abused me for pointing it out (english wasnt great and didnt understand and thought I was making a proposal 0.o ) and for talking to them like 'I was sitting on a park bench with them' since 'I don't know who you are' and then blocked.

MikeAqua

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#1831583 26-Jul-2017 13:03

What I see is lot of unsolicited offers around the $1,500 mark for boiler-pate services by providers who clealry

- Don't understand the business and it's market;

- Have incorrectly guessed our SEO needs;and

- Clearly haven't checked our current SEO (excellent) despite saying they have;

Why wouldn't I throw money at chumps like that?

Mike

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#1831630 26-Jul-2017 14:20

I see stuff like this frequently, there are more sharks in Web Design and SEO than any other market that immediately springs to mind.

I am horrified what people pay to get websites designed. I am also flabbergasted the number of self-change portals (CMS) customers get sold they never use.

chevrolux

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#1831666 26-Jul-2017 14:59

Ok well I am pleased I'm not off the mark in what i think about it all. We are in the phone system business and get scrutinized heavily for how much we charge for stuff, but when I see things like this it really makes me go "well we are quite justified in what we charge" - like they actually get something tangible when they purchase a phone system from us!

I'm going to go back to the customer and might play hard ball with this company for them - it's just really annoyed me more than anything. They have a couple of offices listed in NZ and one in AU but when I search the AU address it's for rent! All a big facade I think for a couple of people just taking the misinformed for a ride and making a hell of a lot of money.

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

mattwnz

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#1831669 26-Jul-2017 15:13

It all comes down to whether it is actually producing a financial gain for them. There are a lot of unsolicited spam emails selling services. The dollar amount spent should reflect actual time spent. A set monthly fee doesn't sound right, as the time spent would be different. I would ask for a proper cost break down.

timmmay

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#1831725 26-Jul-2017 16:44

I do a bit of technical SEO, though I don't call myself an expert as such. I charge by the hour for my time for the time worked, and that tends to be a one off activity with occasional follow-ups. I show results by Google rankings for specific phrases.

I'm not even sure what I could do that'd be worth $2000 a month. A good fast website, https, valuable content laid out well, and relevant links from GOOD QUALITY sites is key. The site owner / domain expert is best off generating those links.

chevrolux

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#1831755 26-Jul-2017 18:01

timmmay:

I do a bit of technical SEO, though I don't call myself an expert as such. I charge by the hour for my time for the time worked, and that tends to be a one off activity with occasional follow-ups. I show results by Google rankings for specific phrases.

I'm not even sure what I could do that'd be worth $2000 a month. A good fast website, https, valuable content laid out well, and relevant links from GOOD QUALITY sites is key. The site owner / domain expert is best off generating those links.

Can totally see the value in that - I would suggest $2k is on the cheap side for a well designed and properly set up site. But this whole deal my client has with these guys is just smoke and mirrors.

Went hard at the sales person this afternoon on their paperwork and pushed him to justify the pricing - simply couldn't do it. "Oh I don't understand why you are being so pushy about this"... "umm because you have come in and ripped off a 70-year old man for over $45k and want to keep doing it for another 24 months".

mattwnz

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#1831787 26-Jul-2017 18:48

A lot of people are making a lot of money off this. There are companies selling 'social media' services where for a set monthly fee they will publish a certain number of social media posts for the customer, via facebook, twitter, insta for example.. But it is somewhat pointless if they only have a few followers. would say they charge all that much compared to the time it may take, but then again they maybe hiring low wage worker or subcontracting out overseas.

freitasm

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#1831791 26-Jul-2017 18:56

Don't. Most are ripoff. I already posted a long tale about this kind of "services". Will find later and link here.

Oblivian

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#1831792 26-Jul-2017 19:02

mattwnz:

A lot of people are making a lot of money off this. There are companies selling 'social media' services where for a set monthly fee they will publish a certain number of social media posts for the customer, via facebook, twitter, insta for example.. But it is somewhat pointless if they only have a few followers. would say they charge all that much compared to the time it may take, but then again they maybe hiring low wage worker or subcontracting out overseas.

Know someone that does this. But its basically undone pretty quick, the 'seen this post' figures are just BS, if you scroll past it it counts. And high organic reach using key words such as 'like' 'share' 'win' and such are immediately downgraded (not to mention often against T&C)

It's as if they don't think Facebook will ignore it when you don't want to help them make money from ads or paying for what they thing is further reach

freitasm

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#1831840 26-Jul-2017 20:38

An old thread from 2014 with my comments here. Haven't searched much but I posted on a more recent thread but similar story.

mattwnz

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#1831848 26-Jul-2017 21:01

As the saying goes, 'a fool and their money is easily parted'. There are some good companies though that can help people use social media and Writing website content so it is better tuned for search engines, but they will tend to charge an hourly rate. Some CMS s like WordPress have plugins like yoasts which provide tools as well, that allow people to do it themselves.

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