May 5, 2008 @ 11:12 am
SEO has really got expensive
I was talking about a SEO strategy with a client when I was hit with one of the most absurd offers I ever came across. Indeed, SEO is a job where you cannot really make promises because there are a lot of unknown factors in the ecuation. This is a follow-up to another post I did about SEO and social media services that promises but don’t promise but don’t deliver, but this time with a twist: outrageous prices for practically useless things.
It seems there are a lot of clients with practically no SEO experience that believe that such a service is generally worth over $2000. Otherwise, I cannot explain the crazy offer that follows :
-$3000 one-time fee for submitting a website to 100 directories
Have directories gotten so expensive or is the submission process a hectic and time-consuming task? Bulk directory submission are usually no more than $50 for manual submission to over 500 directories. There are services that even offer submission to 1000 directories for a mere $40. So if we draw the line and do the math, the so called “SEO expert” offering this service will rip off the company with around $2900. Not bad for 30 minutes worth of work. Profit : $2950
-$100 for an article and a submission to an article portal
This might seem more reasonable but it’s infact another overpriced service you could easily get for $30. Writter charge around $10-$15 for a crummy article and the submission of the piece is done for $15 or free, if you have the time to do it manually. Profit: $70
-$50 for modifying and submiting the article to more portals
We again turn to the Indian internet professionals (cough) that offer these services for some bargain price. You can get your article rewritten for as low as $50, while the price for the submission remains the same - $15 for distributing your article to around 300 directories. Well, there’s some common sense here, nothing costs less. Profit $30
-$300 one-time fee for keyword ranking consulting
Some guys are giving you a list of keywords sorted by Overture’s PPC searches per month. Someone should tell them Overture is not updating their database anymore. They also show you what keywords do not convert. Again, their clients probably weren’t familiar with all the features Google Analytics has to offer. Furthermore, people have come up with a way to create softwares that show what keywords you or your competitors rank for. I’m starting to become cynical so I will stop here. Additionaly, while researching on the topic, I’ve found SEO consulting over the phone. I can imagine a call center with bored teens reading some script. Profit: $300(practically worthless service)
This is probably how many self-proclaimed SEO experts make their salary by delivering overpriced services to companies not familiar with search engine algorithms. While finishing the post, I came across some really cheap SEO services, as opposed to the ones I just mentioned. They charge as low as $50 for bringing a keyword on the top spot on Google. Luckily, there’s a money-back guarantee policy.
All in all, SEO has gotten out of hand, since everyone seems to know it. With such an offer, I would expect prices to go down but they fluctuate heavily. I am not going to give out names of the companies whose services I mentioned above. I just wanted to share it and have some laughs and opinions. SEO is still a market worthwhile - it can your business the boost it needs, considering you found the right expert. You can’t become an expert overnight or pay thousands without first looking into the outcome and ROI.
photo credits: jmsmytaste
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Posted by Alain Saffel
May 5, 2008 @ 4:18 pm
I really wanted to Yes, SEO can be an expensive service. But, if you look at the potential returns for good SEO, it can look cheap by comparison. The crux of the issue is how to determine who is a good SEO/internet marketer. My background is in journalism, so I really focus on the content side of the SEO equation. I really wouldn’t advise people cheaping out on content. If you want solid, well-researched SEO’d content that will be interesting to readers and which will rank in the search engines, you’re not going to get it for $15 from India. You want someone who has a solid grasp of the language, grammar, spelling and SEO. Hiring someone with marketing and/or journalism training and experience in both is ideal. No, it won’t come cheap. Do you really want to turn the creation of your site content to the lowest bidder? $15 an article or page sounds great, but you get what you pay for. I’ve written about it and people say it: content is king. That doesn’t seem to be in evidence when people are setting their budget for writing. I am editing a magazine right now and some of the writing is paid, some of it contributed. The quality of writing from the professional, paid writers is better and I’ve found they meet deadlines more easily. I also have to edit the professional writers less, which saves me time and the company money. If you think that writing is a dime a dozen skill, why not experiment and get $15 a page writers to rewrite your site and get professional writers to do the same. Then, tell me which you prefer. Ask your site’s visitors too. Do a side by side comparison. I think I know the answer. Like I said earlier, good SEO is cheap when you get great results. The same goes for writing.
Posted by Marty
May 5, 2008 @ 4:32 pm
Your anecdotes are fun so thanks. In all seriousness, Great SEO is like divorce attorneys: They cost a lot because it’s worth it.
Posted by Geld Lenen
May 5, 2008 @ 4:44 pm
Indeed, it really depends on the size of a website and the profits that could be made. Last year I had a friend over at my place and we didn´t knew that we both had some profitable websites. The point was, I made more money than he, but his site had a site 50 times bigger than mine and his CTR on only his Google Ads was 10 times below mine. His site sucked in optimization.
I offered him to help him out on some basic SEO. Added H1 tags, unique titles, SE friendly URL´s and a better internal linking structure to his site. A month later he called me, completely exaggerated. He got a tremendous load of traffic from Google and he made more money then I did, like 10 times.
I was happy and didn’t even charge him. But this points out that even basic SEO can be worth a lot. He invited me for a cruise vacation, price €2.000. He paid everything..
Posted by Phil Laboon
May 5, 2008 @ 7:34 pm
I have to say I disagree with your article. Especially the directory submissions. You can use one of those budget submission services but you are going to get outdated garbage links from very general directories that are completely unrelated to your niche and are probably already banned by Google. With your argument why would anyone buy a new BMW M3 when they can get a used 1994 Honda Accord for so much cheaper. Also, I would GLADLY pay $3,000 for 100 links if they are of a high enough quality - get me 100 directories on PR5+, .edu, or .gov links and I’ll throw you more work then you can handle!
As far as articles I guess you can hire someone in India to rewrite an EzineArticle packed with grammatical errors for $15 but good luck trying to get an experienced writer in a client’s niche for less then $50 per page (research is what racks the hours up). As far as submitting again you can use that out of the box article submitting software that doesn’t update and half the sites use no follows. Not even worth the $15…
If you pay that company $50 for “guaranteed rankings” kiss your website creditability good bye. They all just use some type of SPAM links and they don’t care if your site gets banned or penalized - but I bet if you complain a bunch they will refund your $50 back… Remember, If they could really do this they would be billionaires running affiliate programs.
I for one don’t think SEO is expensive as long as it gets results. I’ve been running my company since 2001 and we are growing every year based on demand from referrals. If you can make more money for a client then their other advertising streams they will hire you. Once you do this several times you can start working 18 work days or charge $200 per hour and pick and choose the companies you want to work with. The reason SEO is becoming so expensive is because good internet marketing experts with proven track records are in high demand.
Posted by maxyRO
May 6, 2008 @ 1:53 am
Phil,
I was talking about general directories. I don’t think you can get links from .edu or .gov directories since they barely exist.
As for the article, I am referring to some general description of the company, not linkbaits or others of that sort.
And last, the title of the article is a bit ironical. SEO is not expensive, considering the outcome. There are some so-called experts that promise big but don’t deliver. There is a difference between paying for a good marketing expert and overpaying for a mediocre one!
Posted by Liam
May 6, 2008 @ 7:23 am
I’ve found the best way to charge for SEO type of services is to charge a percentage of value of the service to the company. If ten minutes of work makes a $100,000 dollar difference to them shouldn’t you get paid for the value you provide and not for the ten minutes work?
Yes, there are rip-offs with directory submissions and so on but charge based on measurable differences to the client and everyone is happy.
Posted by Lewis
May 7, 2008 @ 12:40 am
I was a hardware engineer before I joined the internet marketing industry. People were ripped off even at that time for getting their expensive electronics gadgets repaired. I have seen many cases where the “service technician” messed up the Printed Circuit Boards,SMDs and entire circuit boards of large size televisions by their faulty techniques or sheer lack of skills.
Quality work in any industry costs money. Highly skilled writers and talented programmers who could make a difference to your website cost money. But buyers beware !
Posted by Malte Landwehr
May 8, 2008 @ 5:50 am
I agree with you in most things but why do you think 300$ for a keyword research and ranking report are not ok? In my eyes that’s a very fair and reasonable price.
Posted by maxyRO
May 8, 2008 @ 6:06 am
Malte,
It’s expensive considering they use an database that is not updated anymore.