SEO Pricing: Custom Packages vs. Standard Packages
Each client’s needs cannot be met in standard packages. The client whose site is in an extremely niche market, with little to know competition should not be placed in the same package with the client that has 9 million competitors in a major industry.
Standard packages that offer the same services to each client allow little wiggle room. Creating a base price to work from and crafting a package to suit the client’s needs allows you to bill accordingly for additional work that will need done and keep you from over/under charging clients.
Think about when you go to buy a new car. The dealer has what is called a base price. This is the price that the car starts out with before adding all the bells and whistles. Let’s say the base price on a specific car is $14k. If you would like to add the heated seats; the cost for heated seats is $1100. You noticed a model that had a DVD player and a television monitor built into the seat headrests that would be great for the kids; that’s an additional $2k. Those sporty chrome rims you see look great and you want to add those too; that’s an additional $1700. Your $14k car has just gone up to $18,800. Now you know what you want; now you just need to figure out what you can afford. You decide that you don’t mind paying up to $16k so you decide you don’t really need the heated seats but everything else is a must! Now you have brought the cost down to $17,700. You decide that you can deal with that and buy the car.
This same thought allows you to custom craft a search engine campaign to what the client’s needs and what they are willing to pay for.
Another thing to think about is that as I stated above with your “educated client”; there may be additional areas that your client needs help with. Your standard package will need to be revised in order to help them in those areas. With a base price anything can easily be worked in.
Pricing Mind Frame
If you are talking with a potential client and they ask you what does SEO cost; if you are using packages you are going to say something like; our packages start at $700 or something similar. You may say we have to look at your site before you give a price. Or you can say our base prices starts at 4k annually. All three of these can create different mind frames for the customer. Let’s look at each of those.
When you use standard packages and your potential customer asks for a price and you say packages start at $700 or something similar; they have now either accepted that this prices is acceptable or not. If $700 is too high, they are likely to say okay thank you, or hang up. If $700 is acceptable, they have set their expectations on $700.00. If you say later that the price is 700 up front and $200 a month, or that they don’t fit in that package, they are more likely to feel deceived if the price goes up or changes. The thought is that they agreed with the price based on the initial number, you may find resistance from the potential client if that number goes up; even if it is in their best interest.
Providing no price
Most clients need to know something with regards to pricing before feeling like they are wasting their time. You must know what you’re starting prices is going to be or they are going to simply call around until they hear what they want.
Providing a Base Price
A base price just simply tells them what they can expect for just a specific price and what it will be annually. If your base price is going to be $4,000 dollars then that is what it is. Anything extra will then be added on a la cart to come up with the actual price after talking with them further. You can send them information that explains what the base price covers and then covers a price list of the a la cart items available to them. They know how to add these things on to come up with the correct pricing. When you talk with them, you may go over the other things they may need and then they already have the pricing in front of them; simply ask them to refer to it.