The Cost Of SEO

I wanted to post something this week about the prices we SEOs charge, and what you can expect to see as "the norm." However, sometimes, you catch a few other posts that do the subject justice. So, I want to showcase 2 of those recent posts.

Don't worry, I'm getting some information together for the SEO eBook for this subject, but for now, these are great reads.

Why Do The (Good) SEOs Cost So %&*# Much? - Written by Diane Aull for Search Engine Guide. Diane explains my sentiment on the reason for the high cost. Not as much as from the point of the ROI we can offer, but from the worth of our experience in time. From the post:

The what you can learn in minutes. The how takes considerably more time, effort and skill.

Basically, you're not paying me for the 10 minutes it took to write a good description, you're paying me for the years it took to understand what it takes to write a good description.

Selling SEO in Ready-to-Eat packages - Written by Kichus. This is a pretty good post on why we can't give clients a quote in a pre-packaged form. Every site to be optimized and promoted is going to require a different approach. In my comments, I give a breif explanation on why I opt for the "starting at" phrase on my freelance SEO page.