There are many factors that enter into the SEO Mystique. Besides the ones I noted in "The SEO Mystique & What Is Now Going On", Paul Bruemmer said in "Cracking the SEO Mystique" that "Organic SEO takes a lot of expertise, and it also takes cooperation by the client in executing the recommended site changes that allow a site to rank well in the major search engines."
Organic SEO, today and in the future, does take a lot of expertise if done professionally, effectively, ethically, and with a focus on ROI Value for the client. These ethical, value driven sellers work hard (and, or, their employees do), and deserve to be compensated fairly and well. Jim Hedger's article "SEO Sales and Services - Consulting Cuts Complexity" points out the evolution of the SEO industry, and how SEO is now a more "Consultative Sale". So, prices for more complex SEO consultative services have, understandably, gone up in the past two years. Jim's previous article "SEM Growing More Complex" details some of the reasons why SEO is now more complex. However, SEO PRICING is now a definite part of the "SEO Mystique", in my opinion.
Jill Whalen (a well known and knowledgeable SEO-SEM) did an article on 7/7/05 entitled "SEO/SEM Pricing Models". She says: "The most important thing to understand is that there may not be any one pricing model that will be right for every client that you work with." I agree. For Jill, "One-Time Fee Pricing", "6-Month Contract", and "1-Year Contract" work well for her. But, she admits "...these options may or may not fit with your own way of doing business." Paul Bruemmer did an article on 1/31/01 entitled "Are You in the Dark About SEO Pricing?" (Great Title - Still Appropriate!) It is mostly philosophical, but he likes a monthly fee basis in general, it seems.
Now, most SEO-SEM's don't like to give a guarantee of any kind (for good reasons) except "best effort". But, as an example of the range of pricing available, this "SEO Guarantee" says "You pay only for the website promotion results achieved. Our SEO guarantee is to make sure that your website will appear in the first 3 pages for the keyword prases in our agreement." It is an escalating scale of prices based on which ranking page their client's web site shows up on. My opinion is that if the clients they pick don't have very competitive keywords, the client may overpay depending on how many web pages and keywords are in this kind of "Pay For Performance" game. But, I must say that it COULD work out fine for both buyer and seller, and I'm impressed with the conspicuousness of their "SEO Guarantee Terms and Conditions". Personally, though, I don't like the measurement of "ranking" of any kind.
Wikipedia's definition is a little off, as "Pay Per Performance" doesn't have to be based only on "each new customer obtained". It can be ranking, sales, profits, actions, or clickthroughs (any trackable-definable event). Stoney deGeyter recently wrote an article entitled "Pay for Performance Pricing Models for Search Engine Optimization". He mainly talks about SEO compensation based on sales or profits. I am totally against this type of "Pay For Performance", as an SEO cannot control what happens to a lead, a sale, a prospect, or company profits once the initial contact is made by the SEO prospect. However, Stoney makes two good points: 1. A SEO needs to have, in writing, specific details about control over implementing changes on the client's web site, and 2. If the client cancels the contract for perceived underdelivering of client expectations, there should be some compensation for the long term benefits of the SEO improvements already made. It almost sounds like Stoney may have been "burnt" by some unscrupulous clients?
I am now getting closer to a future post on my "one suggestion" to help the search marketing industry deal with their educational and credibility issues, while helping to slow down client turnover by increasing the number of long term clients.
Animated image courtesy of www.artie.com.
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