Semalt Explains SEO Pricing Models


We analyze payment schemes. Every person wants to earn, and preferably more. But, everyone approaches this goal in different ways. And in many ways, how and how much you earn depends on how the price of your services is formed.

In SEO, there is still no consensus on the optimal pricing model, and as a result, each specialist or agency does what they think is beneficial for themselves. Moreover, often only the interests of the loved one are taken into account, but not the client.

If you think in terms of "here and now", it is certainly beneficial. But when a specialist thinks about the long term, he / she certainly concludes that it is necessary to work in such a way that both sides benefit. And then word of mouth will work in your favour, and customers will delight with payments happily ever after.

In this post, we decided to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the most common pricing models in the search engine promotion market, which will help both professionals and business owners in choosing the best option for themselves.

Pay for positions

The good old, though already hopelessly outdated scheme. The contract stipulates in advance a list of requests, for reaching positions in the Top 10, the customer pays for. Typically, such a list includes several dozen keywords.

At first glance, everything looks just fine. It is easy for contractors to report, the result is easily tracked, and the customer understands everything, and he / she pays only for those keys that are stipulated in the contract. Additional requests that have entered the Top can be considered a bonus.

However, in fact, there are much more minuses than pluses:
  • the issue is becoming more and more personalized, and even two people who are in the same room can see different results on different computers;
  • without improving the site itself, even the first places in the search results will not give anything, due to low conversion on the site itself;
  • the contract may contain ineffective dummy words with low competition, positions on which are easy to achieve, but there will be no benefit from it.
The problem is that many are simply accustomed to such a payment scheme, and sometimes it is difficult to convince a client of its inefficiency. And as practice shows, work on positions is unprofitable for both parties.

Pay by traffic

Another popular model of work, which involves payment by the customer for the transition of each visitor from organic search, minus brand traffic and the traffic that was at the time of the start of work. The result is payment for the result in its pure form, and both parties are interested in receiving it.

The main advantage for the client is that, as already mentioned, he / she only pays for what he / she receives. Experts are actively working to increase the number of landing pages and expand the semantics, and the clicks are much cheaper than in the context.

And everything would be fine, but this scheme has disadvantages that outweigh the possible benefits:
  • high risk of cheating on the part of unscrupulous performers;
  • other channels, except for organic search, are simply ignored;
  • it is difficult to predict the budget, especially if the site is new;
  • traffic can be of low quality and inappropriate, but you still have to pay.
For performers, the main disadvantage is that in the current environment, it can take a long time to get good traffic, and in many niches, the growth ceiling is severely limited. Although for large projects, this option can be considered, in general, this model can hardly be called optimal.

Fixed monthly fee

Perhaps the most common model of payment for promotion, which provides for a monthly payment by the client, the amount previously agreed in the contract. In return, he / she receives a certain set of services, for example, optimization of a fixed number of pages, publication of new texts, analytics and maintenance at a basic level.

This approach is focused on long-term work on a project, but it also has its pros and cons. Its advantages include:
  • the project may be allocated more time, especially in the early stages of development;
  • it is easier to plan a budget since the payment is fixed;
  • the scheme is clear to any customer, even one who deals with SEO for the first time;
  • profitable in the long term, provided that the subscription fee does not change or changes slightly.
Well, the cons, where can we go without them:
  • SEO can do nothing, justifying that it takes more time for the result, and all this time to receive money from the client;
  • for a business owner who still does not earn anything from the Internet, the need for regular payments may not seem like a good investment;
  • in niches with a pronounced seasonality, especially during a period of decline in sales, the monthly subscription fee will also not be profitable.
An agreement with a fixed monthly fee is beneficial, first of all, to agencies, as it guarantees them a certain level of profit for a long time. But there are enough disadvantages for the client, because the transparency of the work is questionable, and there is no sufficient flexibility in terms of pricing.

Hourly rate

The most widespread format of cooperation in the West, which is gradually beginning to be introduced by some SEO companies on the Internet. The bottom line is that the performer sets a fixed price per hour of work on the client's project, and the assessment of tasks is also carried out in standard hours. It is an easy-to-understand model for the buyer, and convenient, in terms of selling, for the seller.

Difficulties may arise at the stage of approval, since there may be distrust or claims on the part of the client regarding the excessive time spent by the performers. Therefore, the contractor must be prepared in advance to provide the appropriate argumentation and provide a clear procedure for the approval of the result by the customer.

Main pluses:
  • a high level of transparency: performers work according to the TK, and do not engage in some magical practices from the arsenal of Hogwarts;
  • the site is constantly evolving, the client gets a decent return, and ROI only grows over time;
  • the number of hours can be changed up or down, which gives flexibility in budget planning;
  • the threshold of entry for the client is very low, and even a few hours of work can be beneficial.
The main cons:
  • the number of hours that the customer receives is limited - to get more, you will have to pay extra;
  • if the site is "up and running", a large number of hours required to fix all errors can be very expensive for the client;
  • unscrupulous performers can sell work for the sake of work, it does not matter if it gives the customer a result or not.
There are certainly many more advantages to such a model of work. However, much here depends on the professionalism of the performers and the focus on the need to ensure the result for the client, on their part.

Lead promotion

A scheme of work in which the site owner pays for requests, calls, sales or other actions from potential customers, obtained through the efforts of SEO specialists.

It would seem that here it is - an ideal model of cooperation that minimizes customer risks, and allows SEOs to count crisp banknotes without any complaints from customers.

The advantages here, it would seem, are obvious and very significant:
  • simple and straightforward payment model, according to the scheme "what you got, you paid for that." Most of the client's objections are removed;
  • complete freedom to use promotion methods for performers;
  • if a client refuses to cooperate, there will always be people on the market who want to redeem leads.
The cons, for the most part, are not obvious, but they can cause a lot of headaches:
  • in most cases, the cost of a lead is difficult to determine, even if immersed in the client's business;
  • unlike SEO, the effect of the work is not saved and does not work on the company's image. This is a purely sales-oriented tactic, not brand-building;
  • high risk of cheating on the part of the contractor or the likelihood of the client not buying leads;
  • on the site, in most cases, no work will be carried out. Especially when it comes to introducing complex edits and costly revisions.
In general, the essence of the scheme is clear - work with the aim of receiving orders here and now, with minimal risks, and without any serious investments.

Therefore, lead promotion works well in the regions, as there are many entrepreneurs with small budgets. But, in fact, it turns out to be a utopia for performers and the risk of paying for "air" for customers.

Hourly rate based on KPI

The most interesting payment option, which is still used by a small number of companies on the market, but the future is clearly behind it. The hourly billing model provides an individual approach to the client and flexibility in planning tasks / budgets, while KPI accounting allows you to effectively track work results and makes the relationship transparent.

Both parties are interested in the results, with such a model of work. With the customer, everything is already clear, but the performers, upon reaching the agreed indicators, receive more profit, since the increase in payment is tied to the increase in work efficiency.

Main pluses:
  • flexibility in planning tasks and budget;
  • high transparency of work;
  • ease of tracking the dynamics of project progress;
  • the interest of both parties in achieving results.
Minuses:
  • the risk of incorrect selection of KPIs, without taking into account the real interests of the business;
  • the possibility of overestimating the time required to complete tasks by the agency.
Thus, the number of positive aspects with such a pricing model for SEO services completely outweighs the possible disadvantages that can be avoided if the contractors work closely with the client. And on how to correctly form KPIs to assess the effectiveness of promotion, I advise you this SEO tools: the Semalt Dedicated SEO Dashboard.

Conclusions

Each of the payment models listed in this article has its own pros and cons. What works well for one business may not work well for another. Therefore, finding the optimal solution that takes into account the interests of the agency and meets the expectations of clients can be a daunting task.

In our opinion, and as we have already seen from our own experience, the optimal scheme of work is the hourly rate + KPI (SEO 2.0). This allows you to effectively work on improving the site itself, provides sufficient transparency of cooperation, and is equally convenient for clients with a wide variety of budgets.

What do you think is the best SEO pricing scheme? Share your opinion in the comments!

If you need to learn more about the subject of SEO and website promotion, we invite you to visit our Semalt blog.


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