Question

Topic: Career/Training

Reasonable Rate To Charge Online Work

Posted by fordwincher on 4/24/2009 at 8:20 AM ET 125 Points
Hi!

I have a friend who builds his own websites and undertakes other media related work (photography & audio-visuals). He has been asked by a potential client to quote for ‘promoting/marketing and optimising’ the client’s new website (built by another agency). While my friend has experience in promoting his own sites to a relatively high standard, he generally hasn’t ‘specialised’ in SEO but has studied it over the last three or four years and understands what needs to be done and so, he's perfectly capable of doing it to a high level.

The client’s requirements are:
1. Drive traffic and enquiries to the site
2. Create brand awareness in a lucrative niche market through the following:
a. Improved search engine optimisation
b. Use of social networking and media-related activities, such as e-zine articles, opt-in newsletter, YouTube etc.

He is a very capable writer and has first hand experience and runs his own business activity in the client's niche market.

The client company has limited budget, so an 18 hour week would probably suit them (and my friend, so he can do other work too) for say 6 months when the client will undertake a formal review of progress made.

What is a fair rate for this type of work on a per hour basis please? Looking forward to hearing your feedback.


Many thanks!
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Frank Hurtte on 4/24/2009 at 9:46 AM Member
    There are two ways of pricing this:
    1) What is the value of the work being done?
    2) How can we keep this just below what it would cost to hire their own person full time?

  • Posted by mgoodman on 4/24/2009 at 12:10 PM Accepted
    Need more information to do a good job responding to your question, Susan.

    Most importantly, is your friend uniquely qualified to do this job, or is he just one of many who could do it? The competitive climate is very relevant here. When this kind of work is competitive, rates can be in the $35-75/hour range (in the US), while when it is unique the rates can go to $200/hour and up. (Is the client in the US? How about the consultant? Rates in India or the Philippines can be less than $15/hour.)

    That said, Frank makes a relevant point: What is the service worth to the client? If it's very important and worth a lot, then your friend can charge a lot (per hour). When it's just a nice idea but not worth a lot, then he has to ask himself how badly he wants the work (at a low hourly rate).

    And regardless of what he decides to charge, I would NOT give the client an hourly rate or anything that would let him compute an hourly rate. Give him a flat fee for the project deliverables in a fixed period of time. Example: "The project will cost $12,000, and you'll have the [specific] deliverables 5 months from the day we begin."

    If the consultant is inefficient and has to spend too much time to get the project finished, that shouldn't be the client's problem. And if the consultant is very efficient and can get the job done faster/easier than expected, the value isn't somehow less to the client.
  • Posted by fordwincher on 4/26/2009 at 2:50 AM Author
    Thanks guys for giving me and my friend an idea on how to go about this.

    Just to let you know, my friend is British and his client is also British and the company is based in UK. We've considered to charge lower than the cheapest in US rate and then identify specific deliverables within a specific amount of time.

    We'll now get down to the specifics and hope the client will be agreeable to the proposal.


    Many thanks!
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