Know-How Exchange : SEO/SEM

I'm not sure there is a "standard price" for a service like this. It's probably "whatever the market will bear," and it certainly depends on what's included, how much work is actually involved, and what the competition is like.

As for the multiple locations, it really depends on how much of what they do is specific to each location and how much applies to the whole chain. It's hard to imagine that there are no economies for 10 or 20 locations (or even 47 or 48 locations), but there are for 50 locations. I'd ask about that and be sure the company can justify the costs.

We currently do something like this for a retailer with 3 locations, and the economies are minimal. Three locations is probably 2.5 times as much work as one. But then this may not be a direct parallel to your situation. And we're doing a lot more than just the local directory listings. (And we underbid the project because we assumed more economies of scale than there really are, so we're really sensitive to the issue you raise in your question.)

The real question is probably "What's it worth to you?" If their stated cost is less than what the benefit is worth to you, then it's probably the right price. If the price is more than what it's worth to you, then it's too expensive.

Great advice from the master. :) Just a caveat as these directory submission services claim to hand submit but most of them still automate this process. Another factor is where they submit, although this will not directly hurt your site the spammy directories are invisible to Google and offer no value at all. On your question you had mentioned - reviews and - testimonials these are becoming an important part of the equation as Google is including snippets of information based on these mentions. I would stay away from them trying to post a review or testimonial for you as this is unethical and dissuades true reviews from being posted.

As was mentioned the effectiveness of this service really depends on the competition level of your niches as Google is integrating Local with their organic listings.

In summary good directories + relevant categories will benefit SEO and referral traffic.