Know-How Exchange : E-Marketing

Don't charge by the hour - you don't know how much time things will take (yet), which means that your client could be on-the-hook for a lot of money until you figure things out. Instead, figure out the value of your work to them, and price accordingly. There's no guarantee that simply having their name show up will bring them business. It's about a lot pieces fitting together - how you communicate, your specific value to prospective customers, your positioning, your offer, who your customers are, etc. You'll no doubt have to learn a lot to get started, but then things will get easier to understand.

I agree with Jay: do NOT charge an hourly rate. Essentially, what you are doing is a mix of reputation and social media management, for which you need to charge a monthly retainer.

Simply having this company show up in search rankings isn't enough: these things need to be backed up by solid service delivery, guarantees of quality and satisfaction, competitive statements that only the company can say because they are measurable and based on solid facts and visible proof.

The service you're providing is a valuable one and one that needs to be billed for accordingly. I'll be happy to share numbers (meaning, a range for a possible monthly retainer) with you off forum.

I'm in total agreement with Jay and Gary: Do not charge by the hour. It's unfair to both you and the client.

If you are inefficient and spend a lot of time on the wrong stuff, why should the client have to pay for that. And if you're really fast and complete the job in half the time, it's not worth any less to the client. Besides, hourly billing encourages you to work slowly/inefficiently. And it encourages the client to not spend much time giving you the information you need, since he/she is paying for the time. The meter is always ticking in the client's head.

Instead, think about what the work you are doing is worth to the client, and base your fee on that. As long as the value of what you're delivering is greater than the amount you are charging, the client should be delighted. And if it isn't then perhaps this is the wrong client for you.

You may want to read Rasputin For Hire (https://bit.ly/k3Z7m). The subtitle is "An inside look at management consulting between jobs or as a second career." It has a section on the pros and cons of the various options for billing clients for your consulting work. And if you order using the link above, there's a free bonus report that includes insights and advice (on consulting) from 5 of the experts on this forum. It's an instant download when you order the [hardcopy] book.