I'm no Rand Fishkin.

I'll just be honest, I'm no Rand Fishkin -- sure I want to be, I'm about to take out an ad during Smallville, right after I convince my girlfriend to start watching Smallville. But I have a day-job. Sure, it partly involves SEO, but mostly it's writing and speaking to clients. Any focused SEO I do is strictly consulting on a freelance basis. I don't have the SEOmoz Brand or the SEOmoz staff to justify charging what they can charge. This makes me sad.

I'm Just Me.

The hardest part about being just me is that I can't go in to meetings and say, "I'm Rand Fishkin." I have to say, "Hello, I'm Bud Caddell," and usually the Bud part entails another 10 minutes on how I got that name. Almost as difficult as not being Rand, I have to explain just what is SEO and why they should pay me a dime. Because I can't afford fireworks (not being Rand) and Chinese acrobats are out of the question, I have to keep my explanation short and simple. I first tell them that every bad thing they've heard about SEO is only 90% true, and every amazing thing they've heard about SEO is only 10% true. I tell them that SEO won't make them walk on water, and no SEO can't get out grass or blood stains.  I tell them that paying for a search marketer is the exact same as paying for a traditional marketing consultant -- and that any marketing activity they want to pursue has costs and benefits and that if my proposal doesn't sound profitable they shouldn't hire me.

A Brand New Car

Before I start to price out a campaign, I first think about the opportunity of one customer for the client. Why? Because this is the number they should think of first -- what does one more customer add to their bottom line? I once worked for one of the nation's largest luxury automobile dealers, and trust me, they knew this number and every proposal I gave them was measured by it. Once I know what one new customer can do, I have to look at how difficult it will be for them to reach that customer -- usually, I say usually, the more profit one more customer will bring in, the harder it will be to reach that customer. This isn't true for absolutely brand new markets, but that opportunity is gone before you can capitalize on it usually.

Organic Search VS Freeze Dried Reconstitued PPC

Next, I do pricing research on keyword terms for PPC Campaigns. There's only two ways to the top, and one is only half as effective as the other -- and alot more expensive usually. The PPC Campaign number is usually a great shocker price, especially for the one box spot. While I'm running this research, I can start to estimate the volume of their potential target market as well. When you know the size of the target market and the profit per each new customer, you can start to show them just why you're worth paying for. 

But Bud, different prices for different clients? You CAD!

Not being Rand, I don't put my prices online. Why? Because my opportunity cost varies with time and project scope. If I don't have much time to do a project but someone wants me badly, I have to charge more so my limited time is valued. Also, it just works out that the more profitable each new customer is varies with the difficulty of reaching that client varies with how much work is involved in the campaign. Sometimes I just have to make simple recommendations, sometimes I have to recode a complete site, and sometimes I have to spend months on link building campaigns, and in this process my clients have always fallen on a perfect curve in terms of pricing vs work supplied. Go figure.

Greed is Good, Competition is Better

While I preach that SEO is the same as any other marketing activity, I also have to consider the same risks as any other marketing activity. First, someone could also undercut me for the same service, so experience, work to show, and word of mouth have to be important to me. I'm not Rand Fishkin, I'm just Bud, so looks alone won't cut it here. Second, value isn't always proven until much later. We all know, it takes a long time for some SEO campaigns to gain traction, so I have to educate my customers on the process as much as possible so I'm not hand holding every day after the project is over. Lastly, to do the job well, and to get the job, you have to understand your customer. You have to speak their business language and you have to understand their customers -- if you don't walk in to a meeting knowing the top 3-5 deciding factors for their customer base, then you start at a disadvantage. Even if you're Rand.

I'd love to hear how others in the SEO realm go about their proposal stage, please add your comments.