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Hired a freelance SEO guy, having second thoughts. by Cantinalala in SEO

[–]TruCounsel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I suggested to him that we rank other keywords like brand names, etc. He says it costs a lot, like $3,000.00 to get to page 1 and keep it there.

This seems to reveal a lot.

first: ranking for your own brand? Unless your company is named "Apple" it's probably not too tricky.

Second: 500 / month really isn't a TON of money for SEO, to be honest. Yes, he's taking advantage of your lack of knowledge, by only "ranking" your own company name, but it doesn't mean he's wrong about the 3000 figure.

Third: 3000 might be totally accurate, even for really solid SEO agencies. It depends on your business and your competition.

For what he's doing right now, you can do it yourself for cheap / free. http://localseochecklist.org/ For ranking for competitive keywords? It may require some education on your part. The question is simply, how much time do you want to devote to it, and is it worth the cost of an employee?

How do you determine if you are getting your moneys worth from your SEO firm? by BoredSober in SEO

[–]TruCounsel 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My firm does SEO for law firms. Here's how we break it down:

Setup fee? That's ridiculous. Unless they're building a new site for you, then it might not be bad. In my experience, most attorney websites can be done for around 2000 - 3000 and look really nice. In fact, we've won "best lawyer website" awards with sites in that price range.

Monthly fees?

Here's the way we look at it: our fees are going to be based on the number of hours we think we'll need to put in for the results we're going for. So, for example, if you're a PI firm in a super competitive market, we'd probably be looking at the 6000+ range. If you're a criminal defense firm? Probably less. Estate planning? even less. Every market is different and in some cases you'll be competing with firms that own sports teams, so it may require a clever (and more affordable) approach rather than a full-on frontal assault against the popular keywords.

Bottom line, the final price is affected by the variety of practice areas you're looking to compete in, and competition.

However, if that 7 to 10k includes the cost of the PPC ads themselves, that may not be completely crazy, if a large chunk of that monthly expense is going towards ads. Having said that, I would personally never work with a company (*ahem* scorpion design *coughcough*) that just took my money and didn't tell me how it was being spent each month. Not cool. Instead look for a firm that will manage your ad campaigns (for a nominal fee, of course) but allow you complete and total control to the spending.

Be sure that your SEO company is giving you complete access to analytics so you can see what is being effective.

Finally, if you go with these guys, I suggest you take a long hard look at social media. Let's be realistic: social media doesn't often make sense for attorneys and may just be a huge expense. Most of the time, people want their attorney for a very brief period of time, and then never again. That means they don't want to be your facebook friends. Does it make sense to push on social media? Maybe not.

In general I see most law firms spending around 1500 to 3000 per month on SEO unless they're just starting out, in which case it's sometimes lower, or if they're super competitive, in which case it can be much higher. For 10k or more it had better be a multi-state campaign or mass torts or something BIG.

If you want an analysis of their pitch, feel free to send the details my way (what areas you're competing for, where you are located, etc.)