What Are The Different Pricing Models For SEO

It can be challenging for business owners to pick the right SEO price plan. FullBeamSEO has been in the SEO business for over 15 years and has worked with companies in the US, Australia, and Canada. In that time, we've seen every kind of SEO price plan you can think of. We have always provided excellent white-label SEO services that help our partners make more money, regardless of the price structure they use (hourly, project-based, retainer-based, performance-based, or combination).

Understanding SEO Pricing Models For Agency Owners

Business owners need help understanding the different SEO price methods. We'll explain the various models so you can choose the one that works best for your business and customers.

Hourly Pricing Model

With hourly rates, clients only pay for the hours spent on their SEO plan. This plan works best for companies that handle small, specific jobs that don't always need to be done. We've seen that companies that charge by the hour usually do so for projects that require quick or technical SEO fixes. 

However, we've seen companies that need to learn how to meet clients' specific needs under a lot of pressure. They don't want to say no to the client because they're afraid that the client will leave for another agency. 

They get out of this mess without any damage: they use our white-label services, which work perfectly with their current business and offer expert technical fixes (or any SEO service they don't want to do themselves) quickly and correctly.

Pros:

• It is ideal for fixing a few mistakes or making basic SEO fixes.

• Billing that is flexible for small, short-term jobs.

Cons:

• For complete SEO services, it can get pricey.

• It's hard to know what the total costs will be upfront.

Project-based Pricing Model

With this type of billing, clients pay a set amount for a specific task, like an SEO audit or a website makeover. This plan works great for companies whose clients have explicit goals. Delivering accurate and on-time SEO solutions can be helpful for agencies that work on projects.

This ensures that all the project's needs are met without lowering the quality. With the project-based price model, the return time and project limit are already set, so agencies must be innovative about assigning jobs to team members. 

If your business needs help with time-consuming but not knowledge-intensive tasks, like building links, you should work with a cheap white-label link-building service provider. 

This can help you save time and money on costs. But make sure you spell out exactly what data you offered your clients for backlink building. That way, your white-label link-building company can give your clients the same high-quality links.

Pros:

• The exact cost of the whole job up front.

• Sticking to a budget is easier when there aren't any surprises.

Cons:

• It might be better for long-term SEO needs.

• Needs a good knowledge of the project's goals and results.

Retainer-based Pricing Model

With the retainer-based plan, clients pay a set monthly amount to continue receiving SEO services. These models are preferred by clients who need ongoing SEO work and want to ensure their SEO performance improves over time. The contract price plan works well for many SEO firms, but some website owners prefer something other than a monthly fee. 

This might be because the monthly fee amount is automatically taken out of their cards, but the work that was supposed to be done the month before might still need to be finished. This could cause problems between customers and the service, which would slow down the growth of the business. 

To keep this from happening too much, the in-house team needs to focus on what they do best and hire a white-label service like Stan Ventures to handle the repetitive SEO tasks. This can ensure that the delivery happens on time before the client's next payment cycle, lowering the chance that they will be unhappy.

Pros:

• Offers steady, dependable income.

• Allows for ongoing tweaking and planning for the long run.

Cons:

• It needs clients to commit for a long time.

• Some clients might need help paying upfront.

Performance-based Pricing Model

In this plan, clients are charged based on how well their SEO strategy does, usually measured by how many leads or sales it brings in. That way, the business's success is linked to the client's success. This differs from how you want to charge your clients as an SEO service for several reasons.

SEO is just one thing that matters. Many other things can affect how high a website gets on Google. For example, a health brand that the FDA recently fined for sharing false information about how well a drug works comes to you for help with SEO.

There is a lot of false information about the brand on the internet, and it won't matter if your company hires the best and most experienced SEO expert—it will be impossible to improve that site's ranking.

Also, think of a website that has bugs and is run by someone who still needs to figure out how the search engine works. It doesn't matter how hard you try to explain, and they will keep bragging about the fancy graphics and ridiculously huge Java scripts that slow down the site.

Your agency will have difficulty working with these kinds of websites if they want to do performance-based SEO. Your team will have to teach them about SEO and help them understand that making a few changes to the content and meta tags will not be enough to increase rankings.

Pros:

• Link payment to results (you get paid immediately when it happens).

• Attractive to clients who care about ROI.

Cons:

• Agencies are at risk because of things they can't control.

• It's hard to promise exact results.

Hybrid Model

The hybrid model combines parts of different price systems to create a unique method for each client. This makes it perfect for agencies with a wide range of needs. We only suggest this model for growing companies. This way, they can change their prices and services as they grow, so they don't have to turn away customers because of a single pricing model.

Pros:

• Being able to change prices and services to fit the wants of each client.

• Ensures both consistency and success goals are met.

Cons:

• Keeping track of various price systems can take time and effort.

• It needs to be carefully planned and conveyed to clients.

Resource-based Seo Pricing

In the resource-based approach, clients are given SEO experts who are only responsible for their project. This technique gives you more power and makes SEO more straightforward to understand. However, these prices might not work for you if you don't have the means.

Pros:

• Uses specialized resources to ensure a coordinated approach.

• More control over daily tasks and better connection with client goals.

Cons:

• Has a high price tag.

• Usually, it needs long-term contracts.