Website enhancement charges

M8INTERNET · 10th October 2008

I wouldn't quite call this SEO optimisation

I have a client that has paid for only my basic website updating service
This was finally completed last month, and from this point forward they get one page update each month if required

However, none of their pages, which were designed by another website designer, have any form of meta-tag content, etc

Amazingly their website does appear on basic category searches within google, but could clearly be performing better

I am not sure what to charge, for such a simple website enhancement
Their website has eight main pages, but the optimisation is only going to take place on the home page
A robots.txt file will also be created so that search engines are controlled better than they are at present, as I have also noticed a page that should not be listed in the search engines
Any ideas?

AdamC · 10th October 2008

Sounds like your the wrong person for anyone to be paying to carry out services on their website.

othellotech · 11th October 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by M8INTERNET

However, none of their pages, which were designed by another website designer, have any form of meta-tag content, etc

Amazingly their website does appear on basic category searches within google

There's a fairly basic answer to this inside what's quoted ....

M8INTERNET · 11th October 2008

I've been using meta-tags for years, but this client simply paid for the scripts to be updated and transferred to my server
It was agreed that this did NOT include any form of search engine optimisation
The client is now asking for these improvements

I read conflicting reports about adding meta-tags, from no longer required, to essential

Without the meta-tags the search engines are simply reading the general website content
Obviously adding meta-tags may help, but I am no longer convinced this has the effect customers want

On one of my own websites I removed the meta-tags several months ago and there has been no change!
I suspect google reads them once, and once only

aguk · 11th October 2008

Google makes use of the description tag if it is present and relevant.

M8INTERNET · 11th October 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by aguk

Google makes use of the description tag if it is present and relevant.

I'm not so sure about that, as I use that where I can, but it is rarely used, and in one case it is completely ignored and the main website content is used instead!
However, I have noticed that other (older) search engines use the description

Sadly, this also explains why so many websites now put their keywords, description, etc in plain text visible at the bottom of the page
Personally, it just looks messy being down there and visible!

Anyway, back to my original question
How much to charge for simply creating a single set of meta-tags and a robots.txt file?
I was going to charge £25, seemed reasonable

aguk · 11th October 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by M8INTERNET

I'm not so sure about that, as I use that where I can, but it is rarely used, and in one case it is completely ignored and the main website content is used instead!

Google makes use of the description tag if it is present and relevant.

administrator · 11th October 2008

Google makes very good use from the Meta description tag.

burble · 12th October 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by M8INTERNET

Anyway, back to my original question
How much to charge for simply creating a single set of meta-tags and a robots.txt file?
I was going to charge £25, seemed reasonable

Well, what's your hourly rate, and how long do you think it'll take you?

M8INTERNET · 12th October 2008

I don't charge an hourly rate, that's the thing, I now only offer website hosting
Equally, I no longer offer any form of website design (I make recommendations to other website designers that I use)
The website updating service I use is performed through five templates and customers are charged a flat rate of £5 per page (equivalent of £75 per hour), the code itself remains unchanged

For this type of service I normally only make a recommendation and details of this are in the support sections
I wouldn't normally make any form of SEO enhancement, either through meta-tags or robots.txt file
This would normally be something the customer is encouraged to do themselves
However, I have been getting more and more requests recently, with everything from meta-tags, descriptions, content enhancement, and so on

aguk · 12th October 2008

Only you can decide how much to charge.

It is based on how much your time costs and how much you think the client will pay.

We have no idea of your overheads so no idea how to create a pricing structure for you.

dazmanultra · 12th October 2008

A lot of people forget that not only is it important to place high in search engines, but then once your result is there that people click through to your site. Good copy titles and description tags is incredibly important for this.

On the original topic however, you will most likely want to charge for your time. Anywhere from £20-£50 an hour depending on your expertise and what you think the client will be able to bear.

aXeR · 12th October 2008

Just to echo what others have said, Google most definitely utilised the Meta Tag info as I've witnessed this myself recently with our new optimised website.

M8INTERNET · 12th October 2008

Setting up basic meta-tags took me about 15 minutes, based on the current website content
I then installed AWStats and compared the keywords I had chosen and they were all present, although I have added some which some relevance to the industry in which the client trades

Using the site: parameter at google, there are four pages spidered by google, but the description is very poor but it's no real surprise when it is based on the current text content only!
Hopefully the description I have entered will improve this

I also noticed that the six pages on the website all had different title tags!
Two of these did not contain any of the search terms which really need to be used, so this was also corrected

I can now understand why SEO companies charge what they do!
Just working on these six pages alone took me 20 minutes ( I could quite easily have spent double that time, plus a revist once google has reupdated in due course) and using automated quoting systems the cheapest quote I got was £250
It's quite different when I work on my own websites, as they are built from scratch so I know exactly what terms, tags, and text to use
Updating a client website (that to be quite honest with you was in quite a mess!) is more involved, and as above this isn't something I would normally do

I have therefore invoiced the customer £15 (basically half price)
If they want a further update after google has revisited, then more indepth changes will be required, and £90 an hour seems fair?

Quote:

Originally Posted by aguk

We have no idea of your overheads so no idea how to create a pricing structure for you.

My overhead costs (for scripts, etc) are nil, I offer this service purely as a hobby and my clients are made well aware of this
I don't do any advertising, etc

M8INTERNET · 12th October 2008

Unable to delete - duplicate post