Hi, I am new to freelancing jobs, Right now i am handling few projects in Seo and web development. One of my client asks me to provide him with the list of sites where i am submitting his site link. he wants to approve all the sites before getting the site submitted. Is this Fair means? i think it will have both waste of time and efforts as for after searching suitable sites for submission, if i have to get approval from him for each link , you can imagine how much time would it take . I need suggestions from fellow SEO Professionals. Regards, Aakash
I am not an SEO pro, but do you charge by the hour? If so, who cares...let them waste as much time as they want. If not---then---explain all the extra time. Ultimately, you are working for them--so...
I think that it's a good thing to ask for from a consumer standpoint - if you're new at this then I would offer it to build your reputation. Once you have a solid base of customers you could then charge extra for the additional service. It might not be as much of a hassle as you think - create the list in html format and then you can keep it as a resource and also use it to revisit your researched sites.
This person has likely either been burned in the past by people who did not submit, (but were happy to invoice...) OR they are afraid of linking into a bad neighborhood. OR they are just a NOSEY pain in the rear... 1. You can tell for yourself which type your customer is...and how much they are paying you. More $$$ = more access to what you are doing... 2. React accordingly...if they are worth, keep them. If not, fire them. In general, why they want to know this is more important than the fact that they want to know. They could either be totally legit or a total crock. Best; Eric
Hi, As I said I am new to freelance. To Build a Good reputation I had charged the minmal for the project. He also accpets that it is a very good deal for him. I think That I should tell him that i will provide the total list of sites only after the work is over. What is your Call for this.
Bhai g, Case 1-- Local indian customer, my opinion is that if you are charging him minimum and even if he is asking about the list then charge him more, because i feel that a lot of customers (who dont have a proper knowledge of seo and web marketing) treat seo's like clerks and i think that customers like that, should be treated in the same way as they do to us, try to take advantage of his little knowledge about seo. After all you are not "majdoor" or something like that, you are doing seo and its quite a tough job, also if you want to give him the list only give him that after the submission is over. Case 2--- You got project from overseas on hourly basis, give him a long list of about 150-200 sites to review (you will probably get them searching for best web directories on google) and charge him according to your hourly rates. One more thing always give a flexible rate in the case of directory submissions and link exchanges as these are unpredictable things and very-2 laborious, you can try 5-6 $/link established (just example) and last but never least do not give him the gurantee of establishing 30-40 links per month, the word gurantee holds a significant rise in rates in any SEO proposal. Thanks for the post and good luck!!
Hello to all the friends who have helped me. As I said I had just joined as a freelance programmer/developer/ SEO this week. Currently I am handling 3 projects together. Today i recieved my first payment as a freelancer. Though it is 50 % of the total amount and that too in paypal, I cant express the exitement i am feeling right now. It is 3:15 in the morning here and all my family members are sleeping right now, so just sharing this joy of mine with my Friends here in this forum.
It is not the norm, generally sites cannot control who link to them so no link is a bad link and should therefore not need to be vetted. In saying that if I owned a site and I had 70% of my links from spam/bad neighborhood's then I would expect google to pick up on that so as long as the backlinks are of a good source I would say it is a waste of time but make sure that time is being charged for.
Think of how you as a customer would like to see the fruits of your purchase. If you weren't given a list you would doubt the site was even linked to, the list proves your money was well spent and you can double check the sites mentioned.
tell the guy if he want to decide where he gets the links from he can go out and idnetify them himself, and you will then do the leg work. I assume we are talking about directories here? If you are talking about reciprocals, then I would expect the client to have a say in who they exchange links with. Just keep in mind that if the link is a good link, but they refuse it, then it comes from their overall link deal. EG you agreed 50 links, he decides that the blue is tooblue or the layout on that directory looks unprofessional etc, then he pays for his choices. either in increased rates, or loss of links. YOU are the seo, YOU decide what is a good link and what is not. It never ceases to amaze me how many peoiple hire professionals then tell them how to do the job. This applies from everything from cutting the lawn to rebuilding a car engine.