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hermanng
Community Member

SEO for fixed price without knowing the website

I would like to know who are the people applying for SEO jobs on a fixed price offer for let's say $350.00 without knowing the URL and having checked the site first?

Just saw one and no link to the website but 50+ applicatrions - they must be spammers because the site may have 1,000 pages and you'd be working on that for weeks or months if you were doing real SEO work

13 REPLIES 13
petra_r
Community Member


Hermann M wrote:

I would like to know who are the people applying for SEO jobs on a fixed price offer for let's say $350.00 without knowing the URL and having checked the site first?

Just saw one and no link to the website but 50+ applicatrions - they must be spammers because the site may have 1,000 pages and you'd be working on that for weeks or months if you were doing real SEO work


Skilled freelancers know how to apply to jobs with little info in the job post. It is hardly rocket science, you simply point out that the bid is purely a placeholder and to open the dialogue, and that you will be pleased to provide a custom price for doing X, Y, Z once you have received  more information such as A, B, and C.

 

hermanng
Community Member

What has that got to do with skill??? A silly response or do youi think you are skilled?

 

I would not waste connects for such job offers and the only way to get the info is to apply and waste connects

petra_r
Community Member


Hermann M wrote:

 

I would not waste connects for such job offers and the only way to get the info is to apply and waste connects


Well, don't then. Leave them to those who know how to successfully apply to them.

 


Hermann M wrote:

What has that got to do with skill??? A silly response or do youi think you are skilled?

 


A skilled freelancer knows the relevant parameters and how to build them into a bid. That's not to say you should bid on jobs with inadequate information--that's a personal choice. I usually don't. But, sometimes I'll see a job posting that says "content for law firm website." Of course, that could mean three pages of 500 words each or 50+ 1,000-word pages. 

 

I make an assumption based on a typical law firm website, price that, and then write in the proposal, "bid price assumes 10 pages of 600-800 words each with one round of revisions. If your needs differ, I will be happy to provide an updated quote when I have more specific information about your project."

 

Regarding your personal jab, I would say there's a general consensus that Petra is, in fact, "skilled." She provides more useful information to newcomers in these forums than anyone else (all on her own time), and has a stellar history as a freelancer here. Not everyone loves her tone, but you'd be hard put to find someone who's spent any time around these forums who doesn't recognize her skill.

lysis10
Community Member


Hermann M wrote:

I would like to know who are the people applying for SEO jobs on a fixed price offer for let's say $350.00 without knowing the URL and having checked the site first?

Just saw one and no link to the website but 50+ applicatrions - they must be spammers because the site may have 1,000 pages and you'd be working on that for weeks or months if you were doing real SEO work


Because your'e forced to put an amount in your bid so you have to put something there even if you don't know the specs.

re: "they must be spammers because the site may have 1,000 pages and you'd be working on that for weeks or months if you were doing real SEO work"

 

Not necessarily.

 

A site with 1000 pages does not have 1000 individually hand-coded web pages.

It has a back-end database with information, and a source code file (or files) which is responsible for generating those pages based on the various columns and data in the database.

 

The site may have limited or very aging SEO elements, which can be enhanced significantly with things such as contemporary meta tags, pretty URLs, duplication avoidance, improved interlinking, site maps, etc.

 

These things could be done in a few hours.

I've wondered the same thing, Hermann. It doesn't make sense. I see the same thing for PPC services. I rarely if ever apply to those jobs.

My best guesses are:

 

1) The proposed amount sounds good to them. They may usually charge half that amount. Of course, the quality of work may be inferior too.

 

2) May be the average job is that amount or less. But they're taking a big chance it could be a bigger job. That's why I don't apply to those since I just don't know the size of the job. I won't commit to a fee that may be twice that.

 

3) If the job is bigger than the amount, they'll do only so much work to equal that amount. Of course, the buyer may not be happy.

 

Of course, to protect yourself, as Petra said, specify that the amount is just a placeholder pending more details. I have done that myself many times but I apply to them only for jobs that have potential and look interesting. I would not apply to a job simply saying "Google Ads, we'll pay $350" but will it they add the type of business which may appeal to me or that it looks long-term or they specify it's long-term. I also only apply to jobs where the buyer has shown he's ready to pay in my fee range and has done so in the past. We have to do our research as freelancers to the jobs we apply for.

One valid reason for clients not disclosing their site URL is to avoid being spammed by freelancers begging for work using the site contact info. Being a web developer, it’s inconvenient, but clients who provide URL are the exceptions.
__________________________________________________
"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Clare Boothe Luce


Preston H wrote:

 

 

The site may have limited or very aging SEO elements, which can be enhanced significantly with things such as contemporary meta tags, pretty URLs, duplication avoidance, improved interlinking, site maps, etc.

 

These things could be done in a few hours.


You have hidden talents (and, apparently, super speed). I'm pretty fast, but creating a strategic internal linking structure for a 1,000 page site and implementing it along with writing unique meta titles and descriptions for that many pages would take me about two weeks.

re: "writing unique meta titles and descriptions for that many pages"

 

LOL.

Obviously my SEO work on that client's project doesn't include writing titles and descriptions.

 

The  meta tags are generated from the existing database fields.

 

Such as "product name" and "product description."


Preston H wrote:

re: "writing unique meta titles and descriptions for that many pages"

 

LOL.

Obviously my SEO work on that client's project doesn't include writing titles and descriptions.

 

The  meta tags are generated from the existing database fields.

 

Such as "product name" and "product description."


Just goes to show that OP has a point about the job description being inadequate.

Just came accross this one - wow client quality is going down hill fast notice the $5.00 fixed price

 

 

Search Engine Optimization

Posted 9 minutes ago

SEO optimizations wile website is being built including keyword research For a lawancare business

$5Fixed-price

$$Intermediate levelI am looking for a mix of experience and value

Well Preston, here is the thing, when I do SEO work, there is

1) technical SEO

2) content SEO

3) off site SEO

Most SEO jobs I have done involved a lot of content SEO since the latest Google algorithms (including last years Medic) put a lot of weight on site authority. Statements like this show the knowledge level of real SEO. I gather that a lot of those 50+ applicants that jump on every SEO job look at it the same way as you do. Plus the usual statement that it will take 6 months or so for results opend up a wide comfort zone for them.

SEO does not take 6 months to show results. I use SEMRush and show clients improvements of key-phrase optimized individual pages in search results ranking within a week. But that involves a lot of work, not just making the hooks in that totally inadequate Yoast app green.

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