A great deal of it seems to have to do with reputation. Aaron Wall is able to charge $1,000 for a one hour phone consultation. Most people can't "get away" with doing that.

Rates should depend on the type of work to be performed. Implementing certain SEO promotional techniques without first establishing a quality optimized site will not yield ideal results. Pricing should be set so that there is a base set on amount of "initial work" required based on number of pages/size of site. Ongoing work once that base is established can and should be tied into ROI for the client based on increased site traffic and, in turn, increase revenue derived from the site (leads, sales, etc).

Asking rates for SEO services is always a sticky subject. I conducted a break even analysis in order to come up with a base hourly rate. The pricing for my services are based on the size of the website and the number of hours it takes to perform each project. This pricing model seems to work well for my company.

I had a SEO contract 4 years ago that I charged a very modest one time fee for. This company has averaged about 1500 visitors a day. I feel like there should have been royalty set up. That small one time investment set his business on a new playing field all together. In the first year his business grew 300%. So what would that be worth to you? It’s a very sticky topic. I find that I actually have used the hourly model based on number of hours to complete project and I find my time is paid for but it’s the feeling like your getting screwed without royalty that is hard to accept. 1500 relevant visitors over 4 years is 2,190,000 visitors from highly relevant converting key phrases. I cant wait to read more about this topic.