As many SEO companies do, I get phone calls from people asking how much I would charge to optimise their website. Or more crudely how much it would cost to get their website at the top of page 1 of Google.

The difficulty comes when I ask what keywords they want to be found for and they go quiet at the other end of the phone.

Good SEO starts with assessing your clients wants, needs and then managing those expectations. I had one recent conversation where the person had just launched a web site for personal injury claims and wanted to be on page 1 within the first month. His budget was £100. When I told him the reality and the kind of budget we was realistically looking at for his SEO he then told me that we had spoken to one optimisation company who would guarantee him a page 1 ranking for this price. We both decided be should go with them.

Although there is always some room for negotiation on fees, any SEO worth their salt will always quote according to the job at hand. There is little point in choosing the cheapest option as these people will be the first to shout that SEO doesn’t work.

The plain fact is that SEO does work but you get what you pay for. An area such as personal injury will always be inherently more expensive than say pie crimpers in Preston – no disrespect to Preston.

So how much does SEO cost? The answer is that it costs as much as you can afford. A good SEO will make you a bad one will break you. It is better to invest £500 than waste £100.