What would you do for that amount of money?
What should a client expect for $300 a month?
I would give them their money back.
CommentCrafter said:
I would give them their money back.
Smart move
That’s about 2-3 hours of SEO work. If someone needs 20 hours just to get a website visible, they need to rethink their business approach. In 6 months, it’s possible to see results and work independently. Many agencies avoid the real work. I manage clients and see growth over time. With the right approach, you can get results in a few hours. The budget may be small, but you can’t compare a medium-sized business to a small startup. A customer may end up paying much more if things go well.
@francoismitterand
Spot on! That’s why big SEO agencies start with $200-$300 entry-level prices.
I would have a 60-minute monthly call to guide their SEO work and answer their questions. I’d assume they handle the basic tasks in-house.
Expectations from the client would be to receive advice and knowledge.
It depends on their goals. A client paying that little is likely someone who wants fast results.
They might complain in a year, like so many people have done on this forum.
For that budget, you could probably get 1 backlink and do some other optimizations each week, taking about 3 hours a month. At $100 per hour, that’s reasonable.
@BlogBeaconBeth
The idea is to start with small packages, build traction, and eventually upgrade them to higher-paying ones.
If you sell a package, be clear about what $300, $3000, and $30000 would get them.
I’d just tell them to do it themselves, haha.
AstroAdept said:
I’d just tell them to do it themselves, haha.
I’d send that in an automated email each month. Easy money.
I wouldn’t actually take a client with that small a budget, but… if they have $300 a month, they probably have a small site that’s not ranking well. I’d spend most of my time (around 2 hours a month) creating new pages targeting longtail keywords. I’d also revise existing pages and work on interlinking if needed. I wouldn’t focus on backlinks or detailed reporting, just brief updates.
@Jane
Sounds like the SEO starter pack for one company I’m looking into. They offer basics like this plus one article a month.
I find it insane that companies offer all of this plus backlinks for such a small amount.
@Jane
I agree. You could create a new page or improve an existing one each month. Over time, the site will start to show traction in GA4, which helps build confidence in your service.
I’d talk with them and their team for an hour or two each month – nothing more.
Some people include content writing in their SEO packages. That’s why AI content is becoming more popular for budget projects. The real problem is the costs of developer and designer support.
I’d work a few hours each month and focus on tasks like analyzing backlinks and finding ones that actually help. I’d also do a website audit for SEO structure.
It really depends on the client and if they have a site that’s already up and running. Typically, I’d do a lot of work in the first few months to get the site ranking, then switch to maintenance mode.
Many local SEO clients don’t need tons of links, just the right content and local citations.
I’d do my best.
It depends on the client. In small towns, many small businesses can’t afford large SEO services. Their sites are smaller, so the work involved is also less.
I’d offer guest posting, social bookmarking for backlinks, on-page content checks, keyword tracking, SEO audits, and monthly reports.
But I wouldn’t write articles. I’d suggest topics they could write about, and if they wanted articles, I’d charge extra.
If the site has less than 25 pages, I’d build links instead of buying them. For sites with more pages or e-commerce sites, it would be impossible. I’d explain to the client that they need to spend around 10-15% of their profit on marketing, and 2-3% should go towards SEO for real results.