What is SEO?
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is a method of improving a website or web page’s online traffic by using marketing strategies to make it more visible and higher up the search engine results page (SERP).
Businesses choose to hire specialists in this area in order to gain more visits to their site, which could in turn increase the number of customers.
What does a freelance SEO consultant do?
An SEO specialist could do a number of different roles, such as web researcher, link builder or content writer.
Although duties will vary depending on the area you work in, typical responsibilities might include:
- Analysing and managing issues within a company’s website and then coming up with strategies to resolve problems.
- Keeping up-to-date with search engines, such as how they are determining ranking.
- Researching keywords for a client’s industry
- Creating content and placing keywords in as naturally as possible
Freelance SEO consultant qualifications
This is an area that is mainly self-taught – there aren’t any specific qualifications, however, there are plenty of good training courses out there.
It’s vital that you are willing to keep learning throughout your career as an SEO consultant, ensuring you’re always upholding your knowledge of search engines and how to make the most of them.
Freelancer rates of pay
For many people, the appeal of becoming self-employed is the fact that you are often able to command higher rates compared to those working in employed roles.
There are many reasons behind this; for a start, a contractor has usually dedicated themselves to a particular skill, so it’s more likely that they are both highly skilled and experienced in their field.
There’s also the fact that self-employment not only comes with more risk but those working in the sector are not entitled to certain benefits, such as holiday and sick pay.
Read our Benefits of Contracting page for the top reasons why people choose the self-employment route.
Daily, hourly or fixed rate?
How you charge for your work, whether that’s a daily, hourly or fixed rate, might change with each project, or you may find that a client has their own preference.
Here are the pros and cons of each one:
Daily rate
A daily rate can be the easier option for both the contractor and the client – the contractor will have a better idea of how much they’ll be earning for a project and the client will also know how much they’ll be spending, which will help them from a budgeting point of view.
A contractor can also often charge more when it comes to a daily rate compared to an hourly one.
However, it’s worth being aware that if the client asks for additional work to be done within those days, which could essentially be seen as ‘over-time’, the contractor could miss out financially.
Hourly rate
An hourly rate can benefit a contractor if a project takes longer than expected, but it can become an issue should a client limit the number of hours that a contractor works on a project in order to cut costs.
Fixed rate
A fixed rate means that you know exactly how much you’ll be earning for a project, however, when setting this rate, you have to really think about how long a project will take, as you could find it takes longer than expected meaning you’re potentially being underpaid.
Take a look at our Contractor take home pay calculator to get an idea of how much you could take home either working through a limited company or under an umbrella.
We hope you found this page helpful. Our team of experts are available to answer any questions you may have, so either contact us via online chat, call us on 01442 795 100 or email sophie.lewis@dolanaccountancy.com.
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