Who here does websites and Google first-page placing?

[Gray_Area]

I have a friend (ah, yes I do actually) who says he's going to pay $6000 to some service that'll do a site and get him first page Google, I think through the end of the year. Is this a ridiculous price?  If so, can someone here do better?

[MonMotha]

In general, people who do this kind of SEO are a bit, um, scummy.  There are exceptions surely.

That said, $6000 for a reasonable size custom website (ACTUALLY custom, not just "I loaded up wordpress and put a decent template I already had laying around on it") is not bad.  I've been known to make real custom websites for people, and even 10-20 pages can easily hit that price.  Again, this is actually made-to-order custom does-everything-you-want, not "I loaded up Joomla and put a template on it that you kinda-sorta like."

If they are then guaranteeing you first position on Google for a set of keywords (they can't do this, but could offer e.g. a refund if they fail), that's worth something potentially.  Make sure you know up front what search strings they're "guaranteeing" 1st position on and that they're strings you actually care about. Quotes matter, etc.

Note that Google et.al. take a pretty dim view of things like this.  If the SEO guys play any "tricks" like linkfarming, etc., Google may well just delist the entire domain, potentially in perpetuity.  Make sure the domain isn't particularly important long-term.

Also, make sure you're also not signing up for a spam email campaign.  This will tend to just piss your customers off rather than attract them.  Well, unless you're actually trying to sell Viagra online, that is.

Make sure the hosting is decent, too.  Yes, Hostgator and whatnot can host you for $2.50/mo.  No, it's not very good.  Compare with what actual hosting service you're getting out of this.  It doesn't do you any good to be #1 on Google for something if your host can't handle the corresponding traffic.

You're dealing with the seedy underbelly of the INTERNET, here.  Dot all the Is, cross all the Ts, and make sure your recourse is clearly defined.  If these guys aren't in the same country, assume you will be scammed with no recourse.  That may not actually be the case, but the risk is just too great, IMO.

[SNAAKE]

it depends on what he's making back from the site. he could be making 10x more money than whatever he's paying. ask your friend and see if he's looking for a cheaper option. my brother is into SEO and online marketing. he can probably help your friend for less than 6k.

[404]

as MonMotha said: SEO can be a very shady business.

there are also so many factors to getting on the front page of any search engine that SEO won't cover such as Democraphic, Service etc.

[RayB]

The only way to "guarantee" top ranking is by gaming the system, which means, yeah it might be up there for a short while and then Google will ban it the hell down into oblivion ranking.

Best to do it the right way: A site that contains authentic useful content that other authentic reputable websites then link to.

[zanna5910]

most people said it pretty good.

I work for a website, custom application, it, seo firm.  We typically do website design as one fixed cost, SEO monthly.  While SEO is a watered out, shady subject, there are good SEM's out there.  Any guarantee should be met with a word of caution.  If they do guarantee (which isn't unreasonable if you want a niche keyword ranked), find out what they do and have some stipulation that what they do is White Hat and follows ethical and responsible SEO guidelines.  If you have a black hat SEO do work for you, you can potentially get your site banned from all the search engines forever.  Good luck then.

If its something very niche and local (boston green towel distributor), that's pretty easy to get working.  If its something very generic (new york realtor), its very hard to get 1st page and I wouldn't guarantee it at all. 

6K is not unreasonable for a custom website depending on features.

Just my 2C.  Also, the golden rule for seo is "Content is King".  Keep that in mind as you build the site.  Good content is always appreciated and well ranked.

[MonMotha]

One other thing to point out is that "SEO" is a pretty broad topic.  Making your website search-engine accessible is a good idea.  It'll ensure the best "legitimate" ranking in all the major indexes, if that's important to you, and, as a bonus, also tends to make your website more accessible to those with reduced capability browsers like those used by the blind or deaf.

The "we guarantee you a certain position on Google" SEO is the more seedy kind, though.  Beware.

Also, note that Google is famous for "bubbling" people.  Just because something's the first hit for you doesn't mean it'll be the first hit on somebody else's account or from other locations, even for the exact same query string.

[Gray_Area]

Coool, thanks everybody. I'll send him a link to this page for his own perusal.