Pricing
Pricing the first link package you resell
Most juniors undercharge because they only count the placement cost. Your fee should also cover selection, briefing, tracking and the awkward emails.
Three ways to structure the invoice
| Structure | What the client sees | Upside | Danger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pass-through plus fee | Placement costs at cost, then your fee as a separate line | Honest and easy to defend | Client fixates on the placement price |
| Flat package | One monthly number for a set number of links | Simple to sell | You eat the cost when rows run pricey |
| Hourly plus costs | Hours logged, links billed at cost | Fair for messy jobs | Clients dislike open-ended totals |
What to charge for when the links are cheap
The placements are the smallest part of what you deliver. You decide which pages deserve links, you read donor rows with a sceptical eye, and you answer the client when nothing seems to move.
Buying single placements here runs from $1 up to about $500 each, scaling with Domain Rating, traffic and niche. That range is wide. Anyone asked to buy link building for a client may find a careful first package sits at the cheap end and is still worth a fee.
Charge for judgement. A client who sees only a $15 line item will argue about the $15, but a client who sees selection, briefing and a report will argue about nothing. Keep the structure visible on every invoice.
A worked example, clearly hypothetical
Imagine a florist client with a $600 monthly budget. You agree on six placements chosen for local relevance. Fine. Say they average $20 each, so the placement lines total $120.
That leaves $480 for your work. Is that too much? Only if the work is invisible. List what it covers: a starting snapshot from Google Search Console, a short donor review, briefs for each article, and one report at the end of the month.
Now the awkward case. The client asks for twenty links at once for the same money. Say no, and explain that fast bursts look unnatural and that quality rows cost more. Offer six now and a review in a month.
What we would do with $1,000 of client budget
- Spend no more than a third on placements in month one
- Keep the rest for your fee and a small reserve
- Choose two target pages, not five
- Split orders across at least three weeks
- Hold back a few rows until the first report is read
- Write the date of the next review into the invoice
Pricing questions, in the order people ask them
- How do I decide what to charge for my first package?
- Start from the hours you expect to spend and what you need to earn per hour, then add placement costs as a separate pass-through line. Check the sum against the client's budget. If it does not fit, shrink the scope, not your hourly number.
- Should I show the client what each link costs?
- Usually yes. Showing the placement price, plus your fee as a separate line, builds trust and heads off the suspicion that you are hiding a markup. Clients who see a flat number often feel entitled to guess at the split.
- What if the client wants a lower price?
- Reduce the scope before the fee. Fewer links, fewer target pages or a lighter report all keep your hourly value intact. A discount with the same workload quietly teaches the client that your first number was negotiable.
- When should I ask for payment?
- Before you spend. Top up your dashboard balance only after the client has paid you for the placement lines, so your own cash never funds their project. Written terms about timing prevent the late-payment stories every freelancer tells.
- Is a retainer better than a one-off package?
- A small recurring package suits link work because progress shows over weeks, not days. Start with a short term, one month or two, and review. Longer commitments can follow once the client has seen a real report from you.
Our view
Price the judgement, pass through the rest
If the client can see your selection, briefing and reporting as separate lines, the cost of placements stops feeling like the whole bill. Pair this page with the runbook so the scope matches the invoice.
- Keep the fee line even when links are cheap
- Never fund client costs from your own balance
- Review the package every month