Pricing
I won’t quote you blind. I also won’t hide the numbers.
Two things you won’t find on this page: an instant-quote calculator, and a price list with a tempting low number at the top. Pricing SEO or development work before understanding your situation is guessing — and a number designed mainly to get you through the door tells you nothing useful. What you will find is an honest account of how I structure and price work, and enough guidance to know whether we’re in the same ballpark before you get in touch.
Why there’s no calculator here
Plenty of sites will give you an instant quote. I think they’re doing you a quiet disservice. A price generated from a form — before anyone has looked at your site or understood what’s actually wrong — is a number with no diagnosis behind it. It will be wrong, in one direction or another, and it sets a false expectation on both sides.
The same goes for a price list with “from [low number]” at the top. That figure exists to make you enquire. It rarely resembles what the work actually costs, and it mostly attracts people shopping on price alone — which, after nineteen years, I can tell you is the single surest predictor of a project that disappoints everyone involved.
So I don’t do either. But I won’t be evasive about money either, because that’s its own kind of disservice. Here is how it genuinely works.
A price needs a diagnosis behind it. I’d rather give you a real figure than a fast one.
How I structure work
Most work takes one of three shapes. Which one fits depends on where you are.
Diagnosis
A fixed-scope audit with a real deliverable.
A genuine technical and strategic review of what’s actually limiting your visibility, prioritised by impact and effort. Fixed scope, fixed price, agreed before we begin — no meter running, no surprises. Most engagements start here, because committing to implementation before you know what’s wrong is exactly how budgets get wasted.
Implementation
Defined scope, defined outcome.
Taking the diagnosis and shipping it — the actual work done, the site measurably changed, not a list handed back to you. Scoped from what the diagnosis finds, so it’s priced to the real job rather than a guess. This is where most of the value sits, and most of the cost.
Ongoing advisory
A senior brain, on call.
For businesses that want continuous senior judgement as search keeps shifting — and it is shifting fast. A monthly arrangement: not a content-mill retainer that produces reports, but direction, prioritisation, and a standing relationship with someone genuinely across it.
Any figures above are guidance, not quotes — they exist so you know whether we’re in the same ballpark. Your actual price comes from your actual situation, and it’s agreed in writing before any work begins.
Websites, apps and AI builds
Build work — websites, web applications, AI integration — is quoted per project, after a conversation. No calculator and no list here either, for the same reason: the right figure depends entirely on what you actually need built. Tell me what you’re trying to do, and you’ll get a straight, properly considered quote — not a number from a form.
What you’re paying for
Worth being clear about this, because it’s where I differ from a cheaper option. You are not paying me for hours, and you are not paying for a document. You’re paying for two things. Senior judgement — nineteen years of knowing which of the hundred possible problems is the one actually costing you. And the work genuinely shipping. A cheaper engagement that produces a report you can’t action isn’t cheaper — it’s the same money spent on nothing. What I’m selling is the problem actually solved.
Reasonable questions about money
Why won’t you just tell me a fixed price up front?
Because an honest price needs a diagnosis behind it, and I’d rather give you a real figure than a fast one. The guidance above tells you whether we’re in the right territory; the precise number comes after a proper conversation.
Do you charge fixed prices or day rates?
Fixed, agreed scope wherever possible. You should know what you’re committing to before you commit — not watch a meter run. Where genuinely open-ended advisory is the right fit, that’s a monthly arrangement instead.
What’s the smallest piece of work you’ll take on?
[Jamie: answer honestly — a minimum engagement size, or "the Diagnosis is the usual entry point" if you’d rather not state a floor.]
Are you the cheapest option?
No — and I’d be wary of anyone who told you they were. I’m priced as an experienced independent consultant: below a London agency, above a freelancer marketplace. If the lowest possible price is the priority, I’m honestly not the right fit, and I’d rather say so now than later.
Do you offer staged payments?
[Jamie: confirm — yes / staged for larger projects, or remove this question entirely.]
The honest next step is a conversation —
— not a form that spits out a number. Tell me where you are and what’s not working, and I’ll tell you straight what it would take, and what it would cost.
Book a call