What Is An Acceptible Finders Fee For Referrals, I'm an SEO who gets referrals from a web designer Options

[SEO_Gal]

Hi there,

I'm wondering if any SEO provider out there pays a finders fee to their referral source? I've been receiving leads from a woman who owns a website design company and she wants me to pay her 20% for all jobs (including additional jobs that evolve from the same client). I feel that 20% is quite high and I would then have to charge the clients 20% more in order to make any money on the deal.

Has anyone else run in to this type of situation? How do you handle referral fees - if at all?

thanks,

Patti Fousek, aka: SEO Gal

[Lorinda]

Hi Patti,
That seems kind of steep. In fact, I've never had anyone charge me a fee for referring a client to me or vice versa. However, I did notice on your site (providing it is the one in your signature link) that you have an offer that states, "Refer a paid client to us and receive 20% off the service of your choice." Maybe this designer feels she is entitled to a similar bonus. I'm not saying it's right, but some people think this way.
Best wishes,
Lorinda

[SEO_Gal]

I actually have offered her 20% off in-house seo training so that she can optimize her own website. But now she wants 20% of the sale for each referral. I think if she sent me high calliber leads, then 20% would be fine. But most of the leads she sends me are for small businesses with small websites. So I would end up losing money on the deal. I'm sure we'll figure something out.

[Jill]

I think if she sent me high calliber leads, then 20% would be fine. But most of the leads she sends me are for small businesses with small websites. So I would end up losing money on the deal.

Yep, if the leads were higher quality, it might be worth 20%, but you've already figured out it isn't. So figure out what amount you could offer and offer her that. She'll either keep referring or she won't.

[idrive]

I offer some of my colleagues 15% but the referrals they make are among my best; for other, smaller referrals I try to offer 10% if I can. Not everyone expects a referral fee - many do it just because they feel I can help their client. The colleagues that bring my larger projects - I am actually invoicing them and am working as part of a large project so I discount my rates to them by 15%.

FYI such colleagues that offer the bigger referrals in my case are Usability Experts, Information Architects, etc.

[SEO_Gal]

Thank you all for the advice. I expressed my concerns regarding the quality of leads she was sending me. She completely understood and we were able to work out an equally beneficial agreement.

Thanks again,

Patti