Proposal and invoice tool for SEO specialists
Stop handing over the audit before anyone has paid for it
Put the paid audit in front of the monthly program and send one link. The client sees the audit price, the retainer and the terms together; nothing in the program bills until you deliver the audit and start it.
Get started freeThe problem
Sound familiar?
The free audit that funds someone else's work
Three hours in Screaming Frog and Search Console, a tidy report, a call where the client says this is great. Then it goes to their nephew who knows SEO.
Month two, and they want page one
They agreed to three months. After the first report they ask why the main keyword is not ranking and whether they can stop. The six to twelve months you explained did not survive the first invoice.
Links and tools quietly eat the fee
A guest post costs money and so does the rank tracker. The client assumed both were inside the retainer, because nothing in the proposal said otherwise.
The solution
How VytDeal helps
The audit and the retainer on one page
Make the package One off, then ongoing: the audit is the one-off part, the monthly program the ongoing fee. The client approves once and pays the audit, in full if the deposit is 100 percent; once you mark it delivered you start the retainer.
A retainer that collects itself
Monthly, or weekly, fortnightly, quarterly or yearly, collected from a saved card or bank debit, or invoiced each period, until you cancel it at the period end or immediately, or the client cancels at the period end. The client updates their card through an emailed portal link.
Minimum term, notice and exclusions, accepted in writing
Three month minimum, 30 days' notice, link costs and tools excluded, no ranking promised: your terms, shown above the approve button. Approval produces a dated record of exactly what the client was shown and accepted.
A company pays on its own rails
Offer bank transfer, BPAY or PayID on the deal alongside card; the client marks the transfer made and you confirm it. GST shows as its own line at 10 percent, AUD is the default, and the client needs no login. Your ABN is not printed; put it in your terms.
How it works
Three steps to getting paid
Scope before you price
Write what a month contains, workstream by workstream: technical, content, link building, and when the monthly report lands. Set the audit as the one-off part and the program as the ongoing fee, with the minimum term and notice period in the terms.
Send one link
The client reads the audit price, the retainer and the terms on one page, with no account to create, and you can see whether they have opened it.
Approve once, deliver the audit, start the retainer
The invoice is created at approval and the audit is paid. You deliver it, mark it delivered and start the retainer, which bills each period until cancelled.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Can the audit be paid up front, with the retainer starting after it, from one approval?
Yes, that is what the one-off part is for: the client approves once, pays the audit, and the monthly fee waits until you mark it delivered and start it. Many SEO specialists sell the audit first and scope the retainer from it.
Can the retainer run a three month minimum and then month to month?
Write the minimum term and the notice period into the terms; the client accepts them with the proposal and the record carries them, with the emailed code if you require it. VytDeal does not block a cancellation inside the term; what you hold is dated proof that three months was agreed, not a contract or an e-signature, and no legal advice.
Can I make clear that links and tools are not in the fee?
Yes. Say in the package that link placements, paid tools and content production sit outside the retainer and are quoted separately; a link budget can be a one-off line item beside the package. The client accepts the exclusion with everything else.
What happens when content approvals stall the month's work?
The retainer bills on its cadence from the one approval, whether or not the client has signed off the month's articles, so the fee does not wait on their inbox. Put the approval turnaround in your terms, with what happens to work not approved in time, and the client has accepted it. If the month cannot be rescued, cancel at the period end rather than let it bill into a dispute.
Does the proposal make clear that nothing is guaranteed?
Only if you say so. Google's own guidance is that no one can guarantee a ranking; put that in your terms beside what the retainer does buy, a program of work each month, and the client accepts it.
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