I just got an email from a visitor who has a Web site and is new to the area of SEO. He says, “How much should I pay for search engine optimization services?”

Here’s my thought… I would only pay what it’s worth to you. In other words calculate what you stand to gain and compare that to what the investment in SEO. Then decide if it’s worth it.

Here’s one way to do it. If you feel confident that an SEO professional can get you in the top rankings of Google, MSN or Yahoo, for your main keyword, at a reasonable cost – it is likely worth it. Just do a little math.

You can reasonably figure that if a keyword is searched on Google 5,000 times per month and you get a #3 placement, you will likely get about 2,000 visits per month. This is, of course assuming that 40% of the people that are searching decide to check out your site, which is about the low end for a #3 ranking (40% to 55% seems about right depending on the topic and target market).

Let’s say you get 2,000 visits for one month, from an optimization that cost you $1,000. That would work out to 50 cents per visitor. That might be expensive or it could be a bargain – depending on your profit margin and conversion rate.

In other words, calculate your potential return on investment and go from there.