I like to do as many things on my own as possible but sometimes one has to hire out some of the work. If you were going to pay someone to manage your search engine submissions, do you stick to a certain percentage of your operating budget or do you just pay a set amount and hope for the best? Do you base what youa re willing to pay on the expected traffic gain?

If I was paying for this, I would definately pay close attention on there previous clients. I would also look at the sites they own and see how well theres is optimised through the search engines. When paying, I would pay on what traffic I would expect.

I agree, definitely ask for a portfolio of their work. Check out some sites they've worked on and see how it works. Look at their own site and see how well it's optimized. Make an agreement where you will pay 1/3 of the money upfront and the other 2/3's after it's done and keep a close eye on how well they are doing.

Is 1/3 upfront pretty standard? I've seen some that want half!

Most people want half.

Everyone who i had run into use to want half upfront.

I think 1/3 is good , but while hiring someone for SEO see that they are not just making false promises , one who says that he will bring up your site in top in 24 hrs is just fooling around

I think it's always important to check out a portfolio of work, and check with any references if they've given them. In the long run, it just makes things work better and with less problems. Has worked for me anyway?

I agree with vicki. If you are really serious, and a lot of money is involved, you want to make sure you trust them. You should offer them a "set amount" of money, based on what you expect from them, and if they do a good job make sure to recommend them to others.

Half upfront is typical at least from what I've heard. Now a lot of people that I've dealt with it's been on a performance type of basis. Set fee and then percentage from there on out.