You’ve been thinking about SEO services because everyone tells you it’s a good idea. There are 1,000 different ways to do SEO when you look online, so how can you know which is the right or best way? One question that seems to prevail in the SEO world is rather or not it’s okay to optimize your site one time for SEO, or should you hire someone to handle your SEO for long-term?
It’s a question that is worth answering, for sure. The more you understand about Google and SEO, the easier it will be to answer this question for your particular situation. To help you make this decision, here are the pros and cons of each:
One-Time SEO Optimization
Pros:
- You will get everything “fixed” at one time, which might help you get ranking quicker for a broad range of keywords.
- You don’t have to pay for an ongoing SEO service.
- It’s less complicated and will require less interaction with a marketing company.
Cons:
- There will not be any long-term strategy on your keywords and overall traffic to your website.
- This type of “all at once” optimization may confuse the Google algorithms as it won’t be natural, which is what Google prefers.
- You will not have the opportunity to develop a relationship with a marketing expert who can help your site get and stay successful.
- A few months down the road, the work may need to be updated because of the changes in algorithms and updates to Google.
- In the long run, it may cost you more money due to the continued cost to update, or worse, the clients you may lose from not keeping your site updated.
When is one-time SEO optimization a good idea?
If you are short on funds, have a brand new website with a new domain name, or want to quickly move on to other tasks besides SEO, having your site optimized all in one fell swoop might be a good idea.
Can you expect the same results as ongoing SEO work? Probably not. However, 6-12 months down the road (when your site is not so new and you hopefully have some marketing funds), you might consider an SEO audit and hiring someone to get your site ranking more on an ongoing basis.
Ongoing SEO Services
Pros:
- Your SEO expert can start slowly to build out the right keywords based on the ups and downs seen in the first couple of months. While this takes longer, it will definitely be more profitable for you and will allow your site to become more visible on Google and other search engines in a more organic way.
- You will have the ability to work with your SEO consultant to slowly build out the content (and new keywords) on your site.
- Ongoing SEO work will be “natural” for Google as it will be slow changes that will gain momentum in the coming months and years.
- SEO experts are more likely to spend more time helping your site rank as they will have the opportunity to work with your site, keywords, and content to get things where they need to be (as opposed to just fixing everything once and hoping for the best).
- Your investment in SEO will be spread out rather than all at one time.
- SEO work done on your site on an ongoing basis will last a long, long time, bringing you traffic and new clients.
Cons:
- You will not have everything optimized at one time – it will be a gradual process.
- You will need to sign a contract, and sometimes a retainer for so many months is required.
When is ongoing SEO services a good idea?
If you are serious about your business, you need ongoing SEO services to get – and keep – your site ranking. The competition is fierce, and more businesses are realizing that if they want business from their websites, they are going to have to pay for it.
It’s best to think of ongoing SEO services as an investment in your business. If you are working with an SEO service provider who is knowledgeable, friendly, and responsible, you would do well to develop a good relationship with him or her as they will prove to be invaluable as you build out your business. Ideally, as you grow, your SEO service provider will provide you with ideas on how you can expand your website and even your business.
Things to consider
As with anything, you get what you pay for. If, as a client, you keep pushing back about pricing and asking for more services for less money, SEO service providers will know that you have wrong perceptions about SEO, online marketing, and relationships between clients and contractors.
At the end of the day, it’s vital that you, as the client, trust the process and consider yourself as a serious business owner. If you have questions, don’t wait four or five months down the road to ask. By then, you will be angry or frustrated, and your SEO provider will have no idea what has happened. We ask our clients to partner with us, and that can mean different things to different people.
We will likely need some help from our clients in the way of content, understanding their niche, knowing more about their optimal location, who their target audience is, exactly what they are offering, and more. However, in the end, we are being paid to rank keywords on their websites so they can get the traffic (and clients) they want and need. When you consider the profit you will make by ranking higher and getting more traffic, the amount you pay your SEO provider will be money well spent and a small portion of your own profitability.
Intuitive SEO Services
If you have questions about your current SEO services or about SEO in general, contact us today. We partner with business owners, marketing companies, and more to provide top-notch SEO services that will make a huge difference for your company. We have been doing SEO for a long time now, so we bring you SEO experience and knowledge not seen elsewhere. We offer SEO services in Ohio and all around the world!
