I've always thought of SEO as a long-term process. More of a perpetual process, really. SEO firms (not to be confused with SEO consultants) tend to provide one of two different types of service.

• Short-Term SEO: These firms provide a proposal for optimizing your entire site or optimizing for a set number of keyword phrases. Once that is done you are wither on your own or you can sign up for a "maintenance" plan.
• Long-Term SEO: These firms provide a perpetual ongoing SEO process. This might include continuously uncovering and optimizing for new targeted keyword phrases, continuous link building, ongoing consultation and analysis as needed.

Here are a few pros and cons of each:

Short-Term SEO:

Pros:

• Pages gets fully analyzed, optimized and rolled out within a few weeks or months.
• No long-term contracts.
• No large re-occurring fees.

Cons:

• Nothing gets rolled out until its all complete. If the contract calls for a large number of keywords or pages to be optimized you might be in for a long wait.
• Some important keywords many not get optimized as the contract has limitations as to how many pages and keywords are to be optimized.
• Newly popular phrases don't get optimized without making an additional optimization purchase.
• Reporting and analysis is limited.
• Link building is limited.

Long-Term SEO:

Pros:

• New keywords are always being found and optimized into your site.
• Ongoing analysis, maintenance, reporting and consulting.
• Ongoing link analysis and building
• You know who is ultimately responsible.
• No fees for just keeping the status quo or a few reports
• Pages are rolled out as soon as they are ready, no waiting for "everything" to be completed.
• Constant analysis for new trendy keywords that can bring in targeted traffic.
• Ongoing link building efforts
• Ongoing reporting and in depth performance analysis

Cons:

• Some important keywords may take a while to get optimized and rolled out.
• Larger ongoing fees.
• Long-term contracts often required.

Both forms of SEO campaigns have their merit. Your particular budgetary and optimization needs will dictate which is best for you.

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