Is a monthly SEO fee necessary to have qualified traffic to your website?

Some Search Engine Optimization experts (SEOs) will argue that SEO doesn’t have anything to do with Web Design, is a totally different issue and you need a monthly fee in order to rank high on Google and have qualified traffic. Traditional SEO services can charge thousands and usually provide 3-6 months of service and link building packaged in.

Submitting news articles, press releases and directory listings are all types of SEO strategies as long as they are not spammy and keyword rich. These things take time to do, and in a competitive market, must be reviewed on a daily basis.

Let’s discuss our methodology. When someone designs a website with us, we take care of all the details like keyword research with Google AdWords Tool, optimized CSS/XHTML code, website architecture, meta description tags, title pages, keywords targeted, etc. This means proper web design. META and TITLE tags, H1 and H2 tags, are HTML markup language not SEO tags. After going live, we place some good links in our portfolio and on some relative websites and web design galleries and that’s it.

In a couple of months the website will rank great, usually on the first page of Google search results and the client doesn’t pay any monthly fee for qualified traffic. Down the road we analyze Google Analytics data and recommend improvements. The traffic will stay there, it won’t just disappear when search engine optimization process stops.

A couple of weeks ago, someone contacted one of my clients and told him that his website is not optimized for search engines and he can rank much better for a couple of hundreds monthly fee. He is on the first page on Google Search Results. Search on Google “Termite Inspection Raleigh” or “Pest Control Raleigh”. Is he on the first page? So, what more would the SEO company do? Will a monthly SEO fee get them a better deal?

Read and watch this recent interview with a well known Google engineer in USA Today. Try and find something that makes sense for a monthly fee. I couldn’t.

I am aware there are lots of SEO professionals out there that do a good job for their clients, especially for medium businesses. All I’m saying is that someone who modifies title tags and meta descriptions, and builds some links, shouldn’t be paid a monthly fee unless he has a comprehensive SEO plan and is able to explain what exactly he will do and what results you might expect. Giving client access to Google Analytics and explaining basic search principles is a must for any honest SEO professional. Google AdWords plus search engine optimization plus a great-looking optimized website definitely leads to success.

I would like to hear some comments about this issue. Maybe I don’t get it right, but then, how some websites rank high and do well on Google without any monthly fee? Read more about Search Engine Optimization in Raleigh-Durham.