Indianapolis Business Development

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the science and practice of engineering web sites or pages such that they attain high ranking in search engine indexes on a particular term.

That's great if you speak geek. What does it mean to everyone else?

SEO is usually the term used for getting a site found first and foremost in a particular market. The primary assumptions of a search engine optimization campaign are (1) The market has active traffic (search engine users), and (2) The site is worth finding. While there are many more nuances to consider, let’s look at these first.

Does the market have active traffic? Say you are an occupational therapist located in Indianapolis. Someone comes to you and says "We can make you #1 in Google for "Indianapolis Occupational Therapy". Sounds good right? Wrong. What they neglect to tell you is that there are NO SEARCHES for the term "indianapolis occupational therapy" in Google’s database. How can this be? A lot of people use occupational therapy, so why isn’t anyone looking for it? The truth is that people don't seek occupational therapy - they are referred by a physician or directed by a health care provider. Being #1 in a market with no traffic is like being crowned prom queen at home school - its great for the ego, but it doesn't really matter.

Is your site worth finding? Having a website is a waste of money if it doesn't work for you. If your website isn't designed to turn visitors into customers, then what you have is an expensive business card. Your website should be your best salesperson - spreading your message, getting your brand visible, and generating leads while you sleep is it's job. If your website doesn't have a means of converting traffic, then there is little reason to move it to the top of the rankings through SEO. You would probably get better results if you set fire to a pile of money and used the smoke to get people's attention (which is what most marketing dollars do).

Indianapolis SEO isn't for everybody, and its not a solution in and of itself. SEO is a tool used in conjunction with efficient programming, attractive and usable design, clear messages, calls to action, and robust search engine marketing. A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link, and engineering a well-balanced strategy for making the web work for you requires an honest appraisal of the value of your market, as well as your own market value.