WOW it is actually working!

[Border]

If you want a quick way to short-circuit local search (which is what you're after) spend some time optimizing your Google Places page. Here are the very basics:
a) make sure all info is accurate
b) get to 5 reviews (beg customers) --this is important
c) upload some photos of your work
d) Point your google places web link to an interior landing page, not your website home page. Optimize that page for the audience you know will land there (plus this gives you more click analytics). If you don't do this Google will remove your normal website SERP listing if your Google Places listing appears up top, so by pointing to an interior page you can have two high listings on a local search page.

Mostly for a small sign company beyond places listing you want to devote your effort into getting your on-page seo "decent" and then getting into as many local directories as you can. Backlinks are everything but don't be spammy. ~30 solid backlinks will outrank most local competitors in short order as most sign shops have absolutely terrible websites and have never built backlinks. If you do have a strong local competitor, do competitor research to see where they're getting their backlinks from and jump on that bandwagon. Know that metatag="" is worthless and metadescription="" isn't used for ranking but IS seen by potential visitors, so write it to convert not to rank. Spend most of your time optimizing on-page on your titles, h tags and internal anchor links. Also remember to actually do keyword research, don't waste your time optimizing for search phrases you're just guessing at.

That's about all you really need to know without turning your job into SEO instead of signs.

This sounds almost exactly like what a did about 3 years back. Spent most of my down time over the course of a Winter researching, analyzing & changing things to tweak it) and it made such a huge difference in traffic and phone calls. -the good kind of phone calls

 

[jkdbjj]

If you want a quick way to short-circuit local search (which is what you're after) spend some time optimizing your Google Places page. Here are the very basics:
a) make sure all info is accurate
b) get to 5 reviews (beg customers) --this is important
c) upload some photos of your work
d) Point your google places web link to an interior landing page, not your website home page. Optimize that page for the audience you know will land there (plus this gives you more click analytics). If you don't do this Google will remove your normal website SERP listing if your Google Places listing appears up top, so by pointing to an interior page you can have two high listings on a local search page.

Mostly for a small sign company beyond places listing you want to devote your effort into getting your on-page seo "decent" and then getting into as many local directories as you can. Backlinks are everything but don't be spammy. ~30 solid backlinks will outrank most local competitors in short order as most sign shops have absolutely terrible websites and have never built backlinks. If you do have a strong local competitor, do competitor research to see where they're getting their backlinks from and jump on that bandwagon. Know that metatag="" is worthless and metadescription="" isn't used for ranking but IS seen by potential visitors, so write it to convert not to rank. Spend most of your time optimizing on-page on your titles, h tags and internal anchor links. Also remember to actually do keyword research, don't waste your time optimizing for search phrases you're just guessing at.

That's about all you really need to know without turning your job into SEO instead of signs.

And that friends is the way it is done. Nice concise post.

Problem with most sites I see for small shops is they don't take the time to implement these ideas. I am guilty of that too. I just never believed it would make that big a difference. Anyway it takes a month or so to build the site, make sure it is SEO rich in the right places, and the rest takes care of itself. Thanks for the reply.

 

[jkdbjj]

Your on 2nd page 6th result for me. I searched for "sign company charlotte nc".

Nice job!

Thank you.

 

[jkdbjj]

Cool, so as of this morning, I am on page 1.

So now it is time to work on other key words and phrases. Thanks for all the input everyone.

 

[J Hill Designs]

you are pg 2 # 6 here

 

[jkdbjj]

you are pg 2 # 6 here

Must not have propagated through the routers to your area yet I suppose. Cause that is where I was at yesterday.

thanks for the reply.

 

[HulkSmash]

Must not have propagated through the routers to your area yet I suppose. Cause that is where I was at yesterday.

thanks for the reply.

Google has a new thing where they are starting to link pages based on location. So if you search in your city, you'll be high up based on google maps location to your IP.

for us out of state is where is truly stands... is how i understand it.

 

[jkdbjj]

Google has a new thing where they are starting to link pages based on location. So if you search in your city, you'll be high up based on google maps location to your IP.

for us out of state is where is truly stands... is how i understand it.

Yeah I read that, and it is true, if you type in sign company or flower shop or whatever (with no location specified) Google will use the searchers IP address to serve up some local offerings. Though it will still mix national offerings as well.

However, if two people search "flower shop Denver colorado" from two different states, the results should be pretty close to identical, unless as I suggested router propagation is out of alignment, due to some recent updates.

So tomorrow, your search and jhills's search should show me on page one for "sign company charlotte nc". It will take anywhere from 12-24 hours.

 

[jkdbjj]

However, with all that said. Someone already pointed out earlier. You can be here today and gone tomorrow. Google changes all the time, so I may show up somewhere else later. Charlotte is an incredibly crowded market for sign companies. I'd guess there are 100 easy within 30 mile radius. Then we have Raleigh and Atlanta with hundreds more. So they are all competing for top placement.

Colorado, how is your market, I imagine it is pretty crowded as well?

 

[signswi]

No such thing as universal SERPs anymore it's all localized and personalized. If you want to rank out into surrounding areas list your service area in the footer or sidebar or someplace. That way it's not spammy but you're signaling to Big G and Bing that your page might be relevant in those locals as well.

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

lovely google panda...is the algorithym they are referring to above in regards to identification of where you are searching from / what you are searching for. If you are not familiar with it & you are serious about doing your own development it is important that you familiarize yourself.

 

[CanuckSigns]

page 3 # 5 on google.ca

 

[jkdbjj]

page 3 # 5 on google.ca

Thank you...

 

[WeekendDirectionals]

Are you really number 1, or are you number one on YOUR computer.

Google, bing keep track of your surfing preferences, so if you click on your own site, you'll be number 1 on your computer but maybe not number one everywhere.

Please read this, http://donttrack.us/
Republicans and Democrats get different results based on what sites they visit,

try http://www.duckduckgo.com

to see how you rank without tracking history.

Good luck!

 

[WeekendDirectionals]

So, as of yesterday if you Googled "sign company charlotte nc"
I simply did not show up ANYWHERE. Maybe like page 25 if that. And of course on the PPC area.

I have been working very hard lately trying to figure out how to change that because I simply can't hire SEO specialists as they are ridiculously expensive.

Anyway as of today I am on page two of that keyword.

Doubt that is a big deal to anyone, but I have been working very hard to understand the ins and outs of Google, and it is finally paying off.

I haven't checked other keywords yet, but I have been specifically working on the keyword "sign company".

OK that's the probably not so exciting news. Carry on.

you're on page 11 on bing when I search Sign Company - Charlotte NC on bing.

When i search here you are 54th. http://duckduckgo.com/?q=Sign+Company+-+Charlotte+NC

I clicked it though, good luck!

Also, Colorado signs is number 1 when I search it.

One technique we've employed is multiple domains, if you search
http://duckduckgo.com/?q=weekend directionals
our domains are the top two weekenddirectionals.com and directionals.info, then the next seven results that show green arrows are our domains, the facebook one, and the last one as well.

Just a thought, multiple domains only cost $8 a year at godaddy.

 

[signage]

I went through all the Google pages and you didn't show up!

I think you need to rename your business!
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Now fix your info!