There is an abundance written about web SEO that could take months to read if you tried to sit down and read it all. And at the end of it... you probably would be more confused than when you started. But why should all of it matter to you? If you have any kind of web presence that you hope to use to attract clients, without web SEO, you are basically shooting into the dark hoping to hit a target.
Lets start with the most obvious question - What is SEO? SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization". It is the tweaking of your sign business website and its sign making content to help you get to the top positions in a search engine when a sign related keyword is searched. So imagine that Potential Client A goes to Google.com and searches "Generic Service" which takes him to a results page (also known in the SEO world as SERPS "Search Engine Results Pages"). He has in front of him a list of 10 pages that best match his criteria and the option to look at more pages of results below that. Now I'm sure if you are reading this you have used a search engine to search for something you wanted. When you are looking at a SERP... where are you most likely going to click first? On the first 1 to 3 results of course! So if your site is on page 3 or 4 do you really think someone is going to weed through 40 other results and come to your site? So the point of SEO is getting on the first page of the SERPS and better yet getting to the top 3 positions.
So now the question is how. This, THIS is the hotly debated topic that you will hear endless discussions about. The reason for this is that over the last decade, the answer has changed. Google (and the other search engines) use algorithms to determine how pages rank. These algorithms are subject to change from time to time and therefore what may have worked in the past to rank a page well might not anymore.
The key is keeping up to date. If you aren't able to pay someone to help you with SEO, this isn't a reason to give up. Anyone that is willing to learn a little can do their own SEO. Even a small company that is looking to get a little more business online can accomplish a lot. Check out part 2 to this series to get into some real world techniques to get started.
