I've been a longtime lurker on these boards, and enjoy a visit nearly every day. I've recently started a business and am getting killed in google by a local company (I think he's blackhatted his way up..) and am in desperate need of some help from you all. I'd like to optimize my site in order to rank 3rd or better, (his is result 1 and 2..) for a few terms. In exchange for all of your help, I'm offering backlinks on all 3 of my sites: www dot octoprofit dot com, www dot octoscreen dot com and www dot tech plus consulting dot com. The terms: St charles computer repair o'fallon computer repair st peters computer repair the site: http://www.techplusconsulting.com the competition: here is a link to the results page, see for yourself, i don't want to better his results with any kind of link anywhere. : http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=computer+repair+st+charles&btnG=Search
If you want to have a good chance to totally own your niche, you may consider Site Build It. Check out some of the stats: http://www.romantic-oregon-coast.com/results I've nearly owned my niche in a years time and am getting great traffic.
Why not write some cool computer related stuff on your blog and then use sites like Digg to promote it.
Well, I would register stcharlescomputerrepair.com, etc, rather than the other ones that have nothing to do with what you are trying to rank for. Then I would read as much as I can about local search. If you are focused on regional or local search, there are a ton of things you can do to capture that traffic very quickly. Do a google search for local search optimization and spend a day reading everything you can. Then spend a week or two submitting to all of the services. Good luck. <edit>I think you should make it your goal to be number #1 here. My 2 cents</edit>
Alright, I did some updating, registered www.stlpcrepair.com and used Joomla to create a quick site, and did some seo. Also, i created a subdomain : http://blog.stlpcrepair.com and used all my "known" seo tricks on that. Just waiting to get indexed now. Also, reading about local search optimization. Thanks for the info. You want an Oink invite?
No worries, no link thanks. The point I was trying to get across was to use the entire search phrase you want to rank for. Also, expect to reap what you sow. Putting up "something" will probably only get you "something" in return. Put yourself in your cusomers' shoes. Would you do what you are expecting them to do if you made it to the new site or blog?