Local service site link building

[ayetti]

I have a local service site http://winecountrycarpet.com/ and I have been link building as much as possible for my landing pages (which aren't local to my city, but are within 20 miles).  I would like to keep my link building as above board and white hat as possible (so i do a lot of forum sigs and links in do follow forum in my industry)  I do not seem to be seeing any results though.  My pages are on the first page for their targeted keywords, but I think this has more to do with onsite SEO and non competitive keywords.

I am wondering if anyone can recommend any strategies that I might find more effective.  I have thought about leaving blog comments on do follow blog's but it just seems so spammy its hard to imagine it working.  I am open to any ideas.

[KeriMorgret]

I'm thinking about both links and just natural advertising. I'm from Santa Maria originally, so am familiar with the area. My first thought is Cal Poly students needing carpet cleaning (and general cleaning) before move-out at the end of the school year. Do you have any connections there with students who could tell you of any appropriate online newsletters where you could advertise your services?

Could you sponsor the monthly lunch of a group of realtors or property managers in exchange for a mention in a blog post or a list of resources?

I'm thinking people from your industry aren't your potential customers. Links are for more than just building links, they are also for building customers. Build some quality content that your potential customers might want to link to. For example, you might want to target Cal Poly students or Cuesta College students with mentioning that in your SLO area, and tips on carpet cleaning for an apartment, and why they should hire you instead of taking the cheap way out and renting a rug vac from the local hardware store.

[ayetti]

Thank you Keri, i am doing my best to pursue all local connections that I can.  I have so far gotten great responses from our customers and they have become our number one source of new jobs, so I can imagine if I could target specific groups of people it would be amazing.  We are in the process of sponsoring some local events a baseball team.  This area is so not tech savvy though, that really there are no links involved in any local advertising.

BTW i checked out your site and that is an AMAZING hobby.  I love water, I love sinking things, I love mechanics, it is PERFECT.  I actually bookmarked it LOL.

[KeriMorgret]

Oh yes, I had forgotten things like the little league, chamber of commerce, any associations you are a member of or support. Show (not just tell) me that you're a member of the local community and that you know the area. You might even have a page for you in the community, showcasing any volunteer work that you've done or projects you've supported, pictures of your team on a float in a parade, etc.

I'm glad you like the boats! My husband got into the hobby while finishing his mechanical engineering degree at Cal Poly. Sadly, there's nothing local to the central coast, but we have battles in the San Jose area, and if you're into all kinds of mechanical things, come up to Maker Faire in San Mateo in mid-May. We'll be battling at a pond there as part of a huge event (makerfaire.com).

[ayetti]

I probably will add a page for our presence in the community that is a good idea.  My wife is a teacher so I am always getting talked into providing raffle prizes and donating to this or that.

For now though I would love to increase our presence in organic search results outside of our main service city.  I am curious what are some white hat methods of building links that don't cost a fortune.  It seems like there must be something I can do that will produce something pr2-3 that would help substantially. So far the best I have come up with are relevant forum comments that were on pr 1 pages.   I have written some articles but they never seem to do well.