It’s Moving Month for an Expanding Shop, Plus More To-Do Tasks for Sign Managers in April

APR. 1-8

MANAGEMENT: Jennifer Jackson, Wrico Signs (Mobile, AL), recently obtained her Women Owned Certificate. Congratulations! Now, she says, she is “working on getting my DBE Cert with the City of Mobile/ALDOT.”

TRAINING: Conducting client training for the Bristol (RI) Fourth of July Committee is a definite to-do for Ian McLellan of Hill House Graphics in Bristol, RI. He reports the training is for an “annual large contract providing banners, signage, decoration and more for the oldest and largest Fourth of July celebration in the country.”

APR. 9-15

NETWORKING: Being more active in networking groups is on the list for Jean Shimp, Shimp Sign & Design (Jacksonville, FL). The ISA Expo, happening this week in Las Vegas, provides a tremendous networking opportunity.

TRADESHOWS: “Education, education, education!” Preach it, Joe Gibson from Ramsay Signs in Portland, OR. “As an industry we must focus on training our next generation!” he adds. The ISA Expo offers some pretty good educational opportunities as well. Just sayin’.

APR. 16-22

MARKETING: 2023 Women in Signs Award winner Sharon Toji (see page 25) and her firm, H Toji and Co. (Lakewood, CA) are introducing two innovative new products and need to be ready to get them out to a much wider audience, “so that will be our task” for April, Toji says.

ONLINE: “Refresh website.” Two simple words on the docket for Gwen Snow of Innovative Sign Systems in Vista, CA — but they could equally top the list of many of our readers, according to last month’s Big Survey supplement. “Work on updating our website and Etsy pages” are in store this month for Sheila Roberts, Sign Solutions (Phillipsburg, KS).

APR. 23-30

SEASONAL: Mallory Lynn from Signarama Brighton in Brighton, CO says, “We make a big graduation sign push through May, so we will continue to post on social media and boost our posts to continue the momentum on this campaign.”

FACILITIES: Moving into “a decent retail space so that we can work on expanding” is a task this month for Marti Etheridge, Laguna Bay Printworks (Laguna Vista, TX).

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Monthly Project

Design Your Site

Website design software has evolved to be easy for anyone to use. You just need to follow some basic rules and tips to give your website a professional look, make it easy to find and show your company in the best light.

You’ll want to create multiple pages dedicated to different aspects of your business. A contact page is your customers’ direct link to you and one of the most important sections of a website, so include as much information as you can (your business’s phone number, email and map). Also include information about your team on an “about” page so customers can put real names and faces to your brand. Lastly, make sure each page includes a call to action (e.g., “contact us” or “schedule appointment”). More tips:

• Make sure your website works on all major browsers: Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Safari and Chrome. Click through each page and feature on every browser to ensure images show up, links are correct and the format looks smooth. The effort you put in now will save you from future complaints.
• Keep your website up to date and optimized for mobile devices. Google and other search engines have migrated to mobile-first indexing, which prioritizes the performance of the mobile version of your website when it comes to search engine rankings. Also, ensure your site speed is adequate to improve your search engine rankings.

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