Don Bell Signs: Web Design Case Study
Next Horizon Did More with Less for Custom Sign Company
Wanting a better front-end design to their website and improved SEO, Don Bell Signs, a sign company, enlisted award-winning web development company, Next Horizon. Read about how Next Horizon did more with less in this case study.
Project Highlights
- Simplified Sitemap
- Improved SEO Structure and Strategy
- Interactive Home Page Hero
The Client
Don Bell Signs offers turnkey services from conception to completion, including permit acquisition, project management and post-installation maintenance. Founded in 1947 by Don and Florice Bell, Don Bell Signs has grown from a 500-square-foot sign company in Daytona Beach, to a 300,000 square foot modern office and production facility located in Port Orange, Florida. They service the entire southeast region for commercial sign design, repair and installation.

The Challenge
As one of the premier signage companies in the Southeast, Don Bell Signs didn’t believe their website reflected the quality of their work. They also weren’t pleased with the leads they were getting from organic search results. Due to an abundance of location pages in their 1800+ page sitemap, many of their leads were confused as to what services the sign company actually offered – and what areas they service. They needed a modern website design, clearly written web copy, and an SEO structure that would improve their search engine rankings and quality of incoming prospects.
The Solution
The web development experts at Next Horizon needed to analyze Don Bell Signs’ massive sitemap to look for keyword and content optimizations. After running a full SEO audit, we found that one of the biggest issues was the overuse of location pages with duplicate content. We pruned unnecessary pages from the sitemap, keeping only those that make sense for their market areas and repair service radii. This reduced the sitemap to roughly 30, keyword-rich pages.
Providing a better SEO structure was an important aspect of the project, but we also had to improve the look of the website. One of the highlights was an interactive sign image on the home page hero. Our web developers worked in tandem with Don Bell Signs design department to build out a fully functional, custom interactive signage map that showcases the different types of signs they fabricate and service. It was an option, we felt, that added a level engagement and improved user experience to prospects visiting their website.


The Results
The new interactive sign map has led to the home page having one of the lowest bounce rates on the entire website. The streamlined sitemap made the website easier to manage, navigate, optimize and provide a base for which to scale appropriately. Typically, when fundamentally changing the structure and copy of a website, SEO metrics drastically decline as the new information gets indexed over time; but shortly after launch we have kept numbers steady and are regularly improving their rankings for top keywords in our strategy.
Project Highlights
- Simplified Sitemap
- Improved SEO Structure and Strategy
- Interactive Home Page Hero
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Client Testimonial
It is with great enthusiasm that I offer this letter of recommendation. Your team helped guide us from start to finish creating our website. You had a good, organized system in place with a series of checks and balances to keep the production moving. With each organized step, you made sure to allow time for approvals and adjustments. Your team is knowledgeable and cooperative and a joy to work with. The new website represents us very well and has been a big help for potential clients to get to know us and understand what we do. We really appreciate the great experience we had through the design and continued follow-up since the launch. We remain available to anyone that might want to contact us to further discuss our experiences with your firm. Thank you for making the process understandable and providing us with the tools necessary for success!
- Abigail Bleam
- Business Development