Knowing what key you're in is a big help most of the time, but I think the best thing for you to do, especially if your band is willing, is just to jam and experiment. My band can go for an hour or more just bouncing ideas off of eachother and in the six months we've been playing, I've seen huge improvments in all of us. My guitarist went from having almost no idea on how to solo to being able to pull one out of his heiny at a moment's notice. I still don't think he knows much about keys or scales, but he knows what to play and how to play it, and best of all, he sounds really unique.

Some other ideas:
-Usually people make the solo climax at the end by having that the highest notes and fastest part of the solo, but this is where it should be the most intense.
-You could always try a Larry LaLonde and spit a mouthful of beer into air as the lights go off at the end of your solo- always charming.
-Try integrating chordy stuff, ie double bends, double stops, fifths, forths, octaves, etc. Hardly anybody out side of country or the blues does that any more.

Just remember, practice, experiment, and you'll get the hang of this soon enough.