How Can You Find a Trusted Roofing Contractor in Ann Arbor?

Your roof protects your home and furniture from rain, snow and wind. Some of our clients worry that they’ll call a roofing contractor who doesn’t show up on time, or who does low quality work. Why take this chance? Call our friends at Wilderness Construction if you want a roofing contractor in Ann Arbor that you can trust!

Missing, curling, or discolored shingles may show that your roof is failing. Even with no moisture inside your home, your roof could be leaking, causing damage to the plywood deck, framing, or insulation. It doesn’t take long for water to cause expensive damage or even mold inside your attic. Many older roofs are not properly ventilated and lack proper ice and water protection. Poor ventilation, poor ice and water protection and poor attic insulation could cause your roof to fail!

If you're looking for a trustworthy roofing contractor in Ann Arbor, call Wilderness Construction for a free no-obligation roof evaluation. Their roofing experts will come to your home, do a careful inspection, and give you a free written evaluation.

Nick (co-founder of SEO Ann Arbor/Michigan SEO Group) hired Wilderness to finish the basement in a house he’s renovating, and found that, “They were timely, courteous, and did great work! I liked their work so much, I hired them to do replacement windows, floors, and the roof!”

As one of the most trusted roofing contractors in Ann Arbor, Wilderness offers great brands like Atlas, Owens Corning, and Tamko. You house could be the best protected, best looking home in your neighborhood!

Call them today at 734-429-0616 to find out how they can help with your roofing needs. Be sure to tell them that SEO Ann Arbor sent you!

Are You Getting a Good Return on Your Marketing Investment?

Are you getting a good return on your marketing investment (ROMI)? It turns out that a lot of clients come to us and they just ... don’t know! Their marketing strategy has been, basically, the “hope” strategy ... they do some kind of marketing and hope it makes a difference. Very few businesses we know make a habit of knowing what value their marketing brings them.

What CAN online marketing do for you?

Online marketing can help improve awareness, leads, and sales. You can track the first two with statistics, and the third with cold, hard money. Here’s a quick summary of each one:

Awareness

We measure awareness by getting a baseline report on how your current website shows up on the internet, then we look for improvements in things like:
1. Number of visitors to their website;
2. Number of comments on their blog; and
3. Number of followers, likes and share on their social media.

Leads

1. Calls or emails from your online “Contact Us” page;
2. Incentive downloads (like coupons or spec sheets);
3. Requests for proposals; and
4. Questions, survey responses, and frequent commenters on your social media.

Sales

To point out the obvious, here are some ways to make sure you know when sales were generated online:
1. Actual online sales if you have a virtual shopping cart system;
2. Use of an online coupon or offer code when customers buy from you;
3. Customers who say “I saw you online”; and
4. Customers who buy a product or service only available on a specific online web page of yours.

Do you want to lean more? Are you still having trouble figuring out your return on investment and need some guidance, we’re the experts! To learn more about how to get the best return on your marketing investments and website design in Ann Arbor, sign up for our Black Belt SEO Tips & News!

You May Be Blown Away by What Deep Research Shows You!

Have you ever dug deep ... I mean really, really deep ... and studied how people are searching for ideas, products or services like yours? You may be blown away by what you discover.

We’ve done some in-depth research recently for one of our clients and here’s what we found out:

Focus on the basics!

One of the things our research confirmed was that our client’s main product (let’s call them Titanium Widgets for anonimity ... TWs for short) happens to match the most-searched keyword in their category. That means they’re facing a LOT of competition, but it also suggests that they should throw their weight behind that keyword rather than trying to nibble around the edges with related but less often searched keywords. We’ll recommend:

1. Add a section to their website specifically focused on TWs, optimize it, and keep adding content that’s helpful to their visitors, month after month, without fail;
2. Post helpful content about TWs on their blog and link it back to their website’s TW section, month after month, without fail;
3. Post engaging and helpful content about TWs on their social media channels, frequently linking it back to their website’s TW section, month after month, without fail; and
4. Invest in pay-per-click ads (we’re loving Facebook’s ROMI these days) about TWs. Don’t be afraid to spend ... if you’re earning $1.25 for every $1 spent, it’s time to get out the big boy checkbook!

Go after the most important “other thing” that’s already working for you.

Our client also sells a specialty bracket for TWs. It’s made by a major manufacturer that also sells them, but our client sells them at the lowest price in the industry and still manages to make a profit.
It’s a significant portion of their overall business. Our research showed that people are searching for the TW brackets almost as often as the TWs themselves. We’ll recommend:

Invest BIG in pay-per-click ads offering specialty brackets at your fantastic prices.

This all sounds simple enough, right? But the truth is, most people don’t do it, and as a result they waste money on their digital marketing and they miss out on untold opportunity. That’s where we come in. We can help you with strategy. We can help you focus. And we can help you execute. All of that, taken together, is the key to online success.

So, What’s the Next Step?

Sign up today for our Black Belt SEO Tips & News! You’ll learn about the truth about online marketing and website design in Ann Arbor and how you can make it work for your business. Get started today!

The Birth of Michigan SEO Group

In 2016, it became clear that SEO Ann Arbor had outgrown its name.

Our client base has expanded well beyond the city of Ann Arbor to elsewhere in Michigan, the United States, and even the rest of the world!

Not only are our clients located in a variety of places — now, the customers who find our clients online are coming from all over the globe.

It's time to take the next step!

The Michigan SEO Group logo is meant to reflect both the history and the future of our company. The State of Michigan silhouette evokes our roots, where the majority of our clients still do business. The two colors pay homage to the University of Michigan, where both our founders attended college (as do many of the talented professionals we employ).

The globe points the way forward... where we expect to help our clientele improve customer relationships, thrive online, and achieve their dream of a successful growing business, starting today!

The internet breaks down barriers. Recognizing the potential of sharing your message beyond your back yard is the key to thriving online.

We absolutely love being part of a diverse, challenging business community that helps people succeed. If you have a business — new or long established — we'd love to chat about your goals and current efforts to succeed both on- and offline. We'll do what we can to suggest strategies and tactics that can improve your marketing presence, and just for taking the time to have that conversation, we'll give you a copy of our book, SEO and Beyond — How to Rocket Your Website to Page One of Google! written by Don and Nick and published by Master & Fool Press. We won't give you a hard sell. If our advice helps you, that's good for you and good for us!

We're Not for Everybody, but Then, We Don't Try to Be

Our work is not for everybody. We require a high level of client engagement and a deep commitment to success. If you're on the same page, let us know. We'll get you an analysis of your online presence along with a report of top-level recommendations to level-up your game. If all you'd like is a consultation or one-time SEO, we can do that. But if you truly want to get serious about thriving online, about dominating your niche and taking your business to the next level — or the one beyond that — ask about how we can become your online marketing team, usually for a fraction of what it would cost you to hire someone to sit in your office and try to do what we do day in and day out.

Success is such a fantastic bonding experience. We love hearing the stories from our clients when they land a new customer because of our work. The joy in their voices along with the satisfaction of knowing that we're helping their businesses grow is a great reward. Imagine what it would mean for you to be able to say what some of our other customers have said:

"Michigan SEO Group is an important part of my business!"

"Michigan SEO Group has assisted our Global Sales Team by increasing our number of customer inquiries, leads, and sales."

"Great people and the results are clear!"

"This is truly one of the best business decisions I have ever made to have them update our SEO."

If you'd like to learn more about how to get your online presence to grow, and how to get more awareness, leads and sales, contact us today!

SEO and the Art of Abundance

At Michigan SEO Group, we try to run our business based on principles. In fact, every week at our staff meeting we ask each of our team members to name a principle that we’ve talked about and how they’ve put it into play over the previous week. Two of the principles that we frequently talk about are “abundance” and “helping people out.”

To some, abundance means having more than you need, but to us it means giving more than is required. Principles are fine and dandy, but the real test is how they show up in the real world. One of the ways we try to be abundant is in the information we provide to our audience.  There’s a lot of great information on SEO and online marketing available on our web sites (www.michiganseogroup.com and www.seoannarbor.com).  When people contact us with questions, we try to provide them with a lot of good information, often free of charge.

There are a lot of different ways to help people out.  Sometimes a kind word or a smile is all you need to brighten someone’s day.  But typically the way that we help people is by advising them with some aspect of their website, social media, search engine results, or other forms of online marketing.  That’s our mission, and when we can combine the practice of being abundant with helping people out, that’s when we feel our best.

So how does this show up in the real world?  Here’s an example:

Someone contacted us through our website and had a question about why certain parts of their website weren’t being indexed in Google.  We responded with a few initial suggestions and later received a follow up email with some more information that helped narrow the problem down, along with a note that she would be happy to pay for some help.

The problem seemed technical in nature, so we had one of our SEO wizards take a deeper look to see if this was something we could help her with.  While looking into it, we found that her Wordpress based website was using a certain plug-in that was notorious for causing the problem she was experiencing.  We responded with the information we found, along with a few suggestions and told her to let us know if she needed any further assistance.

It turns out our suggestion worked, and she was able to resolve her problem with the information that we provided.  We didn’t charge her anything, but it made us feel good that we were able to help, and I’m confident that it made her feel good about us and what we do.  Maybe we’ll get some future business or a referral, but the important thing to us is we were able to help.

And while we are on the subject of principles, one more principle that we talk a lot about is that if you don’t A-S-K, you don’t G-E-T.  You can apply this principle to a wide range of things, but typically we talk about it in conjunction with online reviews.

Online reviews are a great way to get the word out about your business and the great work that you do, and a lot of good reviews can help boost your search engine rankings.  But for some reason, a lot of businesses don’t actively seek out online reviews.  Sure, if you do good work, someone will eventually leave you a review, but sometimes people just need to be reminded.  Don’t be shy – ask them to leave you a review.  You won’t believe what a difference it will make.

We went back to the lady who we helped for free and said “we were delighted we were able to help you out.  If you like what we did, please leave us an online review, as that would really help us out.”  We received an enthusiastic response and a great review was posted later that day.

Abundance is a wonderful thing!

Want to learn more about how to offer your customers the best experience possible? Our team is ready to answer any questions you might have. Contact us today to get started and find out how you can step up your game with regards to your online marketing!

Are You Taking Enough Risks When It Comes to Your Ad Spending?

Are you paying attention to the statistics? Search keeps evolving ... you fall behind at your own peril!

Here are three important numbers you should pay attention to:

1. About 1/3 of all searches on a mobile device are local searches.
2. Google and Facebook account for 64% of paid online ads.
3. The average cost of a Google search network ad is between $1 - $2, while the average cost of a Facebook ad is only .35 cents.
   

So what does that mean for you?

It means you should check to be sure that – if there is a local component to your business – that your online presence is strong. Check with your SEO team. Are your business listings, maps listings, and local event listings up to date and compelling?!

It means that if you spend money online ads, make sure a healthy portion is spent on Google and Facebook. Google can give you very valuable information about what keywords people are using to find you, and how those keywords turn into engagement on your website. Facebook can let you drill down in geography and in the interests of your potential visitors. Both are powerful tools when used the right ways!

How Do You Get Started?

Google Adwords and Facebook paid ads are both easy to start. You just visit their signup pages and follow the instructions. Their systems guide you through the process and prompt you to create your first ad or ads, select your target audience, and input payment information. Don't worry if you don't understand how to manage your campaign over the long term ... a lot of the learning process can be done by trial and error. Pay attention to what works and what doesn't. If it works, do more of it. If it doesn't work, try something else. Remember to keep most of your keywords and ads within the "sweet spot" of what you do very, very well, and what the world wants!

Want to learn more about Pay Per Click and successful website design? Call the experts in website design in the Ann Arbor area at 877-815-6974 to arrange a time to visit or get your questions answered. If you’re more comfortable with email, you can reach us at info@seoannarbor.com or just contact us here.

The Importance of Being Mobile-Friendly

Let us remind you of three simple truths:

1. The majority of all internet searches are done on mobile now.
2. Google can tell if your website is mobile friendly.
3. Google will penalize you for bothersome pop ups on mobile.
   

So what does that mean for you?

It means you should ensure that your website is responsive or otherwise mobile friendly. Check with your webmaster. If your site isn’t responsive or adaptive, get it upgraded as soon as possible!

It means that if you use any form of pop-up or “interstitial” ads, you should make sure they are unobtrusive. We recommend that you don’t use pop-ups or slide-through ads without very careful consideration. They are almost always annoying to your visitors!

It means you should think about how your potential customers search habits will change if they’re on a mobile device rather than a desktop or laptop computer.

To learn more about mobile friendliness and website design in Ann Arbor, sign up for our Black Belt SEO Tips & News!

Challenge: Talk About Your Benefits, Not Features.

If you’re up to the challenge, we invite you to try a trick for online marketing and website design that many don’t know about: Talk about benefits, not features!

What’s the difference? We thought you’d never ask!

Features are characteristics of what you offer. Benefits are what the customers gets from those characteristics. For some reason, it’s a lot harder for most of us to think of benefits, so you can start by making a list of features, then determine the benefit the customer will get from them. Here are some examples:
Feature - Highly trained, professional crew       
Benefit - You don’t have to worry about a mess in your home!

Feature – Virtually perfect parts retention on our conveyors       
Benefit – No down time chasing stray parts! Few parts damaged!

Feature – Ten years’ experience in the digital marketing business       
Benefit – No time or money wasted on marketing that doesn’t work!

Tell your customers how they’ll benefit so they feel an emotional connection to what you can deliver. Later, if they care, you can tell them about how you do it, and what you do that’s special or different.

So, What’s the Next Step?

Sign up today for our Black Belt SEO Tips & News! You’ll learn about the truth about online marketing and website design in Ann Arbor and how you can make it work for your business. Get started today!

The Truth About Online Marketing!

When online marketing is done properly, you can kick it up to a whole new level. Today we’re gonna remind you of one of the most important – and most often ignored – “musts” of reaching your potential clients with a compelling message: make it about them!

Don’t WE all over yourself!

Your customers have needs and problems that you can solve in your own unique way. The road to your success is paved with pages of online content that address their needs and problems... not necessarily your qualifications. It doesn’t seem to matter how much data is out there showing that marketing works better when it describes a solution from the customer’s point of view, businesses (and even a lot of “professional” marketers) keep advertising with “WE are great, just ask us!”

Your content should be customer-centered – make sure what your posts are about them! Here’s a helpful way to get started down the right path – when you sit down to write content, ask yourself:

“What are the pains and problems of my potential customers that I can solve?”

After you have your list, identify a few of the top problems and imagine what a happy customer would say to someone after you solve them. Write it in their words, not yours.

To learn more about the truth about online marketing and website design in Ann Arbor, sign up for our Black Belt SEO Tips & News!

How Will the New Adwords Format Affect Engagement?

Here is the real deal from your friendly black belt SEO experts at Michigan SEO Group:

How will this affect engagement?

Higher Click Through Rate! In theory, more information will allow you to tailor your ads to better appeal to the right customers, giving you a higher click through rate.

Better engagement! Those visitors who read your longer ads should have a better idea of what you offer. That means more of them should stay longer, leading to great awareness, leads, and sale. Keep in mind, however, there will always be a percentage of web visitors who click without reading carefully. They’ll click away quickly ... so you aren’t ever likely to see a zero bounce rate.

To learn more about how the new Adwords format will affect you, sign up for our Black Belt SEO Tips & News! 

Facebook Advertising: It's as Easy as 1, 2, 3!

We’ve worked with a lot of great clients over the years. But for some, the concern about paying for online ads can be significant. We’ve listened, and some of the issues clients have mentioned to us are things like:

“Will I be able to actually reach potential customers?”
“Can I tell if the ads are actually working?”

Or sometimes just really simple questions like:

“How can I be sure not to spend too much?”

Concerns about Whether Pay-Per-Click Works?

Many of the clients who joined us started out with these worries or other concerns about starting to use pay-per-click ads. Our guess is that it would be helpful if you could have some reassurances so you could make sure the risk is minimized and your chances of success are maximized.


To learn more about SEO Ann Arbor's Facebook Advertising success stories and how we can help you, visit seoannarbor.com. 

Want More Business Next Season? Get Started Now!

Is your business seasonal?

Are there peaks and valleys in the demand for your products or services?

Do you sometimes wish next season would be better than this one?

Do you secretly wonder if your website design is helping or hurting you this holiday season?

These variations or changes in demand are pretty common in the businesses we work with. We get a few calls each month from potential clients who say, "this year (or season, or product cycle) is just not as good as I hoped it would be!" We spend some time digging in, getting to know what they do, and we often check out what kind of competition they have on the internet.

The most savvy clients understand that it takes time to build your online presence so that it's firing on all cylinders when the demand is there. In fact, most clients probably understand that, but it's top of mind when the season is happening and they're not getting the business they want.

The problem come when they call us and say, "I need a new website right away!" Or, "I need a powerful social media presence today!" 

Sadly, it just doesn't work that way. If we get a call from a potential client in the middle of construction season hoping we can get them a ton of business immediately, we often have to let them down gently. We offer to do everything we can, but we simply can't guarantee overnight success. Website design takes time. Claiming blogs and social media platforms, then building a robust presence there, takes time. There is so much competition for most topics on the internet that it takes time to show Google that you're worth paying attention to.

And even after we've launched their new website design and all the associated platforms, it can take time to steer the ship ... to understand how people are searching for products and services like theirs and make the appropriate adjustments to the content and keywords.

We love helping people succeed, and when all the pieces are in place our work can make a profound difference to the awareness and leads that come in. But the real answer to "when is the best time to prepare my internet presence for next season?" is almost always, "right now!"

That way, we can work with you to make sure we're helping you get yourself out there, authentically and abundantly, so when the demand happens again, you're the one people look to for answers!

We Love Our Clients - Muller Law Firm!

Are you searching for a bill collector in Michigan?
 

Are you having trouble getting your invoices paid? 

Is your business in trouble because of clients not paying their invoices?

We recommend Muller, Muller, Richmond, Harms & Myers, P.C.! Their collection firm was built on the values of integrity, fairness, honesty and respect. As one of Michigan’s leading collections firms, their attorneys have successfully handled debt collection in Michigan involving everything from retail to business debts and from the simplest to the most complex post judgment recoveries. 

Muller Law Firm can help you and your business get back on track and stop wasting time tracking down debtors. They handle all debt collection services for all industries, including:

1.    Manufacturing
2.    Financial services
3.    Insurance
4.    Advertising
5.    Information technology
6.    Communications — including line and equipment destruction cases
7.    Lenders of all types — secured and unsecured
8.    Credit grantors

Hire The Best Bill Collectors in Michigan! 

If you’re starting to think you won’t get paid at all, it’s time to hire a billcollector in Michigan to help! They’ll spend time tracking down your debtors to make sure you get paid so you don’t have to!

For more than five decades, the law firm of Muller, Muller, Richmond, Harms & Myers, P.C., has been servicing clients from all around the world. Contact them today to find out how they can help you!

We Love Our Clients - Hillside Terrace Retirement Community

Hillside Terrace Offers Affordable Memory Care in Ann Arbor!

Do you have concerns about your parents living by themselves?

Are you looking for a home away from home for your loved one who’s suffering from Alzheimer’s?

Are you searching for a nurturing and caring facility?

We recommend Hillside Terrace Retirement Community! They provide long term care, independent living, assisted living, and memory care in Ann Arbor. It can be a difficult choice to make the decision to put a loved one in a long-term care facility. With the guilt you may feel, it helps to know that you’re putting your family member in good hands.

What Can Hillside Terrace Offer You That Other Facilities For Memory Care in Ann Arbor Can’t?

When it comes to choosing an attractive, affordable senior living option for yourself or someone you care about, you want something special: quality services, a vibrant, friendly atmosphere and attentive, courteous staff. Hillside Terrace is all this and more!

Hillside Terrace is owned and operated by the Litz family, Nanya, Vic, Trey, Amanda and the family dogs. They bring together residents and staff with spirit, energy, warmth and compassion as only family can do!

Looking For More?

For more information about memory care in Ann Arbor offered at Hillside Terrace, visit HillsideTerrace.net, or fill out their contact form here! They’re focused on holistically improving and maintaining the well-being of their residents through promoting independence, a stimulating environment, and building rapport. Schedule a tour today!

SEO Ann Arbor Loves Working with Wilderness Construction!

 

Wilderness Construction Inc. is a construction and home contractor business serving Ann Arbor and the surrounding communities. They have completed over 1000 projects throughout Washtenaw County since 1999!

At Wilderness, their knowledgeable technicians believe that any area of your home can be transformed into a space that is functional and that will impress your family and friends.

  

The licensed contractors at Wilderness provide a variety of services including:

·      Window replacement

·      New siding installation

·      Hardwood floor installation

·      Roof repair and replacement

·      Kitchen remodeling

·      Bathroom Remodeling

·      Sunroom remodeling

·      Decks/patio building and repair

·      Garage door installation

·      Entry door installation and replacement

·      Sliding glass door installation

Wilderness starts every project with an on-site interview and meeting to discuss your ideas and vision for your project. Afterwards, they will put together a budget and proposal and assign a project manager to help you get the ball rolling on your project.

If you’re looking to start a project involving roof repair, entry doors, kitchen and bathroom remodeling, or window replacement in Ann Arbor, contact Wilderness Construction today!

Responsive Website Design is Getting Even More Important!

How's business?
Are you getting as much awareness and as many leads as you want?
Have you noticed a drop in your SERP (Search Engine Results Page) listings lately?

SEO Ann Arbor Website Design Guidelines

It's time to pay attention to Google's moves to encourage responsive web design. They previously told us that they would factor in mobile friendliness to their search algorithm. Now, they're increasing the strength of that ranking.

There's a useful article at Fast Company that you might want to read.

Getting good search position is so competitive now that you really can't afford to overlook any factors when you work on your healthy online presence. Mobile friendliness is now one of the more significant factors. To make sure your website design is mobile friendly, check with your webmaster. Ask if your site is "mobile-optimized" or "responsive."

A mobile optimized website design is one that can distinguish between laptop, desktop, tablet and smartphone, and show you a site designed for that particular platform. Basically, there's a separate design for tablets and mobile.

Responsive Web Design 

A responsive design is one that responds to the type of device you're using. The design "responds" to changes in the size and orientation of the viewer, so rather than there being multiple designs, there is a design whose parameters change as the parameters of the viewer change.

At SEO Ann Arbor, website design is done using responsive technology. Whichever your webmaster recommends, be sure you get it done soon ... or you could lose search position!

Google Pay-Per-Click – What Happened to the Missing Right Side Ads!

On or around February 22, 2016, Google eliminated the ads that used to appear on the right side of search engine results pages (SERPs). Google says that typically there will now be up to three paid ads at the top of the results, except with what it calls “highly commercial searches,” which will have up to four paid ads at the top. There will be up to three ads below the 10 organic listings. There will be no Adwords ads in the right side column, except for Product Listing Ads (PLAs). It’s not clear how this real estate on your screen will eventually be filled, but you can bet it will be with something that creates revenue for Google.

What Does the Change in Google’s Pay-Per-Click Rules Mean for You?

Read More in our article on this change!

We Love Our Clients - Partners in Personal Assistance!

We are so proud to be helping to promote Partners in Personal Assistance (PPA) with their online presence! 

Partners in Personal Assistance is an Ann Arbor nonprofit that provides in-home and community-based personal assistant services. PPA offers an empowering solution for people with disabilities and elders who want to exercise independence and self determination in their personal care.

PPA's innovative approach to personal assistance achieves a level of integration, empowerment, and equality that benefits both Consumer Partners (Consumers) and Personal Assistants (PAs). People with disabilities are able to live more stable lives due to high-quality assistance, and personal assistants are able to make a meaningful difference in their clients' lives while earning a decent income. 

Consumers and PAs interview each other to decide if they want to work together. Each one has a choice in whether to collaborate as a team and set their schedule together.

If you'd like to find ways to help PPA, please let us know. We'd love to make the introductions! If you'd like to learn more about how SEO Ann Arbor could help with your online presence, take a look at our website!

Website Design and Web Hosting - Why They Matter!

Do You Just Want a Website, or Do You Want a Website Design that Gets Results?

Everyone wants a website that shows up in Google. After all, what good is it to have a website if nobody can find it?  However, it’s one thing to show up when people search for the name of your company, but it’s quite another to show up when people search for the products and services you offer.  These are people who haven’t heard of you, but who are looking for what you offer. That's the promise of having a website with great SEO – to attract new visitors and turn them into customers!

But once people have made it to your site, are they finding what they need? Are they excited about what you offer? If not, it may be your website design that's the problem. 

Over the years, we’ve put a lot of time and energy into solving that problem. We started SEO Ann Arbor to help people get their websites to show up in Google for the right reasons. There’s a lot that goes into making that happen ... to get a snapshot of a few of those things, read the entire article here!

When you think "website design ann arbor" ... we hope you contact us!