How to Optimize Your Content for Mobile SEO

Is the text on your website easy to read on a mobile device?

Are you sprinkling in natural, conversational keywords in your content?

Research is finding that these are effective ways to reach the mobile audience! 

With the overwhelming majority of internet users now browsing on smartphones and tablets, optimizing your website for mobile-use has grown to become 100% necessary to maintain excellent SEO!

Search engines like Google prioritize mobile-friendly websites, making it important for businesses and website owners to implement SEO strategies tailored toward mobile devices. 

Here are a couple strategies we recommend trying to improve your mobile SEO: 

Optimize for Local Search and Voice Search 

With the rise of virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa, optimizing for voice search is becoming an important strategy for SEO. 

Optimize for voice search by focusing on natural language keywords. For example, most people used to search using phrases like, “Chicken noodle soup recipe.” Instead, people are now using natural language and ask questions like, “How do I make chicken noodle soup?” 

In addition to voice searches, mobile devices are also often optimized for local SEO. Many people will use their phones to search things like, “Chinese food near me,” to find businesses and services. 

Some ways to optimize your website for local SEO are creating a Google My Business profile, including location-specific keywords in your content and data, and maintaining positive reviews within your local community. 

Create Mobile-Friendly Content 

Create content with mobile users in mind by focusing on readability and usability on smaller screens. 

Enhance readability by using concise and engaging headlines, breaking up content into smaller digestible chunks with subheadings, and utilizing bullet points and numbered lists. 

Using large readable font, avoiding thin script-type fonts, bolding important words, and mainly using black for text instead of other hard to read colors will also make your text easier to read across all devices. 

Learn more in our latest article! 

We’re Here to Help You with Mobile-Friendly Content and Web Design in Michigan! 

Prioritizing mobile optimization as part of your SEO strategy will help you meet the expectations of modern internet users and achieve online success across all devices.

If you would like assistance with your SEO, social media, or web design in Michigan, contact us today to get started!

How to Optimize the Visual Experience of your Site

Do you want to re-design your website?

Want to make sure your new designs are optimized for Google?
 
Redesigning your website is an exciting time for your business. A fresh look can bring new leads and can convince potential customers to stay on your site longer. Choosing the right design elements can make or break a great site and can also play a big role in how Google evaluates your site for SEO purposes. When deciding on a visual refresh, make sure to keep the following in mind:
 
Readability
Sticking to a consistent set of fonts and text sizes makes for a legible site that is easy for a reader to comprehend and navigate. Finding the right balance between blank space and text elements is another thing to consider when designing your site. An easily readable website will lend itself to a favorable search rank.
 
Image Size
Sticking to small image files will allow your page to load faster and will keep a reader from getting frustrated with your site. A high quality, large image may be a beautiful addition to your site, but waiting for it to load can cause someone to close the tab quickly.
 
Looking for Web Design in Michigan?
Michigan SEO Group has improved the search results of businesses since 2006. We design fast, easily customizable websites for our clients that help them attract the web traffic they need. Our sites are built with SEO in mind, which could be the difference between your business showing up on page 1 versus somewhere on page 100!
 
If you’re looking for a quality web design firm that will boost your search results, give us a call at (877) 815-6974 or contact us today!

Optimizing the Back End of Your Website

Do you want to re-design your website?

 
Want to make sure your new designs are optimized for Google?
 
Redesigning your website is an exciting time for your business. A fresh look can bring new leads and can convince potential customers to stay on your site longer. Choosing the right design elements can make or break a great site and can also play a big role in how Google evaluates your site for SEO purposes. When deciding on a visual refresh, make sure to keep the following in mind:
 
Code
Choosing the right code for your site can play a big role in your SEO ranks. Flash sites are exciting but offer little in the way of optimization. Sticking to HTML is a great way to make a site that both looks good and performs well on Google.
 
Alt Tags
Alt tags are an often-overlooked source of optimization. An alt tag contains alternative text for any visual element you may have on your site. This allows you more opportunities to optimize your content with keywords, but also allows visually impaired users of your site to understand what they might not be able to see.
 
Looking for Web Design in Michigan?
Michigan SEO Group has improved the search results of businesses since 2006. We design fast, easily customizable websites for our clients that help them attract the web traffic they need. Our sites are built with SEO in mind, which could be the difference between your business showing up on page 1 versus somewhere on page 100!
 
If you’re looking for a quality web design firm that will boost your search results, give us a call at (877) 815-6974 or contact us today!

2021 Website Design Highlights

Web design is very important to the success of a website’s performance. Having a website that’s user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing will keep customers on your site longer. In a year when online presence became even more vital to company success, check out what we had to say about website design. 

How To Create a Modern Website

Redesigning your website can be a daunting task. You may be comfortable with your current site. You may not want your customers to be thrown off by a new look. Luckily, it sometimes takes only takes a few steps to update your site and give your customers a better experience. A mobile-friendly layout, minimalistic design, and a uniform color palette are just a few things you can do to modernize your site.

Dark Mode and Web Design

More and more internet users across the globe are opting to use dark mode on their devices, a setting that turns white backgrounds to black and turns black text to white. It’s a more comfortable viewing experience, especially on tablets and cellphones, and it doesn’t affect your SEO rank!

Website Design Ann Arbor

We put real-world strategies to work for your business. Our custom, human-friendly websites, quality content, social media management, and best SEO practices make your digital presence more than just a website. It’s an extension of your business, your values, and the people that make your business rock. 

Website Design Year in Review

Web design is very important to the success of a website’s performance. Having a website that’s user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing will keep customers on your site longer. In a year when online presence became even more vital to company success, check out what we had to say about website design. 

Crucial Tips for Any Business’s Web Design

Studies have shown that users form their first impression of a website in just 0.05 seconds! (researchgate.net) Good web design is absolutely critical to establishing your business as reputable and trustworthy. Like creating a positive impression in a conversation, you want your web visitors to see a professional-looking site that clearly shows what you’re about. Making your pages easy to navigate, visually pleasing, and filled with useful content will help users form a positive opinion of you and often boost your sales in the process! 

What’s So Important About Page Views?

Page views, sessions, and source are just three of many ways to measure your website’s impact on your business. With the right metrics in hand, you can determine if adjustments need to be made in your SEO, content, website design or social media. It’s not enough to just build a website and hope for the best. Your web presence needs a strategy to grow. 

Web Design Trends to Watch (or Avoid) in 2021

Big typography, micro-interactions, interactive scrolling, mismatched and unique design elements were all popular for 2021. We love artistic, unique design elements that add personality to your site! But a good rule of thumb is to use them in moderation to enhance your brand. Too much of a good thing can:

• Create confusion about your message 
• Look spammy
• Make you website or social media hard to navigate
• Take focus away from your product or service
• Suggest that you don’t know your target audience

Website Design Ann Arbor

We put real-world strategies to work for your business. Our custom, human-friendly websites, quality content, social media management, and best SEO practices make your digital presence more than just a website. It’s an extension of your business, your values, and the people that make your business rock. If your business is looking for web design in Ann Arbor, contact Michigan SEO Group for a free consultation.

Do You Need a Graphic Designer to Make Your Web Design Stand Out?

When is the last time you took a hard look at your website design?

Do you need to upgrade the look and feel of your website? Are you too busy to manage it on your own?

Running a business is hard work and keeping up with all there is to do to generate sales, leads, and customers can be overwhelming. At Michigan SEO Group, we understand the feeling!

Your website represents your business, and you want it to be clean, aesthetically pleasing, organized, and useful. This will not only help current customers keep coming back, but it will draw in potential customers and clients, too.

Right now, when so much business is being conducted online rather than in person, your website design also shows that you care about the experience users have when they find you online.

Read the full article on our website!

Trust the Professionals for Web Design in Michigan!

We take into consideration your wants and needs as well as the needs of your customers. We’ll help you put together a design that will not only make your website look great, but also keeps your customers engaged.

We’ll highlight what you do best so potential customers and clients know right from the beginning why you’re the one they should do business with.

To get started, contact us today, or give us a call at 877-815-6974. We can’t wait to meet you and work towards your dream of growing a successful business together!

Is Your Website Hosting & Webside Design A Nightmare?

Do you have a third-party web host that takes days to make changes?

Is your website design loaded with plug-ins that constantly break?

Are you writing A+ content but your SEO grade is an F?

Big name brand companies may be known for ease of use and cost - but that's just it - they're cheap and easy, not the best option available. While you can get a pretty looking website, it might be doing more harm than good! When you look for quality reliable website hosting and website design for your Michigan business, local is almost always better!

At Michigan SEO group we have nearly fourteen years of experience providing best SEO techniques, reliable website hosting, and exceptional website design in Ann Arbor, Michigan.


Click HERE to learn more about why you should reconsider a big box approach to your website hosting and web design.

Michigan SEO Group
Exceptional Website Design in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Here's Why Local Web Hosting and Website Design Is Better Than Big Brands

Did you build your website through a company like Wix or Squarespace?

Is it running a bit slow or not getting the SEO traction you thought it would?

Are you 100% sure your critical information is secure with redundant backups?

There are a couple good reasons why your website might not be performing up to snuff. From the coding to plug-ins to where your website is hosted can all impact your performance. But there's a bigger issue that you should be aware of. These website builders are constructed so that anyone can use them - that also means that despite security precautions, it's incredible easy for these websites to get hacked.

At Michigan SEO Group we provide world class Web Hosting and Website Design for Ann Arbor, Michigan area businesses and clients all over the world. We build everything in our CMS and provide local hosting with a variety of security steps in place.

Click Here to learn more about our website development and web hosting services.



Michigan SEO Group
World-Class Website Hosting & Website Design in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Your Cool Looking Website May Be Stalling Out Your SEO!

Premier Website Design for Michigan Businesses

Here's the simple thing about SEO: like the high-quality content people come to your website to read, Google and the other search engines need to be able to read your website! Broken links, bad WordPress plugins, convoluted code, slow load times, unresponsive hosting - all of these could be factors that keep your website off page one in Google search results!
 
You could have written the perfect target keyword rich article for your website, but if Google and search engines struggle to read and index it, they may not rank it as high as it should be! At Michigan SEO Group, we provide clean and efficient website design for Michigan businesses. We build in our own CMS with clean code and host the website. Countless times we've had clients let us host and rebuild their website with dramatically improved results!

Click Here to learn more about our Website Design in Michigan services.

Why Are Reviews Important?

Do you rely on reviews when purchasing an item?

Do you look at reviews to ensure other customers had a pleasant experience?

Do reviews make or break your own selling decisions?

Your customers do the same thing when searching for your products and services. Do you have a hard time asking customers to review you online? We can help you!

To ensure your business obtains good reviews on the internet, make the process as simple as possible. To learn more on how to get reviews, search engine optimization, and website design for your Ann Arbor, Michigan, business, visit our website!

Want more detail? Call!

We're always happy to talk about ways you can get more awareness, leads and sales by improving what you do online. Give us a call. No time to call? Send us an email instead! 

Don’t Ignore Your Website – Find Out How to Get More Calls!

Why aren’t you getting calls?

Are you showing up in the search engines?

Do you update your website on a regular basis?

One study found that 90% of searchers click on one of the listings on the first page of Google, and 14% of searchers click on the #1 result! That means you should try everything in your power to get on page one. The bad news is that (1) everybody wants their website to be at number one, and (2) it takes a series of things done right to get there. 

Some of these things are page titles, meta tags, headers, keyword rich text, clear syntactically correct html, robust content, and the number of other sites that link back to yours. 

Here are a few more SEO boosting tricks used by SEO experts:

• Include your location information on the home page
• Include descriptions of potential client categories
• Include a prominent call to action
• Employ social media to get more links and more traffic to your site
• Write a blog to get current information in front of your web visitors and links back to your key pages

Need more advice on how to get ranked? Do you want to pay someone who knows what they’re doing to help you?

Increase Leads and Awareness With SEO & Website Design For Your Ann Arbor Business!

The good news is there are people (like SEO Ann Arbor) who know how to get your site moving toward page one, and perhaps on page one. Those people are trustworthy, they’re hard-working, and they’re real people who live and work in the Ann Arbor area. They’ve got a track record of success, and they are constantly studying the science of SEO to make sure their methods are at the cutting edge.

If you have questions about how to optimize, our SEO experts are willing to chat with you to help you better understand our process. Feel free to browse our site. We’re sure you’ll find plenty of great information. Also, make sure you sign up to receive our FREE GUIDE – Seven Essential SEO Tasks You Can Do Right Now!

From day one we’ll work with you on a strategy and a way to execute on your plan. If you want to get started or if you just have questions, please shoot us an email or give us a call. 877-815-6974

7 Reasons Why We Love Re-Designing Websites!

Need a reason to consider a website design?

We’ve got a few!

A new website design can:

1. Communicate your message more clearly
2. Generate more traffic
3. Develop brand identity
4. Help you stay competitive
5. Improve your website’s functionality
6. Make you look more professional

We’ve helped many businesses like yours here in Ann Arbor. They gained the traction they needed to boost their sales and keep their business growing. Our client Steve Mussio said it best, “The owner, Nick, is willing to meet you face-to-face, listen to your concerns, and meet your needs. Let Nick and his team at SEO Ann Arbor help you increase your business opportunities. They are experts in marketing and will take you to the top! SEO Ann Arbor is important part of my business!”

                                                            

If you would like local help with your website design for Ann Arbor, call SEO Ann Arbor at 877-815-6974 to arrange a time to meet or get your questions answered. If email works best for you, contact us at: info@seoannarbor.com

                                                                        

Let’s sit down, have some coffee, and let SEO Ann Arbor get to know you!  

Are you Accountable?

SEO 'experts' are a dime a dozen these days. Every time I go to a new networking event, there are a handful of SEO gurus, social media managers and email marketers in the room. A few of them are pretty good at what they do. Most are struggling to make ends meet, often because, while they understand their core competency well, they haven't yet learned what it takes to run a business. And that missing skill set is not only killing them, it kills the work they do for their clients.

One of the most critical skills needed to run a business well is also critical to getting the online presence for your business where it needs to be: staying accountable to the goal, and to the strategic plan.

If you're not accountable to the goal, you find that you change campaigns frequently, based on what area is currently 'hot' or 'cold' in your field. That's okay, but if you have a clearly defined long term goal, you're going to build a much stronger web presence by focusing on that for a sufficiently long period of time.

If you're not accountable to the strategic plan, your posts will stray from your core theme, they won't be as consistent over time, and you'll lose the parabolic power of leveraging your creative energy across multiple platforms using best practices.

So, assuming your 'expert' is strong at what he or she offers, or if you know enough digital marketing to be dangerous, the next level of inquiry should be: is there a system of checks to keep us accountable to our goals, and to our strategic plan?

Sometimes that's a checklist, sometimes a digital calendar, sometimes an elaborate purpose-built accountability system. Whatever form it takes, it should work, and it should work specifically for you. 

Want more detail? Call!

We're always happy to talk about ways you can get more awareness, leads and sales by improving what you do online like website design, content, optimization, social media, and more. Give us a call. No time to call? Send bacon. We'll think of you.

What's the ONE Thing?

Recently one of our clients asked us a tough question. 

"Knowing what you know about marketing after 11 years in the business, what's the ONE thing that you'd do for yourself – and for new clients – to get the best chance of success at promoting your business online?"

The truth is more basic, then you think! Research!

Whatever business you may have, whatever online or old school platforms you may use, whether you're just starting out or you've been in business for decades, you simply must figure out: (1) how potential customers are searching for what you offer; and (2) what needs or wants they have that you can fulfill. Without that knowledge, you're just putting out there what you want. If you get lucky and make a living that way, great, but chances are you'd be leaving a huge part of the potential market untapped.

So, do your research before you start gathering resources and plan of attack.

What should you try to find out? Here's a quick and dirty list:

Keywords
What keywords are people typing into Google when they're looking for services or products like yours?

Trends
Is the market for what you offer stagnant, shrinking, or growing?
What changes are there in search trends and how could that affect your approach?

Pains and Problems
What pains and problems do those people want solved?

Who's Out There?
Who's already out there addressing those pains and problems?
Who are the major players online, who dominate the search results?
What are those players doing particularly well?

What's the Market Like?
What are the major players charging for services or products like yours?
What exactly do they offer at that price point?
Is the market big enough for another player (you)?
Is there price flexibility or a value equation you can provide to compete differently?

What Platforms?
On what platforms are the most successful players getting traction?

Their websites? Facebook? Blogs?

Advertising Dollars
How much is it going to cost to compete in the paid advertising arenas like Google Adwords and Facebook ads?

There's more to this, of course, but without this basic knowledge, you could be chasing a pipe dream, missing out on a lot of revenue, or at the very least wasting part of your marketing effort. Understand the market before you begin your strategic plan ... and sometimes this research can reveal things you'd never thought of before!

Contact The Website Design Experts!

If you'd like more clarity about how to create a healthy online presence or if you'd like to explore what it would be like to work with SEO Ann Arbor, please contact us! We’re committed to our clients’ online success!

To learn more about other helpful tips and news about SEO and website design in Ann Arbor, sign up for our Black Belt SEO Tips & News!

What It Takes to Be an Effective Online Marketing Company!

Thinking about taking the plunge into the internet age, or trying to finally crush it online?

What should you look for in an online marketing company?

Finding an effective online marketing company may be a bit more complicated than most people realize!

The Basics, of Course

Look for an established business with a real office. Sure, there are a lot of folks out there ‘doing’ website and SEO, but the truth is most of them can provide only a minimal level of excellence without a support staff and a network of related service providers.

Should I look for somebody local? Yes. It really helps to be able to sit in an office with somebody and see their facial expressions, listen to the tone of their voice, and get a sense of how they conduct themselves in person. This is doubly helpful when you run into challenges (not getting to page one fast enough, ads not running in the right places, service outages). And you’ll always run into challenges at some point if you take this on as a serious endeavor.

Get a few testimonials. Talk to their customers if possible. You can’t expect every client they’ve ever had to be ecstatic, but if there aren’t a few true believers, they may not be capable of hitting home runs.

And, most important, try to figure out their “why?” Why do they do what they do? How will they help you communicate your core mission to the world? Plain old SEO “experts” are a dime a dozen. The ones that are truly worth working with can bring something more to the table. They’re A-players who relate to the world on a deeper level, and that depth will help raise your game, too. Look for people with a clear purpose.

So, then what?

So, now you’re looking for a company that is truly a full-service provider. You want a company with an integrated system for domain registration, web hosting, website design, programming, a dedicated content management system, and expertise in content writing, SEO and pay-per-click. Otherwise, they’re basically doing the same job you’d do for yourself – grabbing third party solutions and trying to get them all to fit together. Do they really have people who are proficient in all of those different areas? 

We think you get it...

We just hear too many horror stories. Companies signing up with some anonymous “expert” who contacts them by email. Businesses paying their receptionist’s sister-in-law to design their website. Entrepreneurs getting on board with the “free website” nonsense that ends up becoming the bane of their existence. Don’t let it happen to you!

Real success online takes experience, expertise, and hard work. It’s not necessarily inexpensive, but remember: price is what you pay, value is what you get. A little time invested in knowing what to look for and asking the right questions can make the value equation work in your favor. Invest in the right partner to position your company properly online.

We’re always happy to chat with serious people who want to get their business to the next level. Feel free to call if you’d like to dig deeper into what makes an internet marketing company worth hiring.

To learn more about other helpful tips and news about SEO and web design in Ann Arbor, sign up for our Black Belt SEO Tips & News!

Online Presence Could Be Your Missed Opportunity!

In our professional presentations lately, we’ve been running into this kind of thinking:

“Hey, I know you talked about all the ways people are succeeding online, but we get all our new business from referrals/networking/trade shows.”

“Why should I invest in a powerful online presence when nobody else in my industry is doing it?”

“There’s no way I’ll get new business from Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn. None of my business connections are on there.”

That sounds convincing enough, but the truth is, these are really just business people playing defense. They don’t know what they don’t know, and they’re worried about spending money on something they don’t understand. Which is fair enough, but there’s huge opportunity being missed.

Let’s explain.

You get all your new business from referrals/networking/trade shows 

What you actually mean to say is that you’ve put all your efforts into those methods, and little or none into online methods. Most business to business connections probably do happen in those old-school ways, but the truth is, you don’t know how much more business you might get if you develop a strategic online presence. 

Insider’s tip: The process of developing powerful online content often helps you discover new ways to talk about what you do even in your existing marketing channels! 

Nobody else in your industry is doing well online 

We actually hear that. Is it really your reason for not building out your web presence? If so, that suggests you think doing what everybody else is doing is the path to success. But, are they really that successful? 

If you conquer the online space in your field, it will be harder for the next guy, and you may discover that there’s a huge, unexplored world of potential business out there that’s being missed with the usual methods.

Insider’s tip: Even if you’re “not online,” you’re online. A determined searcher can almost always find information about your business. Why not take control of what’s out there and start getting more of the right kind of prospects to contact you?

None of your business connections are on Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn

We have two responses here. One is that the point of outside marketing is to reach NEW customers. If your current business connections aren’t on a platform, that absolutely doesn’t mean that other potentially interested business people might not be on there. The other is that – through real experiences – we’ve become agnostic about which platforms will capture new interest for a particular kind of business. We’ve been stunned to see how much new hard core industrial business we got for a client on Twitter when everybody thought it was just for posting about politics and celebrities. That kind of thing has happened on Facebook and LinkedIn as well. Don’t write off a platform until you’ve actually put a reasonable amount of effort into it.

Insider’s tip: Don’t just jump into posting about your idea, product or service. First, check on what the most successful online players are doing on that platform. Listen, business is hard enough without having to reinvent the wheel again and again. Copy what works. When you’re rich, then you can start getting creative fulfillment at work.

Contact Experts For Web Design in Ann Arbor!

Want to learn more about internet marketing and how to optimize your website using SEO? Call the experts for web design in Ann Arbor at 877-815-6974 to arrange a time to visit or get your questions answered by our experts! If you’re more comfortable with email, you can reach us at info@seoannarbor.com or just contact us.

You can even sign up for our Black Belt SEO Tips & News! We report on the latest in SEO news and research findings.

Engaging Social Media!

Are you having a hard time getting engagement on your social media platforms?

Want to boost your social media presence?

Do you want more likes, comments and shares?

We’re big fans of doing what works rather than chasing the latest fad or esoteric theory, and we’re going to share some of the useful highlights with you. If you’re in business or you work for somebody who needs help getting the word out, these simple ideas may help inspire you!

Did you know…

Hubspot says the best times to post on Facebook are:

12-1 pm on Saturday & Sunday

3-4 pm on Wednesdays

1-4 pm on Thursdays and Fridays

Did you know…

Facebook says you should:

Start conversations by asking questions and responding

Reward your audience with exclusive content

Vary your post type - users don't engage the same way with every post

Did You know … 

That some of the most engaging social post types are:

One Little Known way to [solve a problem]: solution

Caption This! [Photo/Video]

Fill in the blank. My [activity] must-have is _______.

"Like" for [Option 1]. "Share" for [Option 2].

If [enticing scenario], I would __________.

"When [problem or situation is occuring], I _________.

And, don’t forget to…

Repurpose your posts for:

Different platforms – website, blog, social media platforms and video

Different learning styles – skimmer, in-depth reader, video watcher, infographic

Experts for Social Media in Ann Arbor!

Want to learn more about how to make your social media posts more engaging? Sign up for our newsletter today! We’ll share breaking S.E.O. news, Kung Fu marketing tips, and kick-ass success stories with you.

Still have questions? Call our experts at 877-815-6974 to arrange a time to visit or get your social media questions answered. 

Web Design Guidelines Everyone Should Follow!

What are web design guidelines?

Should I follow them?

Are these guidelines necessary?

Web design guidelines will help you create a clear and concise outline of what you should focus on first in the design process. We’ll tell you exactly what you need to know and how you can prepare yourself for a website redesign. It can be a lot of work, but if you want your website to be an effective part of your marketing, it’s worth every effort. 

To give you an accurate estimate for your new website, we basically need to know three things:

1. How many pages will your new website have?
2. What will each of them do?
3. What do you want it to look like?

How many pages will your new website have?

Barring any special functionality, it typically requires more work to create a website with 100 pages than one that has 5 pages (thank you, Captain Obvious!). Therefore, it’s important for us to have a fairly accurate idea of the number of pages you’d like to have on your new site.

What will each of them do?

A simple website for a small business typically consists of 5-10 pages that each display a few paragraphs of text along with 1-2 images. Some websites and web pages contain special functionality, such as a product estimator, e-commerce capability, members only sections, etc.  If you want your website to do anything like that, you’ll need special programming services, so we need to know what that is and how you’d like it to work.

What do you want it to look like?

Do you have anything specific in mind for the way you want your new website to look?  A good place to start would be to find some other websites that you like. Sometimes it’s helpful for us to know what you don’t want your site to look like (i.e. “here’s a website I hate – don’t make mine look anything like that!”)

Color and mood preferences are also helpful, as well as anything else you might have in mind for your new site. 

Some people are very specific about what they’re looking for, while others only have a general idea and give us little more than a few clues our designers can use to fill in the blanks and come up with a kick-ass design.

Our Web Design Recommendations

Here are our recommendations, based on best practice and years of experience:

Remember the 80/20 rule. Focus 80% of your time on the content, and 20% on the look. Most people obsess on the look and neglect the content. Yes, you want your website to look nice, but it’s the content that’s going to drive results. Don’t make SEO an afterthought. Too many people obsess on the look of their site, and only when it’s complete do they ask, “Will my website show up in the search engines?”  If SEO is important to you (and it should be), then make SEO a priority right from the start.  If it’s important, SEO should be driving the content and design, not the other way around.

Do you have questions about your current website? Are you considering updating your web design for your Ann Arbor business? Do you want more visibility for your business?

Please email or call us if you’d like to go deeper on any of these topics.

THIS is Why You Need Professionals

It’s story time! Are you ready? Do you like scary stories? We’re going to tell you one that’s worth hearing! This is a bit long, but it illustrates a critical point that we make to our clients (and potential clients) all the time...

*This* is why it makes sense to have business class web hosting.

*This* is why it makes sense to go with a local company that knows what they are doing on all fronts (hosting, programming, design, and SEO), and has your best interests in mind.

*This* is why you don't let "creative" people create your website on the platform du jour because it's "easy" with little or no thought to maintenance, backups, or security.

The names have been changed to protect the innocent, but this is real.  It actually happened.  Please make sure you are working with competent and reliable professionals so it doesn’t happen to you.

Here’s the story:

Anonymous Marketing Company [AMC]:  Hey, Michigan SEO Group, Client X’s website is messed up. We think you are hosting it.  Can you restore it from a backup?

Us:  Sure, we can take a look at that!  Hmmmm, it looks like we used to host it, but you guys moved the web hosting away from us last year.  We have backups of what was hosted on our server, but nothing since you redesigned the site using WordPress and moved the hosting elsewhere.  You’ll have to check with the new hosting company for recent backups.

AMC:  Oh dear, we’re waiting to hear back from their web hosting firm, but apparently they didn't sign up for a hosting plan that includes backups.

Why someone would even offer a hosting plan without backups is a mystery to us. Do you see the problem here? There was nobody in their marketing or hosting company with a sufficient professional mindset to make sure the client’s best interests were protected.

If you’re committed to truly doing the best you can for your company, make sure you have: (1) robust, redundant web hosting; (2) a website installed in a professional, SEO friendly, content management system; (3) automated backups; (4) a professional website design that does more than just look good, but also utilizes current best practices for user engagement and analytics; (5) consistent, thoughtful SEO to make sure your website appears as high in the search results as possible and stays there; and (6) a dedicated person or team making sure that the technology is monitored, fully functioning, and updated regularly.

Website Design in Ann Arbor: Contact the Experts!

We know this sounds like a lot of work, it is!  But if you'd like more clarity about any of these things or if you'd like to explore what it would be like to work with SEO Ann Arbor, please contact us! We’re committed to our clients’ online success!

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