The Value of Having a Professional Website for Your Business

WEBSITE DESIGN: The Importance of Having a Professional Website for Your Business

In days gone by, when a customer wanted to search for a specific service provider, they would use the Yellow Pages of the phone book to locate and contact the desired business. Those days are now gone.

Today, when a consumer searches for your services, where do most turn? The internet! Having a professional online presence has never been more important!  How does your internet presence match up to your competition?

Is your website easy to find on Google?

The typical website has between 5 and 6 pages: Home, About Us, Our Services, Contact Us, and maybe even a Coupons page. This is not enough to get you to rise above your local competition in the rankings, as potential customers type in many different keywords that are relative to what you do.

We recommend a different approach. We recommend that each page on your website be optimized using two to three keywords. Also, you should be advised that there are literally hundreds of different keyword combinations in each geographic area that a user might type in if they are looking for your services.

So, what you should do is have a page built out for each one of your services. For example, if you are in the landscape industry, you don’t just offer landscaping services; you offer landscaping, hardscaping, fertilization, irrigation systems, mowing, commercial snow removal, and the list goes on. We think it’s important to make sure these keywords/pages are on your website.

Your website should be optimized for the sub-cities in your geographic area, typically between 10-15 sub-cities for most markets. You should have pages built that combine geographic terms with the terms in the above paragraph to make sure that you at least have the indexation in Google (meta titles, descriptions, and anchor text is updated).

Does your website appear in the first page of search results?

Steps 1 and 2 are ONLY 25% of the battle. The other 75% of the battle is getting inbound links (your internet popularity) to the home page and to the sub-pages on your website.

Once your website has been optimized, the only thing that will get you to rise in the search engines is quality in-bound links (links from other sites pointing to your website). You need to  implement a proactive strategy to obtain inbound links. As part of our link building strategy we:

  • Create and distribute quality content (articles, blog posts, etc.) on your behalf.
  • Do competitive link acquisition, which is the strategy of link building and getting your site to rise in the search engines. We are going to proactively look into the top 5 competing landscape industry contractors in your market and determine who (which companies/websites) are linking to them and how many links they have. Then, we reverse engineer your competition’s Internet marketing strategy and outperform them.
  • Blog commenting (posting insightful comments and feedback on industry specific blogs).

LINK BUILDING is the single-most important activity in search engine optimization/placement.

Next, we will cover citation development. Your local directory listings need to be proactively claimed: Google Places, Yahoo, Bing, City Search, Angie’s list, Best of the Web and other very important local online directories. You need to have your listings built out (uploading photos, videos, special offers, etc.) and optimize them for top placement.

Does your website appear in Google Maps?

 

Showing up on Google Places with a Google Map is the #1 ROI for your Internet marketing strategy. It is not easy. By adding your business to all of these different directories, you are going to improve your exposure and you might even get some free calls out of it. More importantly, you need to build your citations and credibility, which is going to improve the probability of getting you on Google Maps/Google Places.

In using the example of a landscape business again, consistently putting out valuable information on how to select a landscape contractor, along with other relative content like, “5 ways landscaping can improve the value of your home”, “Edging a lawn is easy to do. Here’s how.”, “These 4 flowers are great at attracting honeybees”, “How often should I mow my lawn?” By publishing this content on your website specific to your business and geography, you are building your internet presence and credibility.

We specialize in providing website design and digital marketing services that get results. When you are ready for professional assistance, please contact us for a FREE consultation.

Pulaski Township, Michigan launches new website

 
Congratulations to Pulaski Township, Michigan in the recent launch of their new website. We are grateful for the opportunity to come alongside and offer marketing expertise to help them serve their residents.
 
The solution: The Marketing Machine Co. was delighted to work with Pulaski Township, Michigan in the design of their new website. Their new site showcases beautiful aerial photography, is user-friendly and informative. It is mobile responsive and provides an optimal viewing and an interactive experience. The site offers downloads and self-serve options for the residents, from the convenience of their home.

The problem: Pulaski Township, Michigan needed an updated website presence and the ability to maintain site content to serve their residents.

Please contact us for more information about how we can assist you with your website design or digital marketing project.

We’re Excited to Announce That We’re Rebranding!

We’re Excited to Announce That We’re Rebranding!

As a valued client, I want to let you know that as of February 2020, we’re rebranding. As a part of our rebranding strategy our company name will change from Granger Graphic Design to The Marketing Machine Co. This name change is part of our strategy targeted to emphasize the strength of our capabilities, growth, and our commitment to helping our clients in the marketplace.


After some in-depth research, market analysis and talking with some of our clients, we feel the rebranding of Granger Graphic Design will enable us to expand upon our services, accomplish local and global growth objectives and to foster and develop new client relationships. This puts us in the position to be more competitive in the marketplace, and the new name is a better representation of the services we offer to our clients.


What this means for our existing clients is that it’s business as usual. You will continue to receive the SAME EXCELLENT LEVEL OF CARE AND QUALITY OF SERVICE that you have come to experience. And as we launch this exciting next step, we’d like to take the time to thank our loyal clients and business partners for your trust and friendship in business. Without you this would not be possible.


As you notice changes in our branding, graphics and promotions, we would certainly love to connect with you. Feel free to reach out with any thoughts, requests, or compliments. If you enjoy social media, please connect with us. As always, please do not hesitate to call us anytime.


We are grateful for your partnership.

Sincerely,

Sarah Granger, MBA
Owner|Designer

Granger Graphic Design…. Now….The Marketing Machine Co.

               

Underground Railroad Launches New Site!

– December 21, 2019 –

Congratulations to Linda Hass & Jackson Michigan Underground Railroad in the recent launch of their new website. We are grateful for the opportunity to come alongside and offer website design solutions to help them create a greater historical awareness for the community and potential tourists.

“I’m blown away by the beauty of the site! You have captured the spirit of it perfectly, combining a lot of information with a sense of wonder. I’m thrilled! You absolutely nailed it. The starry night sky, with the tree and lantern, are a perfect introduction to what follows. ” -Linda Hass

The solution: Granger Graphic Design was delighted to work with Linda Hass and Jackson, Michigan Underground Railroad in the design of their new website. The site is user-friendly and informative for their various audiences. It is mobile responsive and provides an optimal viewing and interaction experience, easy reading and navigation with minimum resizing, panning and scrolling on mobile devices.

Jackson, Michigan Underground Railroad needed a website presence in order to build a greater awareness of these wonderful historical facts and fascinating landmarks. They now have another means by which the story can be told.

Please contact us for more information about how we can assist you with your website design or digital marketing project.

Dobben Agency Launches New Website

Congratulations to the Dobben Agency LLC in the recent launch of their new website. We are grateful for the opportunity to come alongside and offer marketing expertise to help them serve their customers in financial planning.
The solution: Granger Graphic Design was delighted to work with the Dobben Agency LLC in the design of their new website. Their new site is user-friendly and informative for their existing customers as well as potential customers. It is mobile responsive and provides an optimal viewing and interaction experience, easy reading and navigation with minimum resizing, panning and scrolling on mobile devices.

The problemDobben Agency LLC needed an updated website presence in order to reach their clients and potential clients and continue to grow their business.

Please contact us for more information about how we can assist you with your website design or digital marketing project.

5 Website Design Tips

– January 2017-

We like to make organized lists to help us organize our thoughts. Here are 5 tips to help improve your website design:

TIP #1: GET THE ATTENTION OF READERS WITH COMMUNICATIVE GRAPHICS. But, be careful to not use too many graphics on a website as you risk overstimulating your visitors.

TIP #2: USE A CONSISTENT THEME. Maintain the same style on all of the pages of your site, so that your visitors will have a good user experience and know what to expect.

TIP #3: INCORPORATE A RESPONSIVE DESIGN. Responsive design means that the website will adapt on format depending on whether the user is viewing the site on desktop or mobile. The site will be optimized accordingly, so to minimize pinching and scrolling on mobile.

TIP #4: USE SIMPLE AND EASY NAVIGATION. Navigation should be easy for all kinds of viewers to use and obvious to  locate. Consider having open navigation rather than collapsible navigation.

TIP #5: YOUR WEBSITE SHOULD BE EASY TO READ. Keep your website text well-organized, and the character spacing up to an optimum level for better readability. If left a mess, visitors will leave your site.

5 Website Design Tips

10 Things You Need to Do to Drive Traffic to Your Website

10 things you need to do right now to start driving trapping to your websiteYou don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on advertising or an SEO agency to get traffic, you need a few key understandings of how traffic works – combined with these powerful techniques of 10 Things You Need to Do to Drive Traffic to your website.

Your business success really does come down to your website traffic.

IF PEOPLE AREN’T SEEING YOUR BUSINESS – THEY AREN’T BUYING FROM YOUR BUSINESS.
Website traffic is the foundation for you to create a community, introduce your products and services, and share your expertise.

So if you’ve been looking for proven ways to drive traffic to your website, here is what you need to do right now:

1) Pinterest – Pin Pin Pin. Pinterest is in itself a search engine and if you want to be found by the millions of users, you need to be sharing your content there. Every time you post a new blog post, new product, or new service – you should pin that to Pinterest.

Make a “Pinnable Image” on every single blog post. A pinnable image is an image that you add to your blog posts that has the title of your blog post on it. This is what you will use to share your blog posts to Pinterest. This is also what other people will use to save your blog posts to Pinterest.

If you want to start driving significant traffic to your website, you have to have this graphic. This can make or break your Pinterest success.

Keep in mind that you’ll want to add your own description to your Pinterest Pins. Use keywords related to your product or article in order to help them more readily appear when someone searches for the content. Pins can also be promoted. Pinterest shows more people the popular pins. So as it starts to get repinned, it will be at the top of search results.

2) SEO Everything – Search engine optimize every blog post, every social media post, every image. Use the keywords you want your website or article to be found from and put them in your titles, in your content, name your images with the keywords and make sure you share those same titles on SEO. This helps keep a congruent string of keywords linking back to your post. This can be a huge boost in search engine traffic.

3) Social Media Bios – This is a hidden gem for traffic. Put your website url in every single social media bio you have. You’ll be amazed at how much traffic this drives to your website.

4) Revive Old Posts – After you write a blog post, you don’t really continue to promote it. You move on and promote your recent articles. Consider promoting some of your old posts from time to time. You will be so happy with the results and traffic you get from sharing your existing content.

5) Keep Content Fresh – Consider having a blog on your website where you can post articles, tips and other relevant content. This will keep readers interested and help them to continue to come back. This will allow them to view you as an expert professional in your subject area.

6) Email Marketing – Emailing your subscribers can drive high quality traffic to your website. You can write your blog posts in the email with a link back to the entire article. Or you can send a roundup of articles you’ve written to encourage and entice readers to visit your website.

7) Facebook Groups – The goal here is not to spam all your Facebook groups with links to your blog. If you’re engaging and networking in Facebook groups and you see an opportunity to share an article you’ve written that can help or provide value to someone – share your post! Make sure you’re allowed to share in that group, many groups have rules in place to keep the groups clean and relevant so double check before you drop your link.

8) Facebook Advertising – Facebook ads are a very popular and effective technique for driving traffic to your website. Even a few dollars a day can make a huge difference. And if you’re getting people to subscribe to your email list, you can use your email marketing to drive these same visitors back to your site.

9) Link to Related Content on Your Website – When you write your posts, be sure to link to other articles you’ve written that are relevant. This gives more value to your readers, helps with SEO, and increases the time people are on your site, conversion rates, and referral traffic.

10) Social Share Buttons – These prompt your readers to share your articles with their social networks. Imagine if every one of your visitors shared some of your content with their network – that would be a HUGE traffic driver! Readers can easily share with a click of a button AND they’re more inclined to share when you prompt them too!

NOW YOU HAVE 10 ROCK SOLID STRATEGIES THAT YOU CAN IMPLEMENT NOW TO START GETTING MORE TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE. 10 Things You Need to Do to Drive Traffic to Your Website!

Traffic means more readers, more people seeing your business, more people looking at your products, more people subscribing to your email list, and more people BUYING your products.

One of the biggest mistakes we see website and business owners make is creating a website and then letting it sit NOT focusing on how they’re going to get readers. If you write it – they will not just show up unless you take strategic steps to attract readers to your site. You don’t need hundreds of thousands of hits of traffic to get results online – but you do need a strategy and it stars with high quality traffic.

Do you have a goal in mind? Do you want them to subscribe to your email list? Look at your products? Buy your services?

Traffic is ONE aspect to running a successful business online – having a plan for what to do with that traffic is the next step. You need to have a system in place to convert that traffic into buyers.

[maxbutton id=”1″] for assistance with website design that gets results! We can help you complete these 10 Things You Need to Do to Drive Traffic to your website.

New Business Adventure: Wood Pest Pros

– May, 2016 –

Congratulations to Wood Pest Pros in the launch of their new business! Thank you for entrusting Granger Graphic Design with your website and digital marketing needs. We are grateful for the opportunity to come alongside and offer design and branding expertise to help them serve their customers in various settings.

website design jackson michigan


The solution: Granger Graphic Design was delighted to work with David & Patrick Laughlin and Wood Pest Pros in the design of their new website. Their new site is user-friendly and informative for their customer base. It is mobile responsive and provides an optimal viewing and interaction experience, easy reading and navigation with minimum resizing, panning and scrolling on mobile devices. 

The problem: Wood Pest Pros needed a website presence as a part of their brand strategy for the launch of their new business. 

Please contact us for more information about your website design or digital marketing project.

Be careful of website services scams

scam-alert


– April, 2016 – 

Please be advised that there have been increased scams taking place in the area of business owners who have websites. 

If you have had your website built by Granger Graphic Design, this is to confirm that you should NOT receive invoices from ANY other providers for website services including: hosting, domain, search engine optimization (SEO), individuals posing as Google personnel etc. 

All of your services are handled through Granger Graphic Design and will be billed by us. If you are ever uncertain about an invoice received from another party, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

Thank you for entrusting us with your website design and digital marketing needs. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve your business. 

Budd’s All Tractor Launches New Website

-March 7, 2016-

Congratulations to Budd's All Tractor in the recent launch of their new website. We are grateful for the opportunity to come alongside and offer marketing expertise to help them serve their customers in commercial, residential and agricultural needs.
budds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The problem: Budd's All Tractor needed a website presence in order to reach their clients and potential clients and continue to grow their business. 

The solution: Granger Graphic Design was delighted to work with Keith Budd and Budd's All Tractor in the design of their new website. Their new site is user-friendly and informative for their existing customers as well as potential customers. It is mobile responsive and provides an optimal viewing and interaction experience, easy reading and navigation with minimum resizing, panning and scrolling on mobile devices. 

Please contact us for more information about your website design or digital marketing project.

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