Web developer in Ann Arbor: a site that says where you are and what's open this term
Every May many of your customers leave, and every August new ones arrive who don't know you. I build small sites for the shops and services they'll be looking for on a phone. When you're choosing a web developer in Ann Arbor, ask what goes on that first screen. The job is to be the business they find when they search.
Overview
Who reads your site once term starts?
Someone who moved here this term doesn't know which end of town you're on. They cannot tell if you are walkable from their street. They don't know whether to book or just turn up.
The University of Michigan brings people like that to town every year. They're choosing a lot at once, all of it from a phone, and they know nobody to ask yet. A bike shop and a dentist can turn up in the same evening's searches.
So I'd put your directions above the story of the business. Someone who is lost needs those first, and the story can sit lower down the page.
What gets built here
What gets checked before launch
None of this needs a big site. It needs doing carefully, and checking on a phone.
- Getting your dates on the first call — the order of the work can't be set until I know which weeks are your busiest.
- An enquiry route that copes with a rush — the form and the message button are tested with a burst of messages before launch.
- A number that rings and a button that works — both tried on a real handset, not only on a laptop.
Side by side
What goes out of date, and who changes it?
Most of this is yours to change, and the editor is set up so you can.
Opening hours
- When it changes
- Each term
- Who updates it
- You, from the editor
Prices
- When it changes
- Whenever you decide
- Who updates it
- You, from the editor
Term-time arrangements
- When it changes
- Each term
- Who updates it
- You, with the runbook beside you
Phone number and message button
- When it changes
- If either one changes
- Who updates it
- Me, on request, then tested on a phone again
How I would split the upkeep. You can move any line to my side.
What a scope from me looks like
The first build, line by line
Included
- A written scope: every page and feature as its own line, agreed before work starts
- Design to build, reviewed on a staging URL that stays open the whole project
- Mobile first — checked on a real phone
- Domain, hosting and every account created in your name from day one
- A contact page with your number, a message button and the map
- Hours, prices and term-time arrangements you edit yourself
- Basic on-page SEO: titles, descriptions, headings, sitemap, Search Console connected
- A runbook at handover: how to edit it, what renews and when
Phase two
- Online booking or ordering with payment
- A separate site for a line of business that sells nationally
- Ongoing SEO once the site has traffic to read
- A maintenance plan once the site is live
- Logo and brand design, quoted separately from the build
Not doing
- Guaranteed rankings
Where this comes from
Reviews from American clients
My team has delivered 600+ projects for US clients. You can read the reviews from those who gave permission to be named on the projects page.
Each one was led by me, with help from three developers, a designer and three SEO specialists in the Kolkata, India office, plus around six people working remotely.
What moves the number
What makes the build bigger or smaller?
Three things set the size of the job.
- A booking or ordering system you already use — the site links to it instead of replacing it
- Whether a second line of business sells nationally — those buyers need pages about what you make, so it becomes a second site
- How many services you list — each one with its own hours or prices is another block of copy to write and check
Nearby
Two US cities and one in Canada
Chicago's firms sell to buyers in other states. In Pittsburgh a known name has moved on to newer work, and in Toronto a business serves one part of a very large city.
FAQ
A shop's year, in four questions
The university year runs underneath every answer.
Is word of mouth enough in a university town?
- Word of mouth keeps working for the customers you already have. The ones who arrive each August haven't heard your name yet, so they search on a phone and pick from what they find. The site is how they find you before anyone mentions you.
What if the business sells nationally rather than to students?
- A national seller needs a different site. Ann Arbor's research and mobility firms sell to buyers who will never visit the town, so the university calendar means nothing to them. Those buyers want to know what you make. They also want proof they can check from another state, so I'd build that as its own site and keep the local one for the town.
What does a shop owner need to supply?
- A shop owner supplies what only the shop knows, such as this term's hours and what changes when the new year starts. My team turns that into pages. You then read each page on the staging link and mark anything that's wrong, and nothing goes live until you've signed it off.
Can the site link to an existing booking system?
- An existing booking or ordering system can stay. The site links to it rather than replacing it, so your customers and your staff keep using what they know. Booking built into the site is a separate decision, made after launch.
Next step
Start with a call about your year
Last year's hours are the most useful thing you can have on the call. Put them beside this year's, and I can see which details change for you each term. That sets the build order.
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