You're probably wondering: is it really time to update your industrial manufacturing website or build a new one?
Whether you’re the person going to bat for a new site or making the call move forward, the task can be a headache.
There’s no getting around it: website projects are a significant investment of time and money, and you don’t have an infinite amount of either.
You may even see your website as an obligatory resource drain with no clear idea of how it’s affecting your bottom line.
And, while it’s true that websites can cost a lot of money without generating much return, it doesn’t have to be this way.
In fact, the best manufacturing websites not only generate leads for you, but lighten the load of your sales and customer service teams.
How?
Well, let’s consider the way many B2B customers select vendors today.
Source: Gartner
According to research by Gartner, "when B2B buyers are considering a purchase, they spend only 17% of that time meeting with potential suppliers," and spend a significant amount of the remaining time "researching independently online."
Many B2B websites offer:
A site like this serves as a 24x7 resource that helps potential customers qualify themselves and demonstrate why you have an effective solution to their needs.
While the manufacturing industry is traditionally less digital in its marketing than other B2B verticals, the pandemic has prompted companies to invest more in digital avenues both at an operational level and in marketing.
Consider:
At the same time, savvy companies are serving prospects online in a more direct way: by providing a great experience using their sites.
A Thomasnet industrial buying habits survey found that 73% of buyers “pa[id] attention to manufacturing websites” and one participant even made the point of telling researchers “If I struggle to navigate a website you have about 30 seconds of my time and then I am gone.”
The bottom line here is that while not every manufacturer is investing in (and benefiting from) website investments, many are.
So how many opportunities are you losing because your website isn’t what customers and prospective owners want (and increasingly expect) it to be?
Putting together a quality website combines a lot of specialized skills like copywriting, web design, and web development.
Here, I’ve tried to cut out some of the jargon and focus on the high-level takeaways. In a nutshell, here’s what your site needs to attract and serve customers and prospects.
Hiring an experienced developer with a good track record may cost more up front, but it's less risky. Cheaper developers cut corners, resulting in a site with functional and performance limitations that frustrate you and bugs that frustrate visitors—working against lead generation goals.
Here’s what you can expect from a competent site developer:
A content management system (CMS) is a platform that allows you to access, edit, and manage your site pages, like Wordpress or HubSpot.
Healthy sites add, edit, and remove pages all the time, so investing in a CMS you can work with yourself rather than calling your developer every time you notice a typo can save you a world of grief.
Choosing a good web host (the company that stores your website) is also critical if you want to generate leads on your site, because:
Additionally, slow page speeds and poor security can hurt your search visibility, which makes it harder to do search engine optimization.
Visitors expect to quickly find what they need on a site, so deciding how to organize your pages is key.
“Site navigation” refers to the menus that help your visitors move around the site, such as the menu bar at the top or side of your site, links in the footer, and “breadcrumbs” that map your current location.
Here are a few tips for creating an effortlessly navigable site:
Source: Madison Banders
Follow conventions. There are standard places to put certain navigation items. The contact or demo request button is usually in the furthest right position on your menu, and the home button is usually in the furthest left corner, or middle.
Limit your menu to the 7 most important items or fewer to avoid overwhelming visitors. List child pages beneath them or in links at the bottom of your site.
Source: Dustless Blasting
Use clear labels. Give menu items short, descriptive names.
Source: Cree lighting
Use breadcrumbs. If you have many pages below your main pages, it's helpful to provide a map that shows visitors where they are in relation to other pages.
HubSpot wrote a great guide to laying out your site intuitively.
Copywriting is writing to sell—for example, creating web pages and ads.
Content writing is writing to provide value to the consumer, with a secondary goal of moving that consumer closer to making a purchase.
For most websites, both are essential for attracting and converting leads.
Tips for writing excellent copy and content alike:
Extra copywriting tips:
The design of a website pulls a lot more weight than most people realize. It needs to be more than pretty or functional—it should be both.
Your design helps determine whether site visitors leave within the first second of arriving.
More obviously, your site telegraphs who your brand is: your logo, the colors you want customers to associate with your products and services, your values, and your “personality,” which ideally is someone your customers enjoy interacting with.
Your site also actively helps you convert visitors into leads by:
This product page uses a number of the techniques described above, such as:
A good manufacturing website functions as a virtual storefront—serving customers even when you’re out of the office and helping you generate leads.