Best Practices for Developing a Website for Manufacturers

In today’s time, most manufacturers have realized that simply having a website with a couple of aesthetically-designed webpages isn’t enough. The B2B purchasing process has primarily shifted to the online medium, making it extremely important for all industrial companies to have a robust online presence.

As with any other industry, a good website with informational content attracts visitors, converts them into qualified leads, and nurtures them to become paying customers. For all industrial buyers, your website serves as your digital storefront, offering all the necessary information. Thus, having a good and engaging website design is crucial for all manufacturing companies.

In this article, we will look at the top best practices for website design for manufacturers. Following these practices will help your website take off and ensure your business grows exponentially.

1. Convey a Strong Manufacturing Brand Image

Having a powerful and updated website can reinforce your brand impression and quickly communicate the ethics and quality of your manufacturing business. On the other hand, a poorly functioning website will adversely impact the reputation of your business and negatively reflect your technical expertise.

So make sure your website makes an excellent first impression in three key areas: appearance, content, and functionality.

For appearance, it is best to opt for a simple, organized, and aesthetically appealing design that makes your company look more professional. It is very difficult to navigate a crowded or cluttered website that is full of unwanted information.

In terms of content, make sure your website clearly explains what your manufacturing company does, the kind of products it develops, its technological proficiency, etc.

And lastly, in terms of functionality, ensure that your website operates seamlessly on all devices to offer a good user experience.

2. Make it Easy for Your Visitors to Find What They are looking for

Your website visitors must be able to easily navigate your website and browse your capabilities. Additionally, your website’s navigation should be simple so that each visitor can logically browse every product and find answers to their queries.

If your manufacturing company is product-based, make sure your website design includes different product categories. Each of these categories should lead them to the desired product where they can find all specs and other details. Also, if your business has a huge selection of products, make sure to add a search functionality where products can be searched by keyword, SKU, etc. All this will help your visitors to stay on your website for a long time and not bounce off.

3. Speak to Target Audience

When a prospect is screening several manufacturing businesses, well-written, relevant, and informational content that is aimed at helping the target audience really helps. So, when you are developing content for your manufacturing website, make sure to keep your buyer persona in mind. Think about all the needs, pain points, and queries of these target customers and create content that is valuable to them.

For instance, if your primary target group includes engineers, consider the details that these engineers are looking for. If the target group includes purchase managers, find out the keywords that they are most commonly using to locate manufacturing companies like yours.

Once you have identified your target group and their needs, it will become much easier for you to develop content. Make sure to include all the necessary details about your products such as accuracy, quality, shipping information, etc. on your website to help the customers take the best decision.

4. Share Customer Success Stories

One of the most brilliant ways to show prospective customers how they can benefit from your product or service is by providing them with social proof. This includes experiences of past customers and how they have benefited from your business.

Some of the best examples of providing social proof on your website include:

• Photos or videos of your products in action
• Case studies demonstrating how you helped a customer solve a specific challenge
• Client testimonials in videos or written form
• Reviews from customers

Having this type of content on your website can help to show the quality of your company. It can also help to instill trust in your prospects.

5. Make It Easy For Them to Contact You

Once you have engaged your website visitors, the next step they will take after reading through your content will be to contact your sales reps. Make sure that this process is simple and hassle for them. And to do that, you must provide at least one call-to-action (CTA) on every page.

Use action words such as “Get in touch” or “Request a quote” that tell the visitors the next step you need them to take. If you have RFQ forms on your website, make sure that they are short forms as that will increase their likelihood to be filled out by the prospects. Also, include your contact details in the header or footer of every page.

Wrapping Up

These are some simple tips that must be considered while developing a website for your manufacturing business. You can consult the services of a professional manufacturing marketing company to help you build a fully-functional and engaging website. StratMg is one such agency that works with expert website developers. These developers are proficient in creating strategic websites that give you an edge over your competitors.