Best Practices for Website Design: A Manufacturer’s Guide
A little over a year ago, we wrote a blog post about website design strategies for manufacturers. To add to and develop this topic further, this blog post dives into the best practices for website design: a manufacturer’s guide.
Best Practices for Website Design: A Manufacturer’s Guide
For your website design project, here are practices that are important to implement:
- Zero in on the buyer’s journey.
- Create simple navigation.
- Include clear calls-to-action.
- Set up your brand’s reputation.
- Answer your buyer’s questions.
Zero in on the buyer’s journey.
Focus on the buyer. You can do this by putting yourself into their shoes and think about what a seamless decision-making journey would look like. Consider the flow of your pages and information. To really focus on your buyer’s journey it is important to know who your target buyer is. If engineers are your target audience—use technical language that they understand and are looking for. If purchasing managers are your target, include pricing, specs, and details that they are looking for. Integrating these details with your product/service information improves the visual and technical impact of your website.
Create simple navigation.
A simple navigation is so important in website design today. For manufacturing websites, a simple navigation consists of easy-to-find and identify menu and tabs. Depending on the visitor, they might want to find information in different ways. For example, some might want your information sorted by industry, products, process, or material. To respect this, you can include a few different sorting systems for your various visitors. In addition to easy-to-find information, include an easy-to-find search bar.
Include clear calls-to-action.
When navigating on your website, make sure the buyer’s next step is a no-brainer. Using classic “Contact Us” or “Request Samples” buttons is expected. These options work well and are clearly understood by the visitor. To step it up a notch, you can also tailor your calls-to-action to your buyers. This ties into personalizing your site content to every visitor. Personalization can lead to higher conversion rates, so keep that option in mind. However, even when personalizing calls-to-action, make sure that they are still direct and understandable.
When the visitor clicks on a call-to-action link, the form they land on should be brief and to-the-point. Shorter forms are more likely to be filled out. Ask for the specific information you need, but don’t bother them with additional questions. The buyer then is more likely to finish filling out the form (thus contacting your company).
Answer your buyer’s questions.
Throughout your website design, be sure to answer your buyer’s questions. This can be done through FAQ’s, in-text answers, case studies, your company’s story, and testimonials. Take information from what buyers have asked in the past and include answers on your website. Videos can be a great way to explain complicated manufacturing processes or answer common questions.
Set up your brand’s reputation.
Website design is the perfect opportunity to speak to every visitor about who your company is. An updated website speaks volumes about your company’s values. If you will put in the effort on your website, visitors will be more likely to stay on your site. The goal is to have a well-designed website that loads in under three seconds. In your website design, be sure to include: your logo, high-quality images, on-brand color choices, and information about awards/associations that your company has. This is because cohesive color, design, and text throughout your website pages mirrors the cohesion and order of your company. A clean and professional image will showcase your company’s best qualities. Put your best foot forward, online and in person.
For website development and design, contact RedMoxy. We’ve worked successfully with manufacturing companies to build and improve buyers’ experiences on manufacturing and industrial sector websites.