Sandy Bassi
Is your website design made to help individuals move through the buyer's journey?
The issue is that many building product websites come across as brochures rather than lead generation sites. Although it's a good idea to have product information on your website, the design itself might be causing users to bounce and click off your website.
Your website should be your best salesperson, generating leads, helping customers, working 24/7, consistent, always on-message and measurable.
Here’s how you can get started…
Keeping Individuals On Your Building Products Website
The design, layout, and overall appearance of your website are vital in retaining visitors and guiding them towards providing their information.
Even those websites that look impressive and bold can sometimes be distracting to individuals reaching their end goal.
Elements such as your design, colour scheme, excessive use of images or hard-to-read fonts can hinder the professional look of your page, leading to a loss of attention from potential customers.
You’ll have a high bounce rate and a drop in search engine rankings if visitors leave your page quickly. If you find individuals are not converting on your website, it may be time to seek the assistance of a professional web designer to improve user experience.
Remember, your website is your shopfront and reflects your building products company values, service, and commitment to providing quality products.
Content That Speaks To Your Construction Audience
Your content needs to speak directly to your intended target audience.
Whether your target market is made up of professionals, architects, specifiers, interior designers or installers, they expect you to speak their language.
While your content may be informative and well-written enough to earn a high page rank, that doesn't necessarily mean the business decision-makers who read it will trust it enough to become clients.
To bridge that gap, it's important to identify who your buyer personas are and what they're looking for.
In the construction and building products industry, where the technical jargon is very apparent, using the right terminology is key to connecting with your visitors and earning their trust.
To read more about buyer personas, check out this blog.
Capturing Leads With Your Building Products Website
Some building product websites might not be using lead capture tools effectively, which can be a missed opportunity.
For example, having a form on your website can be a great way to capture information from visitors. On the other hand, if the form has too many fields to fill in, it might discourage people from submitting it.
To make it easier for visitors, limit your form to just 1 or 2. By using a CRM system like HubSpot, you can still get a lot of information about your visitors even with just their email addresses. This includes things like pages they've visited, how long they've been on your site, and more.
Ensure your website also includes clear calls to action and sign-up forms. These should be compelling and encourage visitors to take action.
And we can’t forget mobile users! Make sure your forms are easy to fill out on mobile devices, as architects and specifiers are likely to be browsing via their mobiles.
The Right Amount Of Visuals On Your Construction Website
It's common for building product companies to struggle with providing information in bulk without overwhelming their readers with large, chunky blocks of text. These can look intimidating and boring and might cause visitors to leave your site.
To avoid this, try structuring your content with clear headers and sub-headers. This way, even if someone is just skimming the page, they'll be able to find what they're looking for.
You can also make your content more interesting and engaging by including visuals like images, videos, and infographics.
These can help break up large blocks of text and provide more context and detail to your message. We all love a bit of visuals and they can actually help us retain information better. It’s all about finding the sweet spot and not under or overwhelming your users.
Your Building Products Website Should Load Quickly
By quickly I mean instantly. Our patience as consumers is always decreasing and Google found that 53% of mobile users abandon sites that take over 3 seconds to load.
When individuals abandon a website it not only affects their experience but can also negatively impact your Google rankings.
To address slow load times, it's important to first identify the causes. Google offers a free Page Speed Test to help you determine if your page is too slow for the average web browser.
It's also important to keep in mind that half of all web traffic comes from mobile devices, so it's crucial to make sure your website is fast and responsive on all platforms.
By taking steps to improve your website's speed and performance, you can create a better experience for your visitors and improve your Google rankings at the same time.
Don’t lose potential leads to slow load times!
Conclusion
Your website is often the first place that people will look when they're interested in your building products business. It's significant because it provides consistent information to every visitor, and can help answer questions even when you're not available.
To help you identify opportunities for improvement and quick wins, here’s a free website checklist.
This checklist provides you with 44 things to check before, during and after launching a construction product website.
By taking advantage of our free checklist, you can ensure that your website is working for you and providing the best possible experience for your visitors.
Alternatively, you can book your free strategy call here.