Effective Manufacturing Website Design

Manufacturing Website Design is often underestimated in the Manufacturing world.

Marketing for industrial and manufacturing companies largely consisted of putting resources into traditional sales strategies such as trade fairs and advertisements in industry publications.

Fast forward to present day, there are a lot of opportunities for manufacturing companies to grow their business with an updated website and lead generation tools.

The website plays a very important role in shaping consumer perspective on your overall brand, quality, and customer service.

The website is the first point of contact for the consumer and getting off on the right foot is key for earning business and keep customers coming back.

Even if a company is not selling their products online (as is the case for most manufacturers), B2B websites tend to be a frequent lead conversion point in the B2B sales funnel.

Here are some best practices and strategies for industrial and manufacturing websites that help build consumer trust:

1. Simple and Clear Navigation – Manufacturing Website Design

We have all experienced a hard to navigate website.

There are too many items on one page, no clear layout and impossible to find the information you are looking for.

The chances of going back to this website are slim to none. This is why a simple website with clear navigation is a must for manufacturing websites.

Cisco has a large website with a lot of content but effectively organizes its services with a clear navigation menu.

You can see their Servers division has clear items laid out: Products, Software, Solutions, Services, Support, and For Partners.

They also have a secondary larger menu to help direct visitors to the larger portions of their website.

By using a straightforward navigation menu, it allows the user find their way around the site providing a smooth user experience.

2. A Well-Placed Call-To-Action – Manufacturing Website Design

Call-To-Actions are a great tool for lead generation. The best way to do this is to have a clear next step on your website for your visitors.

For many industrial manufacturing companies, the main call-to-action would be a lead generation form.

This means the button to “Start a Project,” “Request a Quote,” or “Contact Us” should be in prominent positions on the website to drive customers to a contact form.

Martin Marietta’s website has two call to actions. The first being the facility locator and then right when you move your cursor or scroll down the main call to action is the product calculator, which leads to requesting a quote. The website is designed to draw the user’s focus right to the online calculator.

3. High Quality Images – Manufacturing Website Design

Many manufacturing websites are still relatively outdated including their product images. A high-quality graphic that tells your customer exactly what you do is critical.

For many manufacturing companies, quality product imagery clarifies what device, piece, or material you manufacture.

Catepillar’s use of imagery is a great example of their size as a company and communicates what they provide.

When you browse their product lines, you can see there is a consistent standard that ties the website together — cutouts surrounded by generous amounts of white space.

This allows the user to focus on the products themselves, rather than being distracted by the quality (or lack thereof) of the images or the surroundings.

4. A Great Hero Message

For many visitors to a website, the first few seconds will determine if they will convert into a lead or not.

Your homepage message must represent the value you provide. It is essential to quickly and clearly inform the potential customer exactly what it is your company does and what kind of value you provide.

IBM does a great job of presenting their value statement “Let’s put smart to work” in their smart loves problems hero message coupled with a high quality video.

The message instantly engages viewers and shows them as global multi-industry experts.

5. Effective Content Marketing

The most effective B2B content marketing happens on a company’s website.

By using existing content material and linking in-house blog articles on your website you can achieve effective content marketing.

Content marketing pieces can be used as entrance points for website visitors. They can also add value or resources to your visitors who come into your website through other channels.

By putting your most effective marketing content pieces on your main landing pages, you allow all website visitors to be informed, possibly learn something and engage with your website.

John Deere links to in house magazine type articles on their homepage to showcase what the brand is about and the happenings in their community.

They use the same strategy on other pages as new and publications type articles.The use of these newsletter types pieces aim to inform users of the brand and how they are impacting others in a positive way.
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