Louise Urquhart
What separates a good website from a bad one?
Unfortunately, construction websites are normally associated with being unattractive, outdated, difficult to navigate and lacking when it comes to providing the content specifiers need.
It’s so important that your website is made to convert, but it can be difficult to decide which elements to put on your site.
Your building product website's overall user experience will determine its success or failure; here are 6 elements your site needs…
#1: Clear, Intuitive Navigation to Guide Users Through Your Building Product Website
When designing your website, your audience and clients should be the priority.
Easy-to-navigate sites encourage users to engage and can lengthen the time a user stays on your site.
There’s a fine line between an interactive menu and an annoying/messy one, so functionality should be the goal.
Yet, think beyond the main navigation through to the navigational journey you want your users to experience on pages. The viewer should constantly be aware of their location on the website and have quick access to the destination they wish to take. Every page should have a clear calls to action.
#2: Your Construction Website Should Be Visually Appealing
Visuals matter. We’re visual beings - using excellent imagery will increase the appeal of your website.
Your website has roughly 1/10th of a second to make an impression on visitors and potential customers, this is your chance to grab attention.
However, don’t go overboard. Use flash intros, animation, and scrolling text sparingly in your web design.
Showcase High-Quality Images
Including appropriate, high-quality imagery that best represents your building products or services is another crucial component. By using quality images, you’re giving an element of social proof for your building product business. Imagery can make or break a website.
If your audience's first impressions of your company are poor, it’s likely they won’t continue their buyer's journey with you – so make it count!
It’s important that your high-quality images are compressed, as large files will slow your site down!
#3: Is Your Website SEO Optimised?
Your website design, no matter how educational, visual, and easy to use, it’s meaningless unless it’s web-friendly.
SEO (search engine optimisation) is crucial for anyone looking to succeed online, but far too frequently, companies wait until their website is already designed to take SEO seriously.
Your pages must be properly optimised to be competitive, given the hundreds of thousands of websites already in use.
An SEO-friendly website is created with the goal of making it simple for search engines to navigate the site, read content, and learn more about how to rank your website.
How To Get Started With SEO
Start by configuring Google Analytics and adding the GA tracking code to your website's header. The demographics of your site's users and what is and isn't functioning on it can both be determined with analytics.
Perform a keyword search. Determine the keywords you want to emphasise and use consistently throughout the website, including in the headers, content, image alt tags, and image names.
Fill every page's meta description and page title with relevant keywords so Google can index your webpages.
#4: Content Is King
This is the backbone of your website.
Not only does your content significantly influence how you rank on search engines, it also drives the majority of website visitors to your page in the first place.
More than anything else, well-written web copy and content will make your website design appealing, efficient, and well-liked.
Specifiers are looking for easy-to-find technical information and downloads. Things like:
- Technical drawings
- Datasheets
- BIM objects
- Certifications
- Accreditations
These need to be current and easy to find on your site. Architects and specifiers don’t want to be rummaging around your website – they’ll likely go elsewhere if they can find the information they need faster and more efficiently.
#5: Be Consistent With Your Branding
75% of customers make judgments about a brand's credibility based on its web design.
This is why your building brand should saturate the pages of your site.
Make your logo prominent throughout. It’ll make your building product business seem credible and competent.
Users recognise and associate brands with logos.
Use your brand colour palette. Consistent use of your brand colours will strengthen your visual identity and have an impact on how website users feel as they browse.
Ideally, you want to pick one dominant colour and several secondary colours to complement the overall look.
When doing this, you’re not only making your branding more memorable but you’re also giving your building product business a more legitimate, cohesive and professional feel.
#6: Is Your Building Product Business Mobile Optimised?
62.06% of all website traffic comes from mobile. Is your website accessible on mobile phones?
Users can interact and engage seamlessly with your brand across devices when you know that your website is mobile-friendly.
Standard desktop websites do not render well on these devices, whereas a mobile-optimised site adjusts to the smaller screen size and formats the content and interface in a mobile-friendly manner, including:
- larger, more easily readable text
- navigating on mobile devices
- buttons and page components that are touch-friendly
- quicker download times
Ensure that all of your visitors have a great experience, regardless of the type of device they use to access your building product website.
Conclusion
Even though there are many factors to a great website design, these 6 key elements will make a difference to your building product business and provide a pleasant experience to users.
If you’re in the market for a new website, why not speak to an expert directly?
As specialists in building product websites, we can help you achieve your brand’s visions with a specifier-friendly, lead-generation website that acts as your additional salesperson.