How Manufacturers Can Get the Most Out of Their Website

Posted on February 16, 2021 in Industrial & Manufacturing

Your website should be your companies most reliable salesperson. It does not sleep, eat, take breaks, call in sick, or take vacations. It gets the job done, no matter what, without being told what to do.

Or, well, it should be this way.

However, many manufacturing companies are not getting the most out of their website that they should. And sorry to break the news to you, it’s not your website’s fault but rather a result of potentially poor planning, design, lack of marketing or development.

If you are sick of watching your competitors gain customers through their website while yours just kind of sits there and collects digital dust, please read on to learn how you can start getting the most out of your website today.

Mobile-First Design

Having a responsive mobile-first design is crucial in increasing the amount of time someone spends on your website, ensuring they return, and converting them into a paying customer. According to Google, over 50% of website traffic comes from a mobile device. With that being said there is multiple reasons why it’s important to have a mobile designed website:

• Mobile design increases the likelihood of a purchase from mobile traffic. 63% of smartphone users are more likely to purchase from a company that has a mobile website (Source: Google)
• Increases the amount of time a mobile user will stay on your site by 82%.
• Google has publicly stated that they reward sites higher in search who have a mobile design, and punish visibility of those who don’t.

Showcase Your Differentiator

What makes your company special? I mean not to you, but to your customers. You would think this would be something that would be very easy to answer, but time and time again companies struggle with how to present this to their audience. The answer doesn’t have to be one sole statement. But it should be easy for your prospect to understand and directly answer how your business can solve their core issue.

Fast Load Times

Load time is important for your user’s experience and SEO alike. 46% of users say slow load time is the #1 thing they dislike about browsing on mobile (source: Google) In addition to this, slow load times can have a negative impact on your website’s search rankings. Search engines prioritize lightweight websites since they offer a better user experience. Fixing your website’s speed typically involves hiring an experienced developer. If you have someone on staff who can handle this task, Google PageSpeed Insights will actually outline recommendations on how you can make your website load faster.

Optimize for SEO

Having your website optimized for SEO will increase your site’s visibility in search. For this conversation, we are going to break SEO into two different categories.

On-page SEO: This is the process of optimizing your website’s pages, performance, and content to rank better in search. This includes SEO content, meta tags, and meta descriptions, blogging, improving your website speed, and more.

Off-page SEO: This involves taking the action of creating content and links to your site that directly impact the performance of your website’s rank in search.

While optimizing your website for on-page SEO is important, the on-going off-page approach overtime is going to gain you exponentially positive results.

Video Content

People love video content. In fact, according to Forbes 39% of people call a vendor after watching their full video. Creating a dynamic video for your manufacturing company is a great way to showcase your facility, processes, capabilities, and why customers should choose you. In a world where more and more content is being created, video is a way to cut through this clutter and grab your audience’s attention.

These are not all the ways to improve your website, just some. Digital marketing is an ongoing process, not a light switch. It can take months or even years to start seeing the true impacts of what a campaign can have on your business. However, through consistency and the right strategy, the suggestions above can help you surpass your sales goals a build a bigger business than you ever thought possible!