As the world continues to globalize, the Internet brings companies closer together and makes it easier for buyers to find sellers. Having a good website is now an absolute must.
 
For Canadian industrial and manufacturing firms that are looking to grow their North American and international presence, a good website should be one of the things you prioritize immediately. The days of selling without one, are fading quickly. What is the first thing a buyer now looks at when deciding on the professionalism and legitimacy of a firm? The website.

 
New generations of purchasers, buyers, influencers and other stakeholders are web savvy and place a considerable amount of weight on your web presence. I am not saying it has to be flashy or have 3D images or holograms popping out of it, but it has to be solid.
 
What makes for a solid manufacturing and industrial website you ask? The bullets below outline a few of the core items you need to include when developing or re-developing your site.
 

Manufacturing and Industrial Website Checklist

• Make sure it is template based. We are fans of WordPress for website content management as it provides a considerable amount of flexibility. In addition to that it is inexpensive. There are definitely other website content management systems out there as well, by all means explore the best one for you.
• Secure, stable and reliable hosting provider. Make sure you choose a firm that provides a secure and stable environment to host your site. With threats to your sites security, having a reputable hosting provider that has proven hosting experience is important.
• Content; this can’t be understated. It will take time to produce good content for your website. It can be one of the hardest tasks to do, but is absolutely important. Break up your website into core pages with sub-pages underneath. As an example, your core pages may be About, Products, Case Studies, Contact and Careers. Sub-pages, under the About section, could include History, Team Members, Letter from the CEO and so forth. Content should be simple and provide enough descriptive information about the benefits and features of your product to get prospects interested. Don’t be verbose though, too much content and people will zone out and lose interest.
• Ensure your site is easily navigable. Your website should be easy to browse, be intuitive and be easier for the user to find, review, download information and contact you.
• Have “Calls to Action.” Your website should be designed to drive prospects to it. With that in mind, you should have downloadable assets such as white papers, case studies or a newsletter sign-up form where people need to leave their name, email and company if they want to download it. This gives you the opportunity to follow up with them and get them into your database.
• Be easy to contact. Prominently list your address, phone and email, including on a Contact page and the header/footer of the website.
• Keep it updated. Your website should not be a static document, rather a living item that has fresh information on it on a regular basis. This information can come in the form of blogs, case studies, reference letters, events you’re attending, community sponsorships and so forth. This consistent push of relevant information is the basis for your content marketing efforts. Be sure to implement a schedule, follow it and post multiple times per month.
• Use social media. Identify the most appropriate social media platforms for your business, set up your accounts and put a strategy in place for sharing and engaging prospects and other stakeholders this way. We find that for firms conducting business-to-business transactions, the best platforms are Linkedin, Twitter and YouTube, if you’re producing video content.

 
If you are an industrial services or manufacturing firm and need web or content marketing assistance with the goal or driving inbound leads and revenue through your website then feel free to contact us. We would be happy to see if we can help.
 
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