It’s probably stating the obvious, but for any business, its website is likely to be one of its most important assets. This applies to all industries and sectors, and construction is no exception. The website acts not only as the shop window and source of sales and technical product information, but it is also likely to be a vital channel for promotion, PR, case study dissemination, lead generation and client communication. In its April 2020 blog post entitled Website Development For Building Products, construction marketing specialist Insynth succinctly summarises the website as “….your 24 hour a day sales rep, the first thing most people see when discovering you and the go to place that tells your customers exactly what you do…”
Read More...
In March and April 2020, SpecifiedBy undertook research to better understand how specifiers (79% architects) were researching building products in light of the Covid-19 crisis. In the survey they asked respondents to select the methods they were using to source product information, and 73% cited manufacturers’ websites (they were not limited to one response, however, and 92% cited Google search). This simply underlines just how critical to success the right site design and content are for product manufacturers and suppliers.
When searching for a website creator, it is a safe assumption that any firm worth its salt will be able to build a dynamic and interactive site to the latest design and technical requirements with full analytical support and reporting. Therefore, choice is unlikely to be much of a problem, in fact you will probably be spoilt for it as there are many thousands to choose from and researching them to create a shortlist is likely to be onerous and time consuming. This task can, however, be considerably mitigated by narrowing the field to just those firms with specialist construction knowledge and experience. More importantly, this is likely to prove extremely beneficial, as these firms will already have an understanding of the industry and, most importantly, an appreciation of the differing requirements of the various target audiences, particularly what their information priorities will be – aesthetic, technical, regulatory, etc. Moreover, they will be abreast of the industry’s latest trends and issues making them better placed to provide ongoing content and thereby maintain optimum search engine optimisation based on pertinent themes.
In order to help with this, we have researched the market to produce an index of web design firms and agencies either specialising in the construction industry or having established knowledge and experience. Last updated in June 2024, it can be downloaded here (you must be logged in).