{"id":11867,"date":"2015-07-17T13:42:02","date_gmt":"2015-07-17T17:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/?p=11867"},"modified":"2016-07-05T10:38:05","modified_gmt":"2016-07-05T14:38:05","slug":"website-tips-for-manufacturers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/website-tips-for-manufacturers\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Website Tips for Manufacturers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Website<\/p>\n

Plastic and steel and adhesive compounds\u00a0are not sexy. But that doesn’t mean they can’t look and sound their best on your website. It may take a little work, but it will be worth it. Your website is, in essence, your brand, which means it needs to be working as hard as possible.<\/p>\n

My colleague, Vin DiGioia, wrote a few weeks ago about the strategy needed to build a website that doesn’t suck<\/a>. Once you have a solid strategy\u00a0in place, the design and copy\u00a0need to carry it through.\u00a0Here are 6 website tips for manufacturers to get the\u00a0writing and design right.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Be as clear as possible about what you are selling.<\/strong> “Well, duh,” you might say.\u00a0But when you know your company like the back of your hand, it’s easy to get lost in your own jargon. I’ve seen it on dozens of manufacturing websites. Have an ad agency or professional copywriter create copy for your home page and the intro copy for all of your sub-pages. The outside perspective will make what your brand does clear to anyone who stumbles upon your site \u2013 the media, prospects, prospects’ spouses. Anyone who visits should understand you immediately<\/a>. They should also connect with you in some way. Corporate copy often fails on both counts.<\/li>\n
  2. Draw the line between your brand and your competitors.<\/strong> Clarity is key, but it’s also important to have a point of difference that sets you apart from your competitors. Decision makers who land on your site\u00a0need to understand what makes your brand better\u00a0within seconds<\/a>, so your differentiating copy needs to come early on and be written with strength and simplicity.<\/li>\n
  3. Don’t design just for aesthetic.<\/strong> Design for action<\/a>. The main purpose of a manufacturer’s website is lead generation. To\u00a0capture a lead, the design of a website needs to drive prospects<\/a> exactly where you want them to go.<\/li>\n
  4. Make your buttons the stars.<\/strong>\u00a0Call to action buttons<\/a> are the most important design elements on your website. They should\u00a0be easy to read and have clear, concise language. And they MUST be seen. Even just changing the color<\/a> can increase conversion rates.<\/li>\n
  5. Use good photography.<\/strong>\u00a0Your products and your brand are worthy of professional photography. Find money in the budget to make it happen if you haven’t already. Stock photography should be a last resort<\/a>. Suggestion: don’t use your cousin who “takes great photos.” Use someone who has experience shooting for a company that produces something similar to what you offer but is in a different vertical. That way they have expertise in your industry, but you’ll be their only client in your category, so there’s no conflict of interest.<\/li>\n
  6. Carefully choose your keywords.<\/strong> Despite any of Google’s recent changes, keywords are still an essential part of SEO<\/a>. Search results are still dictated by the words that people\u00a0type into a search engine. Which means the right words have to be in the right places on your site \u2013 without sacrificing the integrity of the message.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    While these are only a few tips to get you started,\u00a0implementing\u00a0these changes can make a huge difference in how long your visitors stay, how likely they are to click through to other pages on your site, and whether or not they’ll convert. Want more tips to get your manufacturing website working harder? Drop us a line<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Plastic and steel and adhesive compounds\u00a0are not sexy. But that doesn’t mean they can’t look and sound their best on your website. It may take a little work, but it will be worth it. Your website is, in essence, your brand, which means it needs to be working as hard as possible. My colleague, Vin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,249,18],"tags":[220,278,276,279,277,275,274],"class_list":["post-11867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-design","category-insights-for-manufacturers","category-technology-and-mobile","tag-b2b-website-design","tag-call-to-action","tag-copywriting","tag-photography","tag-web-layout","tag-web-messaging","tag-website-tips-for-manufacturers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11867"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12785,"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11867\/revisions\/12785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}