I have had many conversations with manufacturers and industrial companies where our discussions began with the statement, “We need to redesign our industrial website.” Great news, right? Not exactly and here’s why.
If you want your industrial website to generate qualified leads and drive sales (Of course you do), make sure you and your web developer take the time to ask and answer the key question, “How will the industrial website redesign align with our sales process?” Many other related questions begin to surface whenever I ask that question.
Answers to these difficult questions become the core of a site redesign strategy or a game plan. Without this critical step, your industrial website redesign may be nothing more than a cosmetic facelift that will probably do very little for your sales.
The next important step is to ensure that your new site has content that meets the needs of your industrial buyers. You’ve heard it before but it’s worth repeating – It’s not about you, it’s about them. Site visitors do not care about how great you are and/or that you manufacture cutting-edge products. They only care about what you can do for them to solve their problems.
Don’t create one-size-fits-all kind of content. Try to understand the buyer’s journey and create specific content that addresses the needs of different stakeholders at each stage of their decision making process. You can repurpose existing content and create new materials where there are gaps. An audit of your existing site can be very useful in identifying these gaps. Deliver the right content, at the right time and to the right people in the format that they want.
The main thrust of an industrial website redesign should be to turn the site into a sales enabler. Attracting the right kind of site visitors (SEO) is only half the equation. You need to convert those visitors into qualified leads and nurture them into sales opportunities.
You will find many of my articles on this topic categorized under Industrial Websites. You may also want to download my Step-by-Step Guide to Web (re)Design to get you started on a structured method for redesigning an industrial website.
Did you spend the time to develop a strategy before starting your industrial website redesign? Share your thoughts about the process and the challenges.
Industrial Marketing Today is an integral part of Tiecas, Inc., a Houston-based industrial marketing agency. We’ve been in business since 1987, serving the marketing needs of manufacturers, distributors, and engineering companies from various industries.
Jon Franko says:
I agree completely with this. If you’re building an online brochure to replace an older online brochure, you’re spending your money foolishly. It’s got to be a lead generating and nurturing machine. Additionally, mobile must absolutely be thrown into the mix. I’ve actually written at length on our blog the increasing numbers we’re seeing from mobile/tablet users on all of our clients’ sites. It’s crazy how fast the numbers are trending up.
Achinta Mitra says:
Jon,
Thanks for your comments. Every industrial website redesign we’ve done in the past couple of years has been mobile responsive. It has now become a “must have” specification. I had written about this last year in my post, “Responsive Web Design Becoming Important to Industrial Companies.”
Bob McCarthy says:
Excellent points Achinta
Of course, calling it a website “redesign” could be a problem because it’s so much more than that.
As you point out, it’s much more about content planning and creation than web design – and that changes the project scope and budget significantly.
Achinta Mitra says:
Bob,
Thanks. To me a “Site Redesign” seems like a catchall phrase. It should really mean turning an industrial website into an effective sales tool. Yup, the budget needs to match the expanded scope of work.