To someone searching for construction services online, your website is the cover page of your business. Studies show that most people search for reviews and recommendations online before making a purchase, and just under half will go to a company’s website before reaching out.
If people don’t find what they’re looking for or feel you can fulfill their needs, they’ll head back to their Google search results and keep looking. So, when Google search is a person’s primary means of finding products and services, it’s pretty important to have a great website.
If you’re in the construction industry, your expertise might not cover website development. However, with the help of a web developer and an online marketing team, you can still get the online leads and traffic to grow your business. Here are a few things we suggest when it comes to building a website for construction companies.
The Components of a Good Construction Website
There are a few basic components you’ll need when building your construction website…
Services Pages
People will want to see exactly what you do so they can decide whether or not to contact you. Most people reaching out to a construction company have a specific project already in mind. Perhaps it’s a homeowner looking to start a bathroom renovation or a real estate investor looking to start a new housing project; whatever services you offer, make sure they’re covered.
If you’re interested in SEO (you should be), you can use different landing pages to talk about your different services. Someone might not realize that the service you have listed actually covers exactly what they need, so the more descriptive you can be, the better.
Company Summaries
Consumers want to get to know you before giving you their business. An “About Us” page is a great way to tell people who you are and what you represent as a company. Some people want to work with small local companies, while others want big corporations with thousands of completed projects and large teams of engineers and builders. Giving people a sense of your company culture is a great way to see if your wants and needs are aligned.
Adding a mission statement or unique value proposition (UVP) is also a great way to make potential customers feel as if they know you and your company a little bit better.
Case Studies
Like any service company, people want to know that you’ve done your job well in the past. Case studies are a great way to showcase previous experiences with happy customers and may even be that extra push needed to get a potential customer on the phone. Start with two or three completed projects that went particularly well, and use those as examples of your work. After all, 61% of online consumers have made a purchase based on an online review. Extra points if you can get those previous clients to give testimonial reviews on Google or provide their contact information if potential customers want to ask about their experiences.
Links to Social Media
Another factor to consider is making your business feel more approachable. People want to feel like they know you and your business, and a great way to do that is through social media engagement. Posting photos of completed and in-progress projects are both great ways of creating content, but you can also use social media to show your team. People will feel connected to you and your business when you provide social links on your website.
Cohesive Branding
Don’t be careless. A cohesive branding strategy shows that you value your work and go the extra mile to make it perfect – a message potential customers want to see in their construction company. Good, professional photography, consistent design, and an interactive and responsive website tell customers that you do excellent work from start to finish.
Awards and Accolades
Don’t forget to mention any awards and accolades. Even if it’s just one or two, listing awards is a great way to add more SEO content to your site while telling people that you run a recognized business.
Blogs
Writing blogs that use keywords, internal and external links, and meta descriptions will get your blog ranking on search engines. The more content you have for Google to look at, the better it understands your business, and the more likely it will be to suggest your site to people searching for construction services. Write blogs about things related to your business to draw traffic from people looking for construction advice.
Email Newsletter Lead Generation
A good rule of thumb for any business is to accumulate as many contacts as you can. If someone visits your website, they must be at least somewhat interested in your construction services, so try to get their email address to stay in contact for newsletters or future lead generation. They might not use your services now, but it could be possible in the future.
How to Build a Construction Website
If you have no clue how to build a website for construction companies, you’re not alone. There are tons of online resources that make website building easy. You’ve probably heard of WordPress, Squarespace, and Wix, to name a few, but keep in mind that building a website from scratch takes time. If you have the money but don’t have the time, you have a few other options:
Build the Site Yourself or Hire Someone
If you have the time and patience but want to save some money, you can use a website builder to create your custom site. You’ll have tons of premade templates to choose from, and the whole process is meant to be made easy. But keep in mind that building a good website takes lots of time, and different companies can reuse templates. If you don’t have the capacity to devote yourself to your website design and want to be more unique online, hiring a developer might be the right choice.
Companies like smartboost offer website-building services that take the pressure off you. They’ll handle all the SEO and work with you to ensure your site is getting the traffic you want. Of course, this option is more involved financially, but the lead generation benefits make it well worth the money.
Optimize Your Site
Perhaps the most important reason to consider hiring an outside developer is SEO. A marketing company can handle all of your optimizations, so the cost tends to be higher for their services. If you’re taking the time to create your own site, make sure you are doing all the right research regarding Google search and lead generation online. Ensure you’re up to date on optimizing mobile responsiveness, SSL certificates, keywords, Google Analytics, and more.
There are plenty of pros and cons to building your own construction website, but having a good online brand is an essential part of running a successful business in 2021. Don’t waste anymore time without an online presence!