With the pick up of the housing market and a high demand for general construction, the competition in the building materials industry has grown exponentially. This makes it harder to differentiate your own building materials brand from the millions of others across the nation and the globe. It doesn't mean you can't stand out when you have a good website demonstrating what sets you apart.
You may already have a website in place, though have you paid attention to how well it's performing for you lately? If you're going to have a website, studying the metrics behind performance and the realities of what your visitors do is imperative.
Without taking this seriously, your website could end up dead in the water and bring your competitors into the spotlight.
So, is your building materials website thriving or on life support? Here's some things you should do to keep it operating optimally.
Supply Videos on Your Website
One of the essential ingredients for a building materials site is supplying videos. Did you know that by including a video on a landing page you up your chance of getting a conversion by 80%?
It's not to say you shouldn't supply some limited words around your video to explain what it is. However, any video that displays how you make your building materials and how it solves problems in commercial or residential construction is worth every effort.
The potential is wide in what you can do on video, including how-tos, explanation of the science behind your product, as well as customer testimonials.
Making it About the Customer and Not You
If you're proud of a particular building material line you have, don't use your website to celebrate yourself. For first-time visitors, this looks self-aggrandizing rather than focusing on the customer's needs.
Since many of your customers may be architects and contractors, you need to tilt all your content in their direction. As with videos above, show how you solve unique problems for them when it comes to design and construction.
Also, don't forget about distributors, dealers, or big-box stores. Providing enough information for them helps them make more educated decisions on choosing your materials over competitors.
Differentiating Your Products Over Others
No doubt you have a lot of building material products, though just providing a massive glimpse at all of it isn't going to help site visitors make any informed choices.
You need to provide an educational hub on your site so your buyers can learn about what makes your products stand out from the pack. They also need good navigation on your site to easier find what they want.
A search tool is a big part of this and the more detailed you can make it, the better. Architects and contractors frequently have individual challenges that require looking for something specific.
Making Your Site Mobile-Friendly
Consider that the people who buy building materials are frequently on the go. They're not always sitting behind a desk searching for the products they need to finish a building project. Most of the time, they'll be at the work site and may need something fast to solve a building problem based on strict deadlines.
It's a good bet most of your visitors may visit your website on a mobile device. So it's time to make your site as mobile-friendly as you can, though you may need to do some testing to assure it works on all mobile operating systems.
Since visuals are a major component of your site marketing, you need to make sure your site is responsive so each visual formats correctly. This might mean creating different versions of your site for desktops, tablets, mobile or wearable devices.
A great way to become more aware of these features is to look at your competition. Notice if they are using video, what their designs look like, and if their websites are mobile-friendly. The goal is not to replicate your competitors but to understand what the industry standard is and then find ways to do it better.
