As a manufacturer, not only do you need a website, but you want it to speak to the right audience. What will you do to make your website different from the salon down the road?

How do you make a manufacturing website that says what you specialize in without actually saying anything?

That is where web design comes in. 

When you are starting out and researching, you will need to consider some tactics to set your website apart. 

First off, websites are far more important in this day and age than they ever were. Before we get into design, we need to go over some of the basics. 

Usability

The ability to easily navigate a website is crucial. The user experience must be intuitive. This means a site-user should not spend 15 minutes figuring out how to contact your business. 

The Necessities

• Calls-to-Action: A call-to-action will be placed throughout a website (sometimes in the sidebar) to encourage the site-user to take action.
  • This may direct the user to:
    • Contact Pages
    • Product details or ordering
    • Company information
• Easy Navigation: An easy navigation means your main navigation makes sense to the site-user. You should arrange your items with the most important being on the end.
  • A sub navigation should make sense for each page as well, for example, your product page may list other products in the sub navigation

Interactivity

Can customers purchase items off of your website? Are you showcasing a portfolio? 

What To Consider

• Products: Site-users should be able to effortlessly explore and purchase products via a product catalog​
• Portfolio: If you are not selling online, you may want to consider showcasing your work in a portfolio
  • Portfolios should include all of the necessary details for a purchase decision so that the custom knows you are the right fit for them
• Blog: Blogs not only build your credibility with industry specific resources, but it also helps with search engine optimization
  • Think about using your blog to showcase your projects, knowledge, and experience
• Careers: A careers database will allow site-users to effortless apply for jobs in the industry
  • ​This is crucial for large companies 
• Map Locator: Brick and mortor location? Have clients at the shop? A map locator will allow people to see where you are located and get directions. 
  • You could also use this to show what areas you serve or where previous projects are located

Colors may speak louder than words. Sometimes you already have an idea of what colors you definitely want or even which ones you absolutely hate. 

Often, your logo may dictate the color scheme to match the rest of the website. If you are open to a new palette, you can study what each color means. 

Colors For Manufacturing
Grey, browns, and dark color schemes (with a liberal use of white space) are present in many of the top manufacturing and industrial websites of this year. However, secondary colors may be up to your brand and who you are targeting. 

What are specific colors associated with in construction and manufacturing?

Gender

Are you targeting men or women for your products?

Psychology

If your company is not focusing on a specific gender, you may want to look more into the psychology of color.

Calls-To-Action

In strict testing environments, the highest-converting colors for calls to action are bright primary and secondary colors – red, green, orange, yellow.
KissMetrics

For your calls-to-action, you may want to sprinkle in some primarily colors. However, try to limit your color usage to under 3 so that the website is not visually overwhelming. 

Like color, fonts can also speak to the website user and create an atmosphere. 

When selecting your font, do not use more than 2 for your website. You should select one for headings and one for the paragraph styles. 

Fonts For Manufacturing

Heavy, bold,  “square” fonts project  power and stability, so if your business is a gym, construction company or an auto shop try using these fonts in your titles.
Wix

Pairings

In this day and age, websites are more important than they have ever been. 

Now that you are armed with some of tactics for your website, use the inspiration to start your project today.