How to make your construction website stand out

The Construction industry is one of the UK’s biggest service sectors, contributing around 7% of GDP, roughly £110 billion.

Around only a quarter of the industry’s contribution is driven from the public sector, while the majority comes from commercial businesses, making the need for an effective website experience essential.

While these numbers are impressive, they’ve dwindled down due to the pandemic and recovery has been difficult, which could be influenced by the vast majority of the sector lacking any sort of distinctive website presence.

Since the construction sector contributes heavily to the UK and it’s economy, you would expect businesses in this sector to have a better digital representation of their brand and their key messages.

Unfortunately that is not the case.

A lot of construction websites fail to provide a distinctive and memorable experience, which will be having an adverse impact on their ability to secure potential new business opportunities.

Hope is not lost though, as there are many opportunities for construction websites, which we’re now going to highlight.

The website landscape in the construction industry

The construction industry is one of the few sectors that rarely introduces innovation through website design or development.

This may be because it’s believed by many not to be a necessity, however an effective website has the ability to benefit any business regardless of the sector they operate in.

There are many causes of a poor construction website, from confusing navigation and low quality visual content to slow load times and bad URL structure.

A website is an extension of your business and can close the gap between gaining a new customer or losing a potential one.

The vast majority of construction websites focus solely on showcasing past projects and whilst this is an important focus point in which the typical website visitor is interested in seeing, the delivery of this feature on the whole is often uninspiring.

Many construction websites fail to showcase the company’s branding or values, with many relying on the company logo to communicate who they are.

A website is an extension of your business, and if your website branding isn’t authentic and distinctive, then it will fail to prove memorable when the user is shortlisting potential supplier options later down the line.

Why your construction website could be hurting your success

Many construction websites appear very dated and it would seem that the content on them isn’t updated consistently either. Website visitors will judge the quality of your services by the quality of your website and having a dated design tells your customers that you are behind the times.

It’s often the case that a website visitor is on the hunt for information. Information about the company, the services being offered and examples of recent work among many other things.

A lack of content can lead to an unfulfilled experience, with the website visitor then looking elsewhere.

Your website visitors also want to see your company’s personality come through your website, which can be expressed through a bespoke design and interesting content.

Being able to tell your company’s story and values through your words, branding and design is a great way for your prospective customers to find out about you and why they should choose to work with you.

So, what could you be doing to improve your construction website?

Some of the best construction websites are providing something different to what is considered to be the norm across the sector.

Some things you can consider are:

1. Bespoke design – Your website design needs to showcase your brand and bring through your firm’s personality, creating the best first impression. A website with sleek and clever page transitions and animations shows that your company is a modern and trustworthy business.
2. Visual content – We live in a digital world and high quality imagery and video content is better at telling a story, keeping your website visitor engaged for longer.
3. Virtual project tours – This is your chance to ‘wow’ your website visitors and virtual project tours will provide instant credibility of your quality of service.
4. Thought leadership areas – Up to date and relevant news articles and blog posts about the company and the industry help demonstrate to your audience that you have people who are knowledgeable about what they do, helping to cement credibility.
5. Live chat and chatbots – If your website is receiving high levels of traffic, then a live chat or chat bot feature can help you to quickly identify qualified leads, provide a faster solution to a user’s problem and quickly discover their pain points.
6. Website technology – Carefully consider what you want on your website and then ensure that your technology is not limiting your website experience. Website builders can be great at getting a website up and running, but may not offer the functionality you require to stand out from the crowd.
7. Performance – A website isn’t something you do one time and then revisit again in the future. It requires nurturing and monitoring to ensure that it constantly performs, appearing in the search engines for your target keywords and offering fast load times.

Lasting thoughts

Whilst the construction sector as a whole appears to be beginning to get back to pre-pandemic figures, on the website front, construction firms are lacking the level of innovation and creativity required to fully take advantage and succeed online.

Having a website that allows you to provide a distinctive and memorable experience, will allow your business to stand out in a very crowded market.

This will in turn lead to increased growth, a better understanding of your prospective customers and an experience that truly represents the company that you are.