A website is an excellent marketing tool, as it can passively and actively attract and convert leads. If your construction business needs new customers, you may want to consider developing a professional website for your company.
To know how to do that, follow the steps below:
Table of Contents
1. Learn more about SEO
Before you create a website, you must learn about search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is a set of guidelines, processes, and practices that can make your website quickly and organically searchable on the web. It can also effectively increase your site’s traffic and raise your chances of converting leads. (1)
Being familiar with SEO even before you build your website allows you to apply SEO techniques to your website as early as possible. It can save you time because instead of redoing many things on your website to apply SEO, everything’s already set.
2. Gather your content
The website itself is 50% of the work when you’re establishing a presence online and trying to stand out from the crowd. The remaining 50% falls into content creation. As a business, your website content is your marketing material. Make it useful and provide information that is easily accessible and of value to your visitors. Use it to tell the story of your business and provide testimonials from past and existing customers.
Before you get or build a website, remember that it’s vital to gather and create your content first. At the very least, you must have text that you can fill your site’s About Us, Contact Us, and landing page which details the services you offer and geographical areas you serve.
3. Look for a web hosting service
Once you have your content secured, the next step is to find a reliable web hosting provider. Fortunately, some providers are one-stop-shops you can rely on. They can provide you with a domain name, website building tool, website software installer, and many features that allow a non-tech-savvy business owner to build a website from scratch. (2)
4. Build a website
Now that your content and web hosting account are ready, it’s time to build your website. You have multiple options when it comes to this step.
- You can use your web host provider’s free website builder application. Thankfully, most website builder applications nowadays are more robust than ever. Some can even provide you with a way to insert advanced functions and integrate your construction management software into your site.
- You can utilize or install a content management system (CMS). A CMS is a complex yet straightforward software that can provide a pre-built website. It often comes with an easy-to-use user interface, making it easy for you to publish your content on the web within minutes after installation of the CMS. (3)
- You can hire a web developer to develop your website from scratch. Know that this is the more expensive and riskier option, especially if you can’t hire someone recommended by a person you know.
5. Create a content calendar
If you want a professional website for your construction business, it’s important to be aware that you need to be constantly updating it with fresh and relevant content. Leaving it stagnant with only a handful of pages will not be looked upon favorably by Google when it comes to visibility. Make sure that it is frequently updated with fresh content. This can take many forms e.g., general industry news, best practice videos, general roofing advice, and before and after photos.
Content production can have the potential to become a bit unwieldly, so you would be well advised to consider before publishing anything, to put together a content calendar. By planning in this way, it can help to give you a more focused approach and enable you to be more productive with your time in what you are creating.
6. Let someone proofread your content and test your website
A simple grammar error on your site can easily turn people off doing business with you as it can be interpreted as unprofessional or not paying attention to the important details. Ensure it is read several times by different people and get their honest feedback.
Aside from that, you should also test your website and look for bugs. Know that even if it’s created through website builders or CMSs, unintended bugs and errors may still happen.
7. Design your website
When it comes to website design, simple is often the best. Too many complex features or large images and videos can slow down the load speed of your site and affect its performance. Your priority should be first and foremost that it loads super fast and gives users everything they need to know about your business, what you offer and how to contact you. If you get this bit right, you can only come across as professional and that you know what you’re doing.
If you want to add some flair to your site, get a designer who is knowledgeable in website performance too, otherwise you might inadvertently be turning people away if the performance is reduced.
Conclusion
Those are the steps you need to take if you want to set up a professional website for your construction business. While this short article sums everything up, remember that all these steps can take you weeks or months to finish. Content production is a constant.
References
- “What Is SEO?”, Source: https://moz.com/learn/seo/what-is-seo
- “What Is The Role Of A Web Hosting Service Provider?”, Source: https://medium.com/@oakyweb/what-is-the-role-of-a-web-hosting-service-provider-bcc943e6d80c
- “What Is A Cms And How Does It Work?”, Source: https://www.itproportal.com/features/what-is-a-cms/
