Posts Categorized: Construction Websites

Calculating your website’s ‘share of search’ and prioritising your SEO

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A common request we get from prospects/clients is “I want my building product website to be ranked on page 1 or at the top of Google for these search terms” and pulls out a piece of paper with 20 or so search phrases scribbled on it. My reply would always be “How do you know they are the search terms or keywords your prospects use?”

To help clients understand the impact of search engines on website performance, search traffic generation and implementing a search engine optimisation strategy we need to understand where they are now by benchmarking. I wrote in a previous post about the importance of benchmarking to help identify where improvements can be made and where additional efforts are required through controlled experiments (small changes but made often).

The benchmarking process involves gathering data from various analytical sources to help identify:

  • What are my top 20 non-branded search terms? (non-branded = excluding company name and this is where your SEO should be focused)
  • Where is my website currently ranking in Google for those non-branded search terms?
  • How many visits have been generated to the website from those non-branded 20 search terms over a 6 month period?
  • Approximately how many ‘exact’ searches are made in Google for those top non-branded 20 search terms over a 6 month period?
  • What is my % share?
  • Which search terms should I prioritise and optimise? (Note: This is the outcome, actions!)Read More

What information are specifiers expecting from product manufacturer websites?

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Research has been carried out by the NBS on what exactly architects and specifiers are looking for from product manufacturers when choosing products and services and how they see specifications developing in the future. With over 500 respondents the results highlight some interesting points that construction product manufacturers must take into consideration. It is important to know what information your prospects are looking for and therefore these survey results will show what’s valuable to specifiers when they are choosing products.

Type of information wanted

Making sure your website is working for you and contains the right type of information is vital for product manufacturers. In the survey, 90% of specifiers indicated that the main resource they use when writing specifications are product manufacturers’ websites. This is a huge number and if your website is not optimised for search (for both branded and non-branded keywords), how will architects and specifiers find it? When they do land on your website, have you got the appropriate content, such as product guides, brochures, whitepapers that they can download or newsletters that they can subscribe to? If not, these prospects may end up going to your competitors for the information they require.

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Why Marketers must also think about User Experience when optimising their construction websites

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SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is changing. Google recently changed the way it ranks and displays quality individual web pages within its results. Gone are the days where webmasters and marketers can solely rely on inserting keywords into page titles, descriptions, URL’s, headlines and the body copy in order to improve a websites optimisation. Google is getting cleverer and its getting cleverer faster. There were 500 changes and tests made to the Google algorithm in 2010 which just goes to show that SEO is no longer an obsolete task, its a constant moving living breathing machine. Marketers must pay attention or risk losing traffic and also a complete vanish of their websites in search engines.

Marketers must also now think about the overall ‘user experience’ of the site and MUST take into consideration various metrics such as Bounce Rate, Time on Site/Page, Browser Rate, Click through rate from search listings and strong social signals such as  Twitter shares and Facebook Likes. Most of your websites or website uses Google Analytics so therefore Google uses the data from your Google Analytics profile to get a better picture of how your website performs and how people interact with your site.

  • What level of activity does this site get?
  • How long to people stick around on this site?
  • How long do people stick around on this page?
  • How many times has this page been shared on Twitter or LinkedIn?
  • Does this website generate conversions or goals?
  • What do people type into Google to get to this site and then go onto complete a task?

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6 tips for optimising your construction product pages

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Optimising your website and web pages for search engines is crucial in order to raise visibility and make it easy for your customers and prospects to find detailed information on your products or applications. It is now common practice that most Architects, Specifiers and Engineers turn to the web when they require specific product information, service offerings or details for an actual business.

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How to make website landing pages work effectively

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Introduction

Communication is becoming much more segmented and personalised. Marketers are having to work harder to understand the requirements of each and every type of buyer and influencer at each stage of the long, complex construction sales supply chain. Added to this is the need to deliver relevant valuable content within all marketing efforts.Read More

Why your Construction Website needs Targeted Landing Pages

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Studies have shown that nearly begin the buying process by searching on the Internet. They use specific keywords to find companies that provide the products and services that they are looking for. Since they have a specific need in mind, they do not want to spend hours searching through large amounts of jargon and useless information. Instead they want valuable facts, information, results and most importantly, why they should pick you over your competitors. What makes you stand out? What is your USP? Your website represents you, your company and the products and services that you provide to your target market. Each page on your website has a different purpose with a set objective. Therefore all pages need to be optimised to work effectively and communicate your brand message to visitors.

A landing page is a page that prospects reach either through a direct link (maybe sent through email), search engine results, online advertising banners or PPC campaigns. Landing pages are not a website’s homepage but instead are separate pages that contain keywords matching the search phrases used by visitors. They should be designed to give visitors all the necessary information in one place so that it is easier for them to make an informed purchase decision. Visitors do not want to click through various website pages to find what they are looking for. They will simply move on and find one with a targeted landing page. There goes yet another missed opportunity! Therefore, targeted and optimised landing pages need to be a core part of your online marketing strategy to maximise lead generation.

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Construction website design versus usability

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A website creates a global identity for your construction business. This makes website design a critical factor in your success online. Websites are like a first impression, which as you know, are lasting and difficult to change. Visitors need to be attracted to your website within a few seconds because many people do not have the time or patience to go through all the sites that feature in search results.

Give visitors a reason to stay on your site, explore it and hopefully return. You might ask, ‘but how do I do this?’ One of the best tips is to ensure that all the relevant content and information that prospects need to make a qualified decision is easily visible and available on your website. The homepage is like a shop window, if there is nothing attracting you to stay and go inside, you will just leave.Design your homepage so that it guides the user through to the most relevant pages quickly.

If you are targeting specifiers or architects, install simple web applications like product selectors that will make their job easier. Providing a valuable resource for them will instil loyalty as they will continue to visit your site for information which could result in future business. See Richard Burbidge (below) as an example of a construction company making use of online applications to simplify the customer journey, giving them the necessary tools they need and thereby increasing lead generation.

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