How to Craft a User-Friendly Website

It’s not enough to have a website for your construction company. Your website needs to be polished and convey professionalism to build credibility and trust in your expertise. It also needs to look attractive, with a portfolio that displays your successful projects in the construction industry and showcases how you help your prospects achieve their goals.

And above all, your construction business website needs to be user friendly. Your website isn’t for you — it’s for your potential clients. It should cater to their needs and solve their problems, selling your construction services as the ideal answer to their pain points.

Let’s explore how the best websites speak to their visitors and sell their services by making it all about the client, not the company.

Construction Websites Should Include User-Friendly Language

Before you can build a user-friendly construction website, you must know how to speak to your ideal audience.

If you haven’t done so, create a detailed description of your ideal customer. This branding exercise helps you define your target audience and describe their professional life, including the problems they need your help to solve.

As a commercial contractor, you’d define the target audience as project or facilities managers, government representatives, developers, engineers, or business and property owners. Next, you would outline your ideal clients’ demographics, goals, challenges, personal identifiers and common objections, among other things.

Next, it’s time to write. Keep your defined audience at the heart of every word on the page and create text that speaks to that audience. Clear, concise copy that gets to the heart of your expertise and service offerings will keep your audience hooked and encourage them to call.

Tell a Story the User Understands

The best business websites don’t just list the company’s services and hope clients want to hire them — they tell a story the reader can relate to.

Every part of your website, from your portfolio of past projects to your contact page, should tell a story that makes sense to your ideal client. Every word, call-to-action (CTA) button and image should be a reminder that you understand their needs and can handle the demands and complexity of their projects better than any other construction company.

Pinpoint Their Problems

Think about the precise problems your client faces. These will differ depending on whether you work on residential or commercial projects, and if you focus on small- or large-scale construction. Here are some examples of what they might look like:

• Frustration with companies that don’t take initiative to problem-solve on-site
• Annoyance with local regulation or processes that are slowing down their project
• Difficulty finding a reliable partner that follows through on consistent communication, risk mitigation and budget and timeline management
• Dissatisfaction with the quality of work they’ve experienced with other trade partners

Think of two or three pain points for each of your client personas, and ensure that the words on your website reflect them. You can even use language such as, “It’s difficult to find a construction company that achieves (X)” throughout your text. Calling out the user’s specific problems will show them you understand their concerns.

Show How You’re the Solution

Next, you’ll want to showcase how your company is the best possible solution to their problems. Your clients care about meeting their budget and timeline, maximizing their profitability, and finding a reliable, experienced firm that can help them achieve their goals. They’ll want to know that your pricing is competitive, your experience addresses their needs and you’re able to handle any challenges that might arise.

If your clients are frustrated with poor construction management processes, show them your completed projects and the ways you’ve delivered value and profitability. Or maybe they’re tired of navigating the city’s maze of restrictions and permits — so, tell them about your years of expertise easing administrative headaches and streamlining paperwork.

Remember that the purpose of your website is to prove that your building services are uniquely capable of solving clients’ problems and delivering construction projects they’ll be proud of.

Create a User-Friendly Experience

Construction websites are more than just the words on the screen. Your potential clients will judge your website based on how they experience it as well. That means every page needs to load quickly and correctly. Every image needs to appear crystal clear and proportional, and every button needs to take them to the correct page.

Think of your website as a 24/7 billboard that represents your company and helps clients decide whether you’re the right fit for their project before they ever call you. To ensure they get the right impression, your website needs to be a strong representation of your brand, culture, leadership, values and services.

Is It Functional?

Form and function are equally important on your website, so it should look great — with relevant, high-quality images and a crisp, pleasing layout — but it also needs to work.

Your website should fully load within three seconds. Any slower, and your website visitors might bounce off the page and go check out a competitor’s website instead. Once it’s loaded, you should be sure that every button and link goes to the correct page when clicked, and that any forms (such as contact forms) on the website display a thank-you page after submission.

These might seem like minor details, but if a visitor can’t get your website to work, they’ll start to wonder whether you’re a professional construction company that can handle their project.

Can They Navigate It?

Hard-to-navigate websites are frustrating for visitors. If they can’t find the information they want within three clicks, they’ll give up and go elsewhere.

Start with a top navigation menu that points visitors to your main service offerings, a portfolio page and a contact page. You’ll want to add a careers page, as showcasing your fantastic hiring program will show clients that you recruit the brightest minds for their projects.

Include headings and subheadings throughout your text, and break up long paragraphs with quotes or images so that it reads easier and is more engaging.

Your CTA buttons should be easy to understand, making it clear to the reader what will happen when they click. These should be placed strategically throughout every page to ensure readers can take action when they’re ready.

Include your contact details and a contact button on every page (and in the header and footer) so visitors can easily connect with you.

Is It Responsive?

Try using your website from your desktop, mobile device and tablet. Is it easy to use? Does it load quickly? Is everything in alignment across devices?

Many visitors — especially in the construction industry — will access your website on their mobile device or tablet. It’s vital that they reach a responsive site that functions beautifully.

Does It Offer More?

Interactive tools (like project calculators or building-information-modeling integrations) give visitors a little extra value and showcase your innovative knowledge. Downloadable resources (like computer-aided-design files and technical specs) that need to be accessed via a client login keep your clients coming back to your site — and keep your company top-of-mind on a regular basis.

When potential clients see that you offer a bit more than the competition, they’ll know that you’re prepared to go the extra mile on their job.

Improving Your Website

If you’re not sure whether your website hits the mark for customers, try these tactics to help you gauge how it’s landing.

• Test the load time — You can use a website speed checker like Pingdom to check load speed and get insights for speed improvement.
• Check your bounce rates — Your bounce rate shows you how quickly users leave your site after they’ve landed. The longer they stay, the better. A website builder like WordPress or  tools like Google Analytics can track these metrics.
• Ask for feedback — Improving your website could be as simple as asking your loyal customers through a Google survey to tell you what they like (and dislike) about your site. Additionally, solicit critiques from users who have never seen your site before with a simple ask: “We are updating our website, and would love your feedback.”

When you’re ready to up the ante with a stellar website that turns browsing website visitors into buying clients, talk to a focused branding and marketing company that’s well-versed in catering to the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry.