How do I get more website visitors to my manufacturing website?

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to increasing traffic to your manufacturing website.

However, finding the right mix of approaches that works for your site and client base can yield fantastic results. This is a continuous process that involves some trial and error. You'll also have to closely monitor your manufacturing website's analytics to see what approach works best for you.

Here are a few things you can try:

SEO

One of the best ways to increase visitors to your manufacturing website is to apply Search Engine Optimisation or SEO. This process uses various techniques to help your website rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).

One aspect of SEO focuses on keyword optimisation – optimising your copy to target the words and phrases your customers enter into their Google searches.

The rest of SEO involves following best practices for web design, technical SEO and building backlinks from high-authority sites to ensure search engines find and recognise your website as a useful resource. This will mean your website appears in more search results when potential manufacturing customers surf the web.   

It's possible to learn basic SEO techniques from books and online courses. A more cost and time-effective way of implementing SEO to drive traffic to your manufacturing website is to use the services of a professional digital agency.

SEO is an ongoing optimisation process that needs constant monitoring, reevaluation, and updating to remain effective.

At Formation, we regularly scrutinise our clients' analytics to ensure their site is consistently performing. We also share these results with you so you can understand and track your manufacturing website's progress.

Social media

Proper use of social media won’t just raise the profile of your manufacturing business; you can also use it as a tool for increasing traffic to your website. It’s important to be selective about which channels you use.

LinkedIn and Twitter are the most popular B2B platforms and a great way of connecting with suppliers and other businesses within the manufacturing sector.

Posting regular, informative, and engaging content, including video that directs social media users to your website, is a surefire way to see an upturn in visitors.

Like SEO, an effective social media strategy for increasing traffic to your manufacturing website requires constant nurturing.

If you don't have the time or resources to post regular updates on your social channels and fresh, engaging content on your website, Formation can help.   

Email marketing

Email marketing is a great way of keeping your client base up to date with new developments online, including product launches, new services, offers, discounts, and promotions.

You can also use emails to drive traffic to view and share new content on your manufacturing website, like positive news stories and blog posts.

Using your current list of client contacts to send out email updates and newsletters is a good place to start.

You can also grow your mailing list by offering an exclusive, one-off discount to those signing up. Trade shows are ideal for meeting potential new subscribers and getting their email addresses on your database.

If producing and sending regular emails to your client base is too time-consuming, we can create and deliver an email campaign that will drive traffic to your manufacturing website and have your clients looking forward to receiving your emails.

How do I get more enquiries from my manufacturing website?

Once you've directed a potential customer to your manufacturing website and they've arrived on your landing page, the next step is convincing them to take the desired action. This could be enquiring, placing an order, or signing up for something.

There are various ways to encourage or 'convert' website visitors to take the next step on the sales journey.

It involves some experimentation and careful monitoring of your website's analytics. Still, it's worth investing the time and effort if you want to get more enquiries – and ultimately more business – from your manufacturing website.

Here are a few things you can try:

Use clear Calls To Action

Calls To Action or CTAs are the instructions on your website that inspire or encourage a visitor to take a specific action. This could be any number of things such as 'Subscribe here', 'Request a quote', 'Download brochure', or 'Place order now'.

Usually, CTAs come in the form of a button you want the visitor to click to proceed to the next stage of your sales funnel. For this reason, CTAs should be clear, concise, and easy to find on the webpage, so the visitor is in no doubt about what they need to do next.  

Hubs, an on-demand manufacturing platform, use the Get an instant quote on their homepage:

Notice that they also use microcopy copy under the button to address an objection clients might have (their CAD file uploads not being secure).

Use enquiry forms

Using simple, product-specific enquiry forms on your manufacturing website is an easy way to encourage visitors to reach out with their contact details.

The form should include the product name, with fields for visitors to enter the following information:

• Their name
• Their email
• Their telephone number
• Their company name
• Their postcode

You can make some or all these fields compulsory, so visitors can't submit an enquiry without completing them. You should also leave a large, blank field for them to enter their enquiry message.

Be sure to check these regularly and get back to any enquiries as soon as possible.

Also, giving visitors an expected time frame for a response, such as 'We aim to answer all enquiries within three working days,' will encourage them to contact you and help manage expectation.

Integrate a live chat feature

Another way to increase leads from your manufacturing website is to integrate a live chat feature.

This enables potential clients to instantly message you via the chat and receive an answer to their enquiry right away. 

Chatbots are pre-programmed chat features loaded with answers to FAQs.

They automatically generate answers based on the terms used in the visitor’s enquiry. Chatbots operate 24/7, meaning visitors to your website can get answers to their queries any time of the day or night.

For more complex enquiries, you can have the option to reply in person at the earliest opportunity.

Share reviews and testimonials

Using client reviews and testimonials on your manufacturing website is a powerful way to generate more enquiries from visitors.

Include feedback quotes and review ratings that show the customer’s name, company, and job role (with their permission) for added impact.

Sharing success stories from satisfied customers is another good way to convert website visitors into leads. Start by explaining the customer’s problem, say how you solved it for them, and then finish off with evidence of how your solution has positively impacted your customer’s business.

Numbers are an effective, eye-catching tool for authenticating your website claims. Mention real data and statistics, if you have them, to illustrate the improvements your products or services have made for your existing clients.

When revamping the Engineering Technology Group website, we used case studies to showcase real-world success stories, build credibility and demonstrate how ETG's machines solve specific problems:

Discover the full story behind our redesign of ETG's website and marketing strategy. You can read about it here.

Enhance the speed of your manufacturing website

Type your URL into PageSpeed Insights to find out your website's page speed:

Slow loading speeds are the curse of many manufacturing websites. This is because manufacturing websites often need to showcase various products with images, detailed descriptions, and sometimes videos to demonstrate their machines and services to visitors.

There are several ways to enhance the speed of your manufacturing website.

One approach is to opt for a headless CMS. This uses a two-part construction – the 'body', where the content is stored, and the 'head', where it's presented to the user. This separation allows the system to serve up its information much faster, making for a speedier, slicker browsing experience.

It's particularly useful for producing websites with lots of dense content while still meeting the demands of visitors who want a smooth, reliable service. And the smooth reliability of your manufacturing website reflects positively on your business as a whole, securing more leads from your visitors.

At Formation Media, our website developers specialise in creating headless CMS sites for our manufacturing clients.

Focus on your UX design

Improving the speed and responsiveness of your manufacturing website is part of the user experience (UX). But UX doesn't end there.

UX testing is the process of inviting subjects to trial your website and offer feedback on their experience to find ways to improve it.

At Formation Media, we have a full UX testing facility for trialling the functionality and usability of a client’s website before launch to ensure they’re performing to the highest possible standards.

Making your website intuitive and easy to navigate will enhance the user’s journey.

You should also ensure your manufacturing website is optimised for use on all digital devices, including tablets and smartphones.

All these elements contribute to delivering premium customer service from the outset, inspiring confidence in your business and its products, and generating more warm leads and enquiries from your website.

Make it multilingual

If you serve an international audience, it's a good idea to make your website multilingual.

To do this, you can set up various microsites for each of your overseas export destinations/headquarters.

This way, your website will appear professional and user-friendly no matter where your clients are accessing your services. Multilingual sites inspire confidence in overseas customers and make ordering easier, resulting in increased sales.

At Formation Media, we specialise in creating slick, eye-catching websites for our manufacturing clients. We focus on producing informative digital content that helps get more visitors to your website and convert those visitors into customers.

Find out how to get more visitors to your manufacturing website and generate more enquiries, by contacting one of Formation's dedicated account mangers today.