What is the purpose of a website for building contractors? Well, the best way to relate to your website like it is a 24-hour shop front. A place people can come and take a look around at your services. What work you have done in the past, check out what other customers have to say about you. All without you having to do any customer service work.
Your website is your opportunity to build credibility with potential customers before they call. How many times have you checked a business out online before you have called them?
When looking for businesses on the internet, you are looking for something in particular; you just want to find the information you are after. It could simply be a phone number, or you may want to see if they have a particular product or service. The same with your potential customers. I say, potential customers, as past customers will likely base their decision to use you on their last experience of working with you.
Being a builder or trade contractor, your website doesn’t need to be flashy with all the bells and whistles. All you need is a nice simple easy to follow website.
There are only a few key pages you will need for your website.
- Homepage
- Services page
- About page
- Contact page
- Blog (optional)
An optional extra is to include a blog on your website. A blog is like a roll of articles that you can add too over time. A blog gives you an opportunity to write about services in more detail and past projects. It is also a place for you to write about frequently asked questions. By linking to these articles to other pages on your site helps to start to build a relationship with potential customers.
Before we get into what each page contains, there are a couple of sections that remain the same on each page.
- Header section (very top of the page)
- Body section (content specific to that page)
- Footer section (very bottom of the page)
Header Section
In the header section you have your company name and/or logo your logo. You will have your business phone number and a menu which lists the different pages on your site. The menu usually only lists the main pages, for example, home page, services page, about page and contact page.
Body Section
The body section is where you place all the content (content is images and text) that is relevant to that page. In the text, it is always good to link to other pages on your website. Linking makes it easy for people to move around your website while keeping engaged in whatever caught their attention.
Footer Section
The footer is the very bottom of the page; here you have your copyright statement, links to pages (optional, but recommended) and your business phone number. It is also good if you are not linking pages at the bottom of your website to still have a link to your contact page. You can also include links to your social media accounts.
What should each page contain?
Homepage
Your homepage is where you introduce your business.
- Header section (top of the page)
- Body section (middle of the page)
- A couple of images whether this is your team or a past project photo
- Some text about your company &/or services however this is not always necessary
- Footer section (bottom of the page)
Services page
This is where mention the services that you offer. For example, you might be a plumber that only does maintenance work.
- Header section (top of the page)
- Body section (middle of the page)
- List of services
- Each service to have a paragraph or two about what you do with an image
- Each service listed could link to a separate page that goes into detail about it, and you could include photos relating to that service.
- Footer section (bottom of the page)
About us page
This is where you talk about your company.
- Header section (top of the page)
- Body section (middle of the page)
- Image or two of you &/or your team
- Text about your company
- Who you are
- How you started in construction
- Why you started your company
- Any credentials, media mentions like TV, etc.
- Text about your company
- Footer section (bottom of the page)
Contact us page
Simply where you list all your contact details.
- Header section (top of the page)
- Body section (middle of the page)
- Business phone number
- Email address
- Social media links
- Contact form (optional)
- Footer section (bottom of the page)
Blog
Where you write articles that are relevant to your business and services.
- Header section (top of the page)
- Body section (middle of the page)
- List of articles/posts that you have written
- Articles or blog posts ideas
- Past projects
- Services you offer
- Frequently asked questions
- Footer section (bottom of the page)
Your website doesn’t necessarily have to be laid out correctly as I have mentioned, your options are endless. But keeping it simple and covering the very basic points above, you are giving your potential customers an opportunity to get to know you.
We all know that when we instil confidence in potential clients that we are likely to win their next project. By having a website, you are creating a good foundation for you to build their confidence.