What a Construction Company Web Design Firm Can Do for You

Your website is a business development specialist that never sleeps. For many of your construction company’s clients, it’s the first point of contact they’ll have with you—making web design critical for a good first impression.

However, like physical construction projects, building a good website requires time and monetary investments. It’s all too common that companies will go for a quick, cheap option to get their website out on the internet and be left with a mess that sends visitors running to their competitors.

There are smarter ways than that to approach construction company web design. Here are some of the basics we recommend for an effective website that helps people attract and convert.

What Makes Effective Web Design for Construction Companies?

User-Friendly Website Layout

When someone arrives on your website, they should know within a matter of seconds where to find the information they need. That’s the key idea behind user-friendliness. A clear, easy-to-use navigation bar and links showing where they need to go are great baselines for this.

Some other elements of user-friendly website design include:

• Internal links: These allow visitors to learn more about your construction services on their own terms.

• Visuals: This includes embedded videos, photos, and infographics to break up the text on your pages.

• Accessibility features: This includes everything from keyboard accessibility to video captions, high color contrast, and clear markers for where there are links.

• Clear calls to action: Show them what they need to do, even if it’s a big green “Get a Free Estimate” button at the top of their screen.

Easy Backend Management

Your construction company’s website should be just as easy for you to navigate and manage behind the scenes as it is for your visitors to use on the front end. This will save your marketing team countless hours and untold amounts of frustration over the lifespan of your website.

Working with website building and hosting platforms like WordPress is the easiest way to ensure your site is easy to navigate internally. WordPress is a trusted tool for web design in the construction industry and beyond, as it also allows companies to easily use its intuitive platform to market their services.

Detailed Content Strategy & Sitemap

Your web design partner should first and foremost come to you with a content strategy so you know what will go on each part of your website—a sitemap is the cornerstone of that strategy.

Sitemaps are essential for helping everyone involved in building your website understand how the pages connect to each other. It also allows you to avoid unnecessary duplications and determine the scale and scope of your project, so you know how long it will take to build the site out from start to finish.

Even after your website is launched and completed, it will allow you to see where new pages belong in the site’s hierarchy, making the whole site easier to navigate.

Mobile Optimization

Most people use mobile devices to search for information on Google—including the people and organizations needing your construction services. Optimizing your website for mobile users makes it easier for them to find the information they need on your website, whether they’re trying to see your project portfolio or trying to learn about the construction and engineering services you provide.

A good web design partner will consider how the reader will navigate your site, including how they might read each page. Unlike the desktop version of your website, your designer will try to keep any calls to action, forms, and important links near the bottom of the screen, so it’s near the reader’s thumb. They’ll also advise against using full-screen popup messages or ads since these come off as annoying to the typical website visitor.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

CRO refers to the practices that entice your website visitors to convert into leads. This includes designing your website to make it as easy as possible for them to navigate and giving them information valuable enough that they’d be willing to give you their email address to have it.

Another key tactic for CRO: Simplifying your forms. As nice as it is from a business development standpoint to have all the information you need from your leads right away, nobody wants to give out their name, email, street address, phone number, project location, budget, marital status, spouse’s name, license plate number, social security number, and name of their firstborn just so you’ll contact them.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Designing your website for SEO should always be the top priority for your construction company’s marketing strategy. After all, your website is a salesperson and proposal writer that never sleeps, and SEO is what helps it deliver its pitch to your clients and customers. Unlike other types of marketing media, SEO is a long-term strategy that can attract new potential clients and RFP invitations for years to come. Even if you eventually stop adding new content to your website, you’ll still reap the benefits in the long run.

To help your brand reach the top of Google’s search results, you’ll need to implement several types of SEO strategies:

• Technical SEO: This includes tactics such as making sure Google is indexing your website pages correctly, increasing your load speed, and making your website easier for search engines to read.

• On-page SEO: Typically, this term refers to the content on each of your website pages themselves. Whether it’s case studies discussing your past construction projects or blog posts discussing what makes you the experts in your field, your on-page content should include targeted keywords within the copy to maximize the SEO value of your site. You might also want to include photos, videos, and other types of content to establish trust with your potential stakeholders.

• Local SEO: When you focus on targeting keywords that are unique to the areas you serve, it’s considered a type of local SEO. The tactics within this strategy include creating location-specific pages and maintaining a Google My Business profile to show stakeholders and clients where your business is located.

Our Approach as a Construction Web Design Firm

Avalanche Creative is an SEO firm that uses web design as one of the many tools to help construction firms find more leads and get more of the projects they want to do. We’ve worked with construction and engineering firms across Michigan and beyond to create attractive, easy-to-use websites that help visitors become leads.

Learn more about our work with construction companies.

Bid-Focused vs. Customer-Focused Web Design for Construction Companies

Depending on the type of projects your construction company takes on the most, you may end up taking two very different approaches to the overall layout and messaging for your website.

If your construction company gets most of its work from government contracts, then you’ll likely want to set up your website to make it as easy as possible for project managers to view your project portfolio and learn how you can help them cover the scope of the work they need.

On the other hand, if your work comes primarily from the private sector, you’ll want to design your website in such a way that it’s easy for business owners and residents to get an estimate for the project they need you to do. This includes adding cost calculators or forms on your website that are easy to access.

Use Your Website to Win More Projects

Avalanche Creative has been helping construction companies and businesses across all industries build sites that attract new leads to their business—and we’re ready to help your business grow. Connect with our team today for a free quote on a beautifully designed website hosted through WordPress.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How Much Does a Construction Company Web Design Cost?

The cost of your construction company’s web design project depends on a few different factors: speed, size, and scope.

As is the case with any type of project, it generally costs more to get the project done on an expedited timeline. It’s essential to reach out to a web design agency early in the process so you can communicate that need and they can find the best way to execute the buildout.

If your existing website has a lot of existing content across multiple different construction services you cover, it will generally cost more to migrate your site than building a small, three-page website from the ground up. However, you’ll need a substantial amount of content to attract visitors and show your portfolio of work, so it can be valuable to build out a lot of pages to attract them.

The number of pages you need is another factor in the cost of the project. This is the equivalent of your website project’s scope of work. It’s always a good idea to create different content categories to address the most common needs of your clients, but some are easier to replicate in sensible ways than others.

How Long Does It Take for a Construction Web Designer to Launch a Website?

The turnaround time for launching your website depends on how many pages it has and how much content you need on each of them. If you’re starting from scratch with just a few pages on your site, it could potentially take a matter of days.

However, if you’re migrating a full-grown website with dozens of service pages, location landing pages, and blog posts as part of your new sitemap, it could potentially take months to get the new website ready to launch.

What Should I Look for in a Construction Web Design Company?

Each company has different factors they need to consider when hiring a construction website design partner, but experience and trust are top priorities. Look for a company that has done this type of web design work and knows how to tailor their approach to your needs.

You should also look for a partner who will be honest, transparent, and realistic about the project, its scope, and the results you can expect.

Too many web design firms overpromise and underdeliver on their projects. Looking at the agency’s reviews and portfolio gives you insight into their experience and how other construction firms have felt about working with them in the past. Come with plenty of questions during their consultations with you, and remember—trust your gut if something just doesn’t seem right.