Homebuilders: Is Your Website Costing You Business?

COVID-19 forced a lot of us to do business differently. For many in the construction industry, that meant adapting to supply chain disruptions and project delays. But many companies found solutions by taking their processes online. From Zoom meetings to online tutorials, the digital landscape offered ways to connect with customers so that business could carry on.

For builders who have not updated their online presence recently, it could mean missed opportunities. However, the good news is: It’s not too late to make changes.

First and foremost, you’ll want to make sure you have a website that speaks to your customers the right way. There are a few things you’ll want to update first on your site.

When your customers visit your site, let them know they’re in the right place: That means telling them exactly what you offer and why it’s valuable.

Source

Schaad Companies is a great example of a company that has a strong value proposition statement right on the home page. When potential customers visit the Schaad Companies site, they know immediately that they’re working with someone who cares about reliability and excellence — and that they have the experience to prove it.

Source

There are plenty of builders for homeowners to choose from, so your website needs to articulate why you’re a better choice than competitors. Schaad Companies, for instance, participates in philanthropy work, which is a unique quality for a company. Their involvement and dedication are stated clearly on the home page of their site.

Help potential customers understand what you offer by featuring products and services in a prominent area of your website.

Source

Urban Purpose Design makes it easy for visitors to navigate to their projects gallery through the design tab in the bar at the top of the site — and by including a moving banner right on their homepage to show off various project images.

Don’t skimp on pictures of the work that you do. Whether it’s a project in process or the finished product, homeowners will want to see examples of what they can expect when they work with you.

And they’ll appreciate videos, as well! Including some behind-the-scenes videos gives your customers an idea of the kind of work that you do and what kind of service you offer.

If you’ve been able to keep a site visitor on your page with high-quality images or construction videos, that’s a great first step. But the goal is to keep visitors engaged with your business so that they become customers.

So give them something to do.

Invite them to talk with you about their project with a pop-up chatbox on your site, or include a button for them to click through and get in touch using a contact form. On Brand Vaughan’s home page, for instance, we invite visitors to start a project with us or to contact us about job openings.

There are a few more strategies you can consider to help improve your site visitors’ experience.

Your visitors aren’t going to spend a lot of time navigating through each page of your site — that’s just how the internet and our attention spans work. If your site takes more than a few seconds to load, you’re likely to lose that visitor.

Google offers a way to check how quickly a specific page is loading, along with insights on how to make things operate more quickly and smoothly for site visitors. Give it a try! Click here to see your website’s loading speeds.

Search engine optimization (SEO) can be complex, but there are a few tips to make sure you’re getting the kind of traffic you want.

Title Tags

“Google will usually display up to the first 70 characters of a title tag, so try to stay within that range. And it’s important to include keyword phrases you want to rank for in a way that sounds both natural and engaging,” according to Search Engine Journal.

Meta Descriptions

This is what shows up as a description underneath the search result. It should usually be around 160 characters and should include a few keywords so that you show up in the list of Google results.

Subheads

Whether you include these on a blog post or a product page on your site, formatting the copy with subheads will help break up the page into easier-to-read sections. And you want to make things on your site digestible, for both visitors and search engines, according to Search Engine Journal:

“This helps search engines better understand your content by demonstrating a hierarchy of the information published on that page. This is dependent on using heading tags appropriately, starting with h1 and working your way down to h6. You don’t need to use all six levels, in fact, in most cases, three or four will be plenty.”

Remember the search bar! Adding a search bar to your site makes it easier for visitors who have a specific product or topic they’re looking for.

And keep in mind that many people browsing your site will be on their smartphones, so ensure that your site is mobile-friendly and is sized appropriately for scrolling.

There’s no better time than now to make changes to your website so that it performs at its peak while more people are online. Your website can offer solutions to potential customers, even if you can’t meet with them in person.

For more tips on improving your home builder online presence, check out the 5 Must-Haves for Every Home Builder Website.