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Designing Professional Websites For Manufacturers
Manufacturers need a website designed with an included set of technical functions that will enable them to build their brand online and sell their products to channel partners (e.g. dealers, distributor networks, buying clubs and wholesalers) and in some cases (where it does not cannibalize their relationship with channel partners) even directly to the end user customers.
Designing a site for a manufacturer who sells primarily business to business (B2B) – like the ArtisanPrecast.com website – presents a different set of challenges than simply designing a standard eStore for an online retailer.
Here are some of the value choices and questions we review with manufacturers when designing and/or building their websites.
- Content downloadable for use by channel partners on their own websites
- Make it easy for other websites to link to content on its own site
- Private label presence for channel partners on Manufacturer’s website
- Enable channel partner to add their owncontent and branding messages
- Create area on the site or separate pricing to sell directly to the consumer
- Clear and compelling opt-in forms to generate leads and drive sales
- Provide a Dealer Locator search function that is easily recognizable
- Optimize website so content is indexed and ranked in the search engines
- User friendly interface which is easily navigable
- Fonts, colors and other design elements match the “branding brochures”
- Request a quote function to segment leads as they come in
What are the main features I should look for in a Manufacturers Website Solution to help me ensure my company receives a quality website and/or extranet that will be easy to manage and operate?
- Content Management System (CMS) to self-publish to my site
- Professionally designed website that adheres to industry standards
- Custom graphics and banners for different sections of our site
- Professional copywriter to help create web page content
- Search Engine Optimization for Google, Yahoo and Bing rankings
- Website traffic monitoring software to provide daily reports of visitors
- Product catalog with categories and subcategory capability
- Upsales and cross-sales management capability
- Client Extranet
- Employee Intranet
- Subscription signup to enable you to send out a newsletter via email
- Social media to connect your site to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn
- Customer support to answer your questions about how to use the website
- Training classes and videos to guide you through managing your website
Product Catalog Features Considered to be “Must-Have”
- Category listing page with grid view and listing view capability
- Option to view categories of products by subcategory, brand or product line
- Sort multiple products listed on a page by name, date, popularity or size
- Product detail pages to include multiple display fields of information
- Image management to zoom in on image or display multiple images
- HTML editor for professional product descriptions and feature sets
- Knowledgebase of documents (PDF’s, powerpoints or HTML pages)
- Product keyword type-in search function with Ajax powered suggestion tool
- Ability to “relate other items” for sale with each product
- Best sellers tracking to position top selling items anywhere on the site
Channel Partner Features to consider as part of your Dealer and Distributor Support Strategy:
- External user authentication with secure usernames and passwords
- Password recovery by email
- SSL Encryption capability to protect content from hackers
- Upload/download multiple files (catalog data, images and other content)
- Extranet landing page personalization
- Knowledge base (including web pages, PDF’s, videos and powerpoints)
- Secure support center for help desk with ticketing system for open cases
- Offer channel partners a share of revenues for sales made in their “region”.
- Offer separate (and usually higher) pricing to consumers through the site
- Offer inventory not readily carried by channel partners
Multiple Language Considerations :
Our Manufacturer Website Solutions enable you to easily support multiple languages and pursue a broader and international client base. In order to provide an effective multi-language website these are the items to consider when developing your strategy:
- Which languages will you provide
- Will translations be done in-house
- Will translations be outsourced to a translation company like www.mside.com
- Maintaining brand consistency online to keep all the languages up to date
- Do you need to be able to export content for translation
- Will you want to import new translations from external sources
- Manage different versions of your web content like product descriptions
Locator function to find Dealers, Distributors and Locations
Manufacturer websites are becoming more and more global in this Google economy. Visitors to your website need to be able to find where your products can be purchased, how to obtain local customer support, and how to find local distribution partners. Here are features we consider when integrating a Searchable Locator into your website.
- Location finder connected with a Google Maps function
- Global Map showing all the locations in your database
- Directory style listing of locations with links to individual addresses
- Distributor finder to locate a local service provider
Sales, Marketing and Web Traffic
No website is complete without customers. Building a website is not a Field of Dreams fantasy where if you build it they will come. It requires a serious push effort to not only drive people to the site but then reach out to them with a continuous marketing strategy that builds brand confidence and trust. Our design and integration team works closely with your sales and marketing staff to help you drive visitors to your site and convert the web traffic into new leads and finally into customers.
Your site includes this list of features to enable you to maximize your opportunity and ability to reach new customers:
- Search engine friendly web pages with keyword rich URLs
- News section to quickly post company and industry news
- Sales rep and dealer locator as described above
- Request a quote form with options like drop down choices and radio buttons
- Signup for newsletter to be sent via email
- Photo galleries of products that can be picked up by search engines
- Video galleries to upload your own product demonstration videos
- User registration for private access to knowledge base and other privileges
- Download registered user data to a CRM system like SalesForce
- Social media links section
- Personalized contact us page with a Google Maps feature
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
What Others Are Saying
Top rankings aren't just about leads and sales. It's about the long-lasting appearance of our brand for relevant keyword phrases on major search engines. We continue to enjoy the the broad coverage we need year after year.
Designing our updated website was a very professional and organized experience because of LA Dezign's extensive "Site Reviews Process". They made it so much easier to make those difficult design decisions.
In an industry like ours, you only get one chance to make a first impression. That's why I chose LA Dezign to manage and help create our website. They came highly recommended by colleagues and lived up to the recommendation by always being responsive, creative and a true partner for my company's needs. The team we work with is innovative, but also personable. We are lucky to have them as a partner and would recommend LA Dezign to anyone or any company who is looking to have a website or SEO (search engine optimization) to help their company look good and get ahead in their industry.
LA Dezign knows SEO and social media down cold. In the past we have used other firms to help us drive traffic, but LA Dezign was able to get us traffic to our niche market where others failed. Highly recommended.
LA Dezign is a productive work horse when it comes to getting presence on the web. They have a boutique feel but with a huge corporate punch. My company went from page who knows what to page one in 6 months!
Do you find the Internet to be confusing? Don’t feel alone. The rules seem to change daily. Only qualified professionals should be handling your website. LA Dezign is THE web professional firm for you. I have been with LA Dezign for years. Their experienced and professional personnel make it easy to look good on the web.I am with LA Dezign!
The people at LA Dezign were absolutely diligent in their efforts to make our new website the best it could be. The entire crew was stellar but special commendation goes to Anne Nauber who worked with us closely and handled every one of the project’s twists and turns with calm professionalism. We couldn’t be happier with their work or with our new site - especially because, within a week of launch, it played a key role in landing us a new client.
I can't thank LA Dezign enough for the incredible job they did on our website. The attractive design and user friendly menus make navigating through our website a breeze. It was truly a pleasure working with them. They made the entire process of building a website smooth and comfortable. I look forward to their continued support with all of our future website needs and to encouraging others to have their website designed by LADezign as well.Founding DirectorFor Children with Dyslexia and Other Learning Disabilities
"It’s a pleasure working with LA Dezign's responsive team. They deliver contemporary websites while maintaining an old-school service-oriented culture."
Jason and his team at LA Dezign came highly recommended and we're thrilled with the results. Anne re-branded our legacy web site with a clean, intuitive and beautiful design that our customers love. And their e-commerce and content management experts ensured that our site was ready and open for business prior to our biggest sales day of the year. Thank you LA Dezign!