Whatever industry you’re in, your landing page is often the first interaction a person has with your brand. If you don’t hit all the high notes and keep things focused on the goal, you risk losing your site visitors to some other distraction or a competitor’s page.

Manufacturing is a $5.4 trillion industry in the United States that mainly lies in the heart of the country in states such as Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa. If you want to capture your part of the market share as a manufacturing company, you have to be smart about your online presence as well as your offline one. Your landing page is a good starting point to gain higher conversions and increase your return on investment (ROI).

The cost of paying web designers and developers can add up quickly. Fortunately, you can do several simple things to improve your industrial landing page while staying well within budget.

1. Set a Goal

Before you hire someone to create or tweak your landing page, figure out your page’s goal. Keep in mind you can have multiple landing pages on one site. Each should feature one offer and speak to a particular segment of your audience.

For example, you might wish to collect email addresses so that you can continue marketing to potential customers in a specific area. Gear your entire page toward that audience, and keep the focus solely on how to get them to share their email and sign up for future news. You can do this through a freebie offer or promise of discounts.

2. Study Trends

Did you know that by the year 2022, video viewing will compose the majority of Internet traffic? Spend time on competitor websites and other industrial sites to see what design elements are trending. Do most of them employ video in some way? How many of them feature parallax scrolling? Pay attention to everything from the headlines to the images on these sites. Your goal isn’t to copy what they are doing but to recognize trends you can implement while still staying unique in your approach.

3. Focus on Content

While not exclusive to manufacturing websites, focusing on the content you serve up improves your landing pages instantly. Create unique and relevant items that inform the user of your business. Show off some of your best testimonials. Add video while ensuring the information it contains highlights something unique about your brand. Gear everything to your target audience and the details they’d like to have.

Summit Steel features both recent blog posts and customer testimonials on their landing page. The use the heading “Our Customers Support Our Work” to showcase a testimonial. Blog topics include the robotic welding process and an award they won. Everything on the page centers on gaining the user’s trust and showing why Summit Steel is a reputable company to do business with.

4. Fix Your Headline

Your headline is the first thing a person sees when they land on your page. It needs to answer the question of “what.” What do you do? What product do you sell? What can you do for them?

The headline doesn’t need to be overly long or complicated. It needs to answer a question and get to the core of your business model. If you sell raw materials, you can simply state “the best [blank]” available. Work on your headline, test it and see what performs best with your target audience.

5. Highlight News

Does something about your brand make you stand out from the competition? One way you can grab site visitors’ attention is by sharing that news. If you’ve won an award, add a link to the press release and the emblem to your landing page. If you recently launched a new, innovative product, highlight it with a video or article. Share new developments with your site visitors to keep the page highly relevant to your company’s unique qualities.

Vollrath does an excellent job of sharing news on their landing page in a box that highlights the information’s importance. Note the box’s outline and the way a call to action (CTA) invites visitors to “read now” and learn about the custom fabrication expansion. They also add a list of new products just under the news.

6. Show Your UVP

Your unique value proposition (UVP) is what your company brings to the table that no one else does. You might have the best customization, the fastest turnaround or the most personalized service. You may need to poll your customers to find out what your UVP is from their perspective. Why do they choose to do business with you rather than a competitor?

Once you know your UVP, consider it your subheading — the second question you should answer on your landing page. While your headline explains what you do, your subheading explains why you do it better and why the user should choose your brand.

7. Offer Tools

Attracting new users to your websites takes time and effort. Once they are there, you’ll want to grab their attention and then engage them. Figuring out ways to get them interacting with your site is a good first step. Think about what tools might be most useful to your audience. You might offer free webinars, a download of an ebook or a calculator relevant to your industry.

Martin Marietta offers a calculator to help construction companies estimate the cost of materials for a project. Business owners will likely bookmark and return to this tool time and again to estimate their own expenses before bidding on a project. They will also likely choose Martin Marietta for their needs when it comes time to place an order.

8. List Locations

Do you serve specific regions or countries? Be sure to list locations. There’s no need to waste the time of someone in an area you don’t serve — and you don’t want them eating up your bandwidth. Offering an “Areas Served” or “Locations List” section benefits you and the user at the same time.

9. Improve Your CTAs

Your CTAs are the features that drive the person on your site to taking some type of action. Make sure they carefully align with your goals for your landing page. Then, work on placement, color, and language.

If you haven’t already developed a buyer persona that represents your typical customer, now is the time to do so. Gear your CTAs to the persona you’ve created. Then, test and retest to see which CTAs perform best. Use A/B testing to discover the best button placement, color, language, and even size.

10. Align Images With Text

Never choose a generic or stock photo for your website. Instead, make photos relevant to the topic at hand. Ideally, the images will showcase what you do for your customers or the finished product you create. You can also use a video in the background to showcase some of your operations and even highlight your workers and their dedication.

Images say a lot more than text alone, so choose them carefully and make sure they tie back into the message you wish to send and your overall goal for your page.

Special Considerations

An industrial website typically seeks business to business (B2B) traffic, although some may serve as a business to many (B2M). Today’s busy executives don’t have a lot of extra time, so keep your landing pages simple and to the point. If you know where you’re headed, you can guide your buyers through a clear journey with an end goal in mind. Change the small elements of your page and continue improving it until it gains the attention it deserves and meets your goals for your online presence.

Lexie Lu is a designer and writer. She loves researching trends in the web and graphic design industry. She writes weekly on Design Roast and can be followed on Twitter @lexieludesigner.