For construction contractors, attracting and retaining customers is essential. The good news is, the internet has made it much easier for contractors to position their company in front of their ideal customers. Even more, the internet has provided better opportunities for consumers to quickly find contractors that meet their needs. For this reason, more contractors are shifting their marketing efforts towards building a sustainable website that allows them to effectively outline service offerings, improve the visitor experience, and ultimately grow their customers. If you're a contractor, read on to learn the blueprint for website success. User-Friendly Website One of the best ways to drive more traffic to a website is by making it user-friendly. A user-friendly site leads to more visitor activity on your web pages, which ultimately increases engagement. Essentially, when you can improve the experience visitors have on your website, you're also more likely to convert these visitors into leads. This is because your visitors are able to navigate your website more effectively, allowing them to focus on the most important information. There are various ways contractors can improve the user-friendliness of their website. For starters, focus on improving your site's speed. Visitors expect websites to load almost instantly. In fact, websites with a slow site speed often see an increase in their bounce rate, resulting in lower site engagement. Even more, even just a one-second delay can reduce page views by 11%. There are various free tools available to help improve your site speed but you can start by improving your site's navigation. This means making sure your navigation bar is easily accessible and minimizing the number of categories in your navigation bar to create a seamless experience. Professional Appearance Your website is one of the first interactions that a potential customer will have with your company. With that said, your website plays a key role in how your company is viewed by potential customers. Think of your website as your greatest ambassador. As an ambassador, you want your website to represent your company professionally in order to attract more customers and build a good company reputation. Unprofessional websites create a feeling of distrust between the company and visitors. On the other hand, a professional website improves your visitors' perception of your company, helps build trust, and keeps visitors engaged longer. Contractors can improve the quality of their website by avoiding any clutter that can distract viewers. It's also important to ensure text is easy to read and that you establish a visual hierarchy. This means organizing information in a way where the most important content and visuals are located in a place most noticeable to the viewer. Mobile-Friendly Mobile technology has become a popular way for consumers to find what they need in a matter of seconds. For this reason, contractors need to focus on improving the mobile-friendliness of their website. A mobile-friendly website improves the user experience, increase the time visitors spend on your website, and gives you a competitive advantage. There are a host of ways you can improve your site's mobile-friendliness. To begin with, consider designing your website with mobile users in mind. This means ensuring that mobile-users can have a seamless navigation experience. In addition, consider what information will display on a mobile device as opposed to a desktop. It's also important to resize images and compress files for better loading times on mobile. Credibility Another key factor of website success is establishing online credibility. Credibility is important for businesses because it helps build trust, attract and retain loyal customers and improves the company''s reputation. With that said, contractors can increase their credibility by showcasing client logos, providing testimonials, and photos with proof of work. This creates social proof and can essentially influence a potential customer's decision about your company. Call Them To Action Another important aspect of your website is having visible call-to-actions and contact information. All too often, companies have a website with a great design but forget to outline what they want the visitor to do once they land on the site. A call-to-action communicates the next steps to the visitor and leads them down the sales funnel. With that said, it's also important that visitors can easily access your contact information as well. If a visitor has a question about a service you provide, you want them to be able to easily reach you or they will move on to a different company. Make Your #1 Selling Point on the Home Page Your home page is the first thing that visitors will see, which is why it needs to be your #1 selling point. You only have a few seconds to pique the interest of visitors. For this reason, it's important to highlight the most important information to your visitors as soon as possible. The last thing you want to do is make users click around to find out what your company does and who you do it for. This can quickly run visitors away as they expect to gain quick access to the information they need. Search Engine Optimization for Your Most Relevant Keywords SEO keywords are words and phrases in your web content that helps your company get discovered in the search engine. When you effectively optimize your keywords, you begin to speak the language of your visitors. This not only increases the visibility of your website but helps you attract your ideal clients, leading to more engagement and real customers. Finding the right keywords for your company begins with research. You can start by understanding the search intent of your ideal customers. For instance, don't just create keywords based on your services. Think about how your ideal clients search for the services you provide. Thinking with your target audience in mind sets the foundation for your keywords. Updated & Maintained SSL Secure Another component of a successful website is its security. This is especially important if your website holds sensitive information. But, even if you aren't carrying sensitive information, SSL secure sites are important for SEO. Ultimately, SSL provides privacy, security, and data integrity for your website and your customers' personal information. Even more, SSL can give your visitors a sense of security, which can improve visitor engagement. Visitors are able to tell which websites are secure thanks to the web browser, which generally shows a locked icon or a green bar when the connection is secure. Another important aspect to consider is that Google's algorithm prioritizes websites that are secure as they are focused on providing the best user experience. By keeping your website's security updated and maintained, you won't just be protecting vital information but positioning your company in front of your target audience and establishing trust, which leads to a successful company. Your website is the first impression potential customers will likely have with your company. For contractors that want to build a solid customer base, it's important to spend a considerable amount of time improving the quality of your website and ensuring it provides the best experience for your visitors. This means that your site should be professional, secure, and user-friendly. In addition, your site should be optimized for the search engine to attract your target audience. It's also important to communicate to visitors effectively by providing a clear call-to-action and by highlighting your #1 selling point. By doing this, contractors gain a competitive advantage and convert visitors into real customers.