Target Landing Pages for Specifiers

Last month's newsletter focused on your web design for search engine visitors and how to best serve them. This month I am going to focus on web design for specifiers.

One thing I did not say in last month's newsletter was the difference between a search engine visitor and a user from 4specs or other construction-specific directory.

A search engine visitor will be looking for a specific solution to a problem they are working on at that moment. Typically they will be working on 2-3 projects per year and are not interested in seeing all the products you make that may be useful for future projects.
A full-time architectural specifier comes to your website to validate a section in a current project. That updated or validated spec section may be used on 60-100 projects until the next complete review of that section. The manufacturer wants the specifier to see all the product categories they manufacture as next week's project may require one of those products. Or, the construction admin team may propose a substitution of one of your products and you want him to know what is available.

A specifier recently suggested I add a section for a current advertiser, giving me the product name. I went to the manufacturer's website and could not find any logical way to click to the product information using product categories. I had to search for the product name using their internal search feature to get to the specific product page. I then added the section for that manufacturer. If I did not have the specific product name, I would not have found the product info.

One of my premises is that web designers do not understand how to design a website to support specifiers and other construction-product knowledgable users. They envision EVERY user as coming from Google or a search engine and want to direct them to the exact page. The webdesigner does not understand how specifiers group and classify products in a usable way using MasterFormat.

I estimate that the 800 full time specifiers write about half of all new construction specifications. Your website MUST provide them with a snapshot of all the major product catagories you manufacture. Your website MUST provide an easy link path to get to the specific product they need for this project. Next week they will be working on another project and may well select another of your products to be included in that specification.

This was the premise of the WebFormat proposal I wrote in 2000 and updated in 2009. Make it easy to find and use all of your products in the 20-40 specs the full time specifier will write this year. Here are other examples:

WebFormat home page to demo a simple, clear snapshot of what you manufacture.
The GE Silicones home page (pdf - opens in new page) provides an overview of their products similar to the WebFormat proposal.
W.R. Meadows product data sheet (pdf - opens in new page) has a wide range of products fitting into many categories. Having a list of MasterFormat sections and their related products is another way.
4specs developed a profile page for Wasco which we host at 4specs (pdf - opens in new page). This is new 4specs option for companies where redoing their website is not an easy option.

I add that it was not easy to make useful pdfs of these pages. I had to try several different programs to generate a suitable pdf. Try making pdfs of your pages using various programs. Try printing using the Chrome browser and Foxit Reader PDF Printer as well as Adobe and Bluebeam (frequently used by architects to save product data - you can download a free trial).

Feedback, comments and suggestions always appreciated.

Colin

--------------------------------------

Colin Gilboy
Publisher - 4specs
Contact us