Manage Your Machinery Website.

Your website is often the first point of contact for searching buyers. And if it isn’t performing, you usually won’t know. So it’s worth while to take a look to see what could be better.

Over the last period, we’ve looked through thousands(!) of websites. Yes. And we’ve seen everything from pages that seem to be built in the late 1900s and to some amazing pages. Loads of in-betweens.

Obviously, I'd recommend having a solid profile on Machine Maestro , but your website should also be on point. I've added some tips below which focus more on connecting with customers rather than the technicals of SEO, load speed and so on.

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Website tips for machine producers

• Freshness. A page that isn’t updated is unattractive. Which trade fair you attended 2 years ago isn’t what should be on your frontpage. Make sure to keep your information updated.
• Context. Tell people what you do, quickly. Vague statements like 'we push the limits' or 'state of the art solutions' don't clearly inform visitors about your specific offerings. We’re sure that you want to stand out, but the quicker and more accurate way you can tell people what you do, the better.
• Context again. The first thing visitors want to know (usually) isn’t who founded the company. I’m sorry to say, but back to the previous point, at least make sure a reader knows what you do before the learn about your history.
• Customer logos. Many display customer logos to build trust, signalling to visitors: 'hey, these companies trust us, so should you'. But the issue is that most of your peers also can show nice logos. So, what’s more convincing is for sure to be able to share what you do for (some of) these companies. Being an important partner for one is more valuable than having delivered something to 4 companies.
• Interactive. If your site is interactive, it engages more and it is easier for the visitor to decide for itself what it wants to look at. Ensure you also provide quality static material that visitors can download for offline review.
• Passion. Passion sells, so if you can convey 1 single thing that a potential buyer should know about you, do it. Also online.
• Language. Since browsers have translators, it is not super critical to have it in English. But having a website only in a local language, or with a poorly functioning English version, signals a lack of international focus.
• Stainless-steel. This is more of a personal opinion, but even for a person that appreciates the clean view of stainless steel, an overuse of stainless-steel imagery can be overwhelming. Try incorporating diverse elements to break up the monotony of continuous stainless-steel visuals.
• Beyond products. It’s not just your products and references. One of the most common things we tell machine sellers is to keep this in mind: A successful implementation is often very important to customers. They might be interested in your innovation centre or other things you have to offer. If you have a solid project playbook, give them a glimpse to dazzle buyers.
• The navigation bar. Most companies have products or product categories in the navigation bar on top of their page. Visitors are used to it, which makes it good for navigation. However, to enhance it, consider adding a page with an overview of all your offerings. This could be icons, pictures, drawings etc. that more easily help the user navigate your offering.
• Visuals. If you’re able to use visuals well, you’ve come a long way. If you’re a larger company, it’s recommended to have visuals of your departments. We’ll look at some alternatives for product visualisation.

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Visual representations of your products

You want to match your set-up to your products and industry. That’s why you should assess some alternatives. For example, you can guide visitors from a process angle, your product angle, buyer’s product angle, or an industry angle. Ask in your office and ask customers and potential customers what they prefer. How can you convey something complex, in a simple way?

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I thought to share some inspiration here. It’s not a top list, more inspiration for good pages to display your technical offerings. The views are ours, so there will for sure be personal preferences for your visitors. Let’s dig in.

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What: Product Page

Company: Heinen GmbH & Co. KG

Link: https://www.heinen.biz/products/heinen-compact-duo

What’s good: Heinen has a clean drawing of their product, which is numbered on 9 different areas. It's interactive; clicking these numbers provides the visitor with bite-sized product information without overwhelming them. It serves as a good combination of visualisation and text.

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What: Product overview on the frontpage

Company: PAYPER - Complete bagging lines

Link: https://www.payper.com/

What’s good: Payper's equipment visualisation clearly showcases what they offer. The sections that are displayed on the line can be hovered over so that the name pops up and then the visitor could assess whether it should go on to that site. A nice way of interacting with the visitor.

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What: An About section

Company: Riera Nadeu, S.A.

Link: https://rieranadeu.com/en/about-us/

What’s good: This is a great about section. It has a clear first sentence on what they sell. They use simple illustrations for what’s been developing over the years, and not too many items on the list. There's a specific section on their philosophy, information on their values, and a product map (doesn’t really have to be in the about section but it’s nice).

What: Grid overview of products

Company: Foeth

Link: https://www.foeth.com/en/our-inventory

What’s good:

Foeth’s overview is comprehensive. However, it gives a good overview of what they are offering via their alphabetical grid view. It works because every section is categorized, it has a nice line spacing and sufficient white space. They also inform visitors about the number of products available in each category. It has a very machine focus, so the visitor needs to know a bit what they’re searching for. Whenever you select a product, you get to a site with some more introduction to what it’s suitable etc. Probably a good structure if you sell a lot of different equipment, and have a technical audience.

What: Process Line Overview

Company: HEBENSTREIT GmbH

Link: https://www.hebenstreit.de/en/wafer-process

What’s good:

On Hebenstreit’s site, there is a product line overview where you can select your product (e.g. wafer) and then look at the process, which is developing from left to right with icons. The visitor get all process steps in the same view and can look at equipment for each process step. If the visitor wants more details it can go into each product page.

What: Product page

Company: Aasted

Link: https://www.aasted.eu/alice-ii

What’s good:

Aasted’s product page has a quite common structure for modern websites. They’ve made it clean with not too much information at once. Also, they combine text, pictures, and videos, allowing visitors to choose their preferred information source. They also have a static numbered picture to explain part of their product. I am not sure that the red tick marks used in lists, even though they are in their brand colours, are the best, because that colour is so often used in the con-side of pros and cons lists, or the don’t side of dos and don’ts lists. Anyhow, they give a good overall view.

What: Product overview

Company: Karl Ahlborn Maschinenfabrik

Link: https://www.karl-ahlborn.de/en/

What’s good:

In their product overview, Karl Ahlborn has used black and white hand sketches instead of pictures to visualise what type of equipment they’re offering. What’s more, the drawings aren’t very granular (although they are better than what I can do). While not suited for all, these sketches quickly convey what the product is, enabling visitors to assess its relevance swiftly. Sometimes less is more. And it stands out from all the stainless steel around.

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What: Product video on YouTube.

Company: Radar Process

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeSYWu_He3w&t=6s

What’s good:

This is a pedagogic animation of Radar’s products. Starting high level with all the material handling equipment. It zooms in and out on each type of equipment. And the animation shows how the product flows through the equipment. The video doesn’t present a lot of detail and doesn’t move to quickly, which is good for general overview videos. It's not posted on another site than their company page, which isn't great, as people who like it wants to click on the producer and see more videos.

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Do you have any great websites to share, where complex technical solutions are made easy?

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