If you are a company or architectural firm, your website is often the first entry for a potential customer into your sales funnel.
It is vital that there is harmony in that first “meeting”. The goal of an architect’s website is not to dazzle with vague stories or various gossip, but to get to sit down with the potential client and let the beauty of the architecture come out.
Your website has to accurately reflect your company’s values and mission, as well as the style and type of projects you are known for. You want potential clients to immediately feel as if they have landed in the right place.
In this article, we look at five features that your web architecture needs to be successful:
1 – Photos
More important than having your logo well placed, more important even than the spelling in your company name (although that should be done, too) is to ensure that your website is full of beautiful and vibrant images of your buildings and designs.
The images of your work serve as a portfolio. Potential clients browse these images in search of that indefinable something that means it’s the right architectural firm for them. It is vital that your web images are designed to stand out and look amazing:
Your design should incorporate images as a focal point on each page. If you are using a template, look for websites that are designed for photographers and artists – they make smart use of photo galleries and backgrounds.
Keep text fonts and formatting simple, and the background white smooth. Let your images speak for you.
Use professional, high-resolution images. If necessary, hire a professional photographer for your major projects and photograph them. If you have a budget for your website, this is the best investment you can make.
Add a watermark without being too intrusive, but include it in the corner of the images with your name and website URL. If someone likes one of your images after seeing it on social networks, they can easily find their way back to your website and contact you.
Only use your best work. It sounds obvious, but many architects put “in bulk” their entire portfolio with their less impressive projects. Think that it is better to showcase only a handful of impressive projects than many projects with mediocre designs.
2 – The “About Us” Page
The “About Us” page is usually the second or third page of your website that a reader will visit. This page gives you the opportunity to express your personality and tell your story.
How do you make a good “About Us” page? Here are some tips:
Add an image: A smiling image of yourself or your team helps potential customers feel at ease. They know they are dealing with people, not a faceless company. Especially if you are a small company, your advantage is the “human touch”, so take advantage of this.
Speak with confidence about your accomplishments: I know you don’t like to brag, but the “About Us” page is not the place to get shy. If your studio or company has won awards, been named in a prestigious publication or achieved some other milestone in your career, professionally, then talk about it.
Be nice: don’t ramble on about your company’s history in a boring “corporate” tone. Write in a lively language that is easy to read and relate to.
It may help to write a “skeleton” biography and then give it to an editor for decoration.
Answer the client’s question:
If I were a client looking for an architect in Madrid, what questions would I ask? I would like to know that the architect is qualified, that they have experience in the design and management of their company, that they are passionate about the type of design that I am passionate about and that it will be easy to get along with. Your “About Us” page should answer all of these questions.
3 – A “usable” website
Usability is not just a buzzword, it is an essential part of your website design. In the digital age, buyers have a lot of information available.
A website that is not easy to use will quickly deter your potential customers. Here are some tips to improve the user experience:
Create a “responsive” site. “Responsive” means that your website will be displayed in a form and dimensions that can be easily read on a smartphone or tablet. Since more than 80% of smartphone users now use their device to surf the Internet, having a website that is adapted to these devices is very important.
Use a clear background. A white background with black text is the easiest to read.
Keep a minimalist design. Minimalist design is fashionable and nice.
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