HVAC companies are a dime a dozen online, so it’s important your site design makes your business stand out. With LinkNow, you can make sure your HVAC site hits the mark.
A website serves many purposes including promotion, information and lead generation, and conversion. It’s important to consider the various points of interest your site offers potential clients and creating a design that makes their journey easy and enjoyable.
Before You Start
The first thing you want to do before you start an HVAC web design establishes your brand identity. There are plenty of platforms that offer pre-made templates, but you want to have a solid grasp of your company before you begin customizing anything.
Your brand identity is more than just a name and logo. Your brand represents your business as a whole. Also Your website’s goal is to create a visual representation of your brand to create an emotional connection with customers.
Consider what tone you want to adopt in your content. Do you want to sound like an educated professional, or do you prefer a more conversational, informative approach?
Experiment with different ideas and consider your company’s image before you start to design. This will help you create a website that accurately reflects the brand behind the name.
Once you feel confident in your brand image, it’s time to start designing! Here are 10 HVAC web design tips you won’t want to miss when building your site.
1] Consider UX First
A website isn’t an art piece; appearance is secondary to utility. UX design is all about creating a meaningful experience for your site visitors. By focusing on your site’s accessibility and usability first, you can orient your design around functionality and ensure that the final product isn’t just visually appealing but also impactful.
2] Make Sure It’s Responsive
Responsive web design is mobile-friendly and scales naturally to suit a variety of screen sizes. Certain features of the layout may shift and change depending on what device a user is accessing your site from, and this will ensure that they don’t miss out on anything when they’re looking for information.
With the highest mobile users being in the U.S. and Europe, it’s important to accommodate every visitor who comes to your site.
3] Establish Visual Hierarchy
A good website naturally guides visitors through the buyer’s journey and makes it easy for them to find exactly what they’re looking for. Through font size, colors and strategic calls-to-action, you can establish a visual hierarchy that never leaves any site visitor wondering, “Where do I go?”
4] Make Use of Your Header
A header image can be changed throughout the year to promote your best deals and current promotions. You can also use it as a convenient place to present your contact information.
There are many ways you can customize a header on your HVAC site to make it stand out. Promote social media profiles, link to important or new site content, house the search field or include links to major interactions like scheduling an appointment.
5] Keep Contact Forms Simple
If people want to schedule an appointment or ask a question, make sure that you only request the bare essentials. Forms are an important part of lead generation, but if people feel overwhelmed by a cumbersome page of request boxes, they’ll take their business elsewhere.
A good start is named, email address and inquiry. You can add a, “how did you hear about us?” drop-down menu if you’re currently interested in gathering market research, but make sure that your forms are all simple, easy to submit and don’t take longer than a minute to complete.
6] Stray From Stock Images
Generic images make your brand appear inauthentic; avoid using a bunch of stock images and focus on providing strong content instead. Any images you do use should be unique and relate to your business.
You don’t have to hire a professional photographer to capture your entire crew, but a little bit of personalization goes a long way when it comes to customers’ impressions.
7] Come Up With Interesting, Continual Content
A single static page won’t help your HVAC company stand out against competitors. Instead of just presenting your contact info and a short biography, make sure that your site has a blog it routinely updates with FAQs and maintenance guides.
Not only will this help you establish yourself as a master of your field, but you will also be able to rank higher on Google through resourceful, valuable content that’s SEO-optimized.
8] Connect Action to Content
Link desired actions to relevant content. Include quick access to forms, condensed contact information on every page and consider the purpose of each page on your site. Every feature should have a distinct meaning.
9] Make the Most of Your Navigation Bar
Your navigation menu should be readily accessible at any time. Make sure that you use clear, distinct titles to help people find what they’re looking for.
Don’t clutter your menu bar with a ton of categories; use no more than four and incorporate drop-down menus to display additional sections.
For example, “Blog” can be a main category while a drop-down menu can contain direct links to specific articles such as “Heating,” “Air Conditioning,” and “Maintenance.”
10] Test and Refine
Make sure that you rigorously monitor site activity and incorporate data feedback into your adjustments. Use your insights to make adjustments and improve your site’s weakest areas.
For example, if the average visitor only spends 15 seconds on a landing page, you can brainstorm ways to renovate the design and help it achieve its purpose.
Finding Your Perfect Design
Working with a professional web design firm or freelancer can help you cultivate the best website for your business. If you prefer the free route, there are plenty of platforms that allow you to build your own site for free including WordPress and Squarespace.
Whatever approach you chose, make sure that you check out the competition to get some ideas on how you’d like to make your own site better.
With some research, patience, and commitment to improvement, you can build an HVAC website that not only helps your business grow but also serves as a valuable resource for your customers.
