The short answer: Make it easy for buyers to find you for exactly what you make, then show them you can do the job before they pick up the phone. That means a page for each process, real specs, film of your factory floor, a place in AI search and a quote form that catches every enquiry.
You make impressive things. Most buyers never see it.
We hear it from manufacturers again and again. Repeat customers keep the machines busy, word of mouth does the rest, and the website sits quietly in the background. That works fine, right up until a big customer moves production or the buyer you’ve dealt with for fifteen years retires.
The manufacturers who grow steadily have a second engine running alongside referrals: buyers who’ve never heard of them, finding them online, liking what they see and sending over a drawing. Here’s how to build one.
1. Be found for what you actually make.
Nobody searches for your company name. They search for a process, a material, a sector or a place. “Laser cutting Wakefield.” “Stainless steel fabrication Yorkshire.” “Contract manufacturing for the food industry.”
If all of that lives on one “Services” page, Google has nothing specific to rank. Give every core process its own page, with:
- what you make and the materials you work with
- tolerances, capacities and bed or batch sizes
- the sectors you supply
- photos and a short clip of the process running
- the areas you serve, written in naturally
One page per process means one fair shot at ranking for each.
2. Give engineers the numbers.
Engineers don’t want to be sold to. They want to know one thing, fast: can you make this, to spec, on time?
In a 2023 survey of 1,200 European engineers, 86% said datasheets were the most valuable thing a supplier could give them. 60% valued technical articles, and half valued reviews and testimonials. So skip the adjectives and show your working:
- Capability pages with real numbers
- Datasheets people can download
- Accreditations, such as ISO 9001 and sector approvals, near the top of the page
- Case studies that name the customer, the problem, what you made and how it went
- A short quote form with a drawing upload and a clear promise of when you’ll reply
3. Let them see the shop floor.
A list of capabilities doesn’t show the size of your site, the investment in kit or the care your team takes. Film does.
A two-minute factory film tells a buyer more than your whole “About us” page. Drone footage shows the scale of your site in seconds. Short clips of each process make great headers for your capability pages and even better LinkedIn posts. Film it once, use it everywhere: website, LinkedIn, trade shows and sales emails.
And no, it doesn’t have to stop production. We come to you and film on location, with safety first and minimal disruption. See our video and drone work.
4. Get recommended by AI.
More buyers now ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Google’s AI answers to suggest a shortlist of suppliers. Engineers aren’t fully sold on it yet. In the same survey they scored their trust in AI tools 4.14 out of 10. But they’re still using it.
AI tools recommend businesses that explain themselves clearly. So say plainly what you make, where you are and who you work for. Answer common questions in plain English. Keep your details the same everywhere, from Google to trade directories. And add the behind-the-scenes code, called structured data, that helps machines read your site. That’s what our SEO and AI search management looks after.
5. Stay visible while they decide.
Industrial buying is slow. A buyer might visit your site three or four times over several months before they get in touch. LinkedIn is where you stay on their radar: finished jobs, new kit, team stories and short factory clips. Add a simple email to past customers every quarter and you’ll be front of mind when the next project lands.
6. Go easy on paid ads.
The same survey found 58% of engineers avoid paid search links, although around three in ten will click one if it looks genuinely useful. Ads still earn their keep for urgent, specific searches like “emergency CNC repair”, and for reminding people who’ve already visited your site. Always send them to the right capability page, never your homepage.
7. Know where your work comes from.
Could you say which marketing brought in your last five customers? Most businesses can’t. Connect your website forms, calls and emails to a CRM, so every enquiry is logged with where it came from. Give it a few months and you’ll know exactly which pages and campaigns are worth your money, and which aren’t. See CRM and lead tracking.
What it costs.
No mystery quotes. Here are our prices, all plus VAT:
| What | Price |
|---|
| Manufacturing website | From £3,500; most £5,000 to £10,000 |
| Factory video | From £550 |
| Drone filming added to a shoot | £395 |
| Local SEO + AI search management | £595 a month |
| Google and Meta Ads management | From £400 a month, plus ad spend |
| CRM and lead tracking setup | From £995 |
See our full price list.
Example: Reborn.
Reborn is a Wakefield circular manufacturer turning end-of-life mattress components into quality new products. Their story is a big idea, so the website had to explain it simply. We built an ecommerce and quote website around how their customers actually buy: clear product families, a menu that gets people to the right range in one click, and product pages that answer the questions that stop people ordering. See the Reborn project.
Checklist: is your website ready to win new customers?
- Every core process has its own page with real specs
- Datasheets can be downloaded
- Accreditations are visible without much scrolling
- At least three case studies name the customer and the result
- There’s film of your shop floor
- The quote form takes drawings and promises a reply time
- Your details match across Google and directories
- Every enquiry is tracked back to where it came from
Questions people ask
What’s the best way for a manufacturer to find new customers?
Be easy to find for every process you offer, prove you can do the job on your website, and track every enquiry. Referrals still matter, but a website that ranks gives you a second, steady source of work.
What should a manufacturing website include?
A page for each process with real specs, downloadable datasheets, accreditations, case studies, film of your factory and a quote form that takes drawings.
Does video work for B2B manufacturers?
Yes. Buyers want to see what you can do before they commit. A short factory film builds trust fast, and you can reuse it on LinkedIn, at trade shows and in sales emails.
Is LinkedIn worth it for manufacturers?
For most, yes. It’s where buyers, engineers and procurement teams spend their time, and regular posts keep you visible through long buying cycles.
How much should a manufacturer spend on marketing?
Start with the basics that pay back: a website that turns visits into enquiries, film of your work, and enquiry tracking. Then add SEO or ads where the tracking shows it’s working. Our websites start at £3,500 and SEO with AI search starts at £595 a month.
