MARKETING MATTERS
Commercial Construction
MONICA PITTS
Website Trends
C onstruction website trends are say big pictures at the top of the home following many of the same page ). trends in other industries with • Most sites have at least 75 % of their their own special flair . I just completed a deep dive reviewing 55 websites screen , dedicated to imagery with words
home page screen , if not the entire
from all over the US . Here ’ s what I over the top of those big ole ’ images . found …
• Close to 50 % have a video for their hero image – and over half of those had professionally produced videos with drone footage and featured workers .
Pretty much the same navigation on EVERY site .
Navigational creativity is lacking at the moment . Simple buttons and a leftaligned logo no more than 1.5 inches tall … is that enough of a trend for you ? Lack of creativity isn ’ t all bad though . Almost all the sites followed the normal pattern for navigation , which will make their visitors feel at ease getting from place to place .
• Navigation links are most frequently on a short light-colored bar at the top of the page ( 62 %), over half have dropdown menus .
• Pretty much every logo is between 1-2 inches tall and 1-2 inches wide and resides in the upper left corner . Like 90 %.
• Sticky nav – that ’ s our technical term for navigation that stays put at the top of the screen even when you scroll – is pretty popular . 67 % of sites are rockin ’ it .
Big Ol ’ Hero Images with Text on Top
Big hero images are on trend . They have been for a while , but they ’ re getting bigger . ( A hero image is just a fancy way to
Boxy Call Outs , Big Text & Icons Add Interest
Most sites are well-designed without a ton of fluff ; minimalist designs are pretty common . However , there are still some very fancy sites out there both from a design and functionality perspective .
• Most sites ( 65 %) used big , bold headers to call attention to sections of a page .
• Fonts tend to be sans serif ( meaning without serifs , so like Arial instead of Times New Roman ).
• Boxes are coming back in style . 45 % of the sites we reviewed added boxes around elements to call attention to the content .
• Over half of the sites had icons and subtle animations on one page or another to add interest .
Increased Attention to Detail on Interior Pages
Most sites have a rockin ’ home page . And design quality overall is on the rise . Most pages have a header image that takes up between a third and half of the
[ 38 ] screen .
• Over half of sites have a unique header image on each page with the title of the page on top of the image .
• Most sites ( 67 %) have a page dedicated to each service .
• About half of the sites used lots of images and a creative layout for their services pages .
• Extended functionality is lacking on services pages ; only 22 % showcase featured projects .
Color Trends
EVERY site is using black and grey . Not surprising how many are red . I mean , if you ’ ve ever been to an industry trade show before you ’ re acutely aware of construction companies ’ infatuation with red .
• The majority of construction sites have light backgrounds with dark words over the top . But a fair number ( around a third ) are rocking dark backgrounds .
• Footers are mostly dark ( 77 %) bit navigation bars are usually light ( 60 %).
• Fairly monochromatic sites with pops of color are on trend . Sites tend to use grey , black and one more color in their color pallet .
Professional Prolific ORIGINAL Imagery
Companies are investing in professional photography . And damn does it look good . Over 60 % of the sites were
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