When looking at your website, is the design, information, and messaging up-to-date? If you’re like many oilfield service companies, your website has likely not been a priority in maintaining. But having a website that doesn’t reflect the professional level of your company is doing a huge disservice to your organization!
The majority of consumers want to invest some time into online research before they even think about working with you. If your website isn’t a direct representation of how great and professional your company is, then you’re missing a huge opportunity.
Pick Your Approach
There are a few ways most oilfield service companies can approach the building and maintenance of their websites. Each approach has unique advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important to choose the path that best suits your company’s needs and capabilities.
Outsourced
One option for building and maintaining your company website is outsourcing. This is where a third-party creates and updates the company website. This option is great because it gets everything off of your plate, but it’s also costly and gives you less immediate control.
Hybrid
Another option is a hybrid approach, where you have a third-party create the website, then you are left to manage it. But, if whoever is tasked with maintaining the website at your company isn’t familiar with the publishing software used for the site, this can be a nightmare.
In-House
The final approach to building and managing your website is a total DIY method. At first, this might seem way too overwhelming, but this option really provides you with the most control and gives you the best of both worlds. Plus, there are a plethora of options for building websites that are designed to be used by those of us who aren’t well-versed in web design.
Best Easy-to-Use Website Builders
WebsiteToolTester recently published an incredible in-depth post that reviews the top 15 website builders. Their post is a great resource for evaluating your options and finding one that works best for you. Here’s how they rank:
- Wix
- Weebly
- Squarespace
- Webnode
- Jimdo
- Webflow
- Duda
- GoDaddy Website
- WordPress
- Strikingly
- One.com
- Site123
- Webstarts
- Webs.com
- Homestead
Our Favorites
From our personal experience, Lance Richardson, CGO and Co-founder here at Hitched, would have to agree with WebsiteToolTester’s number one ranked builder: Wix. It’s flexible, and they have hundreds of pre-designed templates, so even those without an eye for design can create beautiful websites. Most importantly, it’s just so darn easy to use.
If you’re a bit more familiar with building websites, Webflow is the platform-of-choice for our Chief Marketing Officer, Emily Vuitton. It’s what we use to build and host our own hitchedapp.com. While there is a bit of a learning curve, it empowers you to create the website of your dreams with zero coding necessary.
Your website is a first impression for your company and can help set a prospect on the right path from the get-go. Even a simple yet polished website can be incredibly successful at communicating your company’s professionalism, how great your products or services are, and setting a standard for your brand.
The Power of Marketing
While sales is king in the world of oil and gas, marketing can be looked at as the sales team's greatest tool. Digital marketing efforts can bring in sales-ready leads that have been pre-determined to be the exact people your sales team wants to talk to. This ability to have leads that are ready to chat with sales, know who your company is, know exactly what you do, and are interested in how your products help them, is priceless on a sales call.
While starting or ramping up your digital marketing efforts may seem overwhelming at first, focusing on these “must-haves” will put you on the right track to have successful marketing that translates into more sales and revenue. To get a full in-depth guide to the ‘5 Digital Marketing Must-Haves for Oilfield Service Companies,’ you can download our ebook here.
